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HR2: All 3 Phases · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: All right, we are in to hour number two, a.k.a.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: The power hour, the optimist hour, the prime hour. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: as much as it just brings me joy, Willie's face
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: of disdain also brings me joy on our team's call
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: because I know how much consternation is going through that
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: facial expression every time that comes.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: On for the top of the hour. So it's almost
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: like one of those things.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Like, you do it now just because you know that
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: you're going to get a negative response.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: There's zero excitement.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: There's zero smiles on his face when he hears the horn.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: And now I feel like now I'm just being stubborn.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Now I'm just being stubborn, Willie.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Willie had to pull the knife out. Yeah, exactly. It's
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: shaking season.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: That's when you know Willie has fully inundated himself. into
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: being in Jackson, Mississippi. He's truly a Southern boy now
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: that he has a pocket knife in his back pocket.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I'm also from the Bronx, so we're born with these things.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: But it's more like a switchblade. You were normally a
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: switchblade up in the Bronx. I mean, now you got
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: a full-on camping utility knife there.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: You know what it is?
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: For everybody, I imagine everybody on this call has ever
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: moved out of an apartment and moved into a home.
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: When you're unpacking, there's nothing worse than trying to look
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: for something to cut open the boxes with, right? And so,
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: because as you get it, you know, when you're moving
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: around the house, you get momentum. You're like, oh, yeah,
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: you're putting things here. You're doing this. You're moving things
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: left and right. And then there's always, you know, when movers,
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: they triple thousand tape a box together. So trying to
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: rip through that box with your bare hands is not
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: always the smart.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Thing to do.
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: So I've become accustomed from walking around with a blade
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: in my pocket.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: So I guess it's on Max. Do you know, Rob,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: do you know this?
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: Max is a sword connoisseur. He owns antique swords and
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: knives and all that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Do you know that?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I'm not.
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: I have to count that up as not surprised. But, no,
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: I did not know that. Not shocked. This is my
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: everyday carry right there. Again, for those of you listening
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: on radio, Max is gesturing with an implement. Yeah, I'm
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: sorry I have my own.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: One time, me and Max are in Arizona. We go
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: to a mall, right? We're in Arizona.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: Max has this beautiful new place in Arizona.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: We're kind of hitting the mall before, you know, trying
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: to get some, trying to find some clothes and things
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: so we can hit the town.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: Nevertheless, me and Max are walking, and there's this store
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: that sells antique knives and swords.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Mind you, you know.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: I'm not, it's just not my thing. I just don't
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: know much about it. And that's something I pursue on
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: my off time, right? I don't hit the mall to
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: go find swords.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: This seems odd, right?
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: So we're walking by the store and Max goes, and
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: Max goes, ooh, hey, let's stop in here right in
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: here big dog.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Let's just check this out. So I'm like, all right, whatever.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: That's cool.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: We walk in and it's all these swords from like
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: different movies. and all these exotic knives, and this whole
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: big display of all these things.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: I've never seen a grown man be as giddy and
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: as hype.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: As I saw Max Starks that day, to the point
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: where he's like, now I'm at the point where I'm
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: getting weirded out, because a man his size shouldn't have
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: that much enthusiasm about a King Arthur sword.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: It shouldn't. And so the dude across the.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Display, the guy who was selling the knives, Him and
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: Max just totally geek out about different knives and swords
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: and all this stuff to the point where I'm looking
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: at both of them like, well, I know one of
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: you guys have a girlfriend, but I'm not sure about
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: the other one. And because the way y'all talking, like
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: y'all never go out at any time of the day.
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: Like y'all just stay inside and play with your knives.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: So the level of education and enthusiasm behind swords and
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: knives was absolutely appalling. It made me, I was like, Max,
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: I don't care what we do from now on for
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: the rest of our friendships. I'm never going back in
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: that store with you ever again.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: I was traumatized.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: He was like, you ever seen Will Ferrell when he
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: played Elf when he saw Santa?
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: That's how excited Max was when he saw these swords
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: and knives. It was intense. It was a lot.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, listen, who doesn't have a little halt palpitation
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: when you see a Roman Gladius?
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just perfect. Artist recreation. There was a
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: couple of Scottish claymores in there. You know, I mean,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: it was just, yeah, I like medieval and Roman history.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: And then to see the actual implements that they had,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: you know, it's pretty cool.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: And who's to say?
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, Willie also, one thing, I thought Willie was
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: going to tell the other story when he was.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Sitting up in the loft.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we were sitting up in the loft, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I just walked out, and I was just showing him
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: a couple of swords that I had, and he's just
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: looking at it. The utter shock, disgust, and disappointment he
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: had in me in that moment that translated through his
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: face was absolutely pure gold, and Tiffany still talks about that.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: She's like, you know you weirded Willie out, right, when
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: you brought out those swords, right? I was like, Yeah,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I kind of got that after, but I was already
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: committed fully into it at that point. I was in character. So,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: you know, you can't break character, Will. You know, good
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: method actor never breaks character. So I just had to
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: kind of roll with it. And, you know, it's like
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: going on stage and having your best joke just fail.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: That's what it was.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: It was like no laugh, no appreciation, no applause, just
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: utter disgust. And if you could have booed, you probably
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: would have booed in that moment, Will.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: I'm going to throw a tomato at you.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: I'm trying to get the image of Max. clapping his
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: hands together like will ferrell and elf when he saw
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: the swords i'm trying i'm trying to cleanse my mind
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: of that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Image rob imagine a man like max is to everybody
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: out there and i'm pretty sure it's well documented max
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: is a very large abnormal human being right and so
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: when somebody shows off a plethora of sorts yeah you're
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: like how did we get here and how did you
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: get here Who left you alone and told you not
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: to put the swords down?
