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HR2: Preview · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Willie?
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Willie? You want it, Willie? Power hour, Willie.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: There it goes. Shout out to Mac. He loves it,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I guess.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: So, having some trouble with Willie's mic, unfortunately. We will
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: try to get Willie back for you. But it's the
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: power hour. We know our buddy Mac Starks gets all
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: excited about the power hour.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Loves it.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Missy Matthews has been through more than a few power
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: hours over her time as the sideline reporter for the
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Missy, hope you're doing well on this Friday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: I'm doing great. You know, keep checking the weather. I
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: think I'm just going to go and pack the rain
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: gear for our trip to Foxborough, but excited for our
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: week two matchup.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'll be going.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: I think that walk from the hotel to the bus,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: that 20 feet, I may have to pack an umbrella
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: as well. Because after that, I'll be on a bus,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: and then I'll go underneath the stadium, and then I'll
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: be in the press box.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: You know, I should be fine, Missy. Thanks.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: So we love having Missy Matthews on our broadcasting. We
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: love having Missy Matthews with us here in the locker room. Missy,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you're getting a sense of these
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: injuries and how big of a part they may or
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: may not play. We haven't really talked about the Patriots,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: but Carlton Davis did not participate in practice. That would
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: be a big loss for them. Remember, of course, Christian
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Gonzalez didn't play last year. Carlton Davis is his bookend
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: on the other end. But Michael Pittman showing up on
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: the DNP list yesterday. Troy Faltano being limited and Joey
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Porter running through some drills and then walking off the
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: field with the trainer in tow. All that sounds a
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: little bit ominous for the Steelers. I guess we'll have
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: to see who participates today, but as we sit here
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: on Friday morning as the team's getting ready to get
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: to work, you'd obviously like to, from the Steelers' perspective,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: have those.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Guys available to you.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, Troy Fatano, that sounds to me,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: he was not practicing on Wednesday, then he was limited
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: on Thursday. So as long as that arrow is pointed
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: up or, you know, stays neutral, that makes me feel okay.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: But I agree with Michael Pittman and Joey Porter Jr. Um,
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: I don't get the impression that either of those guys
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: will be playing, but you never know what could happen
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: today in practice. Um, So it'll be interesting to see
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: when that status report comes out. And like you said,
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: we did the matchup show yesterday with Matt Williamson, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: he talks so much about Carlton Davis, um, and for
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: him to not practice. Two days this week, at least
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: dealing with a neck injury that tells me that that
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: could be a little, you know, up in the air
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: as well. The only good thing for new England though,
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: is Trayvon Henderson who didn't play last week. He's been
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: a full participant as far as we know through Wednesday
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: and Thursday.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers is going back once again, talking about how
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: he doesn't care about the targets, right? It's about production,
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: about them collectively, them being effective as an offense.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But listen, Michael Pittman, who knows what his status.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Is going to be.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: You don't.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: Herman Wilson was choppy last. DK was choppy last Sunday.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I guess my.
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: Question is, He may not care about the targets, but
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: it seems like there's a disconnect with him and DK
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: and him and Wilson. It doesn't matter who is, but
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: if we want to see explosive offense, they have to
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: get on the same page.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Do you think that to be a point of emphasis
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: going into this?
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, Aaron
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: has taken, you know, the good teammate high road of like,
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: I'm not worried about DK. He's one of my best friends.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: I'm going to keep feeding them. We're good. And even
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Roman Wilson, totally different than how he was utilized or
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: even was spoken about last season. This year, it's, hey,
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: he made a mistake. It was a repeat mistake. It
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: won't happen again. So it is early in the season,
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: but I do agree. There were just so many things
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: that didn't go right in terms of the wide receiver group.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: In week one, you have to see that cleaned up,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: and you want to see it as fast as possible.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I do think one of the benefits, though, is that
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: We actually saw Pat Friermuth involved in this offense and
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: clearly somebody that Aaron Rodgers feels comfortable with. I know
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: we only saw Jeremy Bernard. He's a rookie. I get
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: it's hard to play with Aaron Rodgers. There's so much
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: you have to know. But I was surprised we only
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: saw Robert Tunyon. I can't remember exactly how many snaps,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: maybe a handful, but he's a guy who clearly knows Rodgers.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: So maybe if he's not feeling the connection with DK
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: and other guys as much, that is somebody who clearly
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: is familiar with Mike McCarthy's offense and could step in
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: and also help as well. But you really want DK
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: and Roman and guys like that that can stretch the field,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: especially if Pittman's status is up in the air.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it might mean more Jeremy Bernard.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: But again, I think this is probably going to be something,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: we've talked about this more from a defensive perspective with
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: the snap counts, but it might be more matchup oriented.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: We'll see because we don't know. It's a new head coach, right?
