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

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, hello and thanks for being with us here in
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the locker room on the Steelers Audio Network. Alongside Max Starks,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: I'm Rob King. Max, I hope things are going well
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: as we get ready to descend on Buffalo.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Hello.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Well, we may have lost Max Starks. Technical difficulties here,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: but we're up and ready, rolling and getting you ready
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: for the Buffalo Bills. So obviously that's a big matchup
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: as far as young guys trying to get an opportunity
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: to show themselves and show what they're worthy of doing.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So this is a game for the young guys, right?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Everybody knows what the veteran guys can do. We haven't
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: seen Cam Hayward. We haven't seen TJ Watt. I wouldn't
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: expect to see those guys. I would expect to see
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: a heavy dose of guys attempting to make the roster
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: or attempting to win a job. I think we're all
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: looking at the offensive line position. We are hoping to
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: be joined by Willie Colon a little later today. Willie's
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: going to join us. Made his sideline debut a couple
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: days ago when the Steelers played the Jets. He's, of course,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: a veteran broadcaster in his own right, but this is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the first time he's done sidelines. He's going to be
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: joining us a little bit later today to talk specifically
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: about the offensive line. And I think for most fans,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: That's the biggest story. Look, we talked about this yesterday.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Will Howard and Drew Aller, obviously a lot of guys,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of attention is going to be put on
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: those guys because what they do is important. It's the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: quarterback position, and can they be the quarterbacks of the future?
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Right now, I think the team of the present is
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: front of mind for most people, but it's the quarterback position. So,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of course, there's going to be a lot of eyes
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: on Will Howard and Drew Aller as of yet. Don't
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: know exactly how that duty is going to be divvied up.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy, I believe, spoke this morning to the media.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: But expect to see just those two guys. I think
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: that's safe to say. And then whether we see Riley
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Nowakowski at the fullback position, I would assume we're going
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to see the young guys like Riley. We're probably going
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to see a lot of Eli Heidenreich. I would imagine
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Travis Homer and Lou Nichols, Caleb Johnson. It'll be interesting
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: to see how that division of labor is divvied up.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: And then the receiver position, Is it open? Are there
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: spots behind D.K. Metcalf? I think we are all saying
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: that Michael Pittman, D.K. Metcalf, Jeremy Bernard, and Ben Skoranek
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: are on this roster. Hard to think that Caden Weegean,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: after you spent a high draft choice on him, is
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: not going to be part of this roster as well.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And he fits in at the receiver position, even though
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: he's a return man. So it's going to be interesting
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: to If there is actually a competition beyond that, Roman
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Wilson turned a lot of heads and was, you know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: a guy that was being talked about quite a bit
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: in OTAs and quite a bit at camp. And so
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of buzz right now around Roman Wilson.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But there was also some talk about him, you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: not running the proper route and that leading to an interception.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: If that's something that can be cleaned up and coached out, fine.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: If it's something that is a larger issue, does that
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: drag others into the competition? You know, there have been
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: some guys that have, I think in particular, Max Hurlman
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: has looked pretty solid out there. So does he suddenly
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: barge his way into the conversation for a job? He's also,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: right now, been fielding punts for you. So again, that's,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you know, I haven't seen anybody else back there fielding punts.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: So that's an interesting position, the receiver position. But I
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: think the biggest difference thing that everyone's going to be
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: paying attention to. Offensive and defense is the offensive line,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: and eager to talk to Willie Colon and get his
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: impressions on how he thinks the offensive line has performed
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: so far, and whether Max Ahanachor, the first-round pick who
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: returned to practice yesterday, might get in some game action.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: How much might he be able to play after having
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: missed two weeks of camp, a little over two weeks
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: of camp? Is he going to be ready to take
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: a number of snaps? Can he possibly rest the job away?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: from the other guys who are competing for it, namely
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Dylan Cook and Broderick Jones. And Broderick Jones, some interesting
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: comments by Mike McCarthy about Broderick, a talented guy, obviously
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: a first-round pick. We've seen him have success and be
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: a starting tackle in the NFL, but he's been dealing
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: with some injury issues. And Mike McCarthy said, look, he's
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: hearing different things from different coaches about how to play
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: his position. And so there are some things that need
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: to be cleaned up. But that doesn't sound like you're
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: completely tossing him aside despite the fact that he let
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: up a couple of sacks. So just a lot of
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: intrigue as far as the offensive line is concerned. Is
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Spencer Anderson, has he nailed down the right guard spot?
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Can Brock Hoffman do something about that? Can Ryan McCollum
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: potentially do something about that? Are those two guys themselves
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: battling for one roster spot? Will the Steelers keep both
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: backup tackles? And if Ahanachor isn't the starter, you know,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Ahanachor and Jones, are you going to keep four offensive tackles?
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Are you going to think about potentially trading one? Are
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: you going to try to maybe sneak one through on
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the practice squad? Are you just simply going to keep
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: four at a position where there's always a lot of
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: value around the NFL, you know, at positions like that
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and cornerback on the defensive end? Hard to have too
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: many of those guys. You know, you're looking for talented guys.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: So I think a lot of those of the position battles,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that's probably the number one position battle that's going to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: be on the line because a starting spot seems to
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: be on the line. Max, would you agree that a
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: starting spot is on the line of that offensive line? No,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: there absolutely is.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: And that's what we got to flesh out in this
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: last preseason game. We had three of them to figure
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: it out. Now we're on the third one. So hopefully
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: somebody shows a clear lead.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agreed. Max, and here's what we're going
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: to do. We're going to take a brief break right now.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: We're going to reset, and we're going to take a
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: look at the big position battles with the two of
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: us here. He's Max Starks. I'm Rob King. Willie Colon
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: is going to be joining us, right, Max? Correct. He
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: will be joining us. Can't wait for that.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: 1240.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to get him to dig into this
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: offensive line thing as well. So still on the way
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: when we continue in the locker room here on the
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Steelers Audio Network.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: And thanks very much for being with us in the
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: locker room. Ah, the lovely sound of radio coming from
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: us to you. Max Starks, how are you, my friend?
