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Transcript

HR1: Divisional Play · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Reach of children. This is In the Locker Room with
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Rob King, Max Starks, and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Brought to you in part by the Steelers Pro Shop.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Shop at shop.steelers.com. And by your neighborhood Ford store. The
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: And we thank you very much for being with us
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: in the locker room with Willie Colon, Max Starks. I'm
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Rob King, getting you ready for the Steelers and Bengals. Already,
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  Speaker 2: already feels like a big test, Willie, as we talked
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  Speaker 2: about yesterday for the Steelers, and a big stretch of
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  Speaker 2: two games because you have two division games. You're coming
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  Speaker 2: in with a one-on-one record, and there are a lot
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  Speaker 2: of questions surrounding the offensive line on this team and
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  Speaker 2: can they hold back a Bengals team that looks like
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: they're playing a lot better football defensively, rushing the passer better,
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  Speaker 2: You know they're going to score some points.
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  Speaker 3: Two of those haven't been able to score much. It
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  Speaker 3: suddenly looms like, hey, this.
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  Speaker 2: Is a week that needs a quick turnaround and a
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  Speaker 2: better performance because you've got two big division games coming up.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the good thing is Wednesday, and this
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  Speaker 4: is a time where a lot of ballplayers step into
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  Speaker 4: the locker room and they erase the uglies that happened
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  Speaker 4: on Sunday.
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  Speaker 5: Obviously, it was a tough loss for the Steelers.
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  Speaker 4: Losing to the Patriots in the fashion they did. But
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  Speaker 4: I think right now, if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're
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  Speaker 4: fortunate right now to have your starting quarterback. A lot
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  Speaker 4: of teams around the league don't have their starting quarterback,
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  Speaker 4: and they have a good one at that. It's going
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  Speaker 4: to be interesting to see what the game plan looks
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  Speaker 4: like for the Steelers, pretty much preparing for the Bengals.
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  Speaker 4: I think if you're the Steelers and you have been
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  Speaker 4: watching the headlines, you've been listening to everybody talk, there's
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  Speaker 4: a concern that not only are you not playing it well,
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  Speaker 4: but there's a disconnect between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy
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  Speaker 4: from a philosophy standpoint of who's actually running the ship.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's something that needs to get straightened
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  Speaker 4: out right away. I think it would behoove Mike McCarthy.
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  Speaker 4: You know, Aaron Rodgers, once again, is G5 classified to
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  Speaker 4: have conversations about what he sees out there, what needs
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  Speaker 4: to happen for this offense. But I think from optimistic,
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  Speaker 4: not optimistic, from optimistic, you know, just from looking at
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  Speaker 4: the picture, we have to see Mike McCarthy's fingerprints on
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  Speaker 4: this offense. We need to see him being able to
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  Speaker 4: put out the fires that would set on Sunday because.
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  Speaker 5: That will, I think, build more momentum.
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  Speaker 4: If the Steelers are able to come out of this
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  Speaker 4: game against the Bengals with a win, it would feel
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  Speaker 4: like Mike McCarthy is capable, like Mike Tomlin was capable
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  Speaker 4: of pulling out small fires on Sundays.
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  Speaker 5: One thing Mike Tomlin did, man, that he probably doesn't
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  Speaker 5: get enough.
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  Speaker 4: Credit for, is that he always found a way to
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  Speaker 4: adjust and improve and revamp. He wasn't afraid to do
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  Speaker 4: anything and everything to kind of set the course for
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  Speaker 4: his Steelers teams to show up on Sunday and have
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  Speaker 4: the winning edge. And I think that's what a lot
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  Speaker 4: of Steelers fans are looking for. They want to see
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  Speaker 4: what the winning edge looks like. They're waiting for this
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  Speaker 4: operation to look a lot better and smoother. They're tied
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  Speaker 4: up the headlines on what the starting five for the
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  Speaker 4: Steelers looks like.
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  Speaker 5: They're kind of over that. So I think right now.
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  Speaker 4: We three, a lot of teams are starting to take shape,
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  Speaker 4: and we want to see what type of shape the
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  Speaker 4: Steelers are in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that it's easy for me, Willie,
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  Speaker 2: and Max to say, okay, well, I saw some things
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  Speaker 2: that were almost there in Atlanta. You're looking for that
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  Speaker 2: week two progression. Didn't happen because you went against an
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  Speaker 2: excellent team. You shot yourself in the foot on several occasions.
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  Speaker 2: The drop pass by DK was a big one. You know,
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  Speaker 2: even the penalty on Jalen Ramsey was a big penalty
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  Speaker 2: on a quick turnover that set you back. You know,
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  Speaker 2: that 36-yard fumble. You didn't do things that could have happened.
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  Speaker 2: But they didn't happen. Now, I prefer– I'm a glass
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  Speaker 2: half-full guy in life in general. I prefer to think
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  Speaker 2: that those things will find their way back on the
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  Speaker 2: field on Sunday, that Mike McCarthy is like Mike Tomlin,
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  Speaker 2: a future Hall of Fame coach. But, Max, at this
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  Speaker 2: stage of the game, we don't know. I mean, I
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  Speaker 2: think Willie brings up a good point. I think under
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  Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin, there was an expectation that you would find
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  Speaker 2: a way to bounce back, division opponent. I expect the
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  Speaker 2: Steelers to bounce back, but it's all new to all
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  Speaker 2: of us. It's new to the team. It's new to
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  Speaker 2: the fan base. It's new to everybody that you've got
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  Speaker 2: a new head coach. Veteran though he is, he's still
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  Speaker 2: a new head coach for us here in Pittsburgh.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, you guys are absolutely right.
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  Speaker 7: And I think, you know, the biggest thing is is
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  Speaker 7: that We had history with Mike Tomlin. He established himself
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  Speaker 7: as a coach who would do it because we'd seen
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  Speaker 7: him do it over and over and over again. And
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  Speaker 7: so I think the biggest thing is that he has
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  Speaker 7: to prove himself. He has to give us a reason
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  Speaker 7: to believe in him and give him those type of moments.
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  Speaker 2: Max fiddling around with his audio, as only Max can do.
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  Speaker 2: I'd be calling for a break if it was me, Willie.
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  Speaker 5: Of course, is this better?
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  Speaker 3: I'd be unable to do this.
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  Speaker 4: Max is trying to get his fancy Batman equipment together
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  Speaker 4: so he can speak.
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  Speaker 6: It's a fun process here.
