Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / HR1: The Latest

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Stop taking Linzess and call your doctor right away. Other
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Talk
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to your doctor and say yes to Linzess. Learn more
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: at Linzess.com or call 1-800-LINZESS.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: And thanks very much for being with us in the
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: locker room on this Friday afternoon, getting set for a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Labor Day weekend.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: For some people, that means a nice four-day weekend. For others,
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: that means actually Labor Day.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: So we are happy to be with you on this show.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: And Willie Cologne with me now. Max Sarks will be
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: joining us shortly. Willie, I hope everything went well yesterday.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: As I always say, when I'm not there and unable
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: to do my job, I sincerely hope things go well,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: but not too well. That's always my feeling when I'm
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: out there, but I hope the show went well yesterday,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: my friend.
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: Everything did go well. Max Starks drove the boat. It
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: was doing, it was good. It was two, it was
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: two hefty O-linemen, retired O-linemen, that is, talking about the
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: good old days, but also talking about O-line playing the
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: league and different offensive lines and where the Steelers ranked
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: in that whole O-line universe. And we were able to
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: kind of do a little bit of a deep dive
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: and have some fun, but it was, It was good.
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: We had a rundown. Max prepared a rundown. He had
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: a time sheet.
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: We got Justin on par with giving us a two-minute warning.
• 1:56
  Speaker 6: Before we go into break. So we think it was
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: pretty efficient and smooth. It was good. So when you say,
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: you know, I hope things went well, but it didn't
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: go too good. It went damn good. But But we
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: had a good time, man.
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: And Rob, you're a man that wear many hats. So
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: you just had to, you were occupied.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I had to doff the Pirates cap for their big
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame induction day. It's a big day for
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Pirates. So happy to be there for them.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I did want to circle back to one thing before
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: we dive into some football. We got some great talking points,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: some great things to discuss. So, I felt a little guilty,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: just a little bad the other day. You were talking
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: about making your rotisserie chicken. So I did go next
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: door with my salad that had chicken on it. I
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: buffaloed it up, and it's a buffalo chicken salad. So
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: I did try to get a little oomph there, but
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: I went and got a piece of jalapeno cornbread and
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: slathered extra butter on it in honor of my friends
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: on the offensive line. How did the rotisserie chicken go?
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: Good.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: I think every mother knows how to make a good chicken.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: My wife is a very, very good cook. Her southern
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: roots are definitely tasted in every dish.
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  Speaker 6: It was good. It was easy. I say this, Rob,
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: and I don't know if you're on par with this
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: as well.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: The old adage of women not knowing how to cook
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: is out the window because if you're a lady who
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: maybe wasn't raised in a kitchen with grandma or raised
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: in a kitchen with mama, there's no longer an excuse
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: for you not knowing how to cook because modern technology,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: all you have to do with these devices today is
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: just set it and forget it. I mean, they even
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: have devices that season the food for you now. So
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: I'm at the, you know, I try to, I have
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: nieces and young ladies who are in my family and
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: some of them did grow up in the kitchen and
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  Speaker 5: some didn't. And I tell them, there's no excuse. There's
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  Speaker 5: things to help you to cook and even fake it
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  Speaker 5: till you make it. So the days of not knowing
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  Speaker 5: how to cook are out the window. I'm fortunate enough
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  Speaker 5: that I have a wife that grew up in a
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  Speaker 5: kitchen so she knows how to throw down, so to speak.
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  Speaker 5: Before you young ladies out there that just, you know,
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  Speaker 5: not as equipped or maybe not invested in learning how
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  Speaker 5: to cook, don't worry.
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  Speaker 6: There's pressure cookers.
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  Speaker 5: There are crock pots, there's There's devices that make rice.
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  Speaker 5: There's bread makers. There's all types of stuff. So you
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  Speaker 5: can literally just have a bunch of equipment around your kitchen.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: All you have to do is press go to each
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  Speaker 5: one of them. And when it's done, take it out
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  Speaker 5: and serve it to your loved ones. So, yeah, it's
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  Speaker 5: easier than ever right now.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: I'm going to take this in a slightly different direction
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  Speaker 3: because I agree with you that cooking is easier for everyone. So,
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  Speaker 3: first of all, as somebody who likes to eat, I
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: like to cook. I enjoy cooking. I enjoy being in
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  Speaker 3: the kitchen. It's a time for me to, to slow
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: down the frantic pace and do some cooking. I would
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  Speaker 3: also encourage, uh, the young men out there that it's
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  Speaker 3: also easy and it's a, and it's a great way
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  Speaker 3: to have a date with a, with a young lady, uh, um,
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  Speaker 3: to do some cooking in, in the kitchen and present
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  Speaker 3: the meal yourself. All you gotta do is follow the recipe, man.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: It's not that hard. They're all out there. You know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: it used to be things were written down, you know, uh, my, my, um,
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  Speaker 3: My mother's mother was German, from Germany, and was an
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  Speaker 3: excellent cook, never wrote down a thing. And so those
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: family recipes or those recipes have been lost to the family.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I have a friend of mine who's Italian, and he
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  Speaker 3: talks about, you know, they would be in the kitchen, and,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: you know, they'd be trying to learn the grandmother's recipe.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: And, you know, how much basil are you throwing? Oh,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: a little bit. How much?
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: A little bit, you know. No, that's too much. You know,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: you ruined it now. So it was very much an art.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I don't think, and I still think there are great
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: cooks for whom cooking is an art, but if you
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: can kind of manage the science part of it, which
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: is one teaspoon of this, one tablespoon of that, half
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  Speaker 3: a cup of this, then you should be able to
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  Speaker 3: manage decently in the kitchen. Nobody's going to make a
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  Speaker 3: cooking show based on you, but with everything available to
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: you now, you should be able to whip up a
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  Speaker 3: decent meal.