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: All right, back inside the locker room here.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: We're restarting the entire show.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: We are fighting some of the ninjas that have gotten.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Into the system with some ninjas. Steelers made a roster
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: move today. They have signed defensive back Brandon Gill. We'll
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: have Willie Colon starting out the next segment. Spent some
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: time with their practice squad. Spent some time with the Raiders.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Spent some time with the Bears. The Steelers, in order
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: to make some roster move for him, Release receiver, Joaquin Davis. Joaquin,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: a big, talented guy. Always does well on the athletic scores.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Looks the part. Great speed. But I think he had
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: a drop. I'm sure he had a drop last week
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: in the game against the Jets. And again, right now
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: sort of narrowing down the field a little bit as
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: to who could potentially make the roster, who could potentially
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: not make the roster. So, That is going to be,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: you know, what we're keeping an eye on throughout the
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: course of this week. So, okay, so we're still working
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: through some technical difficulties, so please bear with us as
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: we try to bring you the show in the best
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: way that we can. Again, we have Willie Colon, who's
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: going to be joining us. I'm sorry, Justin Miller, go
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: ahead and say what you said. Okay, so we are
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: working on a connection to join us here in the
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: locker room together so we can bring you the best
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: possible show, hopefully in the shortest amount of time here possible. Again,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I think Brandon Hill comes in, opportunity to perhaps show something,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: and when guys get signed this late, maybe it's a
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: chance to come in, see what you can do. You
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: have such a short period of time, though, because the
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: cut down for the roster is coming up on Sunday,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: and that's it. You've got to get down to the 53th.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: and then the 68 as you try to add 15
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: more on your roster squad. Again, keep in mind that
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: there's going to be some shuffling after that. Unfortunately, there
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: are stories of guys who... are told that they've made
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: the 53 and think they're on it and are ready
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: to celebrate, only to find out that the team has
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: made another selection. They pick somebody up off the waiver wires,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: and then you're finished. And then you're either on a
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: practice squad or you become a free agent. So again,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: times that are fraught with uncertainty, for the players. Whether
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: you make that 53-man roster initially, whether you're on the
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: practice squad initially, it still doesn't mean that the race
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: is run. It still doesn't mean that you've won the race.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: So again, a short period of time for these guys
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: to come in and prove that they have something that
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: is worthy of sticking around. But it's an opportunity. Yesterday,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Brandon Hill didn't have that opportunity. Today, He's got an
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: opportunity as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers heading up
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: to Buffalo and presumably getting a chance to play. I mean,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: it's hard to imagine that a guy would sign even
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: in this short a period of time and not have
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the opportunity to play. But again, that's an awful quick turnaround.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Get into practice and try to find your way around
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: the field and what's what. You know, a lot of
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: football is just football, but there's a lot of different
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: calls and other things and communication in the back end.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: with the additions over the last couple of days is
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: going to be something that we're definitely going to be
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: keeping an eye on. You have new guys back there.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: How are you going to communicate? How are you going
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: to make sure that everybody's got the proper information? So anyway,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I'm searching through something here. So we are going to
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: hear Mike McCarthy yesterday spoke to the assembled press. And
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: as you know, we talked about this yesterday. This was
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: a big, a big press conference because during this discussion
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: with the media, Mike McCarthy talked about Jalen Ramsey coming back,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Max Ahanachor coming back, and whether he would have an
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: opportunity to play in Thursday night's game against Buffalo. Also,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the Joey Porter impasse situation.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: With the contract.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: So, we're going to take you to Mike McCarthy's press
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: conference from yesterday prior to practice.
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: And or your two guys on Puckett. We're hoping that
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: Max will be scheduled to practice today, and so is Jalen.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: We're going to bring him up today.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: How about the two corners?
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, Jalen, I'm sorry.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: Anything jump out off the tape that you didn't suspect?
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: That I didn't suspect? I think, like anything, I thought
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: the defense played better than probably walking off the field.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: I think outside of the slow start, that was something
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: as a team that we need to we need to
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: be on top of, uh, you know, I'm a big
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: believer in ROI. You know, everybody practices a little differently
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: and you emphasize things more, you know, from one phase
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: to the next. And, you know, we've spent, we've spent
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: some time as far as the start of the game,
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: you know, first 15 plays on offense, things like that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: So we, we need to start faster. Um, so that,
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: that was one of the things I'd like to see,
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: you know, us coming out of this week, but yeah, no, I,
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: I thought that, um, you know, our young guys are
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: getting better. It's preseason football. You know, we've made some mistakes.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: You know, we had the mistakes on the two interceptions.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: You know, you'd rather that stuff happen. I paid him
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: to do that.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Check, check, check, check, check.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: One, two, three, four, five.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: So, you know, you'd like to see those things happen.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: You don't like to see them happen, but it's better
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: they happen in the preseason so you can definitely learn
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: from it. But, you know, our young guys are getting
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: another chance Thursday night in Buffalo. The main thing for
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: today is we're kind of still in the install cleanup
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: phase with the older guys, so we're going to really
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: hit that hard today and tomorrow. These are our last
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: two training camp practices. We're on a 10-hour schedule with
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: the vets, so we're going to max that out with
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: both the practice and then we'll do the mock game
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: like we did up in Latrobe. We'll do the mock
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: game here both today and tomorrow. I really want to
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: have two really productive padded practices, and that's the kind
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: of wrap-up training camp, wrap-up the things we really want
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: to focus on, make sure our guys are ready to
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: go in Buffalo, and then we've got the long weekend,
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: we've got to pick the team, but we want to
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: springboard into Atlanta preparation.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Mike, that was a report that came out of the team.