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  Speaker 7: I'm a tinkerer, so I like fixing things and figuring
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  Speaker 7: out how to look cool in the process, even though
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  Speaker 7: only you guys can see me.
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  Speaker 2: Willie, would you say Max's voice there just kind of
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  Speaker 2: faded in the background a little bit?
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  Speaker 3: This is an inside joke between Max and me. Don't
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  Speaker 3: give in to it.
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  Speaker 2: Willie, would you say Max's voice is kind of blended
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  Speaker 2: in the background a little bit there?
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  Speaker 6: Don't you do it.
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  Speaker 5: Man, I try to stay loyal to the Soyo King here,
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  Speaker 5: so don't make me fight against my brother. Whatever you
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  Speaker 5: guys got going on, I just want to watch.
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  Speaker 3: It's fun and it's nothing. It's absolutely just for fun.
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  Speaker 3: He didn't bite, though, Max. Max knew what I was
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  Speaker 3: talking about. He didn't bite. He didn't fold.
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  Speaker 6: He didn't fold. That's my brother right there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, but, Max, I mean, like I just– these are
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  Speaker 3: big games, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Like I think under Mike Tomlin, again, and it's not
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  Speaker 2: any lack of faith with Mike McCarthy.
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  Speaker 3: It's just a lack of track record for us. He's
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  Speaker 3: got a long track record.
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  Speaker 2: But I think that, you know, when you've been around
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  Speaker 2: a guy for 19 years, the expectation is, okay, they're
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  Speaker 2: going to find a way at worst split one of
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  Speaker 2: these two games. What's the worst case scenario for a
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  Speaker 2: Steelers fan right now? The traction doesn't get going. You're 1-3.
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  Speaker 2: You're 0-2 in the division. You're 0-3 in the AFC.
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  Speaker 2: The sky is falling, all that other stuff. I don't
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  Speaker 2: expect that to happen. And I don't think that our
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  Speaker 2: expectation would have been for that to happen. But a
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  Speaker 2: lot of this stuff is new. I do believe that
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  Speaker 2: they were close enough in game one that they're going
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  Speaker 2: to make the progression here in game two. I think
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  Speaker 2: it just wasn't a good matchup, and they didn't help
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  Speaker 2: themselves in a lot of little ways that could have maybe–
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  Speaker 2: that could have– covered up some of the ills, particularly
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  Speaker 2: with the offensive line. Those things didn't happen. I just
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  Speaker 2: think that, but again, this is a big week of practice.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm sure, Max, as a player, you must be
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  Speaker 2: able to feel when this is a big week of practice.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, you feel the pinch. You feel the squeeze, right?
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  Speaker 7: I mean, regardless if you're watching headlines or not, it's
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  Speaker 7: still in the back of your mind because every player
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  Speaker 7: takes pride in their craft. and when you know you're
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  Speaker 7: not up to snuff yeah you you are going to
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  Speaker 7: be your toughest great there is nothing that any of
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  Speaker 7: us on this airways right now can say to a
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  Speaker 7: player that they haven't already said 20 times worse to
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  Speaker 7: and probably use more of the king's english in the
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  Speaker 7: four letter category to themselves to talk about it and
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  Speaker 7: i think that's what it was and that game was
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  Speaker 7: literally murphy's law like whatever.
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  Speaker 6: Went wrong it could have went wrong went wrong.
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  Speaker 7: In that game you don't How often do you see
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  Speaker 7: a 36-yard fumble recovery?
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  Speaker 6: It looked like the Little Giants out there on that
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  Speaker 6: fumble recovery.
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  Speaker 7: You know what I'm saying? So it's just those are
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  Speaker 7: the things that happen. And when the sky falls, the
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  Speaker 7: sky falls completely. And I think that's the biggest thing
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  Speaker 7: is that I don't think we can anticipate that it's.
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  Speaker 6: Going to be this.
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  Speaker 7: They're not going to average eight points per game offensively
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  Speaker 7: scoring throughout the rest of the season. But it is
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  Speaker 7: a reality check to them to say, hey, what we're
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  Speaker 7: doing might be a little bit too high level. And
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  Speaker 7: we need to scale it back as far as the terminology,
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  Speaker 7: the verbiage, so that guys can execute at a high level, right?
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  Speaker 7: The KISS method, keep it simple, stupid, right? That's what
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  Speaker 7: you kind of have to do. And then you build
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  Speaker 7: on top of that. They didn't really have a base
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  Speaker 7: because they didn't hit in practice. And I don't want
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  Speaker 7: to go back to that. But when you don't have
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  Speaker 7: that physical force and stress against you, it's tough to
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  Speaker 7: then manufacture it in game when you've got dogs in
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  Speaker 7: front of you. And so they're learning on cue how
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  Speaker 7: to kind of recalibrate and readjust. That's why we saw
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  Speaker 7: in the first game it took until the four-minute drive
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  Speaker 7: in the fourth quarter for them to have a little
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  Speaker 7: bit of zhuzh about themselves, right, you know, and start
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  Speaker 7: enforcing their will. And they just never caught that traction
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  Speaker 7: in the New England game. And you just saw it
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  Speaker 7: was just counterpunch, counterpunch, run into the corner, run into
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  Speaker 7: the corner. They could not dominate the middle of the ring.
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  Speaker 7: And they didn't have a way because they're sitting there.
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  Speaker 7: The guard's too low or whatever. And the Patriots just
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  Speaker 7: kept throwing haymakers at them, and they were landing. So
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  Speaker 7: it's one of those things where you look back at it,
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  Speaker 7: you kind of go into the silo, you go into
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  Speaker 7: your bag, whatever hole you need to go into to
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  Speaker 7: get yourself recalibrated because this is a division matchup. And
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  Speaker 7: there are veterans who've played in this Bengals game. They
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  Speaker 7: understand what the importance is. And maybe, Will, they need
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: to bring out the big game music. Maybe they need
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: to have a big game music night, you know?
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: I was afraid that you was about to play the
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: optimist prime truck thing real quick prematurely.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: And I got nervous. What are you talking about?
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  Speaker 4: No, it's, it's, you know, it's, what's funny about when
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  Speaker 4: you go into a game like Cincinnati and you look over,
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: You start reviewing film, right? Their defense is playing really well.