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  Speaker 5: Every man and woman should be able to hold their
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  Speaker 5: own in the kitchen due to modern technology.
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  Speaker 6: That's my point.
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  Speaker 4: I don't want to sound like an old man. No, no, no, no, no.
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  Speaker 3: I think you were speaking. I think we were speaking
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: the same language. Does your wife make things that you
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: did not grow up eating as a city guy in
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: New York?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, so I didn't grow up eating. We weren't a
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: big family.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: This is the thing.
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: So my wife is from Jackson, Mississippi, where the climate is,
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  Speaker 6: I mean, it's warm.
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  Speaker 5: It's only winter, like a month or two out of
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: the year, and it's warm all the time. So when
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: she moved to New York with me, she caught the
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: winter blues. And so anytime it was cold and snowy,
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: which happens a lot, she felt the need to make chili.
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  Speaker 6: And I used to like chili.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: But part of her kind of way of decompressing and
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: stressing and looking out the window and seeing eight inches
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  Speaker 5: of snow and it's coming down and it's dark and gray,
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  Speaker 5: she felt the need to make chili. And so I
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: had to tell her, I was like, babe, it's going
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  Speaker 5: to snow a lot. And it's going to be cold.
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  Speaker 5: I don't want no more damn chili. And every time
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  Speaker 5: you look out the window, isn't a call for you
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  Speaker 5: to make chili. But she's made soups and chilies because
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  Speaker 5: that's her way of like, I don't know if, you know,
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  Speaker 5: in the movies and in the shows, They always show
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: dad or mom's big pot of chili when it's cold outside.
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  Speaker 5: And I told my wife, yeah, that's good for the
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: TV shows and movies, but this is the third time
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  Speaker 5: this week we've had chili. I don't want no more
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  Speaker 5: damn chili, right? And by the way, it's going to
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  Speaker 5: snow tomorrow. So when it snows tomorrow, I don't want
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: to see you making chili. And so that's become our thing.
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  Speaker 5: She's become a chili connoisseur, excuse me, because when we
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: were living up north, it snowed and rain, it was
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: cold and it was dreary all the time. So that
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: was like her way, but she's ruined chili for me,
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: but she's really good at it now because of the
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  Speaker 5: cold weather.
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  Speaker 4: I have to say, and I think Max is a
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: chili fan.
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  Speaker 3: My only problem with chili is that one bowl, you know, again,
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  Speaker 3: for somebody my size, right. Um, and by the way,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: let me just point out six, one, 200. I stand
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: next to these guys. I look like, uh, you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: a member of the lollipop league, um, you know, from, uh,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: from gone with the wind. Uh, but one bowl should
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: be enough, right. That should be enough. And, um, by
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: the way, I played golf with one of those guys, uh,
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: from the movie once it was.
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  Speaker 4: Very, very cool.
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  Speaker 3: Um, anyway, uh, one bowl should be enough, but I,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: I can't stop at one bowl. And so I, then
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I start sweating and my stomach gets distended and, you.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Know, so that's my only problem. I love chili.
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  Speaker 3: Um, but I, I can't, uh, I can't stop myself
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  Speaker 3: at one bowl. Max, I know Max is a big
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: soup and stew fan. So Max, I know you just, thanks.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Thanks for being on.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: I called to try to get a little bit of
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: my man card back.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Um, frankly is what I did because, you know, you
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: guys were talking about these great meals you're going to
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: have on Wednesday. And I was talking about the salad
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: that I was going to have when I was watching
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: the pirates game, but I did get a piece of
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: jalapeno cornbread with extra butter to make myself feel a
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: little bit better. But I know you're a big soup
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  Speaker 3: and chili fan as well.
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  Speaker 4: I am.
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  Speaker 2: I am.
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  Speaker 7: I mean, I do chili probably I'd say once a week,
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: once every other week. Wow. For the girls. Wow. Because
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: I mix it with Taco Tuesday. So I do the
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: taco fixings, whether it's beef or chicken. And then I
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: also do a side pot of chili, especially when I'm
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: working with ground beef that week. Yep. I kind of alternate,
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: so it's not every week. The week that I do
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: ground beef taco night, I also do chili because I'm
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: usually buying a bigger pack of meat. But, yeah, no,
• 10:29
  Speaker 7: I'm a three-bean chili guy, so I usually use cannellini, pinto,
• 10:35
  Speaker 7: and dark kidney mixed in and do a ground beef mixture,
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: and then I have my little spice blend. And that's
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: how I do my chili. Of course, you've got to
• 10:44
  Speaker 7: use the diced tomatoes with the jalapenos and the hatch
• 10:47
  Speaker 7: green chilies in it. But, yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: Oh, look at that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: Once again, we talked about this, Willie. If we ever
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: did a Fat Man tailgate show, I am ready for
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: the chili cook-off. I am ready for the chili cook-off.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Okay.
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  Speaker 6: It works.
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: Listen, I don't, like I just stated, I'm no longer
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: a fan of chili because of my wife.
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: She's ruined it for me on top of that.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: When it comes to a cook-off, I'm more of a
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: steak and burger guy. Max, you own the chili. You're
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: the chili king. So I would have to tag my
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: wife in if this was a chili on chili Big
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Ben competition.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: And here's my contribution, guys. I'll whip up the salad
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: that nobody eats, that everybody looks at.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: You're the one. Who brought the salad, Rob, for that one?
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: Hey, the uncooked item for the chili cook-off, we'll leave
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: that to Rob.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: You just got to have a little green out there
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: just to make ourselves look better.