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: You guys already decided.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: That you'd focus on the quarterbacks.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Is that accurate, or is there one more we need
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: to see before we make that decision?
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: I haven't been part of any conversations where the 53
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: has been selected already. So anything, any position, any realm,
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: we definitely have ideas. I think it's evident we're trying
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: to play the players in many different combinations. You can
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: see the personnel groups we're trying to use and so forth.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: The goal, especially in the younger half of the roster,
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: is to give all these guys a chance to play, perform,
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: to show what they have so we can get a
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: clean evaluation on it. So, I mean, not everybody makes
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: the team today, but they can make it tomorrow. You
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: have to be.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Into it then.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: I mean, you have a 90-man roster for a reason.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: You roll players in and out of the bottom half,
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: bottom part of your roster for a reason.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: But it's all about.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: Being exposed to, you know, because some players play better
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: in certain places than others. And that's just the way
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: this league has always worked. But you can't give me
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: enough players because it's going to take probably more than
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: the 68 players in one championship. I've been part of
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: one championship, and you'll hear me say this all the
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: time because I believe it. I think it's a principle
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: of how you develop and build a roster. It took
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: 77 players in my one experience that we were able
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: to get that done. So that's a mindset that I
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: hold true to. It affects the way I train.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: The team.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: It affects how we look at these young players playing
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: at the end. I've never been comfortable for a player
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: to be part of your training camp process that he
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: doesn't play in a preseason game. If that happens, that's
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: an error on my process of getting guys in the game.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: That's a long answer, but I think it's important to
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: really hit your targets every day. The shift coming back
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: here from Latrobe, we lost that practice up there. That
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: was an important practice. These two are very important practices,
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: so hopefully the weather cooperates. But, you know, you only
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: have so much time, you know, and there's a reason
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: why we max out these practices. There's a reason why
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: we stand here until the horn blows to get on field.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's a process that I've done a long time,
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: but you can't have enough information about your players. So
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: that'll be our goal this week, and hopefully we pick
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: the right 68.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Mike, it's the end.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: Game Thursday weighted differently because you've had all this time
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: as the last.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Opportunity for these guys? I'm not sure.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: What do you mean differently?
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Is it weighted more?
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: Is it more on this performance because you've had them
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: this entire time? I think like anything, let's be honest,
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: the depth of your football team is something that really
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: comes out of this third game. That's been my personal
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: experience and I think it'll probably hold true once we
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: get to Friday. It's important to I don't think there's
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: been a year or times where guys step up in
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: that last game and you go, whoa. It makes those
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: decisions after the game even harder. Harder is not maybe
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: did they make the 53 or the 68, but maybe
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: he's 69, 70, 71. That's the way I look at it.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: I value the time that we have with these players
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: to Their time here in the spring is very important
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: to me. I put a lot of weight into that
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: because I look at this as a long-term relationship. These
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: guys might not play for us this year, but you
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: never know with the offseason. So you have to look
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: at it that way because you have to develop your
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: younger players. This thing is about draft and development, and
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: that's your free agents too. We always train the youngest
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: guy in the room. We'll always do that. I think
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: it's important. It's healthy for the older guys. It helps
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: them connect with the younger players. Wow, my answers are
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: long today.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Next question.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: With Max, is this just a.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Ramp-up week for him or is there any chance of him..
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Great question.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: I really want to see him go today.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: I know he's anxious to go.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: I'll be watching him a lot through the individual. We've
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: got two We've got two padded practices, so it'll be
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: a really good indication of how much he'll be able
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: to play Thursday. So, yeah, we'll see how it goes.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Like you said, you.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Guys are activating Jalen with Joey.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: So is there a point.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: In which you need.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: To see him on the field in this kind of season?
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think these things are, you know, I've always,
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: and I learned this in my early years as a
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: head coach, you have to separate the business in the football.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: Sometimes it's easier than others. This is a challenge for
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: both Joey and us because we're first year staff. We've
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: seen him play. I've competed against Joey. I would love
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: the opportunity to coach Joey Porter. I know our defensive
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: guys would love the opportunity. We're at an impasse right
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: here and you've got to respond.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: That. Every one of us has a contract.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: The organization, they have beliefs and so forth. That's kind
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: of where we are.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Mike, you got to see Deshaun Elliott in the game
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: for the first time.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: How do you see him getting into your game plan?
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you what, it was great to see him
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: out there. We all know what a big injury that was.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: He's making progress. He won't practice today. He's feeling it
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: a little bit from the game. I thought he did
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: some good things and he needed that. I was really
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: happy for him because he's been here every day, even
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: during the the five weeks off. He's put a tremendous
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: amount of energy and effort into this recovery. I thought
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: he took a big step getting out there playing against
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: the Jets.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Mike Ryder got the most snaps.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: That he's had in the game in a while.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: How did he recover?
