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

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: And thanks very much for being with us on this Wednesday.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Beautiful day here in DeBerg. Great day to get ready
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: for football. Sort of transitioning from looking back, although there's
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: still a couple of topics we can get to, and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: then looking forward to the New England Patriots. It's hump day.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: We slide up the hump, Willie, and we slide back
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: down on the other end of the hump, huh?
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm all about humping, Rob.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: No, it is.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I was telling my son as I was taking him
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: to school, what does Wednesday mean in the NFL?
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: That means it's a new week. It's a new start.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Whatever the uglies were on Sunday, you got to forget
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: about it and you got to be ready to move on.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: I think from an offensive standpoint, if you're the Steelers, man,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: you have to be excited and somewhat determined to polish
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: this thing up a little bit because, I mean, as
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: much as that defense carried the team in the second
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: half and Patrick Grimm is getting a lot of credit
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: for a lot of the guys buying in, I think
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I'm still excited to see this offense come alive and
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: be the explosive offense that we've been looking for. So
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: hopefully we get a chance to see that week two
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: and here we are, hump day, baby.
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: Let's get going.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: There's a lot in just what you just said there, Willie.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: First of all, we're going to hear from Patrick Graham
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: coming up in a little bit. You know, before we
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: completely close the book on Sunday, I got to thinking
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: about something because last week I was kicking around with
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: you guys, the notion that maybe in the preseason, you know,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: teams trying to do things differently in different sports and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: everybody's scared to death of the injuries and And that's
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the way it's become now. People don't want to play guys.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: And we've just gotten used to sort of the first
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks being ramp-up weeks, really, in the NFL.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And so I posited the question, you know, or posed
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the question, what if a team decided, okay, we're going
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: to play our guys more. We're going to be ready.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: We're going to try to steal a win in week
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: one to be more ready, and we'll worry about any
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: potential injuries or fatigue in December when it rolls around.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I got to thinking about that, and I thought, you
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: know what? It's kind of what Atlanta did, you know. Willie,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that's what Atlanta did, and I just wonder, you know,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: for people that are trying to nitpick the 20-13 victory
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and find the things that they're, you know, same old Steelers,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: you know, same old division champs, Willie. You can't satisfy
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: some people. Same old Steelers. Maybe there was something to
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the fact that Atlanta played more preseason. Maybe there isn't.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Tell me if I'm wrong. I could definitely be wrong,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: but it just occurred to me that on the heels
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of that topic, maybe that had something to do with
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Atlanta keeping it closer than I thought it was going
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Well, one, I think it was a multitude of things.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: I expected this team to run the ball a lot better.
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: It didn't. We talked about that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers and a couple of the receiving guys seemed
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: like they were a little off-tilt. playing together necessarily doesn't
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: mean continuity and you don't get positive output. Sometimes when
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: you have, you got to give credit to your opposition, right?
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: I thought the Falcons secondary played fairly well for the
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: most part.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: They played strong.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: And then up front from a defensive line standpoint on
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: the Falcons, they just couldn't get, they just couldn't get
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: home like they're used to. Cause we talked about some
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: of the guys that weren't playing in that game. With
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: all that said, I think the Steelers, I think are
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: kind of in this, I want to say identity crisis,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: but this is a new ever for them, right? This
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: is new because I know Michael McCarthy, this is a
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: whole new situation. And I think they're still getting acclimated.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: So you have to take the good with the bad.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know if playing guys in a preseason necessarily
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: equals a week one guarantee. I just know the style
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: of play you want to play and what the Steelers
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: brand has looked like over the years.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: Guys have to play in the preseason, play that brand
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: of football.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: So I think from the fan standpoint, We're used to
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: seeing a more physical, more opposing brand of football, and
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: we necessarily didn't get that. But that's why Mike McCarthy's here, right?
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: He's here to usher the new era of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: and so it's going to take some adjustment. I think
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: as we continue to watch the film, we continue to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: dive into what this team looks like, and we continue
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: to wrap our minds around the Steelers being more pass-dominant
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: than run-dominant, which is new, I think we're going to
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: start kind of saying, okay, this is this is where
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: the league is at right now.
