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Leaving a mark: Tomás Quinn on the Steelers Irish 4th July celebrations · The Irish Steelers Podcast

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Speaker 1: Irish airline aer Lingus will proudly serve as the presenting
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Speaker 1: partner of Steelers Ireland twenty twenty five. Airlingus's growth in
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Speaker 1: North America continues in twenty twenty five as the airline
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Speaker 1: prepares to fly to two new US destinations, Nashville and Indianapolis,
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Speaker 1: using its new Airbus eight three twenty one xl or aircraft.
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Speaker 2: This brings the number.
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Speaker 1: Of transatlantic routes operated by the airline from Dublin, Shannon
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Speaker 1: and Manchester to twenty four. Steelers fans traveling to Ireland
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Speaker 1: for the Big Game can enjoy a relaxing journey when
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Speaker 1: they fly.
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Speaker 2: With air Lingus. Air Lingus, You're very welcome, Everybody.
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Speaker 3: Welcome into the Irish Theaters podcast presented by aer Lingus
0:44
Speaker 3: and Talk of the air Lingus. Steelers Nation has time
0:47
Speaker 3: to take flight with aer Lingus, an official airline partner
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Speaker 3: of the Pittsburgh Steeters and the founding partner of Steelers Ireland.
0:53
Speaker 3: There's never been a better time to book your trip
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Speaker 3: to Dublin with nineteen North American Gate Whiz, including flights
0:59
Speaker 3: from nearby Cleveland. Get ready for warm Irish hospitality and
1:03
Speaker 3: plenty of room on board for your terrible title. Whether
1:06
Speaker 3: it's game day or a getaway, Erlingus looks forward to
1:09
Speaker 3: saying you're very welcome to the players and fans of
1:12
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers. Book now at erlingus dot com. And
1:16
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what, folks. Every week, we are getting
1:19
Speaker 3: closer and closer to this game under ninety days now
1:24
Speaker 3: to the first ever regular season game in Dublin between
1:27
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steeters and the Minnesota Vikings. And delighted to
1:31
Speaker 3: join you folks as we get closer to Steders preseason
1:35
Speaker 3: and Steelers' training camp in the troupe. Going to have
1:37
Speaker 3: the opportunity to go over there in a few weeks time.
1:39
Speaker 3: Really excited to bring you some content there and some
1:41
Speaker 3: big news this week, folks. Hey, the Steers a couple
1:43
Speaker 3: of days ago have agreed to acquire quarterback Jilan Ramsey
1:47
Speaker 3: and tight end Johnny Smith in a trade with the
1:50
Speaker 3: Miami Dolphins. Pending physicals. Pittsburgh are also going to receive
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Speaker 3: a twenty twenty seventh for round pick from the Dolphins,
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Speaker 3: and in exchange, the Steelers have sent a fifth round
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven pick to the Dolphins and safety Minka
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Speaker 3: Fitzpatrick over to Miami, and we wish Minka the very
2:06
Speaker 3: very best and fink him for his time with the
2:09
Speaker 3: team over the last few seasons. Ramsey coming in, folks,
2:13
Speaker 3: what a fantastic signing for this team. He's going to
2:17
Speaker 3: be entering his tenth season in the NFL this year,
2:19
Speaker 3: and he is a three time All Pro selection, with
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Speaker 3: First team honors in twenty seventeen, twenty twenty, and twenty
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Speaker 3: twenty one. Outside of that, he's a seven time Pro
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Speaker 3: Bowl selection, earning honors from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three,
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Speaker 3: and in the last seven years, he has been named
2:35
Speaker 3: in the NFL's Top one hundred players list. He spent
2:39
Speaker 3: the last two years with the Dolphins after they got
2:41
Speaker 3: him from the Rams, and in his two years with
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Speaker 3: the Dolphins, he appeared in twenty seven games, starting every
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Speaker 3: one of them, eighty two tackles, fifty seven of them
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Speaker 3: solo stops, sixteen passes defended, five interceptions, and six tackles
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Speaker 3: for a loss with Miami. That shows you straight up
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Speaker 3: the sort of guy we're getting, alongside the fact we're
3:00
Speaker 3: getting in Smith, going into his ninth season in the league,
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Speaker 3: who had three hundred and seven receptions for three thousand,
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Speaker 3: three hundred and seven yards in his career so far,
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Speaker 3: twenty eight touchdoigns. Hoping we get some more as well
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Speaker 3: on this season with the Steelers and two good guys
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Speaker 3: to come straight in in an elevated team with Aaron
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Speaker 3: Rodgers to come in to Dublin. I'll tell you what.