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: He can dress the burgers that Willie grills. He can
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: dress the burgers.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Perfect.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: So, guys, we're getting ready. The team is, I believe,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: off this weekend now, off for practice tomorrow. Mike McCarthy
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: talks on Monday. Tuesday, we get into game week. And
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: as soon as you get ready to take on the Falcons,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: I've begun digging into that. I've got some thoughts on
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: the Falcons that I can't wait to share with you
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: guys and get your opinions as well on this Atlanta team.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: But, you know, I was– I.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Think Willie knows this by now, just a week in
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: the locker room and talking with us, that I've been–
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: far more bullish on the Steelers present and future than
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: pretty much all the national prognosticators. And I think probably
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: many of the local ones as well. So when I,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: when I started doing play by play with the, a
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: couple of years ago, I thought that the Steelers, you know,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: clearly they were clearly churning some of the roster, right?
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: They were, they were still coming out of the Ben
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Roethlisberger years and figuring out to move, how to move
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: on from there. And, I thought they'd put together a
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: pretty decent roster. And then they added Russell Wilson at quarterback,
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: and I thought, okay, well, this should be an improved
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Steelers team. But there were people calling for him to
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: win seven games, and this is going to be Mike
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Tomlin's first losing year. I couldn't quite figure that out
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: because they'd been solid the year before, and they were
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: better at quarterback. And I thought, okay, well, they should
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: be better. And, of course, they were, and I felt
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: the same thing last year, that now you've upgraded again
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers over Russell Wilson. and the
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: roster's gotten a little bit better, and so I felt
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: better about the team then, and I'm in the same
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: position now. I feel the roster, now you've got the
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: same quarterback coming back, and of course the coaching situation
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: is a change in the coaching staff, so that's got
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: to be a factor as well, but I think the
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: roster has once again improved. I think the Steelers have
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: taken a step forward. That is my sort of, general
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: take and Willie and Max before we head to our
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: first break I would like to get your general take
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: on the state of the Steelers and then we're going
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: to go into this article ESPN wrote about a week
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: or so ago talking about where the Steelers are from
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: 27 to 29 and where every team is they rank
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: them all this is where the team's sort of future
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: stock looks so Willie just give me a sort of
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: a you know a a quick sort of take on
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: where you think the Steelers stand heading into this season,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: without talking specifically about record.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Do you like the roster? Do you like where they are?
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: You know, personally, I do like the roster.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: And when Omar Khan gave his reasoning for keeping the
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: four quarterbacks on top of keeping the 11 rookies, and conceptually,
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: me and Max talked about this yesterday on the show,
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: what having an older veteran presence means does to.
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: A younger group and what that means in the Steeler
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: world as.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: Far as how to produce as a Steeler, how to
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: be a representative of a Steeler off the field, and
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: continuing that momentum and kind of building that bridge into
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: the future, I do feel positive about it. I think
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: as we continue to look at this roster and what
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: they're able to do, yeah, sure, there's some potholes, but
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: I'm confident with the leadership that The fact that this
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: team is a battle tested team. And on top of that,
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: we're only a one or two, maybe three guys away
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: from being exactly where we want to be. But nothing
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: feels like it's like a reach.
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: So I guess I'm hopefully I'm not I will say
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: hopefully optimistic.
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: I'm really optimistic that this team will be where they
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: need to be in probably another year or two.
• 15:57
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I'll go with, I feel like it's probably two
• 16:05
  Speaker 7: players away next year from, from what we're going to
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: have to place. Obviously the question of quarterback is going
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: to be always the biggest looming question, but I also
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: feel like watching what we've done over the last, I mean,
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: two decades and how that quarterback has been so integral,
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: but then I watched, you know, the last four years
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: and it's been kind of in flux and this team
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: has still been able to rise to the occasion. I think,
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: you know, there is a certain level of optimism that
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: that team should have. And, and I think when I
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: look at this year, especially like this is a golden
• 16:43
  Speaker 7: opportunity that if things do fall into place, it, we're going,
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: we're going to be in a, in a similar situation
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: to where you're not going to be up there with
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: those top, whatever tier guys in the draft. And to
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: make that jump, I feel like it's going to be tough.
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: And if we have the expectations that we have for
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: this team of a deep playoff run and to be
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: a team that, that, that is, is to be reckoned with,
• 17:09
  Speaker 7: you know, there's going to be some, some tough decisions
• 17:11
  Speaker 7: that have to be made, but I love the foundation
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: of this team. So I don't, When you build through
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: the lines, it is a very, very good indicator of
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: the health of your entire team, and that's what the
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: squad has done. Now we need those guys to realize
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: themselves and play up to their potential, but building it
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: the way it is, you should always have an ability
• 17:34
  Speaker 7: to reset but never have to rebuild.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: So say us. ESPN, in this poll that they did,
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: says differently.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: In fact, differently to a point that I found quite shocking,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: which we are going to get to when we continue
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And we thank you for being with us in the
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: locker room. So we are going through an exercise here because...
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: And I always think it's good to know not only
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: what we think about the team as close observers to
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: the team, but what others around the country feel about
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: the team as well. So ESPN does this every year.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: They sort of look into the future. They rank teams,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: and they rank them on several categories. So the categories
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: are overall roster excluding quarterback, the quarterback, coaching, and the
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: front office. Okay, so that's the criteria they use. How
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: good is this team going to be in the future?
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: Okay, so.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: The number one team is also the number one team
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: in the NFL right now. That is Seattle. So just
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: to give you an indication of how these rankings go,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: number one in overall roster, excluding quarterback. Quarterback, number 16. Boy,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: poor Sam Darnold coaching, they have them ranked third, and
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: the front office, they have them ranked second. So before
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: we kind of dive into things a little bit, have
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: you guys seen any hard knocks yet?