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: You're too big to be playing with swords.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: It's when I get my opportunity to actually join the
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Renaissance Faire, I want to make sure I'm fully committed.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness gracious.
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: Oh, my goodness gracious.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Have you done one yet? I've only gone to them
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: because I took the kids there. There's no way I
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: could ever– like you talk about there's like a limit, Will.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: That's the cliff right there. That's the cliff. If I'm
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: sitting there like, you know what, if I'm being asked
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: or I'm being courted to be a part of a
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: renaissance fair, then you know what, you can pull my
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: G card.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: You can pull my black card. You can pull all
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: the cards.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Will, at that point if you hear that. And then
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: also I need you to submit me immediately to a
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: mental health hospital. if I'm sitting here talking glowingly about
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: my jaunt with the Renaissance folk.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: Okay, so I did want to... Go ahead. I did
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: want to get back to last night's game, and I
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: was reminded of something, Willie, that you said toward the
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: end of the block that this was supposed to be
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: a really good defense in Denver. I still think they
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: are a very good defense, but I'm reminded of Vince Lombardi,
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: the great coach, obviously, of the Green Bay Packers in
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: the 60s, used to talk about not attacking a team's weakness,
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: but attacking their strength. He wanted to take the will
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: out of the opponent by, what do you mean, you're
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: going to run right at Dick Butkus? You're going to
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: try to take on our strength? Nobody takes on our strength.
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: And You know, nobody likes that. I mean, again, I've
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: used boxing analogies a bunch. Now, I don't know why.
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: Evander Holyfield went right at Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson didn't
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: like that. Teams don't like it when you can– and
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: I think– that's what I said. It was like it
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: was a battle of wills to some degree, and they
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: took it right to Denver strength last night and got
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: the better of them and got the better of them handily.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: We'll also understand this. Patrick Mahomes didn't necessarily light it up, right?
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: Like he only threw for 172 yards. But what you
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: saw and what we've highlighted thus far is you watch
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: the run game start to crack at the wheel of
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: the Broncos on week one. And what we've seen across
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: the league this in week one, a lot of teams
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: who we thought were contenders or them or whatever title
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: we want to give them early in the season, All
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: that got checked out. We saw the Cowboys supposed to
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: have one of the best offense in the league get
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: beat up by the.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Giants, right?
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: We saw this Chargers team that was supposed to be
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: lighting it up and have a complete team and more
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: dynamic team lose to the Arizona Cardinals. We watched the
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Denver Broncos in that defense will get tested quarter by
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: quarter and they fail at the test because what you
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: saw was that offensive line started to get shriveled. Kenneth
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: Walker started to get more confidence and he started toting
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: the ball would you in you even even to the
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: point if you pay attention to their tight ends man
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: those receivers and tight ends they were blocking the hell
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: out of those cornerbacks from uh for the Broncos right
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: like they were They were, like, full-on engaging these dudes
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: and not letting up. Like, they were trying to get these–
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: they were trying to, like, pretty much pancake them, if
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: you will. And so you started to see the will,
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: the iron, whatever you want to call the Broncos get tested,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: and they didn't have an answer for it. And the
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: game got away from them. But I think when you
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: talk about the Chiefs moving forward, I think for any
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: team that's kind of in that– in the Chiefs category
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: as far as trying to marry the young with the old,
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: What you saw is they still have championship DNA, right?
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: They still have the will to win a game and
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: win it in a way they want to dictate how
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: they're going to win the game. They want to run
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: the ball. They want to play hard-nosed defense. And they
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: want to be a team that is going to play
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: all four quarters. And that's what we saw out of
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: the Chiefs. They played hard-nosed football all four quarters. And
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: then the Denver Broncos just wasn't prepared for that.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, you know, for– For the teams
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: this year coming into week one, right, everybody had questions.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Everybody had doubts. And none greater than Kansas City, right?
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Because the dynasty is dead.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: They're over.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: They didn't even make the playoffs. They went 6-10 with
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Patrick Mahomes. Travis Kelsey is old. Andy Reid needs to retire, right?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: We heard all of these murmurings. And the one thing
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I will say, Kermit the Frog– a.k.a. Patrick Mahomes, he
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: went Michael Jordan on them, and he took that personal, right? Like,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: as if he didn't need any more chips to put
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: on his own shoulders, they literally manufactured one for him.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: He used to put his own chip on his shoulder.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Now he actually has a legit one, and that was
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: what they wanted to do. Hell, they had Justin Fields
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: lining up in a three-point stance in the backfield running
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: trick plays.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying?