3:22
Speaker 3: It's the fan of me talking, but I can't win.
3:25
Speaker 3: I want to wish everybody, folks at that's celebrating this weekend.
3:28
Speaker 3: I'm very happy Independence Day in the US. And funnily enough,
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Speaker 3: if you weren't aware of this obviously, mister Rooney, mister
3:36
Speaker 3: Dan Rooney was the former US Ambassador to Ireland and
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Speaker 3: back in the day he used to have a flag
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Speaker 3: football tournament at the Deerfield Residence in Dublin on Independence
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Speaker 3: Day where many Steeers players, GA players, local domestic game
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Speaker 3: players came in and played. And this week we're gonna
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Speaker 3: hear from a guy that played in those games. In
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Speaker 3: twenty thirteen, approximately twenty fourteen, former Dublin Gaelic footballer, former
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Speaker 3: Dublin GEA representative now with Shelbourne delighted to welcome into
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Speaker 3: moss Quinn to the Irish Theaters Podcast presented by er Lingus.
4:13
Speaker 3: As we roll on getting closer and closer to NFL
4:15
Speaker 3: training camp here on the Irish Theaters Podcast presented by Erlingus,
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Speaker 3: we are delighted to welcome in a former Dublin GA
4:21
Speaker 3: player formerly with Dublin G and I was Shelburne, a
4:24
Speaker 3: friend of the podcast the second time on this podcast,
4:27
Speaker 3: Tomas Quinn Mossy Quinn as I'll call him, MASSI coladad
4:30
Speaker 3: welcome back in. How are you doing.
4:32
Speaker 4: I'm very well, Michael, Thank you, It's great to be here.
4:34
Speaker 4: Good to chatty as always, it's.
4:36
Speaker 3: Never like it never ends. Now obviously we'll talk about
4:39
Speaker 3: the game coming in a few months to your old
4:42
Speaker 3: stomping grounds and Crow Park. It's it's a really interesting time,
4:45
Speaker 3: mostly in the fact that we're actually bringing you on,
4:47
Speaker 3: because I'm not sure how many people actually notice. But obviously,
4:51
Speaker 3: mister Rooney was the former US embassaard Ireland, and with
4:55
Speaker 3: the fourth of July b in this week, you have
4:57
Speaker 3: an interesting background and I believe this may be your
5:00
Speaker 3: opportunity or your way of getting in and knowing the
5:02
Speaker 3: Steelers organization. The fourth of July party at the US
5:06
Speaker 3: Ambassador's residence in Dublin. The one year that you went,
5:09
Speaker 3: I believe for the first time, was one like no
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Speaker 3: other and it hasn't really been repeated since if I'm correct.
5:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, we were fortunate enough back when Ambassador Rooney
5:18
Speaker 4: was living in the residence in the Phoenix Park. I
5:21
Speaker 4: think his first year he ran a Fourth of July
5:23
Speaker 4: party as his tradition for whoever the ambassador is, and
5:26
Speaker 4: the ambassador usually puts their own slant on it, so
5:29
Speaker 4: some will have different types of American music, some will
5:31
Speaker 4: have it based around food, but as Ambassador Roney did,
5:34
Speaker 4: it was around football and Steelers football and engaging with
5:38
Speaker 4: engaging with the Irish people in that context. And we
5:41
Speaker 4: were fortunate enough. We were actually I was still playing.
5:43
Speaker 4: I think the first year he did it was twenty twelve,
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Speaker 4: and myself and a couple of colleagues were still playing
5:49
Speaker 4: with Dublin at the time, so we weren't we weren't
5:51
Speaker 4: able to participate in the event that year, but from
5:53
Speaker 4: twenty thirteen we played two years twenty thirteen twenty fourteen,
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Speaker 4: and what he did was he had a flag football
5:58
Speaker 4: event on the lawn outside the Ambassador's residence which was manicured.