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: He's getting better. His position flex is important to my
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: evaluation of him. He'll play both right tackle and some
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: left tackle come Thursday night, so He's just got to
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: clean up some things. It's never the same when you
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: have staff changes. As far as how you play the
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: quarterback position or how you play other positions, he's just
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: got to keep working. He's definitely making progress.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I thought that was interesting, Max Starks. At the end
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of that, the comments about Broderick Jones because I think
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: clearly the offensive line is, again, we talked about this
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: in game one. before game one. Everyone's paying attention to
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: the quarterback position. It's fun. It's interesting. Do you have
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: the quarterback of the future? Everybody wants that next franchise guy.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Can Will Howard or Drew Auer be that guy? Heck,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: can Mason Rudolph be that guy at this stage of
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: his career? But I think both of us have identified
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: as for the here and now and for the foreseeable future,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: this offensive line figuring out who the starters are, coalescing,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: And who the starters are now might not necessarily be
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: who the starters are going to be in week 10
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: or whatever. But with the investment this team has made
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: in the offensive line, it is a very, very important position.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: You're absolutely right. It's paramount.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: And I think that's what you have to kind of
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: go into knowing that the offense does not run if
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: you don't have a good offensive line. Like at the
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: end of the day, that is what, You know, your
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: weight against that is what you're judged by. How good
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: that offensive line keeps your quarterback upright. How much time
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: he gives him in the pocket. How clean is that pocket?
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: And then, of course, the running lanes for the running backs.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Can you execute the blocks necessary to get that back
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: to the second and third level of a defense and
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: let them kind of shine and show off their skill set?
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: That's what the offensive line does. And, you know, it
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: helps the defense out because the better your offensive line is,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: the better your time of possession is, which means the
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: more Gatorade the defense gets to drink on the sidelines.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's right.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: And rest up and be ready to run full speed
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: when they go out there and play with their hair
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: on fire. So it's one of those things that's often overlooked,
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: I think, because there's no stats associated with that group.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: So you tend to kind of forget them. And in
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: the fantasy football era that we live in, right, You're
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: not drafting offensive linemen for your fantasy team. And so
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: you're drafting the players that the line is hopefully helping
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: execute at a higher level. So that's the toughest part
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: about this. And that's why you want to get this right.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: And that's why you need a good unit that can
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: keep things going.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: And I thought the comments about Broderick were really interesting.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: You know, you're trying to, and again, he, you know,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: he is just now full go. He's coming off. an
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: injury himself. He's trying to absorb new coaching. I mean,
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: we think about, and I think that new coaching part
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: was an interesting part of this discussion because I think,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: you know, look, you expect Broderick, maybe he knocks some
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: rust off in game number one. You know, you're hoping
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: he's back to game number two. This is a guy
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: who started numerous games for the Steelers. He's been a
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: starter on the offensive line, and he did not have
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: a good game. I don't think there's any other way
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: to say it. He just didn't have a good game
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: against the New York Jets. But, you know, Mike McCarthy saying, look,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: this guy's being coached by a different coaching staff now
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: with different messages, maybe in different techniques. And so, you know,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: he's making progress. And I think that's that's the most
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: encouraging thing I could probably hear him say about Robert Jones,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: that he's making progress and he's talking about position flexibility.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: You know, again, that sounds more like the next man
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: up than the first man up. But your take on
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: what he said about all that as far as the
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: coaching and Broderick Jones and how much of a difference
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: that can make. I don't know how many offensive line
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: coaches you had in the NFL, Max, and how varied
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: that teaching was.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: Well, I had three in my time, Rob, in Pittsburgh,
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: so three years each of them. And then, of course,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: going on, and I had another coach in San Diego and,
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: of course, another one. And Phoenix and then, of course,
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, not Phoenix, but St.
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: Louis.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: And then back in Phoenix, I actually had one of
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: the old coaches from my previous day. So I've gone
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: through a lot of different styles of coaches over my time.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: But even even even spun the block back to another
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: coach and Larry Zerline and and obviously Harold. Good.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Good one.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: So I look at it and yeah, everybody's different. Russ
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: Grimm was a coach who focused more on the scheme.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: And he wanted to make sure that your knowledge of
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: how to read defenses, how to adjust to what and
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: anticipate what blitzes were going to be and know exactly
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: what your job was.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Boom, that was it.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: Then Larry Zerlein was a technical coach. He focused more
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: on the technique than the scheme. He wanted your footwork
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: to be perfect. He wanted all of the blocking setups
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: to be excellent. And so that was his emphasis. And
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: then I got Sean Coogler. And Sean Coogler was a
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: mix of both of those. He wanted to make sure
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: you were scheme and technically sound. So he kind of
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: married both of those things together in his approach. And,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: you know, and then, like I said, to go to
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: different places, Joe D. DeLessandro, Joe D. was my offensive
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: line coach in San Diego, and Joe D. was very
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: meticulous about footwork. He was very meticulous about, like, line
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: calls and terminology. And then I got Paul Boudreau, Coach Boo,
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: over at St. Louis, and And Coach Boo was a
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: big stickler on assignments. So you kind of see the gamut,
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: and it falls into a couple of different categories after
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: it's all said and done, right? One's a technique coach
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: and a drill coach. The other one's a scheme and
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: alignment coach. And then you have some mixtures of both.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: So it makes for an all-inclusive environment, but you have
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: to figure out what that coach's main thing is.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And then..