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: Well, think about this from a defense perspective. The thing
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: about this, too, Max, from a defense standpoint, what they lost,
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: they lost Leo Chanel, right? They lost Trent McDuffie. They
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: lost Jalen Watson. One of the things that– one of
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: the bright spots for that Chiefs defense was their secondary
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: and how good.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: They were collectively.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: So when you go into the season not having those
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: guys and those guys are no longer a part of
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: your team and now you're counting on other guys for
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: their young secondary to step up and fill those voids, man,
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: that's tough because there was a large– There was a
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: big what to do about Bo Nix coming into this
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: game and outplaying Patrick Mahomes. And if this is going
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: to be an opportunity for Bo Nix to step up
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: and kind of leapfrog Patrick Mahomes because of his need,
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: because of the lack of resources on the outside, so
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: to speak. And we didn't see none of that. What
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: we saw was Bo Nix running for his life a
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: good portion of the day. And on top of that,
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: that offense that was supposed to be good outside of
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Evan Ingram, I mean, Waddle was okay, but he had
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: a couple drops. Like, there's still some– now you have
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: some questions on the Broncos offense because now you're saying, hey, man,
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: we may not be as good as we think we
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: are because there was a lot of deficiencies on the Chiefs'
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: side because of what they lost in the offseason.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: That didn't show up on tape.
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: We actually saw a pass rush out of the Chiefs,
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: and that was a concern for them going into this game.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Like who's going to be that– who's going to be
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: that edge pressure? Who's going to be that guy to
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: always get home and put pressure on the quarterback? That
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: young boy, I think he's R.W. Mason out of Oklahoma–
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: He had.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: A game, right? Yeah, R. Mason Thomas. R. Mason Thomas,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: thank you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: There's a lot of guys who showed up for the
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: Chiefs last night, and they showed up not only individually,
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: but they showed up collectively.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: And that's what you want to see week one.
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: You know, I think that's a really good point. And, guys,
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: you were in the Steelers' locker room, to me, which
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: was one of the peak times of them having the veterans–
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: that taught the young guys and gave you the expectations.
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: You know, to use a baseball analogy, I always thought
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: that the Cardinals were worth five wins a year because
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: they were the Cardinals, you know, back in the day, right?
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: Albert Pools, Yadier Molina, they were going to hold guys
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: with certain standard, and that was worth five wins. And
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: you guys were in that Steelers locker room when things
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: were getting passed on, and the standard is the standard.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: And when that happens, and when you get that, And
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: this isn't taking anything away from the coaching staff, the
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: personnel department that finds these guys. But it just feels
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: like that expectation helps guys play up. Am I wrong
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: about that, Max? Or does that help guys rise to
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: a certain level? And the Chiefs have that. Yeah, it
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: absolutely does.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, when you see guys who've done it, it's
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: tough not to follow. It's tough not to want to
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: go do what they're doing.
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: Right?
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: When Alan Fanica... is running extra laps after practice. Guess what?
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Our asses are running extra laps after practice.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: It's the leading by example. When Joey Porter is taking
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: extra snaps, working on the dummies with the hand drills,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: guess what?
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: A young guy is going to come.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: James Harrison was right behind Joey Porter, watching what Joey
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: did to figure out how to get his shot. Willie
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Parker sitting behind Jerome Bettis and Deuce Staley, watching what
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: they do.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: They're going to get their shot.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: And that's how you have sustained success throughout the years
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: is passing on that knowledge, the standard, the culture, the
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: philosophy of a team.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: And you're right, we were big benefactors.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: When I came in, having those guys, when Willie came
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: in right after me, we had to then set the
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: culture by learning what it was, and then we had
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: to carry it forward when Ramon Foster comes in, when
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Marquise Pouncey comes in. when David DeCastro comes in, because
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: now we've become those guys that they look to like, okay,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: this is how you're supposed to do it. And that's
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: how it's supposed to go. That's why you need, I
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: call it the middle age group. You need the middle
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: age group of NFL experience. You need those vets from
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: years five to seven to bridge the gap from rookie
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: to 10 year vets. They're those bridge gap guys that
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: create the tradition and pass it on so that it
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: can continue to beget itself.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's called the middle class of the locker room.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: And that's what you're talking about, Max. And I remember
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: Mike Tomlin, him saying one time, you know, other teams
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: have to outsource inspiration and guidance.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: You don't have to do that here in Pittsburgh.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: If you're looking for inspiration or you're looking for guidance,
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: I remember him saying this vividly. I would instruct you
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: to stand on the 50 of our practice field after
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: practice and do a 360. And you're seeing men work
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: outside of their work. And he was 100% right. It
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: was nothing to see Casey Hampton and Hoke and Dissou
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: doing get-offs.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: It was nothing to see James Ferrier and Larry Foote
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: getting extra gases.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: By the way, they're linebackers. They've been running all practice.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: They've been covering and blitzing all day, right? It was
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: nothing to see Alifantica getting more, getting gases. It was
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: nothing to see, you know, whoever, Ike and Troy doing
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: ball drills.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: It was special. It was nothing to see even Heath Miller, right,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: working on his blockings.