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: It's a new head coach. He's also the offense coordinator.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: We're not 100% sure how the distribution of labor, as
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin used to say, how the distribution of labor
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: might be meted out this week or any week. You know, Missy,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers always has something interesting to say at his
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: press conferences, always has, you know, he's just, I just
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: think he just shoots from the hip. You know, obviously
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: when I say that, he's obviously a really bright guy and,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: you know, but he's not holding anything back.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: When he's asked a question.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: But, you know, one of the things that he did
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: say that I thought was really interesting was, you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: people talking about the passing game and, you know, 24
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: for 40 and all this other stuff. And, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: some headlines, same old Steelers, they look exactly the same.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: He pointed out, look, you know, we had some plays
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: down the field that if we make the perception of
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: what the Steelers did offensively is completely reversed. I mean,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you hit some of those passes, now Aaron Rodgers threw
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: for 320 yards, you know, instead of two and change,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: and maybe has two or three touchdowns on his belt,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: you know, notched on his belt, so it will be
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: interesting to see how they attack the Patriots again. I
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: think they'll attack differently from week to week, but I
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: did think that was a really good point, that we
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: would be feeling a lot differently, I think, about the Steelers'
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: offense if some of those big plays had hit, and
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: they were really close to hitting.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: And I think that is, you know, the epitome of
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: a veteran player who has seen just about everything in
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: this week possible because maybe the young guys are like,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: oh man, like this isn't good. But from his perspective,
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: he can look, hey, that just means that, you know,
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: it could have went our way and it's easier to
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: clean up shore with the wind. But these are things
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: that they want to work on. And I'm sure that's
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: kind of how he's tempering the offense this week in
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: terms of what they want. You know he is meticulous,
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: as is Mike McCarthy. So I am sure, especially third
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: down conversions, they were not good 0 for 2 on
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: fourth down. So those were things that they were definitely
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: going to be working on. And as Mike McCarthy says,
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: he likes to have that teaching tape. I'm sure there
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: was a lot of things that they could go off
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: of to say, hey, this wasn't right. This is what
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: we need to do in this spot to try to
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: clean it up quickly.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Missy, this is And on the offensive side, we talked
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: about earlier before about getting this run game on par.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Were you surprised about.
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: Rico Duado and his performance in the offense week one?
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm going to be completely honest. I was
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: very surprised that they were going to have the fewest
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: rushing yards by any team in week one. And that's
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: not to say that it's, you know– a red flag
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: or my, you know, alarm bells are going off and
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: I'm completely worried about it. But that just felt like
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: that was something that we were not expecting to see
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: at all. And it did feel like, you know, there
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: wasn't a ton of run plays called. There wasn't a
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: lot of action of guys actually carrying the ball and
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: they didn't really get into a rhythm. But at the
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: same time, then that makes me think as I'm sure,
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: you know, you and Max start thinking as former offensive linemen,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: it's like, okay, so what's happening then with the offensive line?
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Is this something where Aaron just saw something, you know,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: to pass, uh, to go deep or what is happening there?
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: So maybe that's the thing they're also talking about and
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: discussing in terms of balancing this offense a little bit,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: but just really wanting to see those two guys that
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: we've just talked so much about and how physical they
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: can be, how, you know, Rico has two 1000 yard season.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Jalen was just shy of hitting it last year. Um,
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: You need your run game for sure. And looking at
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: the weather for New England, it's not going to be
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: the best as it stands right now. So running the
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: ball is something that they can definitely do. And I
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: didn't love when their defensive backs from the Patriots were
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: talking yesterday and said, hey, yeah, you know, we saw
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: the Jalen Warren fumble. which was his first since like 2024,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: by the way. But they said, if we can get
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: stuff like that happening, that's how we slow down Aaron Rogers.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: That's how we can beat them. Kind of playing the
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: same game that the Steelers did last year when they
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: went to Foxborough and got the win.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: I think too, Missy, when we talk about snap counts
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: on defense and, how that's going to be again, distributed
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: from week to week. And I truly believe it's going
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: to change a lot. I think it's going to be
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: game plan specific, but you know, when you have great
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: players and they have great games, then everything worked. It's
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: if you have great players and their snap counts are
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: down and it doesn't work, you know, maybe you can
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: get away with it for a week or so, but
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: after a while, you know, these guys might be chafing
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: a little bit, but for right now, And I do believe,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: because the Steelers have so many good players, that it's
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: going to continue to work. I mean, I'm just throwing
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: a negative Nelly out there thought. Sorry to all the
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: Nellies out there. You know, a negative Nelly kind of
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: thought out there that, you know, what could possibly go
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: wrong here with this?
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I like it. I think the guys are going to
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: be kept fresh. And, you know, T.J. Watt is your superstar.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: And when he has fewer snaps but winds up with
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: two sacks, an interception return for a touchdown, and the
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: AFC Defensive Player of the Week honor. I think that's
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: keeping everybody happy, and hopefully that buy-in continues because he
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: just was phenomenal.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, TJ is also somebody who
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: kind of shoots the media straight, and he was very
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: explicit after the game about, hey, if getting less reps
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: is helping me exert as much as possible in terms
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: of energy and the reps that I do get, Like,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I'm here for it because it has helped us. And
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: now they have that proof. Maybe the idea sounded crazy
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: at first because that's not what TJ and Cam Hayward
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: and guys like that were. But they literally have, you know,
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: one of the assistant coaches on defense keeping track of
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: their snaps in game to make sure where they are.