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  Speaker 4: Dexter Lawrence seems like he's playing the brand of football
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  Speaker 4: that they love and the reason why they paid him
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  Speaker 4: and brought him in. Joe Burrow in the office is
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  Speaker 4: playing really well. It's imperative, especially from an offensive standpoint,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: where you really start over-communicating, right? When you hit the
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  Speaker 4: field today, like the Steelers, and you're going through your practice,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: you start to try to see things Now I went
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  Speaker 4: through the offensive coordinator's eyes, but you start to kind of,
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: you want to see things together as an offensive line, right?
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  Speaker 4: And I think, so I remember one time the great
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  Speaker 4: Russ Grimm was my offensive line coach my rookie year.
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  Speaker 5: Max had him as well.
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  Speaker 4: And I remember Russ, he was explaining something to me
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  Speaker 4: and he stood right behind me and he put his hands,
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  Speaker 4: he put one hand on each side of my helmet
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  Speaker 4: and he was forcing me to see safety rotation. He
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: was forcing me to see what does the linebacker depth,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: he was forcing me to see the, the feet of
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  Speaker 4: defensive lineman. And what he was showing me was cues, right. On,
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  Speaker 4: on what to anticipate. And I think right now, if
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  Speaker 4: you're still as office aligned and you're whoever else is
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: out there that you really start really. And I'm, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: I know it's cliche and it's, you know, you guys
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  Speaker 4: are in the media world. It's a stock statement, but
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  Speaker 4: you really start paying attention to the details because you,
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  Speaker 4: The details is what allows you to be efficient.
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  Speaker 5: The details is what allows you to be immersed in
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  Speaker 5: the offense.
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  Speaker 4: And the details helps you get through times where on
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  Speaker 4: the field where you need answers, right? Because those little cues,
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  Speaker 4: those little things, and especially Max kind of hit on it,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: and you're right, you don't want to be the dead horse.
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  Speaker 4: It wasn't a padded, heavy, get-down training camp. But the
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  Speaker 4: reason why we're not upset, but the physicality during training camp,
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  Speaker 4: You learn tempo and timing, the cues you look for
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  Speaker 4: when you know things are coming at you. And so
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: since they didn't have that in training camp, this is
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  Speaker 4: the week where you say, since we didn't have it,
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  Speaker 4: let's pay special attention to those little things right now.
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  Speaker 4: Because I can tell you when you look at Dexter
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  Speaker 4: Lawrence and I've watched film on him, I know if
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  Speaker 4: we were going into this week and me and Max
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: was on the left side and we had Dexter Lawrence
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  Speaker 4: in a three technique and we were, you know, we
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: was running a combo block on the backside. It was
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: just me and him working to the linebacker. I'm going
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: into this week saying, hey, Max, I know this defensive
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: tackle is going to get heavy on me. You know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: there's times where I may say, hey, I'm going to take–
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to base block this guy. You go straight through.
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  Speaker 4: Or I say, hey, we're going to full block this.
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to stay on Dex Lawrence. You pull around me.
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  Speaker 4: You get to that backside backer. Like those are the
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  Speaker 4: nuances we're talking about. Or if it's a situation where
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  Speaker 4: you know they're going to be focused on stopping the
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: run and they're going to be mugging up linebackers, you know, A-gaps,
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  Speaker 4: and we have– you know, if I'm sitting next to Pouncey,
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  Speaker 4: I'm saying, hey, man, this is a game call.
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  Speaker 5: We're bringing the whole line, and we're going to work
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  Speaker 5: together all as one.
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  Speaker 4: Those nuances is what we're talking about because the game's
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  Speaker 4: so fast. The game is so physical. When you got
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  Speaker 4: dogs in front of you, a lot of the kinks
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  Speaker 4: you have to work out and figure out before you
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: get on the field. So when you see the look
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: that you've prepared for, everybody likes to go up. The
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: tenors go up, right? So now we're anticipating what we
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: already know we have to say to be competitive against
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: those looks. And so if I'm in that office line room,
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  Speaker 4: I'm like, we're not going to abandon the run. We're
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: just going to get more dialed into the details because
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  Speaker 4: we're more than capable, but we got to start moving
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  Speaker 4: as one and start bringing the fight. Because the thing
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: about Zach Frazier is not a big guy, right? But
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: you know what they're going to do? They're going to
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: plug Dex Lawrence right on top of him, and they're
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: going to try to make hell for Zach Frazier. And
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: if that's the case, just like when we did with
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Doug Ligurski, Doug was a shorter center, didn't have long arms, man.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: A lot of times we said, Doug, man, we're not
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  Speaker 4: going to waste your time. If I got a chance
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: to pin and you get around, you get around, right?
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Because at the end of the day, it's about creating
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: lanes and getting vertical leverage. And this is a detail game.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it's going to be a dogfight. They're coming
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  Speaker 4: with a heavy resume. They've been playing very well week two.
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  Speaker 4: But this is a game where you dialed into the details.
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  Speaker 4: And collectively, everybody has to start seeing the game plan together.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: And the overemphasis of just like footwork, hands, eyes, rotation,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: looking at safeties, all these things you want to say,
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  Speaker 4: all right, This is what's going to give us the
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  Speaker 4: winning edge.
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  Speaker 3: Love it.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Can't wait to dive into this matchup. We have a
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: lot of stuff coming for you. We're going to honor
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: our buddy Craig Wolfley on Friday because Friday is the
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Hall of Honor dinner. But before Friday, we've got a
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: special guest, the guy going into the Hall of Honor
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: coming up next. That is Kevin Colbert, former Steelers general
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: manager and such an architect of so many great teams.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: He's going to be joining us when we continue here
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: in the locker room on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: And welcome back where we.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Really pleased to be joined by a guy who's going
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: to the Steelers Hall of Honor, the induction ceremony coming
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: up on Friday. This year's class is JT Thomas, Craig Wolfley,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: and our guest, Kevin Colbert. Kevin, thanks very much for
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: being with us in the locker room today.
• 15:57
  Speaker 8: You got it, Rob. I just got one question for you.
• 15:59
  Speaker 9: Are you lining up at center or are you a
• 16:01
  Speaker 9: quarterback in between those two tackles?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Man, what I like to be– I've told these guys– Kevin,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: if any trouble comes, I'm right behind him every step
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: of the way, or maybe two steps behind him, but
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: I'm right behind him every step.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Of the way in case anything goes haywire.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I get the annual picture, and I
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: try to tell people, hey, man, look, I'm 6'1, 200, okay?