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: Working on his footwork, pulling out the boards, working on
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: his footwork on how to get on blocks and how
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: to finish it. So for every young guy, and Max,
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: and I'm glad you used that example, for every young
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: guy that was looking how to be a pro, he
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: didn't have to go to YouTube, right? He didn't have
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: to go to social media. He didn't have to put
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: on a film. All he had to do was take
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: his helmet off, stand on the practice field, and look
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: around and watch how men worked after practice and then
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: go into the locker room and do their job. Culture
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: is not just set by winning. Culture is about being
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: able to.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: Be consistent about how to do your job better each
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: and every.
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: Day, win or loss. Yeah, winning is the ultimate deodorant.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: It covers a lot. But as you know, this is
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: a long season. This is why the Steeler team, and
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: you hope they embrace it, the Cameron Haywoods, the TJ Watts,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: the Aaron Rodgers, hell, the Michael Pittmans, all these guys
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: who are six, seven, eight, umpteen years in, man, if
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: you're a young guy stepping into this locker room, you
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: pray that you're drinking up their work ethic, right? You
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: pray that you're really watching these guys and watching the
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: minute details they take and what they put into their work.
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: Because a lot of those type of guys don't come around, right?
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Those caliber of ballplayers, you try to recruit those, excuse me,
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: you try to draft those guys, you try to bring
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: those guys into the building, but not everybody's about their life.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: You know, not everybody's about being the best that can
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: be on and off the field. and obviously they got
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: something brewing in Kansas City and they got something brewing
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: in Pittsburgh.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Hopefully it flips over to something positive.
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: Good deal. I'm going to take a break right now.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: More to talk about. We're going to take a look
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: at the latest power rankings. Where are the Steelers? I
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: haven't looked at them yet. I don't have a good
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: feeling about it. We'll talk about that when we continue
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 19:18
  Speaker 7: We'll be right back.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And by your.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the official truck of
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: Today was a chance for us to look at everything
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: off defense, and special teams. I thought the coaches did
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: a nice job, and just really this is really the
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: starting point of who you are. Everybody has a perception
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: or an idea of how they want to play, who
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: they want to be, but until you play your first game,
• 20:03
  Speaker 7: this is where we are. I thought our defense got
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: off to a good start. I thought they drew a
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: good lineup. Good line in the sand is a standard
• 20:12
  Speaker 7: to play above, and they're off to a good start.
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: Special teams, we had a few things there we need
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: to clean up, but defense carried the water for us yesterday.
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: We want to be a complementary football team, and that's
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: when the offense, defense, and special teams play to one
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: another and have a push and pull component that one
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: side picks up for the other when you get in
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: spots like that, and that was definitely the case yesterday.
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that was Mike McCarthy talking yesterday about the win
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: on Sunday. And it is interesting. I mean, you know,
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: we all love the games where everybody fires on all
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: cylinders and you blow a team out and that sort
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: of thing. But, you know, it's right. You've got to
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: play complementary football. And, you know, it's nice when all
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: three components work together. It doesn't always happen. You know,
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: and Willie, you know, Max and I talked about this yesterday,
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: so I'm going to start with you on the special
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: teams because I think we both felt, and Danny Crossman
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: kind of acknowledged that, You talk about your fits as
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: far as coming down the field and filling your lanes
• 21:12
  Speaker 6: and stuff. I'm specifically talking about kickoff return coverage. The
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: thing with Chris Boswell, hopefully we won't see that again.
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: I think they were going to try the 62-yard field goal,
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: and it just became completely out of rhythm. The ball
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: got snapped, and nobody was ready. The timing of it
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: kind of looked off from the beginning. But the punt
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: coverage could be a little bit better The kick return coverage,
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: to me, really needs to be a lot better, and
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: that's one of those elements. You're going in against an underdog.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: Don't turn the ball over. Don't give them a big
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: play on special teams. We turned it over once, and
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: who knows what happens if that 63, 64-yard return isn't
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: called back. Who knows if we're still talking about a
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: Steelers win.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think some of that is buying, too.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: I think guys have to understand when you're on these
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: different units, as much detail you take into doing your,
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: I guess– your quiet job, there's just much detail that
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: comes into, you know, doing your job on special teams.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: And I think it goes back to, you know, from
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: a training camp standpoint, how much were these guys able
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: to do from a physical standpoint? You know, it's one
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: thing to hit the dummies and be in position and
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: have guys run downfield so they can see their cues
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: and put their eyes where they need to be. But
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: when things are coming at you in real time and
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: communication is now involved to operate online, You've got to
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: be dialed in, and I think that's the biggest takeaway.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: They didn't look.