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: And I agree with the production. Alex Highsmith, obviously less
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: snaps for him, two sacks for him as well. So
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: this is definitely something that I think in terms of
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: the defense, especially when you were out on the field
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: so much last year, you know, really trying to get
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: off the field and the offense wasn't necessarily helping all
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: the time. I'm sure they're not mad about this, knowing
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: that it's going to keep them fresh week to week,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: not only long-term when you start to look, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: it's only September guys, we, you know, we still got
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: some more months to go. So hopefully that's something that continues.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: And as you said, Rob, they buy in, but I,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: If TJ said he's in, that makes me think that
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: everybody's in.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about Peyton Wilson.
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: Obviously, he had 13 tackles, five solos, and two tackles
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: for losses against the Falcons. He's become right next to,
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: I guess, Nick Herb as a budding star for this
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: Steelers defense.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Going into this matchup, we know the Patriots are going
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to want to do one thing.
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: They're going to want to run the football and potentially
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: spread this defense out. What can he do in this
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: game to continue to have that type of production? How
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: does he rally the rest of the boys in order
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: to kind of pretty much neutralize what Drake May in
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: that office wants to do come Sunday?
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you have to make Drake May not
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: want to run, right? And that's something that we all
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: know he can use his legs. He's really good at it.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: I was telling Rob and Matt Williamson yesterday, Willie, that
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Drake may have had more rushing yards than Jalen Warren
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: did in week one. That just shows they were not
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: playing a high-scoring game, but he can still use his legs.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: And I think Peyton Wilson is the perfect side-to-side guy
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: to make him think twice about that. And I just
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: think the way that they were able to communicate on defense,
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: I understand they were going against the third-string quarterback in
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Cooper Rush. But as a unit, if you look just
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: at what they did, I think that was impressive enough
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: of not a lot of confusion. Of course, there were
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: some missed tackles. You're also going against Dijon Robinson. But
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: I think that's something that you felt the confidence level
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: amongst those guys. And for sure with Peyton, I think
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: last year he was almost playing unsure of himself. Not
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: that he didn't know what was happening or what the
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: defense was. It was he did not feel as confident
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: as he normally does playing football. And this year he
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: has expressed thoroughly that under Patrick Graham, he's playing fast,
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: he's playing free, he's having fun again. And I think
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: obviously that is showing when you're getting 13 tackles, uh,
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: in your first game back and you're helping Patrick Queen really, uh,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: hammer down the communication with the defense that's new to
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: most of the players that are on the team right now.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: You know, a final question for me, Missy is looking
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: at the special teams and, um, you know, the, the
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Hubba Bubba distributors of, uh, of Pittsburgh. Very sorry to
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: see Danny Smith go last year, uh, chomping 19 pieces
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: of gum at one time.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Um, but he's gone, right? He's out.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: And you have Danny Crossman in there and it, it,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: it just, you know, there were a few things that
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: didn't look good. I, it sounded like they were going
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: to try a 62 yard field goal with Chris Boswell. Um,
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: that play looked out of sync. You know, look, I'm
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: not even going to mention Boz missing a field goal.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: So what? He's so good.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: Um, he's entitled to miss a long one every now
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: and again. Um, he's not going to miss too many,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: but the, the kickoff return coverage needs to be better.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: The kickoff coverage needs to be better. And, you know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: it could have been very costly, if not for something
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: being called back, a penalty last week on the Falcons
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: that was away from the play, actually didn't even correlate
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: to the 60-plus yard return that they got. That's one
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: thing that they're going to have to clean up. And
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: it's a new, it's not only a new coach, but
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: some new guys there as well. Not, you know, we're
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: not seeing Connor Hayward and some other guys perhaps that
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: we've seen out there on special teams, you know, Miles
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Killebrew in years past. So it's going to certainly bear
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: watching what the Steelers were able to do. And I
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: think particularly in kickoff coverage, because that was not up
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: to snuff on Sunday.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: No, definitely not. And I think too, you know, it
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: was a perfect day. I mean, it was really hot,
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: but you're playing at home. I hope that that is
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: definitely something that they've cleaned up. I know even during
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: the preseason games, um, You know, during the TV broadcast
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: when I would get Mike McCarthy at halftime, I mean,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: special teams is definitely something that was not making him
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: happy numerous times. I think we saw obviously Caden Legion
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: redeem himself in that final game against Buffalo. But there
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: is just too many TNT plays, as Danny Crossman calls them,
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: takes no talent of just things that didn't make sense.