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: Supplement, however, if there's something you're not getting. And I
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: think that's the biggest thing that you have to figure
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: out the style. I think with James Campin, very technically sound.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy also with the school setup really wants them
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: to hone in on assignment. And everybody knows what to do.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: He never wants to hear that nobody does not know
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: what to do. Now, how you do it, that's a
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: different story. That's James Campin and Jerry Evans' job. But
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: as far as how this has been run so far,
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: there should be no excuses.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: So we are going to be joined by the man
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: who's going to be joining us in the broadcast on
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Thursday night. You heard him on Friday in the Jets
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: game as he made his sideline debut. And that man
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: is Willie Colon. We're going to dive more into this really,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: really important offensive line discussion with Willie when we continue
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with King and Starks
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. Presented by your neighborhood Ford store.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: The F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: And by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: And thank you very much for being with us in
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: the locker room. We are pleased to expand that locker
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: room to be joined by the guy who joined us
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: on Friday night in New York making his sideline debut, right?
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Willie Colon, of course, did a phenomenal job. You'd expect
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: nothing else. Willie, thanks very much for being with us.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Hope you're doing well today.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, thanks for having me. Good to talk to the
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: boys as always. Looking forward to another round of chatting
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: it up on the sideline.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: And we will see you in Buffalo. I guess, Willie,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: you know, the big news is the rookie first round
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: draft choice, Max Ahanachor, returning to practice. And I, Look,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I think Max and I have been pretty steadfast about this.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: We understand that there's a lot of attention on Will
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Howard and Drew Aller. That's great. That's a future talk.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Hopefully those guys won't see the field this year for
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: the Steelers unless you've got a playoff spot locked up
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: in week 18 of the season and they can get
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit of time. But the offensive line I
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: think we've identified as the most important position to get
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: in shape in this offseason leading into the regular season. Look,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: we know that it's not necessarily going to be completely set.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: They're going to be coaching Jennings Dunker up and trying
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: to get him game ready. But um what have you
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: seen from the offensive line and and are are you
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: concerned right now or are you uh are you happy
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: right now where do you stand with the way this
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: offensive line has performed thus far well.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: I think there's been some good some bad and some
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: ugly i think the ugly comes from the standpoint that
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: you can see the lack of continuity and chemistry at
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: times um the good is uh the fact that a
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: lot of these guys, so to speak, like Troy Fatano
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: and Mason McCormick and Zach Frisch, these guys have played
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: enough ball together where you expect week one, those guys
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: are going to be able to snap up their place.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Even Spencer Anderson, even though he was a sixth lineman,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: you know, he played a lot of ball last season.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: So those guys collectively have played a lot. I think
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: the bad is that we're, you know, we're against the clock,
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: you know, that this thing is starting to squeak down and,
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: you know, you kind of want to have some direction
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: and kind of get those guys locked in together so
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: they can start just really speaking without speaking, you know,
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: and that comes with signals and body language and understanding,
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: and a lot of times you only get that during practice,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: and you just want an easier transition into week one. Yeah,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: you know, the Steelers are expected to beat the Falcons,
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: but nevertheless, this thing is going to start snowballing fast,
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: and you want the boys up front humming at a
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: high level, especially when you talk about some of the
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: additions that we have already, like, you know, Pittman and
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: Rico Duarte, Aaron's obviously back. There's a high expectation with him.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: So to get everybody else comfortable, you got to get
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: the boys up front comfortable first.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Exactly, Will.
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, this is a unique perspective
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: because we played together on the line and we played
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: right next to each other on the line. So, you know,
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: you talk about that harmony that has to go on.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: It has to be synchronous, right? You know, these guys
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: got to know exactly who the family is, who your brother.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: Is, who your sister is.
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: You know, it's just, it just takes time to meld that.
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: And then you create your own side language. Like, I mean,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: I just think about like some of the calls that
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: we created right back when we played, but because we
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: played so long, we could, we could make those, you know,
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: if we called a sugar call, you know, that was
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: an easy one that you could pick up is everybody
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: just get off the ball. Cause they're going to twist,
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: you know, and that's, and that's not a James Campen
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: or Jari Evans terminology. Mike McCarthy didn't put that in
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: the offense. That's something that's developed amongst the offensive linemen. So,
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: You know, it is a very important thing, but it
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: does take time. I want to turn attention to kind
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: of that defensive line and how that's shaping out, you know,
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: trying to figure out the six or seven guys it's.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: Going to be.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, what are you looking forward to or what
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: are you looking to see or want to see in
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: this upcoming game from the defensive line? Because obviously, you know, Y.A.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: Black starting in a new position at the nose tackle.
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: Keanu Benton has shifted over.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: And trying to.
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: Stay over there, but some of the sub-packages kind of
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: pull him back in to that interior. But what are
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: you looking at from this defensive line, and where do
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: you think there's an opportunity?