6:04
Speaker 4: There's probably as good a pitch. You probably have Crow
6:06
Speaker 4: Park as the best pitch in Ireland, and then you
6:07
Speaker 4: probably had the Ambassador's Residence nearly as the second best
6:10
Speaker 4: pitch in Ireland, even though it was only every years,
6:12
Speaker 4: probably once a year for flag football. And it was
6:15
Speaker 4: a brilliant event, really family, real family events. There was
6:18
Speaker 4: a number of different family events on around the grounds
6:22
Speaker 4: in terms of face painting for kids and different different,
6:25
Speaker 4: different fun games, and it was a brilliant It was
6:28
Speaker 4: a brilliant initiative and it was I think it was
6:30
Speaker 4: probably testament to mister Rooney and the family environment that
6:34
Speaker 4: he brought as an ambassador. And we were fortunate enough
6:36
Speaker 4: to myself a couple of former Dublin players Barry Call,
6:39
Speaker 4: Jason Sherlock, Game and Fennel. Our brilliant coach Mickey Wheeling
6:42
Speaker 4: was there as well in a coach of capacity, and
6:45
Speaker 4: we mixed. It was effectively the Dublin Eights and the
6:47
Speaker 4: Dublin Rhinos were the two local American football teams who
6:50
Speaker 4: are kind of mixed in with some of the I
6:52
Speaker 4: think some of the embassy staff, some of the military
6:56
Speaker 4: who might have been based or some of the even
6:59
Speaker 4: the guard from the customs and border patrolling and dou
7:02
Speaker 4: An Airport. I know we bumped into a couple of
7:04
Speaker 4: them with a couple of beers with a few of
7:05
Speaker 4: them after the game. So yeah, it was a brilliant
7:07
Speaker 4: environment and really really fun.
7:10
Speaker 3: What was the atmosphere like in terms of it, Like,
7:11
Speaker 3: obviously al it's great to have local clubs there as well.
7:14
Speaker 3: Was it really like that family fun atmosphere? Was it
7:17
Speaker 3: competitive in that sense as well? Because from seeing pictures
7:19
Speaker 3: that you sent to us as well, and thank you
7:21
Speaker 3: for doing so and seeing this week, it just looks
7:23
Speaker 3: like something that really hasn't been seen before.
7:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, the whole event, like I was saying, it was,
7:28
Speaker 4: it was really family orientated. Even afterwards there was there
7:31
Speaker 4: was barbecues, there was food, there was music put on,
7:33
Speaker 4: so it was very much come and play the game.
7:36
Speaker 4: But it's more it was a part of the occasion
7:38
Speaker 4: rather I mean the focus of the occasion. But it
7:40
Speaker 4: was taken seriously, like there was a couple of practices
7:42
Speaker 4: leading into it, like you were up in the Ambassador's
7:44
Speaker 4: residence and the week leading up to the fourth of July,
7:47
Speaker 4: and that was more so just to get used to
7:49
Speaker 4: the rules, get to know a couple of your teammates,
7:51
Speaker 4: and each team had a couple of windows to practice
7:53
Speaker 4: in there, so they were That was very valuable for
7:55
Speaker 4: us even to work out position wise what people's skill
7:58
Speaker 4: set were and were what position people were going to play.
8:01
Speaker 4: But there was no doubt. I think it's the same
8:03
Speaker 4: as anything Michael once. Once the whistle goes that that
8:05
Speaker 4: competitive edge kicks in with a lot of people. So, okay,
8:08
Speaker 4: it was flag football, it was meant to be non contact.
8:10
Speaker 4: But I'm sure if you reviewed the film, there was
8:12
Speaker 4: a couple of couple of hits. Roby borderline.
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Speaker 3: Did you get a chance even around that time to
8:17
Speaker 3: meet mister Nie and shot him? Because look, I can
8:20
Speaker 3: only imagine he's looking down now smiling in terms of
8:22
Speaker 3: how much it's grown here since.
8:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did. We were very fortunately even the practices
8:27
Speaker 4: when it was just us as teams up and the
8:29
Speaker 4: lead up to the game, he would come out and
8:30
Speaker 4: welcome us up to the embassy, and he'd come out
8:32
Speaker 4: and have a look and he'd be keeping an eye
8:33
Speaker 4: on the practices, And what was so obvious was how
8:37
Speaker 4: personable he was, how interested he was and talking to
8:40
Speaker 4: people and understanding where they were from, and he made
8:42
Speaker 4: time for everybody. So that was it was great to
8:44
Speaker 4: have met him a couple of times before the day itself,
8:47
Speaker 4: because on the day itself, it's so busy, but he again,
8:50
Speaker 4: while it was part of the day, he was he
8:52
Speaker 4: was right in the middle of it. He was coming over,
8:53
Speaker 4: he was part of the coin toss beforehand, he was
8:55
Speaker 4: talking to teams afterwards and making sure guys when people
8:59
Speaker 4: were staying around, engaging with other guests and different things
9:01
Speaker 4: like that. So and look, he set the town for
9:03
Speaker 4: the whole the whole event, the whole week really, and
9:06
Speaker 4: it was it was very much come in, have some fun,
9:08
Speaker 4: you know, be part of something that was that was
9:11
Speaker 4: centered around football, but it was about enjoyment and it
9:14
Speaker 4: was more about a community spirit. And that's that. That
9:16
Speaker 4: was one of the things that stood out to me
9:17
Speaker 4: when you were talking to him. So now we're very fortunate.
9:20
Speaker 4: That was what I took from the first year, and
9:21
Speaker 4: then to be to be invited back again the second
9:23
Speaker 4: year was great.
9:25
Speaker 3: It's always a good sign when you're invited Backman, look
9:28
Speaker 3: for people that are listening and I know you or
9:30
Speaker 3: may not know of you or your background. I'm sure
9:32
Speaker 3: a lot of people do massive sporting and background playing
9:34
Speaker 3: in Krook Park, many many good times with Dublin GA
9:38
Speaker 3: and still involved with sport and now on the soccer
9:40
Speaker 3: side of things with Saburne. You know, you know Krowk
9:42
Speaker 3: Park more than a lot of people, but more so
9:46
Speaker 3: out of that must year. You're obviously a massive NFL
9:47
Speaker 3: fan as well. How proud of you or how do
9:49
Speaker 3: you feel or how have you felt over the last
9:52
Speaker 3: few months when you've seen this game being nice because
9:54
Speaker 3: I think for a lot of us we sort of
9:56
Speaker 3: felt like it would happen at some point, but certainly
9:58
Speaker 3: for a personal viewpoint for me, I O God, I
10:00
Speaker 3: just don't see it ever happening. And now it has
10:03
Speaker 3: and it's the Steelers. It's the team that you obviously
10:05
Speaker 3: were very close to their ten eleven years ago at
10:07
Speaker 3: that Ambassard's residence. It's them coming the time and they'll
10:10
Speaker 3: be the first team to do it in that way.