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: Somebody was supposed to be in on one play. Ben
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Skronick's literally running from the sideline as Danny Crossman's losing
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: his mind on the sideline because they didn't have enough
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: guys on the field. It just felt like the, I guess,
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: the logistics and inner workings of it didn't feel as smooth,
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: at least from my perspective. And then obviously the product
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: that was out on the field, you didn't love. But
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: I do agree it is a change, not just because
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: of coaches, but because you don't have Miles Killebrew. because
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: you have Ben Skronic playing maybe a different position than
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: we've normally seen him. And maybe it's a lot of
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: the young guys who are playing special teams, who know
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: they have to play special teams to hold their position
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: on the 53-man roster, but is something that a special
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: teams pick up here or there, a la Caleb Johnson
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: last season, can make or break a game. And you
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: don't want that to be the case when you're going
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: up to New England, a place where historically... you don't
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: win that often.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Let's see if you'd put on your head coach hat. Me, Max,
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: and Rob had an animated discussion about what Mike McCarthy
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: needs to say to this ball club to prepare them
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: for a tough fight against the New England Patriots. We
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: stated on the show how the Patriots, they don't want
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: them for the 0-2.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: There's a lot going on.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: Organization from a team standpoint, the way they last played,
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: you know, through three interceptions. With all that said, the
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: Steelers have the opportunity to walk Foxborough.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: To play higher.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: If you're Mike McCarthy, what are you telling this ball
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: club as you prepare with a great opportunity to really
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: kind of flip the Patriots on their head by beating
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: them in Foxborough?
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: I think one of the quotes I had started keeping
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: track of some of the things that he had said
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: since being hired that is almost a philosophy that he
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: follows or something from earlier in his coaching career, something
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: that stuck with him. And one of them was from
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Marty Schottenheimer. And I'm paraphrasing, but it was something along
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: the lines of like, in times of crisis, think of
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: the players, not the plays. And that's kind of like, hey, guys,
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: we're not putting this on you, but we are. You
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: have to now go out and do everything that we
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: have worked on meticulously since OTAs and mini camp and
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: training camp. It's football, but we all need to see
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: it the same way and we need to see it
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: come to fruition. So I think that, and just also,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: you know, a little dangle in the carrot of, Hey,
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: guess what? The Patriots, they don't want to be 0-2.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: That's only happened once in the last 20 seasons. Also,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: they've lost their last five home openers, which is crazy.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: When I read it, I was like double checking and
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: I'm like, Nope, Nope. Okay. We're right. The last time
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: was 2019, unfortunately, against the Steelers, and that's when Tom
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Brady was still there. So there is a lot riding
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: on this, and what better way to spoil someone's homecoming?
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: after they were on the road, big matchup, primetime matchup,
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: and you end up losing again to the team that
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: won the Super Bowl.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Sounds good to me, Missy. I like that scenario.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Missy Matthews coming to drop in the beats for us,
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: as Missy always does.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Missy, thank you very much.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Look forward to Seeing you tomorrow on the team charter
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: and up in New England for the call of the
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: game on Sunday.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Sounds good, guys. Have a great weekend, Willie.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: All right. Thank you. You too.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Missy Matthews joining us in the locker room. We're going
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: to dive into some of the key matchups in this
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: game between the Steelers and the Patriots. One of the
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: bigger games on the NFL slate this weekend. When we
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: continue in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: We're getting you ready for the Steelers and the Patriots
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: on Sunday, and Willie, Before we get into some of
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: these key matchups and some of the things we're going
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: to be looking at on Sunday, I did want to
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: share the way I look at an NFL season with
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: you and see if you agree or disagree. Coaches want
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: to come out. Mike McCarthy is starting a new era.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: He wants to establish his identity. I'm sure all the
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: new coaches, I'm sure every team wants to establish their identity.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Identity or momentum or whatever the case may be, I
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: always feel like that's That's really good for that last
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: third of the season. The first third of the season,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: just win. I don't care how you win. It doesn't
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: make any difference. Stack the wins. Second third of the season,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: start to try to get a little momentum and start
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: to try to find out who you are. Mike McCarthy
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: talks about over the first four weeks of the season, 35%
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: of the looks are unscouted. You go up to the
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: line of scrimmage, 35% of the time you don't know
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: what the other team is doing.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: That means you're doing that too. So find out what works,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: get that sort of head.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Of steam going, and then, you know, hopefully in that
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: last third of the season, now if you're playing your
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: best football, you're a legitimate contender to hopefully win it all.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: That's kind of the way I look at it. I mean,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: obviously there's variations, but so to me, just go out and.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Win the game. I don't care how you win the game, son.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Just win it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, at the end of the day, nobody really judges
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: how you win the game as long as you win
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: the game.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: So I agree with you from that standpoint.
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: But I do think you have to kind of start
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: building goals as a team on offense, defense, and special teams.
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: And I think from an offensive standpoint, if you're the Steelers,
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: at your point, Rob, you want to start to find
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: what are your bread and butter. Can you lean on
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: from a defensive standpoint to help you win games, especially
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: in got-to-have situations? Defensively, You want to start to see
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: the team operate from a physical standpoint, from a brand standpoint.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: You want to see guys start owning the line of scrimmage. Schematically,
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: you want to start to see, kind of dive into
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: who plays where and where they match up the best.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: And from a special team standpoint, you want to know
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: who your stars are.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you want to be clean from an operational standpoint,
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: but you want to know who your dogs are on
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: that side and that aspect of the game. Because one
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: thing that wins football games late in the season is
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: special teams and defense and the ability to run the
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: ball and take some of those bricks off your quarterback's shoulder.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: If you start playing at an elite level in those categories, man,
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: you're primed for January. And so everything that you're talking
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: about is how do we start priming ourselves for January
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: where we're like, hey, We feel like we have a
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: good shot at this thing.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: So the Steelers last year against the Patriots were certainly
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: aided by the five Patriots turnovers. They had an interception
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: at the end zone, the end zone toward the end
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: of the first half. That was kind of a bizarre
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: drive in that game as well. But, you know, and
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: then the Patriots had more yardage than the Steelers. So
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: there's some things that I'm sure the Patriots can look at.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: And a lot of the players are the same, right?