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Well, first, from a style standpoint, I don't want to
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: see these guys squeak off the bus no more. I
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: think that's what happened against the Jets. They kind of
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: eked off the bus and kind of took them a
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: little bit to kind of get going. I think there
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: has to be an understanding, and the same understanding me
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: and you and the rest of the guys we play with.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: When we step off the bus, people are going to
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: come out swinging, taking haymakers, right? And this is a
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: defense right now that has to understand, like, when they
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: get off the bus and they tie it up and go,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: they have to be the most physical outfit out there.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: And so that means owning the line of scrimmage, getting
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: off blocks, staying low, and just setting a tone. They
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: have to do that because that's going to be important
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: to kind of relate to the rest of the team.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Now we're here for business. Now, sure, they didn't have Cam,
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: and you talked about Harmon being out, some of those
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: other guys. But I think as this thing starts to
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: come along, you can't, you know, people like to use
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: the word dress rehearsal. Like, well, this is a dress
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: rehearsal coming up. There's no dress rehearsal for offense alignment
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: and defense alignment, right? Like, because we're thrown into the fire,
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: and we have to do what we do at a
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: high level just to create proper habit. And on top
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: of that, making sure everybody's on the same page. I
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: think for this defensive line, They just have to set
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: the tone earlier, right? Be more aggressive. Get off blocks,
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: you know, when it's third and long. Go get the quarterback.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: All those things have to just be a lot more efficient. Yes,
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: it's preseason. But I think because of the expectation and
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: what's expected from this defense this year, because, listen, they
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: dropped the ball last year. They weren't as great. They
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: didn't live up to the standards. There was all type
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: of deficiencies all over the place. But now with the
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: new D.C. and the new pieces along, you know, there's
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: a lot of people that got paid on that defense.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: We talked about it too, Max. It's time for them
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: boys to just come out hot, man, and hopefully we
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: can see that.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I made the point yesterday, Willie. I was disappointed,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: you know, a little disappointed because of many of the
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: things that you're talking about. Yes, you didn't have Cam.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: You don't have T.J. Watt. I understand that. You didn't
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: have Deshaun Elliott in Week 1 or Jaquan Brisker. You
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: don't have Jalen Ramsey. You don't have Joey Porter Jr. But,
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of these guys, there's some young
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: guys on the team that want to be the next guys.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: They want to be the guys stepping forward, and And
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: so I would have felt– not that I'm running around
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: saying the sky is falling. Don't get me wrong. But
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I would have felt more comfort if they had come
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: out in the first two games and not surrendered points
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: on those opening drives. I don't want to make a
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: mountain out of a molehill, but I think we're– I'm
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: buying exactly what you're saying. That's the way I felt
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: about it. I would have liked to have seen them
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: just come out and say, okay, I don't care who
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: you are. I don't care if this is your starters
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: or not. You're going three and out.
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: We're getting the offense back out here.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: I even say this. I thought even when the second
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: unit came out, when they had Bruner and Cole Holcomb
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: and those guys, I thought those guys came out hot.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Because I remember there was
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: one cross-dog play. I think Bruner ended up getting a sack,
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: but Cole Holcomb ran through the face of the running back, right?
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: And he didn't get the credit on a sack. I mean,
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: he may have gotten half the sack, and this was
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: in the second half. But I think, like, those type
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: of plays, that type of level of physicality, that speaks volumes, man,
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: because after a while, man, You know, people start getting
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: gator arms. People don't want to take that into chops
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: no more. So you start seeing that level of play
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: on tape, man, that tells your next opponent, man, we
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: got to strap up. We got four quarters of football
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: to play. And so those little plays, that brand of football, man,
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: that's what I know. That's how we played, and that's
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: what we're used to seeing. So hopefully these guys start
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: turning it up, kind of revving it up a little
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: bit more because, you know, believe it or not, man,
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: the Falcons can run the football. I don't know if
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: anybody ever heard of B. John Robertson, but that boy
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: can go. So you don't want to make– and I
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: like you, you don't want to make a mountain out
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: of a mole, but at the end of the day,
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: you got to– we got to get this thing looking
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: a lot better than what it looked like earlier in games.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: And, you know, Willie, I think one of the things
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: that we kind of look at, and I know, you know,
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: people get preseason fatigue at times, but, you know, from
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: a young Willie Colon perspective, put yourself back your first
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: or second year with the team, How important was that
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: final preseason game to you as a young guy? Like,
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: what was going through your mind as you prepared for
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: this last opportunity?
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I've talked about this before. I don't know if
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: I would have cemented my spot on the team if
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: it wasn't for that last preseason game, right? Because we
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: were already stacked with depth. You know, I got to
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: the team in 06. You guys had just won the
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: Super Bowl. Like, they didn't necessarily need me, right? And
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: so I needed, what, all four games to really kind
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: of say, hey, man, I'm worthy of being on this roster.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: And I tried to do everything in practice, everything in one-on-ones.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: I tried to do everything that, like, hey, man, I'm
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: worthy to have at helmet. And a lot of that
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: came with just being versatile, right? Like, I remember, I
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: think it was the third game of my rookie year,
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: we played the Vikings. I had never played left tackle.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: And I remember Russ Grimm coming to me and saying, hey, man,
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: every guy on this line could play multiple roles in,
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: you know, We know what you can do at right tackle,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: but what you can do at left tackle. And I
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: was terrified. I was like, I don't even know what
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: that looks like. And it was crazy. They had drafted
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: a guy out of Purdue. He's a defensive end. His
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: name was Ray Edwards. He looked like Tarzan. And I'm like, oh, man,
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: I got to show up. And I just remember saying,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: you know what? I know how to jump set. I
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: know how to be physical. I may not go the
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: right way, but I know I can kick some ass
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: in the process. And that was just my mindset. I'm
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: just going to stay on the attack. And whatever happens, happens.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: And I remember after that game when Russ was like, okay, good.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: Let's see if we can do it again. And I
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: was just, you know, even the good felt like an
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: A for me, right? Because I was just so nervous
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: of giving up three sacks, looking like an absolute bozo
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: on the left side. But I held my own and
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: I played well and I did the necessary things to