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: Dialed in, you know, and especially in regards to guys
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: holding on to blocks, where they wanted to go.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: It just seemed like– it seemed sloppy. And, sure, week
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: one blues, we chalk it up.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: But when you start playing teams like the New England Patriots,
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: you start playing teams with a better elk, if you will,
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: they don't– they play for keeps, right? They capitalize on
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: moments like that. So– Hopefully they get it clinked up.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: I know you expect they will. But one aspect of
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: this team that cannot be a down one is the
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: special teams because so much is predicated on field position
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: and so much is predicated on them being able to
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: pretty much get the job done.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: And I think the other thing, and Danny Crossman kind
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: of talked about this in his press conference yesterday. People
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: were chagrining about, oh, line drive versus a lollipop kick
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: versus all of this other stuff.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: And it was one of those things where he was like,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: It doesn't matter.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Everybody's stagnant. And once the guy touches the ball, that's
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: when it's live. So it doesn't matter if it hangs
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: five seconds in the air. It doesn't matter if it's
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: a low line driver. You have to be ready because once...
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: That guy that you're IDing touches the ball, that's when
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: action starts. And so that's where it has to be,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: that sense of urgency has to pick up. You have
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: to know, hey, okay, yes, the ball's kicked at a
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: low trajectory, but nobody's moving until that ball touches hands.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: And I don't realize what this guy's going to do,
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: what angle he's going to take until the snap, and
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: you've got to adjust accordingly. So it was lazy eye discipline.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: It was the first time being out there. I imagine
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: there was jitters. You know, when you're out there, especially
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: as a young dude, And I thought they also, after
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Caden Weege had a decent return, they're like, we're not
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: kicking this guy anymore from Iowa. I was like, let's
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: kick it to the running back from Navy. That seems
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: like a better course of action. He doesn't have the
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: same wiggle as Weege. So there was also some strategy involved,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: which also led to some of those lackluster returns. But
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: it is frustrating when you turn over, you look at
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: the other side, you see Brian Robinson, who's also a
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: straight line runner. get right up the gut to the 40,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: and he had zero wiggle. He just ran straight, and
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: then it's like, well, their blockers are better than our blockers.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: It's like, well, there's a more veteran group over there,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: so they understand it, but this is also the newness
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: of week one, so I just chalk it up as that.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: I don't think this is the end-all, be-all, but it
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: was not a good first performance.
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: So I'm at the point of the season, Willie, where
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: trying to get the rosters memorized. I love when I
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: get into week five or six because now I can
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: watch four or five games on NFL Network. I have
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: to watch preseason games now. And then, you know, you
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: get into the second half and there's like, is there
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: one guy out there that's going to be playing? I'll
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: keep watching if there is. Otherwise, I'll turn it off
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: and get on to preseason game two. But I heard
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: another guy say the same thing. You know, there's a
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: line drive kickoff and he's like, well, you got to
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: have more hang time on that kickoff.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: I'm like, why?
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: You don't need more hang time on the kickoff. Now,
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: the only thing I would say is if it's short, right,
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: and maybe you would surprise somebody. You shouldn't surprise anybody.
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: The only thing you don't want is short because then
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: the runner, first of all, if he catches it at
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: the 12, obviously he's picked up 10 yards. And secondly,
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: he's probably moving forward faster. So that can be a factor.
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: But whether it's low or high doesn't make any difference. Sorry,
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: I just had to get out there. In case you're
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: a fan out there, it's not the old days. It's
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: not the old days where you need that time to
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: run down the field. Nobody can move until he touches it.
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: It doesn't matter how he touches it.
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: Yep.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: Sorry.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: It's not college.
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: I'm off my soapbox now.
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: Well, listen, I think for everybody, they just suspect it's optics, right?
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: We're talking about optics, what it looked like compared to
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: what we're comfortable looking at.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: At the end of the day, you're right. Ball's in
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: the air. The ball hits you. You're live. You got
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: to go. Bottom line. So it is what it is.
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: It's nonsense to even bring it up because you think
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: it would be something that you shouldn't have to bring
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: up amongst adults, especially those who follow football.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: But you also realize that most of those people watching
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: have had a couple of adult juices in their system
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: also when they're making these claims. So I don't necessarily
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: judge their memory at that point that well. So I
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: feel like we have to remind them. And if you.
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: Watch it, because it's so different.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're used to it a certain way.
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: That's right. Yeah, you're used to the way it used
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: to be where hang time matters. It doesn't matter. It
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: matters on a punt. It doesn't matter on a kickoff.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: It doesn't matter.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: And if you watch the college game on Saturday and
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: then you go to the NFL game on Sunday, you're
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: thinking about what you saw in college and bringing it over.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: College has not adapted this new kickoff rule. And that's
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: kind of sometimes when I get myself– and it almost
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: is like a reminder to me because I was coming
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: off of four straight college games before we got to our.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Game on Sunday. And I was like, why are they moving?
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, it's the.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Whole– This is how it was. And then I get
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: to the game on Sunday. I'm like, why aren't they moving?