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I'm not trying out for the lollipop kill. That's what
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: I said I think I said before.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: So anyway, but yeah, it's fun to have my two
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: offensive linemen with me, fun to have you on, Kevin.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I guess I have to ask you, It's sort of
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: an obligatory question, but I love hearing the stories.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: How did you find out that you were going into
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: the Hall of Honor? How did that transpire?
• 16:47
  Speaker 9: You know what? I had reached out to Art Rooney
• 16:50
  Speaker 9: that morning on a separate matter and, you know, some
• 16:53
  Speaker 9: of our alumni stuff that I work with, and I
• 16:56
  Speaker 9: thought he was calling me back in regards to the email, and,
• 17:01
  Speaker 9: you know, Art in his very methodical way said, you know, Kevin,
• 17:05
  Speaker 9: I'm you know, very happy to let you know.
• 17:08
  Speaker 8: That we selected you for the hall of honor. And
• 17:11
  Speaker 8: I was just like stunned, you know, floored the whole bit.
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: And it was, it was just a special, special moment.
• 17:19
  Speaker 9: It didn't really sink in until we went up to
• 17:23
  Speaker 9: training camp and they did the announcement and you see
• 17:25
  Speaker 9: some of the, the video of all the others that
• 17:28
  Speaker 9: have been there before, you know, myself. And it was
• 17:33
  Speaker 9: just like, wow, this is, It's even crazier than I
• 17:36
  Speaker 9: thought it was, but it's special. Obviously, JT coming in,
• 17:41
  Speaker 9: it's awesome for JT because he was a big part
• 17:45
  Speaker 9: of that Super Bowl era that's never been matched. And
• 17:48
  Speaker 9: of course, our good friend Wolf, that's the only real
• 17:52
  Speaker 9: regret I have about this is Wolf won't be there
• 17:55
  Speaker 9: with us, but faith in the family will, and we
• 17:58
  Speaker 9: hope it's a special day for them too.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: And, and absolutely.
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: And, you know, once again, Kevin, congratulations on the honor and,
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: and I, you know, it's a special thing, right? I mean,
• 18:09
  Speaker 7: cause I know in your position, you know, you, you
• 18:13
  Speaker 7: never expect credit, right. You know, you just do the
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: job and you try and do the best job that
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: you can. And, you know, it's very, you know, we're
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: very fortunate. I know Willie and I both, Hey, thank,
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: thank you for drafting us a, uh, being in the
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: room and allow our name to be called, but yeah,
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: You know, as you kind of just reflect.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:34
  Speaker 7: Just as you reflect back, like just over the journey, right,
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: to get to the point where you were as the
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: GM of the team, because that was something that they
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: really didn't have a title for. You know, what did
• 18:47
  Speaker 7: it mean to have the faith and the trust of
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: the organization to be in that role? And, you know,
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: and just talk about just how you kind of carried
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: yourself during your time.
• 18:58
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, when you think back on it, and
• 19:00
  Speaker 9: you guys probably heard this from Coach Cower, somewhere along
• 19:04
  Speaker 9: the way, you don't really have time to think about
• 19:11
  Speaker 9: what you're doing. You know, that'll come when it's all
• 19:14
  Speaker 9: said and done, when the game's over. I mean, Coach
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: always talked about that, and it's true. You know, when
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: I was, you know, selected to be in here, I
• 19:24
  Speaker 9: reflected back. I did an interview with Teresa Varley. And
• 19:28
  Speaker 9: Teresa said, you know, what's the one special moment? And
• 19:30
  Speaker 9: I said, Teresa, there isn't one special moment. I think
• 19:34
  Speaker 9: just being there for 22 years and being part of
• 19:38
  Speaker 9: something that I'm sure you guys would agree is special.
• 19:42
  Speaker 9: And it was a special organization. It still is today.
• 19:46
  Speaker 9: And just to be a part of that for 22 years, yeah,
• 19:48
  Speaker 9: we had something.
• 19:50
  Speaker 8: Success.
• 19:50
  Speaker 9: And obviously that was, that was fun and created great memories,
• 19:54
  Speaker 9: but no honesty, just to be part of it for
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: 22 years. When I reflect back, that's very, very important.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: I was always interested in, I would say you've been
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: a part of this organization for so long. You know
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: the ins and outs and the philosophy and the brand
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: of Pittsburgh Steelers. You just mentioned that it was just
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: an honor just being a part of the ship and
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: having a pivotal role on how the organization pretty much
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: moved forward. But being a GM, I think one of the–
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: and maybe you can talk to this, and please do.
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: How did you.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Handle the relationships from what Mr. Rooney wanted and his vision?
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: in comparison to maybe what Bill Cowher wanted and Mike
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: Tomlin wanted? Like, how did you handle those relationships and
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: really try to temper expectations?
• 20:45
  Speaker 9: Yeah, and Willie, you guys, I mean, you did it
• 20:47
  Speaker 9: in the locker room because you all came from different
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: parts of the country, different levels of play, different, you know,
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: just different areas of sometimes positions or whatever. But when
• 21:02
  Speaker 9: you came into the Steelers, it was very clear there
• 21:05
  Speaker 9: was one objective. And that objective was stated by the Roonies,
• 21:10
  Speaker 9: because as I mentioned earlier, they know what success is.
• 21:14
  Speaker 9: And again, that four Super Bowls in six years has never,
• 21:17
  Speaker 9: ever been matched. So that's the expectation. And when you
• 21:21
  Speaker 9: stepped into that locker room, I'm sure you guys, for
• 21:24
  Speaker 9: the first time, you kind of felt it. You know,
• 21:27
  Speaker 9: at that time, there was only four trophies, and, you know,
• 21:29
  Speaker 9: we were fortunate to be able to put two more
• 21:32
  Speaker 9: in there. But that expectation was dictated to us, not
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: through verbal or intimidation-type factors. It was just kind of, hey, guys,
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: this is real. This is what they do here. But
• 21:45
  Speaker 9: then to have Mr. Rooney be there each and every day,
• 21:50
  Speaker 9: you know, for the majority of my career and for
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: your guys' careers, it was.
• 21:55
  Speaker 8: It was just special to see how he operated.
• 21:58
  Speaker 9: Of course, he passes that on to Art, and Art
• 22:00
  Speaker 9: continues to manage the organization in that same manner.
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: And you just understand that it's about winning.
• 22:08
  Speaker 9: It's about winning a Super Bowl, but it's also about
• 22:11
  Speaker 9: conducting business in a way that your fans and your
• 22:14
  Speaker 9: community can be proud.