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: And it's up in Foxborough. A lot of the players
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: are the same for both teams. I'm sure they're looking
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: and thinking, hey, if we just limit the turnovers, if
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: we limited the turnovers last year, we would have won.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: If we limit the turnovers in this game, of course,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: that's always a key, Willie. But I would caution and
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: say this. You call the game differently. You play the
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: game differently. And certainly Mike Tomlin, I think, was a
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: big proponent of this based on how the game unfolds.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: So, you know, we would all love five turnovers to
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: turn into, you know, 35 points.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: But you manage the game the way it's in front
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: of you.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: And if the Steelers hadn't gotten five turnovers, I suspect
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: they would have managed the game and approached the game
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: differently within the confines of the game itself.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I also think for the goal for the Steelers, yeah,
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: turnovers are warranted. But you also want to see this
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: team own the line of scrimmage. The Patriots have– they
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: want to be an explosive offense, right? And one way
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: to neutralize explosive offense is being able to own the
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: line of scrimmage, right?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Drake May, we talked about him not being redundant.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: You know, we talked about how much he was able
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: to use his plays to keep that offense in schedule, right?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: We talked about Josh Allen last week.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: What his– So, you know, Steelers just want to be
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: as explosive a place as possible and allow your offense
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: to stay in that game and getting them back to football.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, you brought up this stat, I think, early
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in the week. McCarthy talked about.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Getting more possession, getting more cracks at football so we
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: can score points, right? And if you're a defense, that's
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: the goal. Like, all right, let's get off the field
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: on third down. Let's not have these long drives. Let's, like,
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: give Drake May momentum. We know they want to run
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: the ball, potentially spread us out. Let's tackle better. So
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: you go into the game understanding we own the line
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: of scrimmage, force Drake to stay in the pocket, and
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: not allow.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Him to use his athleticism.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: I mean, it just favors the stealer in that regard.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: You know, it's such a great point, Willie. I mean,
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: you know, they say, you know, the human body, right,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: everything shoots out from your spine.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: To me in football– the trenches are the spine of
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: the game. That's where everything shoots out of. You know
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: what I mean? Everything is related to that. And so
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: I totally agree with you. I mean, you talk about
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: third down. Well, would you rather be in third and
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: two or would you rather be in third and 14?
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: And controlling the line of scrimmage is going to get
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: you in a lot more third and twos than it's
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: going to get you in third and 14s. And I
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: think for both teams, you know, the Patriots, and some
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: of this was May. May, he ran seven times for
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: 45 yards last year. They had 29 carries for 119 yards,
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: even with the four fumbles. So there's two things involved
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: in that. First of all, they ran it 29 times. Now,
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: I know seven of those were May rushes, and most
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: of those were probably scrambles. But they had more success
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: in the Steelers who, once again, last year against the Patriots,
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: really did not run the ball all that well. I
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: just had it up here a moment ago. I don't
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: want to give the wrong number.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: 64 yards.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: On 26 carries. So again, the Steelers tried to run
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: the football. This was Arthur Smith. They just weren't effective
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: running the football. I do believe that in this game,
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: you're not going to expect four fumbles from the Patriots.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: I think, again, a lot of things can happen, but
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: I believe the team that runs the football better, we
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: all know about third down, we all know about turnovers,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: red zone, all those other kind of things we talk about.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: But I think a lot of this might just come
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: down to the team that runs the ball better or
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: stops the other team's run, the team that controls those
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: trenches and the running game, I think is going to
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: win the game.
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: Well, also understand from the Patriots' standpoint, and I've said
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: this before and I'll say it again, what a run
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: game does is protect the confidence of a quarterback, especially
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: a quarterback who just gave up three interceptions in a
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: close game against the Seattle Seahawks, right? So if you're
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Drake May and you don't have A.J. Brown, Romeo Dobbs
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: hasn't been dependable as of week one, you have to
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: understand that the Patriots will be running football.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: And now they have Sudevion Henderson.
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: So they feel like, man, we got two of our
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: premier backs who we can now use and utilize to
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: stabilize Drake May because we understand what Drake May can
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: do from an arm talent standpoint. But he's also going
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: to this game trying to erase the uglies from last week.
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: So he may be pressed to get some early completion.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: He may be pressed, you know, maybe a little reserved
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: for throwing the ball down the field. You know, one
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: thing the Seattle Seahawks did really well in that game
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: against Drake May was limit the middle of the field
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: and not allow those deep throws.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: They have everything in front of them. So the Steelers
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: are going to try to rip a page out of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: that book.
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: But you know, Dre, from an ego standpoint, let's be honest,
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: he's been doubted, you know, not doubted, but like he's
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: been pushed up there as a top 10 quarterback.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: So he doesn't want to lose that momentum.