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: I have not. I have not seen it.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: I saw the first episode, and I must say Mike McDonald,
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: I thought, came across pretty well, the Seahawks head coach.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Seemed like a pretty good guy. So when you guys
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: get around to it, I would love your impression of that.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: I don't know anything about Mike McDonald other than, of course,
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: a little bit of his coaching background. Never heard anything
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: about his personality. But I thought he came off pretty well.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Sometimes you look at those things and you're like, man,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: that player or that coach, wow, I love him. Or, whew,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: I'm glad he's not with us. But he struck me
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: as a pretty decent guy. So they're ranked number one, right?
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Philadelphia's two. Detroit is three. Denver is four. The Rams
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: are five. I think that's interesting because, you know, the
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: Rams have sort of gone, they've, you know, done a
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: lot of trading for the now.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: By the way, guys, a quick aside here.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: I think the Rams are, a really, really fascinating case
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: in team building. And I see this in other sports,
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: for example, in hockey, the Vegas Golden Knights. In basketball,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the New York Nexus here. In baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays,
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: which is that everybody, well, not everybody, there's been a
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: large calling for A lot of people saying the Steelers
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: should just rip it down to the studs. I don't
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: know what that looks like in football, by the way.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: You know, they should just get a top draft pick and,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: you know, be terrible for a while and bite the
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: bullet and get your number one quarterback and then rebuild
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: from the ground up. Okay, so I have a number
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: of problems with that. First of all, the Steelers are
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: never going to do that.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Never. It's not in their DNA. Never has been. Never
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: will be.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: Secondly, let me point to a team like Buffalo that went,
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: was it 20 years without making the playoffs? There is
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: no guarantee that quote-unquote ripping it down to the studs
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: is going to wind up with you having a Super
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Bowl winner. There's absolutely no guarantee of that. Still, a
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: lot of teams do.
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: Rob, I have to cut you off. I cover the Jets.
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: Jets have done it three times in the last six years.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: And look where they're at.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: They're now hoping to get a competent competitive team this
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: season led by Geno Smith. So to your point, and
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: I totally back you on it, You're right. Stripping it
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: down doesn't equal championships.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: No, and Willie, it sounds good from the outside, but
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: it is a miserable place for a fan base to be.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: You think Jets fans have enjoyed the last six, eight years?
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: You think they've had fun? They've had no fun at all.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: Am I correct? I mean, it's a lousy thing to
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: be a Jets fan right now.
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: Well, Rob, I'll even do you one better.
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: Having covered the team for some time, The worst part
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: of it, and I'm glad and I'm extremely fortunate, me
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: and Max have never been part of a culture or
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: been a part of something like that, where when you
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: draft guys who come from winning programs, right, who come
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: from the Alabamas, Ohio States, Michigans, whatever, whatever, and they've
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: had three or four years of success, and all they
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: know is winning and a winning culture, and they feel
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: the love and glory football gives you when you win
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: on Saturday. And then you immerse yourself into the NFL,
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: you're happy, you're living your dream.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: And you give.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: Birth to an organization who, by all accounts, is trying,
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: or at least they're acting like they're trying to make
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: this thing right. And when you play for an organization
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: like that, and it's not just Jets, it's other organizations
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: like that, that when you go out there and you
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: want to be the guy or you want to be
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: a part of a core who spearheads change, and that
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: change doesn't happen for not only the first year, but
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: the second year, third year, and you watch guys, man,
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: those type of guys who have to kind of deal
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: with that.
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: They lose the love of football.
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: They lose what it means to go out there and
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: enjoy it because they see the business side of it first.
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: They see the dark side of it second.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: And thirdly, they start to become me guys.
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: And it's hard to build around me guys.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: Like one thing the Steelers do and have always done is–
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: they've always endorsed family first, right? They've always been the organization, man,
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: one for all, all for one, the brotherhood, the family,
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: the code, the brand.
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: It's all about one, one, one.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: And when you see guys lose that fire, especially during interviews, right?
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: After a tough loss, they're like, man, what happened out there?
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: And you start to see the spirit and the fire
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: seek out of their eyes because they're like, I've prepared,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: we've prepared, we've had good weeks of practice. It's just
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: not turning over on Sundays. Man, that's a hard culture.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: When people talk about culture, man, they're talking about winning culture.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: And I've said this and we've said this on the show.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: Winning is the ultimate deodorant. Every stealing team I've ever
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: played on, we damn sure had our issues. We damn
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: sure had guys who weren't good apples, so to speak.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: But we won.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: And because we won and we had good leadership around winning,
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: that's the ultimate deodorant. So when teams don't have that
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: and you're not winning, man, And you think by just
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: stripping it down and building up, well, you got one
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: to make sure when you strip it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: Down, you're getting the right guys. And we all know
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: how hard it is to draft the right guys year
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: after year.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: And so I applaud what the Steelers did this offseason,
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: but for every other team that's kind of in limbo or.
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: Kind of pulled themselves out of purgatory, it's hard. It's
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: not easy. So stripping it down, I agree, Rob, once again,
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: is not the right answer.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, there's just absolutely no guarantee that it's
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: going to succeed.
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: None.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: And when you look at a team like the Rams,
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: you know, they haven't had to do that. The Rams
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: have gone, and all these teams that I've mentioned have
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: remained competitive despite, you know, and they're doing things in
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: a different way. You know, they're remaining, like the Rams
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: went out and got Matthew Stafford, and everybody's like, well,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: they're all in on winning. But they're all in on
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: winning every year. But they just do it in a
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: different way. They haven't ripped it down to the studs.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: They haven't said, we have to be lousy.