• 22:16
  Speaker 8: Were we perfect? Absolutely not.
• 22:18
  Speaker 9: We weren't perfect in what we tried to do in
• 22:21
  Speaker 9: football and personnel. Did we have issues we had to
• 22:25
  Speaker 9: deal with?
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: Certainly.
• 22:27
  Speaker 9: And that's okay because at that core was just that
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: understanding that Mr. Rooney had a simple saying, just do
• 22:34
  Speaker 9: what's right. And I used to say to him, Mr. Rooney,
• 22:37
  Speaker 9: how do I know what's right?
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: And he wouldn't hesitate. He says, if I have to
• 22:41
  Speaker 8: tell you, then you shouldn't be sitting in that seat.
• 22:43
  Speaker 8: And that was just something that you just understood.
• 22:48
  Speaker 9: What was expected. And you guys didn't have to be reminded.
• 22:51
  Speaker 9: I mean, coaches didn't have to say, hey, this is
• 22:54
  Speaker 9: about the Steelers.
• 22:55
  Speaker 8: No, you knew that. And I don't.
• 22:58
  Speaker 9: And I think you knew that once you sat in
• 22:59
  Speaker 9: that in those meetings for that first time and got
• 23:02
  Speaker 9: into what was then, you know, Heinz Field and just.
• 23:06
  Speaker 9: Got into the city and, you know, you're still part
• 23:08
  Speaker 9: of the city now. I mean, you're part of the
• 23:10
  Speaker 9: city today, which is great.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to make a statement here. It's
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: not it's not a question.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: It's a statement.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a there's a great saying that says
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: it's amazing what you can accomplish when nobody cares who
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: gets the credit. And that's a it's a really nice
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: saying for a lot of people. It's like, yeah, but
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I like a little bit of the credit, you know.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: But I think that Kevin Colbert, for me, that embodies you.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: That's the kind of person you were, made you perfect
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: for it. So that's just a statement.
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: It's not a question.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I just want to point that out to fans, made
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: you uniquely qualified for that. My question to you is,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: and I'm fascinated by the draft, like the selection of players.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And I know there's player development and a lot that
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: goes into it after you select a player. But if
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: you ever allow yourself to kind of, lay back at night,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: put the hands behind the head, and instead of counting sheep,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: you're watching Troy Polamalu dance over a fence and then
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Ben Roethlisberger. Do you get more joy out of those
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: guys that are future Hall of Famers or say like
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Willie Colon went in the fourth round, became a starter.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Ike Taylor, fourth round, became a starter. Max Starks, third round,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: became a starter and really good players. Do you ever
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: think about it in those terms like, hey, I'm kind
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: of proud of this pick?
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: More than say a first round.
• 24:33
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 24:33
  Speaker 9: And first Rob, thank you for that, that compliment. And again, what,
• 24:37
  Speaker 9: when I'm with what Mr. Rooney would win a game
• 24:41
  Speaker 9: and he would be like, great. What, you know, what's
• 24:44
  Speaker 9: next or Joe green, you know, Joe would always remind us, Hey,
• 24:47
  Speaker 9: that's great. You want to be great, do it again.
• 24:50
  Speaker 9: So thank you. First of all, but honestly, I, I,
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: I like to tell you that I.
• 24:57
  Speaker 8: Love the late picks.
• 24:59
  Speaker 9: That turned into great players because they didn't make us
• 25:02
  Speaker 9: look good. They made us in the personnel side look bad.
• 25:06
  Speaker 9: And when I say that, had we known that Brett
• 25:09
  Speaker 9: Kiesel would become a pro bowler, Kelvin Beecham would become a,
• 25:15
  Speaker 9: I think he's in year 29, you know, starter tackle
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: in the NFL as a, He, like Willie, didn't have
• 25:22
  Speaker 9: that ideal size.
• 25:24
  Speaker 8: And was he going to be a center? Was he
• 25:25
  Speaker 8: going to be a guard?
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Nope.
• 25:27
  Speaker 9: He ends up still being able to be a tackle.
• 25:30
  Speaker 9: And those types of guys, they proved us wrong. And
• 25:34
  Speaker 9: they proved themselves better than we expected them to be.
• 25:38
  Speaker 9: And that's great. You know, you go into the free
• 25:41
  Speaker 9: agent world and James Harrison, who will remind me at
• 25:44
  Speaker 9: every instance that we cut him four times.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 25:48
  Speaker 9: He has the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history,
• 25:51
  Speaker 9: Willie Parker. Willie was a third. He played in a
• 25:55
  Speaker 9: three-way rotation at North Carolina. He had the great speed
• 26:00
  Speaker 9: back then, but he wasn't playing. He only had 240
• 26:03
  Speaker 9: yards as a senior. So what made Willie great? I
• 26:07
  Speaker 9: don't know, but we were happy that he has the
• 26:10
  Speaker 9: greatest Super Bowl offensive play. So those guys, I always
• 26:14
  Speaker 9: marvel with those guys, not for what we did, Cause
• 26:18
  Speaker 9: I always reminded the scouts, Hey, they proved us wrong guys.
• 26:21
  Speaker 8: We should have known what did we miss? Not knowing
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: that they were as good as they were.
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: Well, and I think Kevin also, you know, you know,
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: there is a little bit of a sigh of relief
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: because you still ended up getting those guys.
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: I mean, it's like, it's like we might've missed on it,
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: but we're glad they have the helmet on for us
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: and not against us.
• 26:43
  Speaker 8: No.
• 26:43
  Speaker 9: And they ended up obviously being very important parts of,
• 26:47
  Speaker 9: you know, championship teams. But I think it's a credit
• 26:51
  Speaker 9: to how you guys all, you guys found each other, really,
• 26:54
  Speaker 9: when you got in locker rooms and situations. Teams form
• 27:00
  Speaker 9: and teams bond. Now, success helps that, obviously. But conversely,
• 27:06
  Speaker 9: you know, failure helps that, too, because you guys didn't
• 27:09
  Speaker 9: win every game. You didn't win every block. You didn't
• 27:12
  Speaker 9: win every series. But those failures... made you become better
• 27:16
  Speaker 9: players and fortunately we had more success than failure.
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: Yeah and and that's one of the questions i know
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: i wanted to ask just just picking the gm mind
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: of yours you know the mentality of not only your
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: scouts and dealing with coaches and front office you know
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: how do you deal with like those setbacks right because
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: you know 03 was a 6 and 10 season but
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: then you rebounded like you said, and then we get
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: to an 0-4 season and it goes 15-1. Was there
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: any particular thing that you saw specifically that made that transition?