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: And here we are.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: You know, Max, again, I'd like you to just, just
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: weigh in on that as, as we kind of put
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: the Sunday victory behind us and move forward. But, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of us, I think we've all sort of said, look,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you know, it would be great to see the regulars
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: play more. Well, if we want that to be true
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: on our end, maybe the, maybe the Falcons playing the
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: regulars more in the preseason, maybe it helped, or maybe I'm,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: like my dog, if you can hear in the background,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: barking up the wrong tree, Max.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: We don't hear him.
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, good, good.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: All right, we got the doors closed.
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that is always a good sign, and trust me,
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: my dog has always contributed to the broadcast as well
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: over the years. So I'm just glad it's not mine
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: this time. But I think, you know, it is fair
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: for us to ask that type of question or– from
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: a fan's perspective, wanting to see it together faster so
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: that when it comes to regular season, you can kind
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: of hit.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: The ground running.
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: But at the same time, this is the era we're in.
• 6:09
  Speaker 6: This is kind of what the cycle is. Now, you know,
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: the one thing I will say, if it is a cycle,
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: it always comes back to balance at some point. There's
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: going to be somebody that's going to buck that trend.
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: I mean, I look at Andy Reid and company. Andy
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: Reid always figured out a way, whether it was a
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: couple of snaps, a series, or something, to get his
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: guys in there. Before Patrick Mahomes got injured last year,
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: he used to always play in the preseason, even as
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: much money as he's made. And that formula has worked.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: But I just think of the fact that now, With
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: that 17th game, and God forbid we get to the
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: 18th game, you can just forget about seeing anybody of
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: value playing in those two preseason games. I think that's
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: sad to say, but everybody wants to protect their investment.
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: Everybody wants to get their guys to the regular season.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: I'm in the same kind of thought process as you, Rob,
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: especially as Willie.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Is that.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: I wanted to look better optically when they do step
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: out there.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: And I'm sure.
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: There are 20 other teams that feel that way.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: Because I feel like some teams that won, they're just.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: Happy they won.
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: But I think for a majority of those teams, you
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: would love to see it be cleaner.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: You would love to see it be more exciting.
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: But If we look at just what week one was,
• 7:52
  Speaker 6: it was sloppy across the board. I mean, the best
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: part about how we played was definitely the fact that
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: we tackled better than the Denver Broncos, which I.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: Think, you know, it'll even itself out.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: But we definitely tackled better than the Carolina Panthers. And
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: we also, even though we did not get to run
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: the ball effectively, we actually ran the ball when we
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: needed to very effectively. And that was close out the game.
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: So it's a lot to grow. And that's why I
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: think we talked about it yesterday extensively. There's room to
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: grow in week two. You know, this whole journey is
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: going to take time and we're not going to feel
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: really happy or comfortable with the team. till november and
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: they're still in the playoff hunt and that's what they're
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: doing they did everything in their power to make sure
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: they they kept themselves in the conversation and will continue
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: to do so i believe throughout the season and believe
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: it will get better it's just yeah it is frustrating
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: when you hear all this stuff new era and it
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: looks like a score that would have came from the
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: previous era that that's the frustration and i get it.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah and i get it and listen guys i'm not
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: it's not like um stomping around in my backyard, kicking
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: stones and yelling up at the sky, why aren't they
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: playing more guys in the preseason? But since we were
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: talking about it and talking about could that be a
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: ramp up to help you get ready, I don't know,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: has anybody played more? I bet you, again, I don't
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: know this for a fact, but I would have to
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: guess that there wasn't a single quarterback who started on
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Sunday or started in game one who saw more time
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: than Cooper Rush in the preseason. So I'm just wondering
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: if we're going to say, hey, teams should play more
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: guys in the preseason to get themselves more ready. Perhaps
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: the Steelers not looking quite as crisp as we would
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: have liked had something to do with Atlanta, too. I
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: guess that's my only point, that Cooper Rush played a
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: lot of football in the preseason, and they played their
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: guys a lot more in the preseason than a lot
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: of other teams did. I just figure if we're gonna
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: say we should have done it more maybe we should
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: acknowledge that they did it more and maybe that was
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a factor in keeping the game
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: and the score closer.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah but I also think that's part of we have
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: the better roster too right for sure so I think
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: that's part of the Steelers kind of pulling back and
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: not getting these guys. I think if we played the
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Chargers week one, we'd probably see a lot more of
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: our starters play in the preseason just to kind of
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: get those guys geared up.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: You get what I'm saying? So I think that's part
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: of it.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: I think the Steelers kind of just watched a little
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: bit like, hey, man, it doesn't matter if Tua, Michael Pinks,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: or Cooper Rush were all available, ready to go. We
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: still have Aaron Rodgers, right? So we feel like our
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: guy is definitely better than your guy. We have better pieces. Obviously,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: they have the better running back in B.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: John Robinson.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: And then we obviously have the better defense. So I
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: think a little bit is, hey, our roster is a
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: little older, a little longer, too.