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: To be good.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: They continue to do things in a slightly different way. Now, 2022,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: they had a bad year. They went 5-12. A lot
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: of things happened wrong for them. They went out and
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: got Miles Garrett. And everybody, you know, the common thing
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: is to say, well, they're all in. Yeah, they're all
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: in every year. They just do it in a different way.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, the one draft where they traded everybody, They
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: got Puka Nakua. They got all kinds of star players
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: later in the draft. They didn't need the number one
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: pick in the draft or a first-round pick to remain competitive.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: So I think that they're a fascinating team that flies
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: in the face of what a lot of other teams
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: are trying to do. I think the Steelers are the
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: same way. Look, I think the Steelers have tried to–
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I think they wanted to– they were interested in signing
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Sam Darnold.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: They didn't get him.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Sam Darnold went and signed with Seattle. It's not like
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: they're not trying to make the roster better. They just
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: refuse to make the roster worse. And as somebody who
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: wants to watch winning football, Max, I'm absolutely fine with that.
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: I am as well.
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: And I think, you know, for a lot of people,
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: that's why I kind of said that earlier about it's
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: always a reset, never a rebuild. And that has never
• 27:20
  Speaker 7: been the Steeler way because, you know, to all the
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: reasons that Willie gave, it ultimately comes down to trusting
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: your front office, trusting your scouting department and trusting your coaches, right?
• 27:30
  Speaker 7: That Holy Trinity has to be in place. And that's
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: why you don't see as much movement in those three
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: positions within the Steelers organization, but you see that everywhere else.
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: And Willie, you talked about it, looking at what the
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: Jets have done, right? You know, rebuilding as much as
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: they have. We look at a lot of other organizations.
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: I cover the Cardinals. I mean, Willie and I are
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: both in like, alternate team purgatory with our other duties
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: because the Cardinals have done it and they're doing it again. So,
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: you know, I think about and I look at those
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: things and there is a commonality and a common thread
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: between your coaching turnover, your GM turnover versus, you know,
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: sustained success within an organization because there's a clear philosophy
• 28:20
  Speaker 7: that has to be followed. and a clear kind of
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: blueprint that you must kind of adhere to. If you
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: want to, it's going to be tough. It's not going
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: to be nice, but that consistency coach after coach year
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: after year, decade after decade has to be in place
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: because it gives you a building block and a foundation
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: from which you operate. And when you flip flop on that,
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: that's what makes it very tough to have that success.
• 28:48
  Speaker 7: And that's why with the Steelers, uh, yeah, we're always
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: going to be bullish on them because we've seen it.
• 28:54
  Speaker 7: We've seen how it looks. And yes, you might get
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: leaner years than most, but you're never that perennial number
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: one overall top five pick two out of the last
• 29:07
  Speaker 7: three years type of situation. And people just want new
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: for the sake of new, right? You know, it's, it's
• 29:15
  Speaker 7: boring to continually be successful or to have a a
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: baseline of success that very few teams can say over
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: the last two decades think about this the last two
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: decades you know this team has been below 500 once
• 29:32
  Speaker 7: and i know and people like well we're tired of
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: being you know nine and eight and eight and eight
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: when it was 16 game schedule but if you look
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: at the field over the last two decades there's been
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: a lot more of those that have that have not
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: been that um and yes they have these highs and
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: lows and spikes and we were talking about the rams
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: but at the same time Going all in means you're
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: going to take that step back, and people are going
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: to be looking for that high and that fix. And
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: for the Steelers, it's about maintaining a certain level, and
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: then boom, when you get to that point, like we're
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: talking about, building through the lines. Building and drafting first-round
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: defensive and offensive line is not sexy. But drafting a quarterback...
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: That may be boom or bust, a la Johnny Manziel,
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: or we're going to see whether Ty Simpson can step
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: into that role behind Matt Stafford, or you get Jamarcus Russell.
• 30:29
  Speaker 7: You get all these different guys that you're trying to
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: take this leap and this jump for, and we're seeing
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: it in Minnesota. J.J. McCarthy, right?
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's sexy.
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: We went and got a quarterback. Well, now you've got
• 30:40
  Speaker 7: Kyler Murray starting for you. You went and got a
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: treasure troll to go start for you. And now you're
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: going to hope that it comes good. So I think
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: that's where people just want change for the sake of change,
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: but you have to trust the plan and trust what
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: a team's been doing, you know, for the better part
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: of a half a century. And it's yielded six Superbowl championships,
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: which is only tied with new England. I think you
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: have to trust that process because it is, it has
• 31:07
  Speaker 7: worked and it will continue to work.
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: Can I say one more thing, Rob, please? Um, Yeah,
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: I think people also have to understand.
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: Some of the reasons why organizations have bad years or
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: whatever is a lot of times the GM isn't in
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: line or GM and his staff isn't in line with
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: the philosophy of the team. And that's why when you
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: see the Roonies go out and hire Omar Khan, who's
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: a part of the organization for a long time, where
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: he was not only able to be the guy, you know,
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: he'd handle the contracts, but he– He grew and learned
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: the philosophy of the.
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: Roonies, and he was able to watch a power and
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: a Mike Tom and how they thought.
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: And so all that years of education and all that
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: alignment is why he's the guy right now. And when
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: you see teams constantly turn over a head coach and
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: a GM, a lot of times they haven't had enough
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: time to align.
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: Themselves with the philosophy of the team.
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: And so that's what makes this year interesting more than
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: ever because Valet, McCarthy is, you know, he's a son
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: of Pittsburgh but hasn't been a part of the organization.
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: But Omar Khan has been a part of the organization.
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: He has sat in the rooms and been a part
• 32:20
  Speaker 5: of draft classes and watched generations and turnovers of guys
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: coming in and out of the locker room.