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: It's like balls in the air. People should be moving
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: type of deal. So it's like it's a constant thing
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: because it's so different with the same sport. You have
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: this one specific skill set and this new way of
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: lining up with the dynamic kickoff rule. And it's only
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: an NFL thing. Every other version of sport, high school, peewee, college,
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: all does it the old way. The NFL changed it
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: and nobody else has adapted it yet. So that's where
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: it gets. So I'm like, okay, let's just go through
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: the clarification exercise one time. I'm not going to talk
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: about it again because, once again, it's going to be
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: on the final test. So, you know, hopefully they remember
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: this from the beginning of the school year, guys.
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: It's like that butter in a cookie recipe. It's been clarified, right?
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: Clarified butter.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Okay. That's right.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: So delicious. Also for crab legs. Don't forget that, Rob.
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: So, you know, every once in a while there's a guy–
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: Willie comes in, who I'm a big fan of, understanding
• 28:53
  Speaker 6: that they're not, you know, on their way to Canton.
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: I just think they're just really good football players. You know,
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: Sean Elliott was one of those guys a couple years ago.
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: I really feel that way about Michael Pittman. You know,
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: if I'm looking at this game, and I don't think
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: the Steelers, and I'm not talking about the Patriots yet.
• 29:08
  Speaker 6: I'm just talking about the way the Steelers play football.
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: I don't think they want to throw it 40 times.
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: But even if they throw it fewer times, I would
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: like to see Michael Pittman. I brought it up yesterday.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: Give me six, seven, eight targets. I understand DK is
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: going to be the guy. I understand he's going to
• 29:23
  Speaker 6: get more targets than everybody else. But boy, I sure
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: would like to see Michael Pittman get more targets.
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: Well, sure, because he seemed like the more shorthand receiver
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: out of everybody out of that receiving core. I think
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: the biggest gripe with the offense throwing the ball 40
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: times and Mike McCarthy coming in with this Texas Coast
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: offense that's supposed to light up the field, you worry
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: about the stress you put on Aaron Rodgers in that
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: arm because, yes, as much as he does get knocked
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: for being 42 years old, he is 42 years old.
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: And when you turn on the tape and you watch
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: us struggle at times with running the ball, That was
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: part of the reason we felt like Mike McCarthy felt like, hey, man,
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: we got to just keep throwing it.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: We got a better shot.
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: On top of that, I do think even with the
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: ability to throw the ball, I think we still got
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: to continue to try to establish some type of run identity.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: I think that's important.
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: I think because that's going to help guys like Michael
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: Pittman get open, right? The run has to mirror the pass,
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: and play action is a big part of this offense.
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: So if we're able to run the ball with a Rico,
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: with a Jalen Smith, We're able to positive yards and
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: start pushing guys around up front.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: And be efficient in that manner.
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: For a big-body receiver like Michael Pittman in the seams,
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: it just opens him up for more home-run plays, right,
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: because explosive plays are plays that are 15, 20 yards
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: or more. Because of his skill set, he can complete
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: those type of catches, and he has the ability to
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: get yards.
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: So I like where he's at going into this game.
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: I feel if there was going to be one person
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: that was going to struggle, one because– not having played
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: with Aaron in two, not having a lot of time
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: with Aaron in the preseason, I thought it was going
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: to be Michael Pittman.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: That wasn't the case.
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: Out of the receiving core, he seemed like the one
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: that was the most in line and probably prepared for
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: the moment. Once again, I'm not worried about DK's drops.
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: I'm not worried about his lack of production. Should he
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: have played better? Yes. Maybe you can help me with
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: this too, Rob and Max. I wonder if DK is
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: going into this season with more added pressure considering that
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: he probably feels like he owes the Steelers a better
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: year than what he put on tape. And two, Aaron
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: coming out saying this is his last year and the
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: quarterback next year is still in question. So is he
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: going into these games feeling like he has to kind
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: of have a Herculean effort to kind of be that
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: true alpha number one receiver while he still has Aaron Rodgers?
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: Because if you press, and it looks like at times
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: he did press, by not just focusing on the football
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: and making a play, you worry about, man, it's this
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: dude being from the neck up, you know, struggling a
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: little bit.
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: And hopefully that's not the case going into next week.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's really the biggest thing is you're ironing
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: out the details because this is the first time all
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: 11 have been on the.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: Field together, right?
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: So you're talking about a trio between quarterback, two receivers.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: You're talking about the two running backs also not playing
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: with the offensive line in the preseason. So when we
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: talk about run fits and why guys were sliding off
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: the double teams, right, that was one thing we– like
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: our chagrin, right, was, you know, and I know, Willie,
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: you saw this, but they didn't marry up the double
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: teams very well.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: They didn't.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Like LaKale, London, Gurvin, Dexter.
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: I thought Troy and Mason McCormick had a rough day
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: in that regard.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Mason, everything was falling off of Mason, which you
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: think of him stout, bully type. But the way that
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: they were playing, and also I'll give credit to Atlanta,
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: some of their run blitzes, right? Divine Diablo was in
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: the A-gap immediately. So you're trying to run zone, and
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: the frontside back you're trying to get to knifes backdoor.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: That guard has to go, and the tackle doesn't fully
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: have him. And so now they create a crease. And
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: I think the same thing backside. Zach Frazier and Spencer
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Anderson had a tough time marrying up those because of
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: some of the fast flow and some of the knifing action.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: So I think they'll be better because now they'll say, okay,
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: we've got to do this quicker, so I've got to
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: be more powerful and quick. And I think they adjusted.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: Like I said, the four-minute offense at the end looked
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: like what we wanted to see in the first quarter, right,
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: because they were stout. They were working the double teams.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: They weren't worried about guys falling outside the hole or
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: blitzing or color.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Flashing across their face. I need to stay on my track.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: I need to stay on my track, and, you know,
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: the running back will fit up in. And then for
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: Rico and Jalen trying to fit, where are my fits at?