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: We understand that.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Let's get these guys as much oxygen and recovery as
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: possible before we kind of get on this journey, prepare
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: for this journey, and they did so.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: So I don't take– and I think Max is 100% right.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Week one, everybody kind of felt the blues, but I
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: think week two is where you want to start to see,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: all right, let's start picking it up because– you don't
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: want teams to fall in the bucket early.
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Where they now, coming into October, they're playing catch-up instead
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: of being on par to where they want to be
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: because injuries.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Start to happen.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: You know, team continuity starts to kind of dwindle away
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a little bit. You start seeing the seams of this,
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: you know, this suit that you put together start to unravel.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: So you want momentum. I'm a big fan.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: You know, when me and Max played, we used to have,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: I remember Coach Tomlin I used to kind of have
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: a recipe.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: If you had to, if you had the choice, try
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: to only lose one game a month.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: If you, you know what I mean? You don't want
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: to lose two. You don't want to lose three because
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: the division gets harder and three. And on top of that,
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: injuries start to pile up. And then before you're not, before,
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: you know, you're, you're down a couple of strokes and
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: of course only gets harder. So you have to, you
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: have to stay par with what the goal is month
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: after month. And you don't want to lose to teams that,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: you know, you could be, it should have been. And
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: so that's why the, you know, Steelers winning and beating
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the Falcons. Valid, it didn't look good, but a dub
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: was necessary, and I'm glad they started week one with one. Agreed.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: So, Max, Willie started talking a little bit, as you
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: heard at the beginning of the show, about, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: sort of getting ready for week two. And I don't
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: know if it's any different than getting ready for week
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: eight or week nine, but, you know, you had this
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: one game. There's lots of tape to look at. I
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: think in a lot of ways, especially offensively, the team
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: didn't necessarily– establish the identity that they'd like to establish,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: that Mike McCarthy would like to establish. You know, basically
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: 21 runs. You know, you had 24 carries, I think,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: but three of them were Aaron Rodgers kneeled down at
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the end of the game. You want more– you haven't
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: maybe hit your stride yet. Maybe in week seven you have.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: But is there any difference in preparing for week two
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: than there is in preparing for week eight? Or is
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: preparing for a game preparing for a game?
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because it's the next one. That's the most important thing.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: It's the next one.
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: So you treat it individually as its own kind of
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: standalone thing. We got the film in. We got the corrections.
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: Now let's see, can we actually go execute what we
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: learned in the quote-unquote classroom.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: This week?
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: And today is that first day, that first crack at it.
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: They came in. Today's game plan install. I don't know
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: if we went over what Wednesday looks like in season,
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: but it's a Wednesday is an install day for the
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: game plan for the week. Um, first look at what
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: potentially they need to be doing against new England and
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: identifying personnel, identifying tendencies, and then crafting the plan. You'll
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: have the inside zone period, inside run period, which is
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: a lot of zone. Um, but it's guaranteed run. So
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: the DBs will go do their seven on seven stalking
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: one-on-one reception drills. And then you'll get together for two
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: different scenario team periods. And then you'll have the good
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: on good, you know, it's five plays ones on ones
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: and you'll go from there to get ready. But I
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: think for this week, the biggest thing is how do
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: I build? If I'm a player, how do I build
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: on what I started in week one, whether it's, You know,
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: am I cleaner with my hands and my punches? You know,
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: how am I doing on my double team? Am I
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: taking enough steps? Like, you go through the real critique,
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: and I think this is probably the biggest.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: Critique slash teaching.