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: He doesn't want to lose that steam and not play
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: well against a secondary who doesn't have, you know, doesn't
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: have a Sean Elliott, right? Who there's questions from injury standpoint.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Who doesn't have a J.P.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: So he goes, man, if I can't make it work
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: against these guys, you know, now you start to question
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: your ability. And from the Patriots standpoint, you don't want
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: that guy, and particularly Drake May, questioning what he can
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: and what he can't do on a football field this
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: early in the season. You need his confidence to be strong.
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: You need him to have some resolve. And one way
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: to protect all that from a team standpoint is being
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: able to run the ball.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: You know, and they, like you said, Kendrick Bourne, they
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: traded Keyshawn Booty to get Jalen Reed a backup safety. So,
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: you know, and you're relying on A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs, right? And,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: you know, you still have Pop Douglas from last year and,
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: you know, Kyle Williams. But those are supposed to be
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: support pieces, you know. And it's a little like the
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: suit is bringing Pittman, right? And they're expecting him to be,
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: you know, your 1A to D.K.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Metcalf.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Well, their 1 is gone. That's A.J.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Brown.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: He's gone forever. And so, you know, you felt confident
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: enough to trade those other guys. Now, all of a sudden,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: your receiving core is banged up. Yeah, the secondary is
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: a little banged up, too. But, you know, Asante Samuel Jr.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: has some pedigree. Rayshon Jenkins has some pedigree. Clearly, you'd
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: like to have Elliott and Joey Porter Jr.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Out there.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: That having been said, I believe, without the top receiver,
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: who you went out and got. That was your big
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: off-season acquisition, A.J.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: Brown.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: And now he's not out there. I have to believe that–
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: They'll double down on trying to run the football and
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: try to use, you know, Stevenson.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Look, we just saw B. John Robinson.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: He's everything in one, right? He's the short yardage back
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: and the breakaway back. Well, they got a hard physical
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: pounder in Stevenson. They got a breakaway guy in Henderson.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: I believe that they will want to run the football
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: and double down on that more than ever now with A.J.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Brown out of the game.
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: Well, think about it from a matchup standpoint. They don't
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: want to have T.J. Watt coming off the game he
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: had versus their aging right tackle, Morgan Moses, right? They
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: don't want to have this offensive line who's physical. I'm
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: talking about the Patriots. They're up great from last year,
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: but you got Morgan Moses in the year 13 going
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: against T.J.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Watt.
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: You got the kid, Michael Wanner, with the right guard.
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: They're a center who played right guard for them last year.
• 32:20
  Speaker 5: He's now a center. Elijah Verituck at Lockhart. and obviously
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: Will Campbell at left tackle, you know, that five, they
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: want that five coming off the book. They don't want
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: that five constantly have the pass protect and allow the
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: Steelers to dictate their terms of agreement. So it's right
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: now the consensus, I think, around the league, we're watching
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: our edge rushers take less snaps but be more productive.
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: And so if that's the case, they're going to say,
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: all right, man, We don't want to see a fresh T.J.
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: Watt in the fourth quarter. We don't want to see
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: a fresh face Alex Highsmith. We want to make this
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: a phone booth fight where those guys have to be
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: on the field and we get those guys playing high
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: reps because they got to try to.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Stop the run.
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: So for the Steelers, man, the fight has to be
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: won up front with Derek Harmon, Keanu Benton, and YN,
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: the rest of the gang, because if they're able to
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: neutralize the run, it puts Drake Man at offensive line
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: and boiling water because now the Steelers can go hunt.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: He's Willie Colon.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Max Starks off today. I'm Rob King. We have much
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: more to get to. We're going to cram it all
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: in as the Steelers get ready for the Patriots in
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: game two of the season, first road game for the Steelers,
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: first AFC game for the Steelers when we continue here
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: in the matchup, on the matchup here on the Steelers
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: Audio Network.
• 33:50
  Speaker 6: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: And we know what time it is. It is time.
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  Speaker 2: Are we calling this? The bell? Play it for us, Justin. Willie,
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  Speaker 2: that's going to make me laugh all year. I'm just
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  Speaker 2: warning you. I'm not 100% sure what that was, but
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  Speaker 2: it's our horn, right?
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  Speaker 3: What are we calling that? Are we calling that something we... Justin,
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  Speaker 3: come out on the air for us. What are we
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: calling that? Max isn't here to tell us what it's
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  Speaker 3: supposed to be called.
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  Speaker 2: So he never really said what we were going to call.
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  Speaker 1: It, Kanger. Right.
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  Speaker 3: He's just making it the new version of the bell lap,
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  Speaker 3: I suppose. He calls for the bell lap and you
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  Speaker 3: play trumpets.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, which doesn't really add up. So we need to
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  Speaker 2: take the weekend and really figure this out for next week.
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  Speaker 2: That might be a metaphor for our show, right? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Call for the bells and we get trumpets. No Max
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  Speaker 2: Starks here today. What are you going to get, Willie?
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  Speaker 1: I said we just got to call it the mighty trumpet.
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  Speaker 5: All right.
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  Speaker 3: The Mighty Trumpets, we're getting the, I'm going to write
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  Speaker 3: that down for next week, so we have the Mighty
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  Speaker 3: Trumpets as a possibility.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, we'll have to clear that through, Max.