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: How can I manipulate these linebackers to help my offensive line?
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: So when you diagnose that real time, this is what
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: you kind of get at the beginning. So that's where
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: I think also a big jump from week one to
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: week two is going to happen is that, is the
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: recognition and the communication along the line to know how
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: to pass things off in the future. And then you
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: get to watch the film and say, man, I need
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: to leave as soon because that guy was actually running
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: out the back door. and Rico was pressing it up
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: into the hole. So I don't need to jump back there.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: And then, you know, Rico as well could say, all right, cool,
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: I stayed on the track. You guys good. This is
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: how I want to run it so that I can
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: then bend it back naturally after I get across the
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: line scrimmage, not having to duck two guys falling at
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: my feet right at the get-go before I can get started.
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: Well, that's where we started the program, like the improvement
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: week one to week two. Willie, a rookie in the
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: locker room but a veteran broadcaster, reminded me that, oh, no,
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: Power teams, the power rankings are Wednesday's topic. So I
• 34:48
  Speaker 6: said that we're going to have it. We're going to
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: save that for Wednesday. Thank you, Willie.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: It's a new week. We're still perseverating, Rob. We're still
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: perseverating on week one and Tuesday. Players not even practicing.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: We're going to get to that tomorrow. But we are
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: going to dive more into this just from the Steelers' perspective.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: Where are the biggest areas they need to improve? It's
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: where we began the show. Can you improve? Now we're
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: going to dive into where do they need to improve?
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Forget who they're playing. What do they need to do
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: internally between week one and week two? And we continue
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: You know when you hear this voice in hour number two.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: At this moment, this hour, it's time.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: For the bell lap. Yes, that is what I wanted.
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: Oh, no.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, we have changed the sounder. And Willie, the surprise
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: and the smile on my face lets me know we're
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: getting there.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: We're getting there.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: Is that a more appropriate bell lap final segment type of?
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Type of sound.
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: Listen, a hungry man can't complain about crumbs, so I
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: like it. It's a difference. I like the fact that
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: Justin was in on it, our producer here. He was like, oh, yeah,
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: I got one for you, Willie. Yeah. It's better. We're moving.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: We're moving.
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: Hey, Justin, can we hear that again? Let's hear that
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: one more.
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: Time.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: It just sounds so regal.
• 36:49
  Speaker 6: Okay, so can I have a quick aside? Can I
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: give you guys a quick aside?
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: So I was in Siena, Italy for my anniversary. So
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: I gave my wife a choice. I said, hey, you know,
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: they have this famous horse race around this ancient square
• 36:59
  Speaker 6: in Siena. And it's different parts of the city. They
• 37:03
  Speaker 6: all get a horse and they race them around. And,
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: you know, there's the porcupine territory. And, you know, you're
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: born into the, you know, porcupine or a turtle or whatever,
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: you know. And so I said, hey, we could do
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: that or we can go to, you know, Bruce Springsteen
• 37:16
  Speaker 6: in Milan. We're going over there for our 30th anniversary.
• 37:18
  Speaker 6: And I didn't even have the words out. She's like,
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: Bruce Springsteen and Milan. I'm like, I wanted to go
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: see the horse race, you know. I thought she was
• 37:25
  Speaker 6: going to pick the horse race. So anyway, so we
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: went to Siena after the horse race. But then there's
• 37:31
  Speaker 6: another horse race later in the year, and we were
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: there when they picked the horses. So we didn't even
• 37:35
  Speaker 6: know what was going on. We're just standing there in
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: the square, and a trumpet comes out. A trumpet pokes
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: out of the window. Justin, let's hear what that trumpet
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: sounded like, okay?
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you.
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: Here's what the trumpet sounded like. And then these guys
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: would wave in porcupine flags, would run through the crowd.
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: They got all excited because that meant they were in
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: the next horse race. So it was a very, very
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: cool experience that I didn't know we were going to
• 38:01
  Speaker 6: be part of. I thought we'd missed the race. We
• 38:03
  Speaker 6: did miss the race, but that trumpet reminded me of that.
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: It sounded just like it. So then I'll probably get
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: a flashback every day for the next umpteen years because
• 38:15
  Speaker 6: we got that trophy. So I'm going to flash you
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: guys back to your playing time. Week one to week two,
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: and again, do we all agree that it's probably, there
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: should be a bigger expectation of improvement, or maybe it
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: carries over from week two to three, because there is
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: less hitting and less physical nature in practice for most
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: teams around the league and in the preseason?