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: Game week of the year just because you've gotten week
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: one out of your system, and you've played the game finally,
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: and now I have a tangible rep that actually matters,
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: and I could be coached on about it.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: But that's really, I think, the biggest thing.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: So I guess, Willie, that was where I was coming from.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Like there is a little more teaching maybe in this week.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: And is there the same amount of game planning? Is
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: there more, hey, we got to clean up what we're
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: doing after a week one? Or is it you have
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: to clean up while you're doing all the normal game
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: planning you would do normally?
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: Well, it's all of the above. As I said before,
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: winning tends to be the ultimate deodorant.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Sometimes because you won a game– you feel like, oh,
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: you know, we don't necessarily have to harp on certain things.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: You damn sure have to go back and kind of
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: scan and look around the details and the lack of
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: production where you try to execute that. Because at this point,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: you know, week one through four is about what are
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: our bread and butters? What do we do really well
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: as a team? You know, from an offensive line standpoint,
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: excuse me, What can those guys up front, that five,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: do really well? If we're in a pinch or if
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: we've got to have got to hide big yards, you.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: Know, are we, you know, for us, our Super Bowl year,
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: we were a really good dual team.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: We was really good at double teams across the board
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: where we can get to the, you know, we can
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: get root guys out of there and get to the
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: second level, which left options for really good running backs
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: like a Willie Parker or well, they're more or Isaac Redmond.
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: Those guys understood, man.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: And I've said this before, our job and our kind
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: of motto when it came to running the ball was
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: being able to just get the runbacks feet to the
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: line of scrimmage. We knew we had the type of
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: backs that once they got to the second level, not
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: only could they make people miss, but they were hard
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: to get down. And so you're really trying to find
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: out from week one through four, what are our bread
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: and butters? What can we do? Say, hey, it doesn't
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: matter what they put in front of us. We can
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: call these plays and we can get it done. And
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: when you're working with a new offensive line, and we've
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: said this before, a year, it's going to take time.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: But that five is different from last year because obviously Troy's.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: On the left side, Macy's on the.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Left side, Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook, all those guys
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: collectively had to figure out what can they do better
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: this year and what do they do well this year collectively.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: And those are all things you try to figure out
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: during game week, all the things you try to figure out.
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: On game day.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: But you really want to start tightening your playbook, right?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Because you want to say, hey, if we're a team
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: that plays better in 12, and then we're going to
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: live in 12. We're a team who just operates a
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: lot better in 11, then we're going to operate in 11. Like,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: this is where you start to kind of mold who
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: you want to be, and you find a lot of
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: that in week one.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Excuse me.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Max, how does a team find that balance between, what
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: they want to do, meaning what the head coach wants
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: to do, and what they can do. Because I'm sure
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: that the two don't always marry together, right? I think
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: what Willie is talking about is trying to find that balance.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Is that an ongoing process? Does it depend upon the coach?
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Run it again! Run it again! What is it? How
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: do you find that?
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: I think the biggest thing is This is what it is.
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: Every single year is a different story. Every single season
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: is a different identity. You can have an ethos, right?
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: You can have a core principle. We're going to be
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: a tough team. We're going to be a tough out.
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: We're going to be physical. But every year you have
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: new players. Every year you have something new happening within
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: the team construct. You will have consistencies, but you'll have additions.
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: And you'll have subtractions, right?
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Free agency. You lose guys. A draft. You add guys.
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: And so every year, this is a journey that you
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: have to take. And I think the biggest thing that
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: I look at is we don't know who this team is.
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: We have an idea of what we think this team is.