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  Speaker 3: As we get ready for this game, Willie, obviously on
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  Speaker 3: the road, big game for the Steelers. You know, one
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  Speaker 3: of the stats that came out this week that I
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  Speaker 3: thought was really interesting was that Aaron Rodgers averaged 9.2
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  Speaker 3: yards per attempt, air yards per attempt, which is considerably
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  Speaker 3: more than he has averaged in quite some time, held
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  Speaker 3: the ball longer against this Atlanta Falcons team. I don't
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  Speaker 3: know whether that will continue against the Patriots. They don't
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  Speaker 3: have a single pass rusher that really, I think, strikes
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  Speaker 3: fear in your heart. But it's more of a collective group.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, again, I think similarly to Atlanta, with the
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  Speaker 3: suspension and the injury that the Falcons were dealing with
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  Speaker 3: on the edge, some of these interior guys, maybe particularly
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  Speaker 3: Milton Williams, can push the pocket and make things uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 3: Is that where you look for New England to try
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  Speaker 3: to pressure? Do you think they're going to bring a
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  Speaker 3: lot of blitzes? Or do you think they're going to
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  Speaker 3: sit back?
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  Speaker 5: No, I think they're going to be in the business
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  Speaker 5: of forcing Aaron Rodgers to throw during tight windows, eliminate
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  Speaker 5: the middle of the field. He threw down the middle
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  Speaker 5: of the field last week. I think they want to
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  Speaker 5: continue to pressure him. And I'm disappointed yesterday. Aaron Rodgers
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  Speaker 5: is not.
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  Speaker 1: In the business of taking any hits.
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  Speaker 5: They know he's not in the business of putting himself
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  Speaker 5: in harm's way. If he has a choice, he'd rather
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  Speaker 5: operate within the pocket and dink and dunk and kind
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  Speaker 5: of carve people.
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  Speaker 1: I can see them trying to flush him out.
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  Speaker 5: When you talk about potentially having, I guess, Dylan Cook
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  Speaker 5: move to the tackle if Troy Fatana isn't able to
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  Speaker 5: go and max out 100 to a planned right tackle,
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  Speaker 5: now you're talking about your edges being unstable.
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  Speaker 1: From an experience standpoint.
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  Speaker 5: So I can see them trying to dial up some blitzes,
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  Speaker 5: but at the same time forcing Aaron Rodgers to kind
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  Speaker 5: of try to turn back the clock and see what
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  Speaker 5: he looks like throwing on the run.
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  Speaker 3: As far as stopping the mobile quarterback, we mentioned this,
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  Speaker 3: you know, 20% of their– or I beg your pardon, 30%
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  Speaker 3: of their snaps, almost 20 times, they had five linebackers
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  Speaker 3: on the field. And we're talking about Peyton Wilson, Patrick Queen,
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  Speaker 3: and then Nick Herbig was out there. with two of
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  Speaker 3: the edge guys, usually T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, but
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  Speaker 3: sometimes as well. They varied that up a little bit
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  Speaker 3: as well. So what do you think that the– Jack Sawyer,
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  Speaker 3: I beg your pardon, would be the other guy obviously
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  Speaker 3: in there. But what do you think that they're going
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  Speaker 3: to try to do with a scrambling quarterback? And again,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I think you can do some of the
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  Speaker 3: things you do schematically, Willie, because Nick Herbig is such
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  Speaker 3: a fine player. Jack Sawyer's a good player, right? Without
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  Speaker 3: Deshaun Elliott, as you pointed out, without Joey Porter Jr.,
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  Speaker 3: maybe you're more inclined to.
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  Speaker 2: Just say, hey, these are our best guys. Let's play
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  Speaker 2: these guys.
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  Speaker 3: Or do you think that they will bring in an
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  Speaker 3: extra defensive back a little bit more because of May's, again,
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  Speaker 3: all things being equal, because of May's ability to scramble?
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  Speaker 1: I can definitely bring in an extra back. because of
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  Speaker 1: his scramble.
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  Speaker 5: If you're not going to spot him with bringing an
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  Speaker 5: extra DB, I think he possesses it. We saw early
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  Speaker 5: last week is they want to get him out on
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  Speaker 5: those boots where he has the option to throw while
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  Speaker 5: he's out flat. If you're the Steelers, your goal is
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  Speaker 5: you don't want this game to get away from you
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  Speaker 5: early because you know a lot of how this is
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  Speaker 5: built is It's built around explosive play. They may not
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  Speaker 5: have the weaponry or the ass at their disposal because A.J.
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  Speaker 1: Brown won't be in that game. But you also used
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  Speaker 1: something earlier, Rob.
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  Speaker 5: You want to force this team into third and long
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  Speaker 5: because we laugh looking at last week their answer on
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  Speaker 5: third down was aj brown right and so now with
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  Speaker 5: aj brown not in the game and if they get
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  Speaker 5: put in situations where they have to now find a
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  Speaker 5: romeo dobbs which didn't show for them last week or
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  Speaker 5: they have to have to lean on a mac hollins
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  Speaker 5: or maybe a hunter henry who was a shell of
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  Speaker 5: themselves If those guys aren't able to show up for
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  Speaker 5: Drake May, now you're putting extra stress on their game
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  Speaker 5: and really trying to play manageable downs.