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: show that if I need to play the left-sided line,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: I'm capable of. So all those little things matter, but
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: I needed all those games in the preseason to prove that.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: You know, I do, when we're on with Willie Colon, Willie,
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: I do want to ask you about that because, look,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: I think that the roster cut down, there used to
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: be more cut downs in those days, but it's going
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: to be one fell swoop. There might be one or
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: two that get cut loose between now and Sunday, but
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: pretty much it's Sunday and you're on the 53 and
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: then you're on the next 15. I'm sure that some
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: people are thrilled to be on the practice squad. Some
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: people are disappointed to be on the practice squad, but
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: There's got to be a couple of uneasy moments knowing that, hey,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of free agents out there, and you're
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: just about to call your folks and say, hey, I
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: made the 53-man roster, and all of a sudden you
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: look down at your phone and somebody's calling and telling you, well, no,
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: we just picked up somebody else to take your job.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, from the time you step off of that
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: field on Thursday night until Sunday and then beyond, it's
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: got to be nervous times for guys.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, unfortunately, this is the other side of
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: the business, right? Because you walk in as a group
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: of men, everybody, you know, fighting for the same dream,
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: you kind of build a bond and a brotherhood going
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: through OTAs in spring. And, you know, I was I
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: was telling my wife the other day you know this
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: this time of year you start to see guys dwindle
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: down because of the cuts but it's you know there's
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: a lot of guys who I walked in the locker
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: room my rookie year who was cut that I've never
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: seen again ever like since the time I saw him
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: in that Pittsburgh Steel locker room I've never seen him
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: again because they got released from the team And when
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: you start having that realization of like, hey, man, this
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: is real. It's all fun and games, too. It's not
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: fun and games. And I think that's why I think
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: coaches and guys like myself and Max, we try to
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: tell these young guys, like, handle your business first, man.
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: Leave no doubt. When you put your head on the pillow,
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: make sure you've done everything you can to show the
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: powers that be that you're worthy of having a spot
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: on the bus, man. And that goes out being a professional,
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: playing the brand of football that got you in the building.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: And also..
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: Deal with anything and everything that's active. And, and I think,
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes a lot of these guys, they walk
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: up to feel like, Oh, you know, it's not my fault.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: And maybe not. It may, it may not be, but
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, I know when I played, man,
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: I would fight, I would fight a nun to the
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: mailman long, you know, whatever it took. So, so I
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: get to make sure I had the job and, you know,
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: hopefully some of these guys had that mindset. If it's
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: not here, it's other places.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: And we'll what, you know, you think about that and
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: you apply that mindset, right?
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to be denied.
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: But then you see this right tackle battle, right?
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: You know, that's.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: Literally wide open. And, you know, it's just, I know
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: for me, I look at it and I'm like, man,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: this is a prime opportunity.
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: Like, you could literally go take the job, right? It's not,
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: you're not fighting a veteran. You're not fighting against a
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: high dollar free agent that came in that might have
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: more credentials than you.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: It's literally like, who wants it?
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: Come get some.
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: And that's what kind of is frustrating. Yeah, I apologize
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: to cut you off. That's how I felt about Broderick's
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: performance the other day against the Jets. I was like, dog,
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: they're literally handing you the keys. Just go out there
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: and be a dog. You can do what's asked of you. And,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't think this thing is locked up.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: I think you can say, all right, well, Broderick had
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: a great game. We know he was a proven starter.
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: We have Spencer Anderson, who I like a lot, I love,
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: not just because he wore 74, but I just felt
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: like if Broderick would have played a lot better and
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: looked a lot more polished and had a lot more
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: fire in his tail, man, I think we're looking at
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: our five going into the season. But the fact that
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: he didn't play up to par, And there's still questions
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: about him at that position, man. I think this leaves
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: this whole thing up in the air. And now we
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: see what the young fellow can do when he practices
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: this week.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did want to ask you about that because,
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: you know, look, I think we all know his background
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: a little bit. Didn't play a lot in high school,
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: but played a whole lot in college. But still the
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: belief is that there's upside because he doesn't have that
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: long depth of experience. Good athlete, grew up playing some soccer,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: you know, so the footwork is there. I think we've
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: all seen the footage from, you know, the college bowls
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: that he played where he's just, you know, ornery, seems
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: to bring that attitude. So I guess the question is,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: with all that, and he appeared to be on the
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: rise the first couple days in camp, he's been out
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: for over two weeks, is this enough time? Is this
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: enough time for Max Ahanachor to get out there? I
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: don't know what the realistic snap count is for him, Willie.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know how far he can go without, you know,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: without trying to pinpoint it too much. We don't know
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: what the game plan is. How much can he play,
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: and can he win the starting right tackle job between
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: now and when the Steelers suit up against Atlanta?
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: If I'm being the old alignment coach here, I would
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: treat him with kid gloves because it's not so much
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: the physicality you've got to protect. I know he's coming
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: off injury. You've got to protect his confidence too. Him
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: being a first-round pick, stepping out there, if he doesn't
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: look polished or, you know, nerves, anxious, whatever, whatever it is,
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: he doesn't look good. You know, you now have to
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: wear it. Like I got to protect this kid's confidence.
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: You know, I got to, I got to build them up.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: Cause as you just mentioned, there's a lot that's there,
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: but there's a lot that's not there. And so they
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: kind of, they got to, I would treat him with
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: kid gloves and just see how he goes along the way.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: I necessarily wouldn't pencil him as my week one starter.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: I think it would come down to Dylan Cook or
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: a project if he plays better. against the Bills. So
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: I think you've got to protect him. I think you've
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: got to make sure that he's doing all the right things,
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: seeing all the right things, saying all the right things,
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: because you don't need a gaping hole on the right side,
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: especially with Aaron out there. So I think the Jets have–
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: excuse me, the Jets– the Steelers have that type of
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: depth where they can say, you know what, let's build
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: the young fella up. Can you figure him out through practice?