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: But until you play the games, until you rep the reps,
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: and you find out, hey, what are these guys good at?
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: A year ago, Troy Fataunu, Mason McCormick, dominating bruising on
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: the right side. Now they're left side guys. How does
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: that transition look? It's not as easy as saying, go
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: from here to over there, and everything's going to.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Be the same.
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: Same thing with the team. A team has to build
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: their identity. They go out and prove it. You're talking
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: about Missouri, right? Hey, show me state. That's what you
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: have to do every week. And then as you build
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: that consistency from week to week, to week, then an
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: identity starts to take shape. And then people start to
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: recognize who you are as a team.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I think it's a fascinating topic. I want to dive
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: more into it. You're going to hear from Patrick Graham
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: coming up. Willie, Willie got me on track yesterday. It's
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: a time to look at the power rankings today. I
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: tried to jump the gun. Willie's like, no, no, no.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Get back in line. Get back. Hey, man, Willie's like,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: he's got us. We've changed the bell lap, right? He's
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: keeping us in line, Max.
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's an accountability exercise. Once again, every year is
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: a new journey. New members on the team, additions, and
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: you're going to see as we get through the year
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: what we are as a unit here.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: So it's changing. It's evolving.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: You know, we were a team that only ran dive.
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: Now we're running duo, you know. And so that's what
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: this is. It's a process. See, even for us as broadcasters,
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: it all ties in right there.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: There it is.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Good stuff. All right, you're going to hear from Patrick Graham.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Like you said, the power rankings. More on this conversation
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: early on in the season. What is the team looking
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: to accomplish when we continue here in the locker room
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: on the Steelers Audio Network?
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: And thanks very much for being with us in the
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: locker room. And so, Willie... I just wanted to talk
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: a little bit more about this topic of getting ready
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: and what the game prep looks like. So you play
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: the game on Sunday, and I'm assuming you have taping,
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: you know, film sessions and that sort of thing that
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: you'll be reviewing. When do you start, you know, when
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: do you kind of concentrate on, this is what we
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: have to clean up, and when do you start concentrating on, hey,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: you know, this is who you're going to be facing
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: in the New England Patriots. This is what they start
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Max alluded to it. It's today.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Wednesday's the day where you kind of put everything behind you. And,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: you know, hopefully Monday and Tuesday you kind of dump
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: the uglies out of your head and you're really looking
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: at a blank piece of paper where you start reevaluating
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: what you can do better and also evaluating how you
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: attack the next game plan. And I think a large
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: part of getting to game week, man, is also not
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: only schematically what you need to do, but from a
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: mechanical standpoint. That's always the thing. Like you, you try
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: not to, it's so funny. I was talking to one
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: of my old office linemen, a buddy of mine who
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: I played with on the jets. And we were just
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: kind of talking about the glory days and just talking
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: about ball.
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: And he was saying how.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Max getting tested is too, you know, from an office
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: line standpoint, you go through these one-on-ones, you're working on mechanics,
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: what hands to shoot, shoot and do these little different things.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: So you can be effective on Sunday.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: And, you kind of get yourself worked up during the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: week on how you want to attack the opponent and
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: how well you want to play. And then game day
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: comes and you're out there, you're warming up, you're getting,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: you know, you're getting in battle mode. I mean, your
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: first one-on-one rep in a corner against, you know, your teammate,
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: he blows by you and you're like, damn, like.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: Everything I wanted to work on, everything I wanted to do.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: And you second guess it all now.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: So you really have to start developing during this time,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: some mental skills, mental toughness, right?
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Understanding like, man, no matter what happens out here, I got.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: To stay true to the game plan and stay true
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: to what I've been practicing all week. As far as footwork,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: hand placement, hat placement, my communication, what I need to say,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: what I'll be looking for. You have to all kind
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: of dial that back in and be ready for the challenge.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: So this week is really just kind of continue to
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: sharpen the iron. And, you know, what you try not
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: to do is overthink it too. Because I think if
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: you're Dylan Cook, who gave up two sacks and you start,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: you know, I know the Steelers tried out some new
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: tackles they brought some people in the building.