10:12
Speaker 4: It is It's a bit surreal, to be honest, Michael, Like,
10:14
Speaker 4: I've been watching NFL twenty five, twenty six years at
10:18
Speaker 4: this stage, and I remember going to the London games
10:20
Speaker 4: in the mid two thousands and walking up to Wembley
10:23
Speaker 4: thinking this is incredible because I used to nearly being
10:26
Speaker 4: a GA player. Our offseason coincided perfectly with the NFL season,
10:30
Speaker 4: so there was a couple of years in a row
10:32
Speaker 4: there before real life kicked in with kids and different
10:35
Speaker 4: things like that, where every year in the offseason we
10:37
Speaker 4: would have gone over again. Group of us want to
10:38
Speaker 4: have gone over to different cities and watch the NFL
10:40
Speaker 4: games and gone to see different teams. So going to
10:43
Speaker 4: games in London kind of gave you that sense that
10:45
Speaker 4: maybe someday it would be possible. But it's obviously just
10:47
Speaker 4: a journey the NFL has been on in the last
10:49
Speaker 4: number of years. You've seen them going international, You've seen
10:52
Speaker 4: the manner in which they're looking to expand into different markets,
10:55
Speaker 4: and obviously the college American football is probably a great
11:00
Speaker 4: eppingstone you could argue for what can happen in Ireland
11:03
Speaker 4: and how Dublin in particular is capable of holding such
11:07
Speaker 4: an event, and look Ireland such a sport and country anyway,
11:10
Speaker 4: So once once the NFL started casting, they're now a
11:13
Speaker 4: little bit wider, it to me became a bit of
11:15
Speaker 4: a no brainer. So it was more a case of
11:17
Speaker 4: when rather than if it was going to happen. And look,
11:20
Speaker 4: the fact that the Steelers have come in I was
11:22
Speaker 4: looking enough to be there the first day announced their
11:24
Speaker 4: entry into the global marketing program in crow Park, and
11:27
Speaker 4: that was the question everyone had. And I think it's
11:29
Speaker 4: probably happened a little bit sooner than maybe they even
11:31
Speaker 4: thought at that date. But look, it's brilliant. And look
11:34
Speaker 4: you saw as a man for tickets, You've seen the
11:36
Speaker 4: hype starting to build already. And I think as a
11:39
Speaker 4: as a country and as a city, I think Dublin
11:41
Speaker 4: is Dublin Ireland and Dublin are ready to go. And yeah,
11:44
Speaker 4: it's only going to build over the coming months.
11:47
Speaker 3: It's going to be class a couple of months ago
11:49
Speaker 3: before we sort of out This week mustly general NFL question.
11:53
Speaker 3: You know, when you talk about Dublin, you talk about
11:55
Speaker 3: the first game in Dublin. To have Aaron Rodgers potentially,
11:58
Speaker 3: I mean, we expect them to be the starting quarterback
12:01
Speaker 3: for the team this year, but to have him, you know,
12:03
Speaker 3: playing in Dublin on crowk Park's turf for that historic
12:06
Speaker 3: first game, it's pretty special and it's a pretty bold
12:10
Speaker 3: statement by the team as well in terms of what
12:12
Speaker 3: they hope to do this year.
12:13
Speaker 4: It is. Yeah, Look, I think when you're looking you
12:17
Speaker 4: take an even bigger interest, like we're looking at the
12:19
Speaker 4: Steelers all the time because of the connection with Ireland,
12:22
Speaker 4: but even looking at teams and how rosters are put
12:24
Speaker 4: together and what way there's different ways to win and
12:27
Speaker 4: what that looks like. And I think I've been very
12:29
Speaker 4: impressive what the Steelers have done in the offseason. There
12:31
Speaker 4: was a little bit of a delay and Rogers coming
12:33
Speaker 4: into the building, but they never seem to panic. There
12:35
Speaker 4: was a calmnesst there and I think that comes from
12:37
Speaker 4: having a really strong front office, from having a good
12:40
Speaker 4: organization from the top down, and obviously the fact that
12:42
Speaker 4: they would coaches experience and as high quality as he is,
12:45
Speaker 4: I think it lends itself to having that air of
12:48
Speaker 4: these guys are going to be ready. This team are
12:50
Speaker 4: going to be ready to go once the season starts.
12:52
Speaker 4: And look, the quarterback is the focal point, but he
12:55
Speaker 4: is just one focal point. You need you need an
12:57
Speaker 4: offensive line to protect him. You need to keep him
12:58
Speaker 4: standing no matter who it is, So whether it's a
13:01
Speaker 4: twenty two year old rookie or whether it's a forty one,
13:03
Speaker 4: forty two year old experienced quarterback. You need an a
13:06
Speaker 4: line who's going to protect him and give him time.
13:08
Speaker 4: And there's a few quarterbacks over the last twenty years
13:10
Speaker 4: who played the game as higher level as Aaron Rodgers.
13:12
Speaker 4: So if he can, if he can, if he can
13:14
Speaker 4: show a bit of that, And with the skill set
13:16
Speaker 4: players that the Steelers have added in recent months and
13:19
Speaker 4: in recent days, I think I think the opportunity is
13:22
Speaker 4: there for him to build on it because you know,
13:24
Speaker 4: the defense is gonna gonna hold up there side of
13:26
Speaker 4: the bargain. So it's going to be interesting to see
13:28
Speaker 4: how team dynamics and everything comes together. But that's that's
13:32
Speaker 4: part of the beauty of it.