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: So he's been able to see the good, the bad,
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: and the ugly in building a team.
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: And so when you look at this ranking, they're never
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: going to account what Omar Khan has been a part
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: of and the role he has now and the work
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: he had to do to get there. They'll never account
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: the fact that even though it's an older roster, a
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: lot of those guys embody the philosophy of the team.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: So that carries over.
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: And what they don't account for is even with that philosophy,
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: like me and Max said, they're doing what they've always done.
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: We're just able to see it with a new head
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: coach in Mike McCarthy. So Steelers fans, as much as
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: they want the new, the old way is what's been
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: able to keep this thing stable and moving forward. Now
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: they're asking Mike McCarthy to move the franchise forward by
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: doing things different, and we have to see if Pittsburgh
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: is willing to follow it, meaning the fan base. Overall, man,
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: stability and Max is right. When you see an organization
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: who's stable and has constant stability with their philosophy and
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: how they approach their work, you have to respect it
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: and support it because we've all paid witness or watched
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: what the other side looks like, and it's not good
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: behind the curtain, so For everybody out there that's kind
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: of like, oh, the Steelers, they'll be in the playoffs
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: and lose again, you don't want to see what the
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: other side looks like.
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: Trust me.
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: I have something to add to that, but I'm going
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: to wait until after the break. It is a little
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: bit different take on that. I largely agree with what–
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: in fact, I almost completely agree with what you guys
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: are saying, but I do want to play devil's advocate
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: for a moment with this, and we're going to continue
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: to look at the future rankings of organizations as done
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: by ESPN and where the Steelers rank.
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: We're at five.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: And we are nowhere close to where ESPN has the
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Steelers ranked. We'll tell you about that when we continue
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: here in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: And thank you very much for being with us in
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: the locker room. So a quick aside here to what
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: we were talking about. So we were talking about the
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: future rankings of the Steelers organization as we are going
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: to sort of turn the page into next week. And
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: we'll begin to look at the Falcons game in earnest
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: next week. But ESPN puts out this ranking every year
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: of where they rank the organizations in the future. And
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: that is the years 27 through 29. Obviously, it's hard
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: enough to do that, much less look beyond that. And
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: we got sort of on an offshoot of talking about
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: the Rams, who have been a team that has remained
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: competitive and won a Super Bowl without going through what
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: some people seem to think the Steelers or other teams
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: should do, and that's, you know, quote, unquote, rip things
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: down to the studs and get that top, you know,
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: number one pick a quarterback and then build the team
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: around that player. which is a strategy that I think
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: is sometimes successful but just as often not successful, which
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: leads me to the offshoot of that conversation that I
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: wanted to have and a bit of the devil's advocate
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: is what makes a fan base, and in particular the
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Steelers fan base, happy. So I think that the Steelers
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: last year set the record 22 consecutive non-losing seasons. And
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: I would say this, it's not nothing. It is certainly
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: not nothing. By the same token, I understand the fans,
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: and this is the devil's advocate I was talking about
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: prior to the break, I understand the fans who also say, well,
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: it's not everything either. So I think some people just
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: dismiss it. Well, you're 22, who cares?
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: Well, I care. That's 22 seasons you were in it.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: That includes a Super Bowl victory, a Super Bowl loss,
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: division titles like we saw last year, and no seasons.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: None in which you're out of it.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: I think the Steelers have played one game.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: They played one game under Mike Tomlin. Is that correct?
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: That didn't have playoff implications? One game. That's it. It's incredible.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: So I understand that you want more. And we all
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: want more, of course. I guess the question is, what
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: makes you happy? If it's only the Super Bowl, well,
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: then you've got some unhappiness in store for you no
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: matter what fan base you're a part of.
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: So I do want to at least measure that out.
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: Understand that this is a tremendous accomplishment but it's not
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: the ultimate uh accomplishment for a franchise what the Steelers
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: have been able to do nor would the Steelers say
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: it's the ultimate um either guys.
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: Okay I'll take it uh sorry I thought I was
• 37:25
  Speaker 7: unmuted I apologize.
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: I was I was talking and I.
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: Realized like oh I'm muted I'm sorry Yeah, go ahead, Will. No, listen,
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: I think for a fan base that's really, to your point, Rob,
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: has kind of glossed over and looked over the fact
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: that we've had years of continued success. Maybe not every
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: year has inkled into a Super Bowl. I do think
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: there's some level of fatigue, right? Because I think, sure,
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: I think sometimes Steelers fans don't understand how much work
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: it goes into not only winning, but preparing for the
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: seasons ahead. And I think when you look at the
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: way this team is being constructed now, they're preparing for
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: the future while trying to win now at the same time,
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: which is extremely hard because we talked about Aaron Rodgers
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: last year, Cam Hayward on his own podcast talked about, hey, hey, man,
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: I probably got.
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: This year and one more, this may be it. And
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: you've seen some of these.
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: Guys that we've celebrated and we've called heroes and ambassadors
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: of the Pittsburgh Steelers try to do their best on
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: and off the field. while trying to usher in this
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: new group, it's a lot for a team to handle.
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: And so we're watching this season in real time, the
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: old bringing the new while still trying to maintain that
• 38:42
  Speaker 5: one goal, which is winning a Super Bowl. I can
• 38:44
  Speaker 5: tell you first and forehand, a lot of organizations aren't
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: focused in that way. A lot of organizations aren't walking
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: around thinking about the future while trying to be all
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: in now. It's an extremely hard task, not only from
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: a management standpoint, but also from a team standpoint.
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: And so.