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: Or was it kind of like, hey, just keep chopping
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: wood and good things will happen?
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: How did you view that from one year to the next?
• 27:59
  Speaker 9: Yeah, obviously with the 0-3 season, we went through a
• 28:03
  Speaker 9: lot and it was unfortunate. You guys will remember, Willie,
• 28:08
  Speaker 9: you weren't there yet, but You know, Alan Fanica on
• 28:12
  Speaker 9: third down would kick out the left tackle because we
• 28:14
  Speaker 9: had gone through some injuries. Here's a Hall of Fame
• 28:17
  Speaker 9: guard that we're asking to kick out the tackle on
• 28:20
  Speaker 9: third down because that's what we had to do. And,
• 28:23
  Speaker 9: you know, we didn't get through that season successful. But
• 28:25
  Speaker 9: obviously the six and ten pick an 11th. You know,
• 28:29
  Speaker 9: we were very fortunate to get a Hall of Fame
• 28:32
  Speaker 9: quarterback in Ben that year. So did that failure obviously
• 28:38
  Speaker 9: help us? Of course it did. But I think it also,
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: I don't remember any time during that where we were
• 28:47
  Speaker 9: completely downtrodden or we can't do this because we had
• 28:51
  Speaker 9: success prior to that year. Obviously, that was the one
• 28:55
  Speaker 9: down year, but then the immediate success afterwards was a
• 28:59
  Speaker 9: compliment to the guys that were already there and saw
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: the tough times.
• 29:03
  Speaker 8: And, you know, a lot of people say, hey, we
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: ain't going to let that happen again. And you didn't.
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: Kev, I'm curious.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: As we kind of comb through the league, there's been
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: some significant injuries in reference to starting quarterbacks going down.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: Jackson Dart, talk about Kyler Murray, I mean, Caleb Williams.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: It seems like having a backup quarterback has become more important,
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: more than ever. It's no longer are you combing the
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: league looking for a veteran. You're looking for a guy
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: who can actually run your system and is a part
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: of the infrastructure. What was your evaluation process when choosing
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: you know, the backup quarterback? And what were you looking
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: so that he was not a liability but more or
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: less an asset for the team?
• 29:50
  Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, Willie, it depends on who your starter
• 29:52
  Speaker 9: was and what frame or what phase of their career
• 29:56
  Speaker 9: they were in.
• 29:57
  Speaker 8: Like when we had Ben.
• 30:00
  Speaker 9: in the early part of his career, we were looking
• 30:03
  Speaker 9: for that veteran because we didn't want young and young together.
• 30:09
  Speaker 9: And then as Ben matured and grew into the Hall
• 30:13
  Speaker 9: of Fame player that he was, we were always trying
• 30:16
  Speaker 9: to find or look for a younger guy who we
• 30:20
  Speaker 9: might be able to bring along who can maybe develop
• 30:23
  Speaker 9: into more than, but because we weren't going to invest
• 30:26
  Speaker 9: in a quarterback high, when we had Ben, you know,
• 30:30
  Speaker 9: toward the end of his career, we looked at it,
• 30:32
  Speaker 9: we looked at it.
• 30:33
  Speaker 8: And of course we.
• 30:34
  Speaker 9: Didn't draft a quarterback high until Ben had retired and
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: we took Kenny Pickett. So it goes, it changes, but
• 30:43
  Speaker 9: obviously no matter what phase it is, you want to
• 30:47
  Speaker 9: have someone that look, you're not going to have two
• 30:49
  Speaker 9: hall of fame quarterbacks in the same room, but you
• 30:53
  Speaker 9: want to be able to have somebody that can step in,
• 30:56
  Speaker 9: and not miss a beat from a prep standpoint because
• 31:00
  Speaker 9: you don't have time. You know, when your quarterback gets hurt,
• 31:03
  Speaker 9: you want to be able to have that next guy
• 31:06
  Speaker 9: who can come up and just be ready to go
• 31:09
  Speaker 9: because you don't have time to train someone. You know,
• 31:11
  Speaker 9: it's Wednesday, and you're getting ready for that next opponent.
• 31:15
  Speaker 9: And we've been through that. You know, it's going to happen, unfortunately,
• 31:19
  Speaker 9: at that position. It seems like it's happening a little
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: bit more than right now.
• 31:25
  Speaker 8: And that's a little disturbing, but it's real.
• 31:28
  Speaker 9: And you've got to have someone that can step up
• 31:31
  Speaker 9: and play because not only is your ownership looking for success,
• 31:36
  Speaker 9: but you guys are looking for it, too, because, you know,
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: you're going to remind us, hey, we got to win
• 31:43
  Speaker 9: a game. And we can't have someone that can't direct
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: traffic for us once we start this.
• 31:49
  Speaker 8: If we would lose our guy.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Our guest is Kevin Colbert. He's going into the Hall
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: of Honor for the Steelers on Friday. Kevin, I would
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: love to have you on for about the next six hours.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I know we can't do that, but I will ask
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: you this. I want to take you down. My final question.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Two very specific draft choices. 2004 third round, 2006 fourth.
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: Round, right?
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: I got both these guys on Zoom with me shaking
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: their head right now. So what led you to take
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Max Stark's What led you to take Willie Colon? Do
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: you remember any conversations around those guys? Or what led
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: you to drafting them?
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 32:31
  Speaker 8: I mean, with Max.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: By the way, great picks, by the way. Great picks.
• 32:36
  Speaker 8: Hey, you know what?
• 32:37
  Speaker 9: They made us look good because they turned into more
• 32:41
  Speaker 9: than we expected.
• 32:42
  Speaker 8: Let me say it like that. Because, Max, how many
• 32:45
  Speaker 8: years did.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: You get in?
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: 13?
• 32:46
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I got 10.
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: Before I actually called it quits on myself. So it
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: was a lot longer than I expected.
• 32:59
  Speaker 9: I mean, you guys defeated the odds. And Willie, how
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: many did you get total?
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: Officially nine. I got nine years in. Right.
• 33:07
  Speaker 9: So you both beat the average by three.
• 33:11
  Speaker 8: You know what I mean?
• 33:12
  Speaker 9: Because the average career is three and a half years
• 33:14
  Speaker 9: or 3.4 years to be specific.