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: You try not to look around.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: All you can do is focus on the next game
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: and focus on what you need to do and get
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: better and seeing how Spencer Anderson and him can be
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: the best right side in the league if they continue
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: to pound the rock.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: And that's what you can focus on, what you need
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: to focus on. So hopefully that's the case, man.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: But this week is about leaving last week behind you
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: and sharpening the iron.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: You know, it's an imperfect analogy perhaps here, but when
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: you talk about technique– Is it kind of like, you know, Max,
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: is it kind of like, you know, for example, maybe
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: like folding laundry? Like once you learn the technique of
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: how to fold laundry, that's the technique. Once you learn
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: the technique of how to step and jab and all
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: that other stuff, that's the technique. Or are you still
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: constantly trying to hone those skills as well?
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: Listen, the one thing, you know, you learn is consistency matters.
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: And the more you do something consistently, the faster it is.
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: And you don't even have to pay attention because it's
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: just second nature. You can have a conversation, and it
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: won't disrupt your flow at all. And I think that's
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: kind of what Willie was talking about is as you
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: go through this process, you have to just get the reps.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Every opportunity is a new experience.
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: And I know we talked about it a lot with rookies, right?
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: Every time they get a snap, it goes into the databanks.
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: But for veterans, it's about how do I get– They're faster.
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: How do I get my process more efficient? And sometimes,
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: you know.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: It'll be like folding a shirt.
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: You know, you do a little double side and a trifold,
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: and then sometimes with a sock, you know, it's a
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: different technique, you know, for folding socks. I mean, a
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: sock is a trifold as well, but it's a different trifold,
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: and you don't really have to be as tight because
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: it's going to a different place. That's what you have
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: to do. The run game to the pass game, there's
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: different keys and landmarks that you're working on And the
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: more that you wrap those things, the better you're equipped
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: when it comes to the next game.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: And that's why we talked about this last week.
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: You know how you build kind of your locker room
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: with your middle class guys. You watch others do it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 6: That's the biggest thing is because everybody's doing it.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: And Willie talked about.
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: This standing at the 50 and just looking after practice
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: about what if I need something to do. That's what
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: you have the option because everybody's out there. I can
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: now go ask a guy, hey, maybe I need TJ
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: to give me a look because of the guy that
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: I'm going up against.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: Hey, TJ, can you just a couple of jump offs?
• 26:26
  Speaker 6: Let me know what I'm doing wrong when I take
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: the first step and I engage contact. And you could
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: get that critical feedback from a guy. Not everybody has
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: a TJ Watt on the team. Not everybody has a
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: Cam Hayward. And if those guys are out there, utilize
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: those guys to help you get better. Because, like, hey, man,
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: last week, you know, I went to shoot my hands.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: I got chopped. The guys hit the corner on me.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: What can I do?
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Is it throw my hip out and try and force
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: it wide? Or do I try and take the hand
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: and try and readjust the movement? That's what you have
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: the opportunity to do here in this week to kind
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: of hone your craft. And like Willie said, you can't
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: count the room. You can't look.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: Over your shoulder. If you're the guy.
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: Own being the guy and stay the guy as long
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: as you can and don't worry about what everybody else
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: is going to do.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Don't worry about the other noise. You can only control
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: what you can.
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: Control, and that's yourself, your effort, your attitude, and how
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: you present every single day.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: That's all you can control.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, so I'm still stuck on the sock folding. I'm
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: kind of a sock. And I understand why you do that, right,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: because you don't want the stretchy thing that stretches and
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: keeps it on your calf. To wear out, right? But
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I will go ahead and roll them inside out, right?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: So I'll have mine in a ball. Max might, you know,
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I'm just surmising here, you might be a folder since
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: you mentioned folding socks. But that brings me to the question, Max,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: or Willie, as you're getting ready for an opponent, I'm
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: sure there are inviolable rules, right, on playing offensive line,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: certain techniques you have to have.