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: I think for a lot of guys who, excuse me,
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: a lot of Steelers fans, as they may fall fatigued to, yeah,
• 39:08
  Speaker 5: we'll have a place at the playoffs, but get knocked off,
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: you know, I think you only submit to those feelings
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: if you don't understand how hard it is just to
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: have a place at the table every year and also
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: understand that next year isn't guaranteed another successful year, right?
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: And so I'm just of the mindset you got to
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: appreciate the work that goes into building a roster, having
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: a competitive roster, and even if you feel like if
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: it's an aging roster, realizing you also got to respect
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: an old, you know, an old football player, an aging
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: football player, there's a reason why they still have a job.
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: There's a reason why they're considered... one of the best
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: at their position.
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: So you have to respect that with that old age,
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: they was able to, you know, keep that rank, so
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: to speak. So I think there needs to be more
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: roses than a tomato stone at this roster and the
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: guys on the roster and the organization.
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: And I think you're absolutely right. Well, I mean, you, you, you,
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: I mean, I hate to do the comparison game, but right.
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: But it's, Would you rather be a Steelers fan that,
• 40:16
  Speaker 7: like you said, all but one game has meant playoff implications?
• 40:21
  Speaker 7: Or would you rather be in purgatory to where teams
• 40:23
  Speaker 7: have already counted you out from the beginning? Think of
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: the Raiders. Think of the Cardinals.
• 40:29
  Speaker 6: Think of.
• 40:30
  Speaker 7: Sad to say it, Willie, I know you cover the Jets,
• 40:33
  Speaker 7: the Dolphins, right? Teams that you could almost certainly at
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: the beginning of the year, like, hey, playoff predictor, let's
• 40:39
  Speaker 7: just cross these guys off the list immediately. Tennessee Titans, right?
• 40:43
  Speaker 7: You look at all of these teams that just aren't
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: even in it. And the fact that we're in people's
• 40:48
  Speaker 7: mouths all the time. And they just want to throw
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: dirt on it. And yet every time they try and
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: throw dirt on it, we come rising out of the ashes. Like,
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: how did this team win the division last year, right? Remember,
• 40:59
  Speaker 7: we were supposed to be predicted fourth.
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: And it's something to be said. I think we're predicted
• 41:06
  Speaker 6: fourth now. Third or fourth now, Max. I think people
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: are still counting us as the third. Yeah, we're third
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: right now. And we're the reigning.
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: AFC North champs.
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 41:15
  Speaker 7: So... I mean, so it is something that people have this,
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: I think a lot of broadcasters or media personalities just
• 41:23
  Speaker 7: have Steelers fatigue because they always, you know, have to
• 41:27
  Speaker 7: consider us and then they want, they go out of
• 41:30
  Speaker 7: their way to not consider us for a lot of things.
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: And it still keeps getting proven wrong that it almost
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: adds like a little bit of ire and a little
• 41:39
  Speaker 7: bit of extra vinegar in their system when they have
• 41:42
  Speaker 7: to come out and do this. And I think, you know,
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: And when we look at kind of this future ranking,
• 41:48
  Speaker 7: it's kind of that culmination. Like, man, we finally got
• 41:51
  Speaker 7: them this year. That's what everybody feels like. We finally
• 41:53
  Speaker 7: got them. We're finally going to put them down. Force
• 41:57
  Speaker 7: them to rebuild. You can't force this organization to do
• 42:02
  Speaker 7: what you want it to do. They're going to operate
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: in the way that they've always operated. And so when
• 42:08
  Speaker 7: we get to this and then fans start to feed
• 42:11
  Speaker 7: into the prognosticators or whoever... the, you know, powers to
• 42:16
  Speaker 7: be that writes these media articles. And then they're like, yeah,
• 42:19
  Speaker 7: you know what? They're right. We should rebuild.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 42:22
  Speaker 7: You know, this team is bad.
• 42:23
  Speaker 6: It's like, no, take it for what it is.
• 42:26
  Speaker 7: Look at this team and really think critically about it.
• 42:29
  Speaker 7: And I think because we have a, a closer look
• 42:32
  Speaker 7: into the organization experience within the organization. And we know
• 42:35
  Speaker 7: what the content of the character, the players that they're taking,
• 42:39
  Speaker 7: it makes it so tough. to even buy into whatever
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: they're saying, but I know we have to react to it.
• 42:46
  Speaker 7: And when I see kind of some of these articles
• 42:50
  Speaker 7: come out, it's just, it almost, Willie, and I don't
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: know if this does this for you, it just makes
• 42:56
  Speaker 7: me so, like, I got a little, like, sneaky grin.
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: I almost like the Grinch, you know, when he was
• 43:04
  Speaker 7: thinking about raiding Whoville before before Christmas. I can't wait
• 43:10
  Speaker 7: to prove them wrong.
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying?
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: It drives a little something extra in my system.
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: Rob.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, I thought Willie was going to jump in there.
• 43:24
  Speaker 6: No, I'm sorry.
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: I was letting Rob jump in there.
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: No. Go ahead, Rob.
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: No, no, please, Willie.
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: Go ahead. Yeah, so listen, I think a.
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: Lot of people also forget that with Aaron Rodgers being
• 43:41
  Speaker 5: 42 years old, the fact that he came back valid
• 43:44
  Speaker 5: was for Mike McCarthy and having the opportunity to win
• 43:47
  Speaker 5: another Super Bowl.
• 43:49
  Speaker 6: I think the man genuinely believes in winning a Super Bowl.
• 43:52
  Speaker 5: I don't think Aaron Rodgers came back off the couch
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: and his plush lifestyle and decided to play football and
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: PA because he just doesn't want to be home. I
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: think there's an honest effort and consensus that he feels
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: like he can win a Super Bowl with this roster.