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  Speaker 1: So the Steelers, if they're able to get to.
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  Speaker 5: Drake May and eliminate whoever that target is going to
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  Speaker 5: be on third down, now you're putting a lot of
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  Speaker 5: stress on that offense to do more than what they're
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  Speaker 5: capable of doing so that they don't have the assets
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  Speaker 5: at their disposal.
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  Speaker 3: By the way, Cam Hayward, one sack last year. Derek Harmon,
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  Speaker 3: that was his first game, one sack. Nick Herbig, one sack.
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  Speaker 4: T.J.
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  Speaker 2: Watt, two sacks. So they sacked May five times.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, for all of that scrambling ability and the
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  Speaker 3: ability to get out of the pocket, the ability to escape,
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  Speaker 3: the Steelers' pass rush was able to get home on
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  Speaker 3: Drake May and make things uncomfortable for him, and I
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  Speaker 3: think that's got to be another big key in this
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  Speaker 3: game as well.
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  Speaker 2: Willie, you just alluded to it.
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  Speaker 3: Get home on the pass rush, and even if you
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  Speaker 3: don't sack him I mean, obviously you want to get
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  Speaker 3: him on the ground, maybe knock a ball loose, but
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  Speaker 3: you certainly want to make him uncomfortable and make him
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  Speaker 3: rush things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Even if you don't get the, even if you don't
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  Speaker 5: get the quarterback, get to the quarterback from a sack standpoint,
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  Speaker 5: you still want to get hits on the quarterback. And
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  Speaker 5: if you're, if you're Drake May and you understand what
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  Speaker 5: the Steelers possess, that's the, that's the ability to either rush.
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  Speaker 1: For blitz you.
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  Speaker 5: However, that means they're trying to speed up your timing, right?
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  Speaker 5: And if you're talking about an offense that's really continuing
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  Speaker 5: to try to build continuity and chemistry with what they have,
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  Speaker 5: if you have a defense that's trying to speed you up,
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  Speaker 5: force you out of their pocket, force you to use
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  Speaker 5: your legs maybe when you don't want, that all keeps
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  Speaker 5: you off schedule from an offensive standpoint. So the Steelers
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  Speaker 5: have an opportunity going into Sunday's game, realizing, man.
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  Speaker 1: We have the better as rushers.
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  Speaker 5: We have an offensive line that we're going against that,
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  Speaker 5: They want to prove themselves that they can protect Drake May,
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  Speaker 5: so they're going to be up for the fight. But
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  Speaker 5: it's going to be up to our guys from an
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  Speaker 5: electrician point. Now they blitz him, hit him, even when
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  Speaker 5: the ball's out of his hands, and try to make
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  Speaker 5: it rough for him early.
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  Speaker 3: And if Michael Pittman can't go, it'll be very interesting
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  Speaker 3: to see who does go, whether that's Jeremy Bernard simply elevating,
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  Speaker 3: whether he uses Skoranek, who's an excellent blocker, but also
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  Speaker 3: a capable receiver at the NFL level for sure, or
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  Speaker 3: maybe a sneak Caden Weege in there. for a few
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  Speaker 3: snaps and get him some work at the wide receiver position.
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  Speaker 3: That's one of the things that I'm going to be
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  Speaker 3: intrigued to see if Pittman cannot go.
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  Speaker 1: It would have to be Jeremy Bernard.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, you don't get a guy of his caliber,
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  Speaker 5: and if they're invited to go down, you don't usher
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  Speaker 5: him right in there. Because we've seen in the preseason,
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  Speaker 5: not one guy's going to be able to take him down.
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  Speaker 5: He's the type of guy, he gets on his hand,
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  Speaker 5: he's breaking one tackle, and he's trying to get north.
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  Speaker 1: He's sad. So if you're Aaron Rodgers.
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  Speaker 5: and you want somebody to kind of make, hey, he's
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  Speaker 5: your guy, and he's young, he's hungry, this would be
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  Speaker 5: a great opportunity for him to kind of show the
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: world what he's capable of, especially against a defense that's
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: going to be trying to really force Aaron Rodgers into
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  Speaker 5: uncomfortable situations.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: Well, no Max Starks today, but he is Willie Colon. Willie,
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  Speaker 3: thanks very much. As always, our thanks to Missy as well.
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  Speaker 3: You got the Jets game coming up, right?
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  Speaker 5: Yep, Jets, Packers, I'll be all over it. And I
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  Speaker 5: still have my eyes on the Steelers and Patriots.
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  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: We know you were a lot of green in that
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: game between the Packers and the Jets, right?
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  Speaker 1: A lot of green.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of green out there.
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  Speaker 1: The Jets are going all right this game.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, so for Max Sark's not here, for Willie Colon,
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: for our guest Missy Matthews joining us, for our producer
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: Justin Miller, I'm Rob King. We thank you, as always,
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: for being with us in the locker room here on
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: the Steelers Audio Network.