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: Well, so one, I think the physicality will amp up.
• 38:46
  Speaker 5: I do, because I think teams have Teams will go
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: into this week and have an honest approach about what
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: they look like and their style of play. I think
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: in reference to the Steelers, you don't want your 42-year-old
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: quarterback throwing the ball 40 times. I know what he's
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: capable of, but it's a lot. This offensive line for
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: the Pittsburgh Steelers has to be a lot better. To
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: Max's point, combo blocking, individual blocking, open side tackles, sustaining
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: their blocks, they just have to be a lot more
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: efficient and more physical Because what you're going to see,
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: especially in the Patriots defensive line, those guys are solid
• 39:25
  Speaker 5: against the run. They're an active front and they can
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: eat up blocks, right? So a lot of their linebackers,
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: you got to say Robert Spillane is who ex-Steeler is
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: over there. One of the reasons he's over there because
• 39:38
  Speaker 5: he's a good tackler, right? He's the guy who come
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: down here and fill gaps. And they want, you got
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: to say the Patriots, especially from their front seven, man,
• 39:48
  Speaker 5: What we was able to see, especially out of them
• 39:50
  Speaker 5: in the playoffs last year, they want to cause.
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: Confusion, but they also want to beat you up.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: So if you don't match that level of intensity, especially
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: coming out of this week, because I thought the Steelers
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: offensive line should have beat the Falcons defensive line up.
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: That didn't happen.
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: So you have to go into this week, one, you're
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: going to be playing against a better defensive line, a
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: more active defensive line, a defensive line that's more stout
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: against the run, and on top of that, They're going
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: to do things up front that you simply haven't seen
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: just because of the nature of the game. So you're
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: going to have to clean up a lot of your
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: dirty work on the fly. And when you're talking about
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: a new left side between Mason McCormick and.
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: Troy, validate on the right side.
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: But they want to run the ball to the left
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: side because of the continuity they should have had, right?
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: And so when you're not getting proper production out of
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: those two, and now you have to lean on maybe
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook. And I thought, to be
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: honest with you, Out of the two tackles between Troy
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: and Dylan Cook, I thought Dylan Cook was the better
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: run blocker on Sunday.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: I'll be honest with you. And I love Troy. I
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: love Troy to death. I love me some Troy Fatano.
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: But when you turn on the tape, Dylan, in the
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: run game that is, performed a lot better than Troy.
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: So hopefully that's not the case.
• 41:00
  Speaker 5: Hopefully both tackles can continue to elevate and pick their
• 41:02
  Speaker 5: game up. But I think you're really still going into
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: this week, running the ball with way more efficiency. way
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: more vigor, and being able to grind it out in
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: between the 20s is going to help out Aaron Rodgers
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: in that offense a lot better. Listen, just getting Rico
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: Dotto and Jalen Warren's feet to the line of scrimmage,
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: they're talented enough to do the rest, but you've got
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: to get them there.
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: Hopefully they can do that next week.
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: So, Max, I think you were on talking about how
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: long it takes an offensive line. I'm not trying to
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: excuse anybody, but it's not as easy as just going
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: out there and playing. I mean, it takes a while.
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: doesn't it, to get that communication and that cohesion together
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: as a five-man unit?
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because of what you just said, five men have
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: to think as one. And every other position on the
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: football field can be independent contractors, right? But the offensive
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: line is a union, right? You know, we are the
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: true democracy. We have to agree. I mean, hell, how
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: many times, Willie, have we sat in a meeting and
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: we'll all agree and then there'll be one dissenter Doug Legerski.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: Doug was, oh, my God. Why do we have to
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: call it this, kooks? I don't see why we see
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: it like that. There was always one. But we had
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: to hash it out, and then by the end of
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: the meeting, we had to all agree unanimously because it
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: is five guys working as one. And if one guy
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: doesn't get it, it messes up everything else, whereas a
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: receiver can run a wrong route. A quarterback can roll
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: out to get the coverage he wants with his legs
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: and make that receiver right. You know, a running back
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: can burst it to the outside because he just has
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: blazing speed. Willie Parker did that all the time, even
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: when the blocking was perfect.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: He still wanted to bust it to the outside. But defensively, right?
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, defensively, an individual guy can take over
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: and make a play. He can cause havoc. A D
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: lineman can knife up the backfield and mess everything up
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: on the run plan. A defensive back can press at
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: the line and throw off the timing. There's a lot
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: of individual successes that can be had at other positions,
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: but offensive line, that's why I say it takes five
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: to six weeks into the season before you really see
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: what the squad has.
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: And, you know, we're a four-man unit. I'll tell you what.
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: Justin Miller gave us a trumpet. Willie Colon said, oh, no, no,
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: we're not doing the power rankings today. This is a
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: four-man unit, a four-man democracy.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: And this four-man democracy will be back tomorrow at the
• 43:36
  Speaker 6: same time, noon to 2, for Justin Miller at the controls,
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: for Willie Colon, for Max Starks. I'm Rob King. We
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: thank you for being with us in the locker room
• 43:44
  Speaker 6: here on the Steelers Audio Network.