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: Can those.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: vary a little bit from guy to guy, and then
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: can they vary from opponent to opponent? We're going to
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: hear from Patrick Graham in a moment talking about T.J. Watt.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Would you have to vary something that you do technique-wise, sock-folding-wise,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: to go against T.J. Watt versus somebody else?
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: I apologize for that. Yeah, so it's interesting. Dramatic pause. Yeah,
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: I apologize.
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: You know, T.J.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Watt is an interesting pass rusher because I had the
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: opportunity to watch him last season in training camp. And he,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: at the time, Troy Fatano was kind of, he was
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: now the starting right tackle. And I was talking to Troy,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: you know, because Troy, listen, we know during one-on-ones when
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: you're going against an elite pass rusher, it's not just
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: about what you're looking at. It's about how What is
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: he trying to do to me? How is he trying
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: to set me up? And I try to explain to
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Troy what makes TJ unique is not only his getoff,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: but his getoff threatens you to be a– he wants
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: to see a two-way go. And he warrants that because
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: his getoff, he gets off the ball so fast, he
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: makes the tackles to turn– he forces tackles to turn
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: square to him. And when you turn square to a
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: guy like that, he's looking at the inside rush or
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: he can take the outside rush. And if you sit
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: on him, he'll dip underneath you. If you kind of
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: stay a light on your feet, he'll bull rush you.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: One of the greatest tackles that I've ever seen in
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: my time, who I love because of his ability to
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: stay disciplined in his sets, was Joe Thomas for the
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: Cleveland Browns. No matter how fast elite Russia was able
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: to get up the ball, no matter how strong that
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: guy was, Joe did a great job of staying square,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: using his hands and his feet, and they all worked seamlessly.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: So getting young tacklers to understand when you're preparing for
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: a guy like T.J. Watt, don't let his get-off threaten
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: your set. You're still going to have to mix it up.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: You're going to have to jump set him sometimes. You
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: have to set vertical. You have to kick 45. If
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: you do have tightest presence there, you may want to
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: be a little more aggressive on your set if the
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: lineman allows it. So you're going to have to go
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: at a guy like that with an arsenal, so to speak.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: You can't just continue to do the same thing because
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: good elite masters, you start to get a rhythm on
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: how you're getting off the ball. They start understanding your tempo.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: They start keying off things you do. And for a
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: lot of young tackles, if you're not accustomed to seeing
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: those different things, it can make a long day for you.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: So that's why it goes back to also why.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: As much as I want to max a 100-2 start,
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: there's things he has to see in practice first before
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: he gets out there.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: And being in condition at that helps with a lot
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: of that.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: So I think for a lot of these Patriot guys,
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: and understand the Patriots have Morgan Moses, their starting right tackle.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: He's seen it, done it. I think he's actually played
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: against TJ Watt. He's going to be prepared. But what
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: Patrick Graham has done, and especially going into Sunday's game,
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: He's moved TJ around a lot. You know, TJ is
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: not just coming off the left side. He's not just
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: coming off the right side. He's sprinkling them all over
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: the place because when you have a weapon like TJ Watt,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: we saw last year a lot of teams started to say, hey,
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: we're just going to play this right side.
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: We're going to have chip help. We're going to have
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: tight end help. We're going to squeeze down our receivers.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: We're going to do a million things to slow this
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: guy down so he's not as effective.
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: Or a game wrecker.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: But if you limit the snaps and you move him around,
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: we get the output we saw Sunday.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to try to use– and, Max, I
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: know you played a lot of basketball growing up, obviously
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: an outstanding player. But I'll use this analogy and wonder
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: if it's more– so this would be less about technique
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: than it would be about spacing, right? So if you're
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: not that– Max isn't hearing me right now, but so, Willie,
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: I'll ask you. If you're not that fast of a guy, right,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: and I'm guarding you and I'm on the perimeter, I'm
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: going to get right out in front of you. If
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: you're a really fast guy, now my knees are still
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: going to be bent, my arms are going to be out, whatever.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: But if you're a really fast guy, now I'm going
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: to back up a couple steps, right, because I don't
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: want you blowing by me. So I'm using the same technique,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: arms out, you know, knees flexed, all that other stuff.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Is it kind of like that, or do you actually
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: have to change, you know, some technique when you're going
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: against some of the elite guys?