• 33:17
  Speaker 8: But you were starting... talent on a Super Bowl team.
• 33:22
  Speaker 9: In Max's situation, you know, you go to the University
• 33:25
  Speaker 9: of Florida and Max can illustrate it for you or
• 33:28
  Speaker 9: tell you in more detail, but Max would flip from
• 33:31
  Speaker 9: left to right, left to right, sometimes in the same game,
• 33:35
  Speaker 9: sometimes during the same season. And the big question was
• 33:38
  Speaker 9: because Max had ideal right tackle size and athleticism. For
• 33:44
  Speaker 9: the left side, I'm being very honest, he knows this,
• 33:47
  Speaker 9: he wasn't the ideal athlete for his size, but Max
• 33:51
  Speaker 9: didn't get beat on the left side because Max understood angles.
• 33:55
  Speaker 9: He was great with his hands and he was an obstruction. And,
• 33:59
  Speaker 9: you know, he was, he was, he could play the
• 34:02
  Speaker 9: left tackle. Willie, the biggest question on Willie, was he
• 34:05
  Speaker 9: going to be a guard? Because ideally he had the
• 34:08
  Speaker 9: ideal build for a right tackle because Willie's, I believe,
• 34:13
  Speaker 9: correct me if I'm wrong, Willie, what we get you 6021,
• 34:14
  Speaker 9: 62 and an eighth.
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: Officially 6'3, scraping 6'3.
• 34:22
  Speaker 9: Now, see, he's stretching it because I know it was 6'2, 1.
• 34:26
  Speaker 9: But he, like Kelvin Beecham, he didn't have ideal tackle size.
• 34:33
  Speaker 9: And it was like, okay, we can take this guy,
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: you know, and we're going to kick him inside. You know,
• 34:40
  Speaker 9: if he doesn't play tackle, we'll kick him in the guard.
• 34:42
  Speaker 9: But Willie didn't allow that to happen because he proved
• 34:45
  Speaker 9: that he could play right tackle and Albeit without the
• 34:49
  Speaker 9: ideal right tackle size.
• 34:50
  Speaker 8: Because, you know, we all talk.
• 34:51
  Speaker 9: About length and arm length and all that. And trust me,
• 34:55
  Speaker 9: I understand it. But I also think there's some nonsensical
• 34:59
  Speaker 9: thinking that goes into that because a player is a player.
• 35:02
  Speaker 9: And Willie just had a nasty streak to him. And
• 35:05
  Speaker 9: he understood leverage. He understood hand use. He understood angles.
• 35:10
  Speaker 9: And he could get by without that ideal length. So,
• 35:14
  Speaker 9: you know, could he have gotten drafted higher? Sure he
• 35:17
  Speaker 9: could have. But, again, Hofstra, level of play, where is
• 35:20
  Speaker 9: he going to fit, all those different things pushed him down. But, again,
• 35:24
  Speaker 9: he made a career. That's to speak volumes about what
• 35:29
  Speaker 9: those two were able to do because they beat the odds.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Kevin Colbert, thank you so much for coming on. Congratulations.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Obviously well, well deserved going into the Hall of Honor
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: on Friday. Thanks so much for spending some time with us.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: Really appreciate it.
• 35:46
  Speaker 8: Thank you, guys. You guys have a good day.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: Kevin Cole. Thanks, Kev. Going to the Hall of Honor.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Just such a great guy. Drafted both of you guys.
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: Come on. Come on. He drafted you.
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: I know. I can tell you.
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, thank God he made me a
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Steeler. I always say this. I feel forever in
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: debt to the organization and the Roonies for selecting a
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: kid out of the South Bronx who didn't grow up
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: a Steeler fan, whose mother was a diehard Steeler fan,
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: who grew up, she loved Franco Harris. And we used
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: to tease her in the house, like, why are you
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: choosing the Steelers? Who cares about the Steelers? And it
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: was so interesting. I tell this story flippantly sometimes. The
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: year I was coming out for the league, it was
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: the Steelers versus the Seattle Seahawks, Max's first Super Bowl.
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: And we had a Super Bowl party in the house
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: I was staying at in Connecticut.
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: Where I was training.
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: And my whole house, my whole house, my family walked
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: in and they were all wearing Steeler gear, terrible towels
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: and everything.
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: And I was rooting.
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: For the Seahawks because I love Sean Alexander when he
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: played at Alabama. And I was like, nah, the Seahawks
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: are going to beat them. I was talking cash money
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: stuff and just whoopity whoop. And the Steelers not only
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: won that game, but I ended up getting drafted to
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: the Steelers.
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: So sometimes it's God's ways, God's purpose.
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: And I'm forever a debt to this amazing organization for
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: allowing me to be Steeler for life.
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: We love having Willie with us in the locker room, too.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you're a Steeler and glad you're with us.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: We've got a lot to get to, man.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: We're going to plow through the not very nice power
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: rankings as far as the Steelers are concerned. We're going
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: to get you a look around the NFL, also teams
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: that we like and don't like. We're going to pick
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: one overrated, one underrated team. Each of us are going
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: to do that when we continue in the locker room
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: Thanks for being with us in the locker room.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: As we get over this hump day and start thinking
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: about the Steelers and the Bengals, we'd like to take
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: a step back on this day and talk about the
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: rest of the league and what we're looking at here.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Look ahead to the AFC North a little bit and
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: also take a look at.
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: The power rankings. Gentlemen, are you ready to scurry through
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: some power rankings?
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Because I don't think there's anything at the top here
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: that's really going to get us bogged down.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Are we ready? We're going with the athletics.
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: Let's do it.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, number one, and by the way, stop me if
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: I come to your overrated or underrated team, okay?
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Number one, San Francisco 49ers. We okay with that?
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Are you asking me if they're overrated or underrated?
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: No, just if you're okay with the way they're ranked,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: but you stop me if you get to your overrated
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: or underrated team.
• 39:05
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: I'm tempted right there to say overrated.
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: I am.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're not legit. I'm just saying I'm
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: not sure they're the best team in football.
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: Well, so I want to say this.
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: I think because Kyle Shanahan has built such a strong
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: ecosystem and he proved it with the rash of injuries
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: they went through last year and now that this team
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: is healthy. and you see Bosa and Fred Warner and
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: you see some of their guys and you see Mike
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: Evans out there and the way they handled the Rams
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: week one, like they're four weeks ahead of schedule.