13:33
Speaker 3: You know, you see play herme players, players jump or
13:36
Speaker 3: run around club Park. You talk about the defense for
13:38
Speaker 3: the Steelers. Just finally we see this week Gilan Ramsey
13:41
Speaker 3: coming in like talk about having a big state when
13:43
Speaker 3: the stack in the goal. But you know, you can
13:45
Speaker 3: see this team getting better and better. Man like you
13:47
Speaker 3: to see him playing in Dublin, for any Steelers fan,
13:49
Speaker 3: for any NFL fans, is going to be fantastic. In
13:52
Speaker 3: Miami's losses, Pittsburgh's game.
13:54
Speaker 4: For sure, and look Steelers for since they've been a
13:58
Speaker 4: synonymous with the NFL have been around on defense and
14:00
Speaker 4: being mean and being tough to score on and tough
14:03
Speaker 4: to play against. And I was fortunate enough to be
14:05
Speaker 4: in Pittsburgh last November to see him against the Ravens.
14:08
Speaker 4: They beat the Ravens eighteen sixteen that day. And it's
14:12
Speaker 4: the energy the defense gives the team, and it's when
14:14
Speaker 4: the crowd gets into it, and it's the breaks and
14:16
Speaker 4: play and the energy comes from the defense. And I
14:19
Speaker 4: know that dynamic is they're trying to the crowd is
14:21
Speaker 4: naturally going to be loud because you're trying to make
14:23
Speaker 4: it hard for the opposition team, the opposition quarterback. And
14:26
Speaker 4: obviously when when the Steelers offense is working, you're generally quiet,
14:30
Speaker 4: but the crowd feeds off the defense and I don't
14:32
Speaker 4: see any different. And when you're adding quality players like
14:34
Speaker 4: Jalen Ramsey, all the steeling is making it harder that
14:37
Speaker 4: when an opposition quarterback, when it's possibly j. J. McCarty
14:40
Speaker 4: drops back and he's looking to see what his options are,
14:43
Speaker 4: there's certain parts of the field he knows not to
14:45
Speaker 4: go out and I think the more the Steelers can
14:46
Speaker 4: do that might give the big guys up fronts a
14:49
Speaker 4: chance to get off from a little bit more any
14:50
Speaker 4: type of hesitation. So yeah, it just adds to that
14:53
Speaker 4: and adds another piece to the puzzle spot on.
14:56
Speaker 3: I couldn't put it any better myself. Mostly, I know
14:58
Speaker 3: it's going to be a really a few months ahead.
15:00
Speaker 3: Thank you for giving us your memories of that time
15:03
Speaker 3: in July twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, and obviously many more
15:07
Speaker 3: to come as well. Hopefully see you at the game
15:09
Speaker 3: of a few months and just obviously the best look
15:11
Speaker 3: to yourself over the nextew months ago. Thank you very
15:13
Speaker 3: much for coming on.
15:14
Speaker 4: Hiks, Michael, talk to you.
15:15
Speaker 1: Sam Irish Airline air LINGUS will proudly serve as the
15:25
Speaker 1: presenting partner of Steelers Ireland twenty twenty five. Airlingus's growth
15:29
Speaker 1: in North America continues in twenty twenty five as the
15:31
Speaker 1: airline prepares to fly to two new US destinations, Nashville
15:35
Speaker 1: and Indianapolis, using its new Airbus eight three twenty one
15:39
Speaker 1: xl or aircraft.
15:40
Speaker 2: This brings the number.
15:41
Speaker 1: Of Transatlantic routes operated by the airline from Dublin Shannon
15:45
Speaker 1: and Manchester to twenty four. Steelers fans traveling to Ireland
15:48
Speaker 1: for the big game can enjoy a relaxing journey when
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Speaker 1: they fly with air Lingus.
15:52
Speaker 2: Air Lingus, you're very welcome.
16:00
Speaker 4: H