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: And we've got Dylan and Brodrick, if need be, and
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: then push forward. I think that's the safe way to
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: go about it.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Just to jump in real quick here, Max, I did
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: want to follow up because I think Max did this, right?
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: Where the Steelers for years had the package of the
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: sixth offensive lineman, and that at least gave you the
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: opportunity to get out and get your feet wet a
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: little bit and see some live action without it being
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: as critical as, hey, you just gave up a sack
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: on third and eight on the game-winning, when we're trying
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: to go in for a game-winning field goal here. How
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: does that, if Max is... treated in that regard, and
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: I don't think you're the only one that feels that way, Willie,
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: that that's the best path forward for him. How does
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: the guy get ready? Is it that six offensive lineman package?
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Is it just, hey, at some point in week four, okay,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: or whatever week it is, hey, we've seen enough, you're
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: ready to go? Is it, hey, the guy's performing, we
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: have to put him out there? Or is it possible
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: that it's any one of those scenarios that would get
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: him out.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: Of the field? Yeah, for me, I would just sit him,
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: and I would lean on somebody else as a piece
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: of office alignment. I think the more he sits and waits,
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: builds his hunger to play, polish things up in practice.
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: You know, every guy, Max can tell you, every office alignment, Jahari,
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: all those guys, there's an eye test he's going to
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: have to pass. And then once you feel like he's
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: passed the eye test and you're starting to see things
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: and he's starting to have his attendance up and his
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: wits about him, then you say, all right, let's Let's
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: maybe rotate you in as a sixth offensive line, all right?
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: You made a couple blocks. You took a couple snaps.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: Things look good. All right, let's start splitting some reps
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: at the right tackle position. So this doesn't have to
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: be a race, right? There's no injuries, by the grace
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: of God, and I don't want to jinx it. There's
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: no significant injuries where you feel like you have to
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: throw them in there right away to kind of keep
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: the continuity or stabilize the offensive line. I think right now,
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: you can slow walk this thing a little bit because
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: when you do throw them out there and Max will
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: tell you, it gets live on the edge. It gets hot.
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: You know, you're going to get some of the career
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: pass rushes around the league and you're going to have
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: to see and move and do things with mechanics footwork
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: and your, and your eyes that all have to match
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: up so you can be efficient out there. And the
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: Steelers want to get to running the ball better. Right.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: And so, yeah, he could be physical, but does he
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: know what he needs to do and what he needs
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: to say and when it's time, when it's situation calls upon.
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I think you just build them up, man.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: Like the Steelers have quality depth. They got guys that
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: can fill that role. I think you unleash the beast
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: when you honestly feel like he's ready. I don't think
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: he's played enough ball in camp or done enough in
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: camp where you just say, hey, man, you're my guy.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: I think you have enough time right now where you
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: kind of walk them out there slowly.
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I completely agree, Will. I think that's the
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: best course of action. And I think Willie kind of
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: put a nice bow on this is that, you know,
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: this is something that you know, let's make a food
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: reference since I love making food references. I prefer something
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: from a smoker than a microwave. And the reason why
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: is because it takes time. And that's what you want
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: to treat this as. You know, you want that fall
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: off the bone type of tendinism that comes with it
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: where you're like, okay, I've waited for this and now
• 47:31
  Speaker 4: it has rewarded me with the patience that I've had.
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: And it's hopefully going to be something that we see
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: him for the next 10 years. not for the next
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: 10 games because we're worried about just getting him out there.
• 47:41
  Speaker 4: And I think that's how people kind of look at
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: a lot of positions. Just because you draft him in
• 47:46
  Speaker 4: the first round doesn't mean the first rounder is going
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: to hit immediately. Sometimes it takes some time for that
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: guy to cultivate and grow into the guy that's worthy
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: of that. Or, you know, you risk the opportunity of
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: possibly making them a bust because I think a lot–
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: we say that more with quarterbacks, right, because we rush
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: them out there, all the eggs in the basket– And
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: then they don't have immediate success. And then after year three,
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: you're like, this is a bum. And you don't want
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: to have that type of mentality with it. This is
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: a long-term investment that you're making. You're making a five-year
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: potential investment. That's why you draft him in the first round.
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: You want to write a first refusal and be able
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: to put a fifth-year tender on the guy.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: That's why you draft him in the first round.
• 48:26
  Speaker 4: Let's allow that guy to kind of mature and get
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: his feet underneath him instead of forcing him just for
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: the sake of... social pressure from fans because you drafted
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: a guy in the first round. You want that impact
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: to be lasting. Completely agree, Will. We definitely appreciate you
• 48:43
  Speaker 4: being on the show, man, today.
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: Appreciate you, boys. Thank you.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: Willie Colon. Phenomenal stuff, man. Cannot wait to see Willie
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: up in Buffalo and hear more of that great insight
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: and great knowledge. We have much more to get to.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: We mentioned this earlier. Former Pitt player Brandon Hill has
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: signed with the Steelers. How do these guys that have
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: signed in the last couple days get up to speed
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: and get out on the field? We'll talk about that
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: with Max, some of the things he's looking forward to
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: as far as the key matchups in this game between
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: the Steelers and the Bills when we continue in the
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.