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: So that's why I think they're legit.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: The only thing I would say, the only question I
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: have about them is, you know, well, I shouldn't even
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: say it's a question. They've got such a good team. Like,
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: you know, how many quarterbacks could you drop onto that
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: team and still be the number one power rank team
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: in the NFL? You have Brock Purdy in there. I
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: don't know where you guys would rank Brock Purdy as
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: far as the top quarterbacks. To me, it would probably
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: be in that, I don't want to undersell, it would
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: probably be in that 10 to 15 range, you know,
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: I don't think we're looking at top five or whatever.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: So you have the number one team, and you have
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: a quarterback that's not one of the top five or
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: six quarterbacks in the league. I think it's hard to
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: win that way, but they've proven they can win that way.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: I'm contradicting myself all over the place. Buffalo Bills, number two. Bills,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: number two.
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: Probably ready. Seahawks, number three. Yeah, absolutely.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: I might have them as under– I think they might
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: be number one.
• 40:54
  Speaker 8: Cut it out, Rob.
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: Stop it.
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: Rob, stop it. They have a backup quarterback in there.
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: Drew Locke is starting right now.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: All right, okay.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: All right, all right. All right. All right. All right.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: I'm hangry. I haven't eaten yet. I'm trying to eat here.
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: Number four, Kansas City.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: That was Willie's top team.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: Ooh.
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: I'm going to say properly rated. Okay. Yeah.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: Number five, the L.A. Rams at 1-1.
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: I think overly rated. Yeah, yeah.
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: They would probably fall in that overrated category.
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: If Jackson Dart would have stayed healthy in that game,
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: that game would have been a lot tighter, and the
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: Giants might have been able to squeeze out of that
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: game with a win. Yeah, the defense played a better
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: brand of football, but I wasn't impressed considering that they
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: didn't have Pukanukuwa. I mean, Jameis showed you. There was
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: throws out there that was to be made. And if
• 41:48
  Speaker 4: you get a more competent athletic quarterback in Jackson Dart
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: who now was playing at a high level coming out
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: of week one, that game would have been.
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: A lot more tighter and the Giants may have had
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: a signature win. So I think overrated.
• 41:59
  Speaker 7: The throw in the end zone was a gift by Jameis.
• 42:05
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: I am really intrigued by their game at the Broncos
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: on Sunday night.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: Really intrigued.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: We have a short week to prepare for the Browns
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: and the smart move might for me to come come
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: back from the Bengals game and prepare for the Browns.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: But I'm going to be doing it with that game
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: in the background, man. I cannot wait for that game.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: And you know what intrigues me about this one in
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: particular is that the Rams is the presumptive number one,
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: ranked number one. Everybody had them going, you know, they
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: got a 17-game schedule. Everyone thought they were going to
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: be 25-0 over those 17 games.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: You know, the greatest team, blah, blah, blah. And if
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: they lose that game.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: In Denver on Sunday night, there's going to be a
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: lot of chattering about that team.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: And I think that would be interesting. Let's put it
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: that way.
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:00
  Speaker 7: And I think that's why we put them in the
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: overrated category. Cause I think it is, it's not convincing.
• 43:06
  Speaker 7: And when you go and get Molly whop, the way
• 43:08
  Speaker 7: you did in Australia week one with the super team
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: and miles, Gary gets injured and he, making all these
• 43:16
  Speaker 7: excuses about he wasn't healthy and all this other stuff.
• 43:19
  Speaker 7: When you start doing the excuse giving game that early,
• 43:21
  Speaker 7: that's when it's like, okay, these look like popcorn muscles,
• 43:24
  Speaker 7: you know?
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: Well, I think another thing is, yeah, sorry to cut
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: you off, Max.
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think the other thing is we've never
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: seen Matthew Stafford get knocked around a little bit. In
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: the first two weeks, we've seen him get hit. So
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: I think it's, it's, it's evident that there, there's some
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: chinks in armor and, Defensively, I think they're going to
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: be strong. I love Chris Shulin and what he's able
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: to do. Big fan of his work. But offensively, man,
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: I think there's some holes, so we'll see.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Number six, and we're going to stop it right here.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: Let's just say the Steelers just lost to the sixth-ranked
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: team in the NFL, New England Patriots.
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: Overrated.
• 44:05
  Speaker 6: Oh, completely, completely.
• 44:08
  Speaker 5: Overrated, for sure.
• 44:09
  Speaker 7: Yeah, no, they are– They're not, they're not that team.
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: They're not top six, 14, maybe 12.
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: Whoa.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: But not, not really.
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: We watched the same game, right?
• 44:25
  Speaker 7: Like, I mean, if our offense does anything, we don't
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: give up a 36 yard fumble. We don't, you know,
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: if we actually block Aaron and he can hit some
• 44:33
  Speaker 7: of those hots that we have, you know, but our offense,
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: we have just a little bit better.
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: It didn't, but they had to sell out. No, they
• 44:41
  Speaker 6: had to sell out against us.
• 44:44
  Speaker 7: They weren't playing base, and they were running cover, too,
• 44:46
  Speaker 7: and we can't beat it, and they're winning on four-man rush.
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: We watched a six-man rush. I mean, I broke it
• 44:51
  Speaker 6: down yesterday.
• 44:52
  Speaker 7: A six-man rush with twist game and everything else with
• 44:54
  Speaker 7: a new offensive line, and they hit pay dirt.
• 44:57
  Speaker 6: They hit the gold opportunity.
• 44:58
  Speaker 7: It's essentially just like the Rashard Mendenhall hit in the
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: Super Bowl, right? Clay Matthews makes the perfect hit at
• 45:04
  Speaker 7: the right time, and that changes the whole– trajectory of
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: the game, it was just the perfect storm.
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: I said Murphy's Law to start this show. That's what
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: it was.
• 45:14
  Speaker 7: Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and they
• 45:17
  Speaker 7: barely won the game.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: That was not a convincing win.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: Well, no A.J. Brown.
• 45:25
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and they still ain't going to have him for
• 45:26
  Speaker 7: the next couple of weeks, so we'll see how that goes.
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: All right. Hey, I'll tell you what.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Another big, intriguing game. They're at the Jaguars on Sunday.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: That'll be a fun game. There's a lot of fun games, man. Okay,
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: so we're going to stop right there. Our next team
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: is our first AFC North team, which we're going to
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: get to as we continue our power rankings. Thanks to
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Kevin Colbert for being with us. Another hour still to
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: come when we continue in the locker room here on
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network.