• 44:09
  Speaker 5: When you bring in Michael Pittman, you get Rico Dotto,
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: along with the pieces that we have right now, I
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: think he said, hey, man, if we do this the
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: way I know we can do this, we can.
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: Shock the world. And so, Max, when you say you have.
• 44:22
  Speaker 5: Kind of like that ghoulish grin that, hey, man, I
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: can't wait to prove people wrong, I believe it.
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: Think about it.
• 44:29
  Speaker 5: Watching the Bengals being ranked number one in the division
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: or on some people's list is wild to me.
• 44:34
  Speaker 6: Considering the years they've had.
• 44:37
  Speaker 5: I know Lamar Jackson was banged up last year, and
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: the offensive line for him wasn't good. But what we
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: also watched in the Baltimore Ravens was a diminished defense, right?
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: And when you look at the Browns to continue to
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: figure themselves out, I'm baffled at the fact that people
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: don't believe in what the Steelers are capable of doing,
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: and when they have an opportunity to do so in
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: the playoffs, they're still like, ah.
• 45:01
  Speaker 6: I guess so. It's like, look around.
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: We're in a lot better, you know, sure, we have
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: an old quarterback and we may have some questions to
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: answer down the road, but we're showing up and we're
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: right exactly where we need to be. We're not in
• 45:16
  Speaker 5: a position where other teams have a diminished group or
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: are constantly looking for an identity.
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: Like, we know what our identity is.
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: And actually, we have a new identity and we're excited
• 45:26
  Speaker 5: to see what that looks like under Mike McCarthy. So
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: I think the optimism and the focus should be Watch
• 45:34
  Speaker 5: us work. And that's how I feel about this season.
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: Watch the Steelers go work. We understand Mike McCarthy, what
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: he's capable of. We know what Aaron Rodgers is capable of.
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: But I think for all the haters out there, I'm
• 45:45
  Speaker 5: with Max. Watch the Steelers work.
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: We're out.
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, Willie, you bring up a great
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: point with Aaron Rodgers. That's a great point. He would
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: not be coming back if he didn't think this team
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: had a chance to win. What else does he have
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: left to prove in his career? You know, look, and again,
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: I can't pretend to know what his personal life is
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: like or how much of this is being driven by
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: his love of playing the game. He clearly could have
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: made some other decisions and perhaps gone to some other teams.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: And again, all the other things, the personal reasons he
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: might have are his. And I don't know what those are.
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: And I'm not going to pretend to know what those are.
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: But I have a hard time believing, Max, that he
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: would come out of again, sort of semi-retirement or a
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: state of stasis in which he was not playing football
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: to come play for the Steelers if he didn't think
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: they had a legitimate chance to win.
• 46:40
  Speaker 7: And I think that's something, you know, I talked about
• 46:44
  Speaker 7: this last year, Rob, right at the end of the
• 46:46
  Speaker 7: season after we lost to the Texans, and I said
• 46:50
  Speaker 7: there was something different about the way Aaron walked off
• 46:53
  Speaker 7: that field. Like, he came out there, he walked off
• 46:56
  Speaker 7: that field like, I let my guys down. Like, this
• 47:00
  Speaker 7: was one of the first times he admitted in a
• 47:02
  Speaker 7: number of years where he enjoyed playing football with the
• 47:05
  Speaker 7: guys in that locker room. And he appreciated the organization's
• 47:10
  Speaker 7: approach to how they looked at football. And that drove
• 47:15
  Speaker 7: him a different way to make this decision. Like, we've
• 47:17
  Speaker 7: got to run it back. Like, if I'm feeling good enough,
• 47:21
  Speaker 7: I owe this to this team and these players. And
• 47:24
  Speaker 7: I thought that was something that was just remarkable that
• 47:27
  Speaker 7: we normally don't see with quarterbacks. and ultimately driving him.
• 47:31
  Speaker 7: And then, of course, when you make the decision to
• 47:33
  Speaker 7: hire Mike McCarthy, you know, I talked about this, Will,
• 47:38
  Speaker 7: and I said this. I said, you know, when you
• 47:41
  Speaker 7: kind of look back and take stock over your career
• 47:43
  Speaker 7: and you play the greatest hits in your mind, you know,
• 47:46
  Speaker 7: I think for Aaron, he realized, A, you know, I
• 47:50
  Speaker 7: have this great team of guys, this great group of
• 47:53
  Speaker 7: men to play with. But then he started thinking about,
• 47:56
  Speaker 7: The good years that he had in his career. Mike
• 47:58
  Speaker 7: McCarthy was a part of all of those. And so
• 48:01
  Speaker 7: you put both of those things together. It makes for
• 48:04
  Speaker 7: a great soup base and ingredients for a season ahead.
• 48:10
  Speaker 7: And I think that's what kind of ultimately drove him
• 48:14
  Speaker 7: to do this. And that's why I will never count
• 48:16
  Speaker 7: them out, because you could never get inside somebody's mind.
• 48:20
  Speaker 7: but you can see some.
• 48:21
  Speaker 6: Of the habits, right?
• 48:22
  Speaker 7: You know, it's like you might not know, but there
• 48:25
  Speaker 7: will be signs, and I'm just putting some of the
• 48:28
  Speaker 7: tea leaves together to look at those signs for what's
• 48:31
  Speaker 7: to come ahead.
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: Glad I didn't say chili, Willie. He stuck with chili.
• 48:37
  Speaker 5: I was waiting for the chili.
• 48:39
  Speaker 4: No, no chili here. All right, we're going to take
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: a break.
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: We are plowing through the way the Steelers are– regarded
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: in the future by at least one organization before we
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: turn our full attention to the present coming up next
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: week and the first opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, when we
• 48:56
  Speaker 3: continue in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.