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: When it comes to the elite guys, man.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, Max is back.
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: Go ahead, Max.
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: Oh, sorry.
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: I was just going to say, it's not necessarily about
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: changing your technique. It's about adding to your arsenal. You
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: have a bevy of moves, right? For offensive linemen, you
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: have a jump, which Willie could talk about. That was
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: one of Willie's go-tos, right? And guys get a beat
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: on that. But you also have a delay, which is
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: I'm going to just set vertical and kick out. And
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: we called that on our line sugar, right? That was
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: a sugar set. But then you have your traditional 45-degree set,
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: and then you have a deeper set. So you have
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: these different already move sets that are already in the
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: dance card, so to speak, right? Some people have the foxtrot.
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: Some people have the rumba. Some people have the salsa, right?
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: You have these different starting moves, but then at the
• 33:14
  Speaker 6: end of the day, now your hands are coming to play.
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: And now how I utilize my hands, independent punching, right?
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: Shadow punch.
• 33:21
  Speaker 6: You know, am I going to am I going to
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: give me give a hit to the inside and then
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: counter back with the left real quick? Am I going
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: to have a two hand punch?
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: There's different things that you can do to comment. Just
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: we talk about guys with their pass rush move. So
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: I think as you get against guys who have a specialty,
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: it changes how you do it.
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: But I'm not going to change it completely.
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: I'm not going to go and find some type of
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: root hog four point jump down, chop and change it up,
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: do a spin move. I'm not going to do that
• 33:50
  Speaker 6: type of stuff as a lineman. I want to dictate
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: what the guy can do to me versus what he
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: wants to.
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: Do to me, if that makes sense.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: Willie?
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think right now when it comes to preparing
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: for this game and preparing against any pass rusher, man,
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: everybody has go-tos, bottom line, and you have to respect it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: I know for us, they're nine times. You know, we
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: brought these names up before. It was Robert Mathis and
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Dwight Freeney. They loved the spin move, right? Or if
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: we were going against guys like, hell, if we were
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: going against Kyle Vanderbosch and those guys, those guys, Jason
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: Taylor's of the world, those guys were 6'4, 6'5, guys
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: who had long arms. You know, Max mentioned one of
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: the reasons I jump set a lot because I didn't
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: have the arm length of a Max Starrs.
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: You know, I had a strong base.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: I knew I had to be, I had to kind
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: of be cat-like and I had to get to those
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: guys before they got to me. Because with their long
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: arms and their power, they can push me back into
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: the quarterback. A lot of times, my play style was
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: I had to bring the fight to the defender. I
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: couldn't let the defender dictate how he was going to
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: play against me. If you're the Steelers' office line who
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: struggled with protection, individually, these guys are going to have
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: to figure out what their game is, especially since we
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: talked about the right side moving to the left side.
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: And honing in on some of the little things.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: So when they do go against some of these elite
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: defensive lines, when they start seeing these elite matchups, their
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: mechanics and their skill set is ready to roll. Because
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: one thing you don't want to do, and I think
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: this goes across the board for any position, you don't
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: want to try out new moves in real game time, right?
• 35:30
  Speaker 5: You don't want to go, they call it going rogue.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: And I've seen a lot of guys in my time
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: when they're under pressure or they're in the heat of combat,
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: They start to do things. They start to go rogue.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: They start to do things they can't explain. And when
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: their position coach is like, hey, man, I've never seen
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: you practice that. I've never seen you do that. Where
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: the hell did that come from? And they'll give you
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: this blank stare like, I don't know. That means that
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: guy's in a complete survival mode. I'm telling you. He's
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: at this point. He has whatever you have taught him,
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: whatever he has prepared for is no longer an option.
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: He's just out there trying to get through four quarters
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: and survive. Right. And so.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: As an offensive line, if I was an offensive line coach,
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: I want to keep my five out of survival mode.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Because if one goes into survival mode, the guy next
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: to him is taking a lot more heat, and he's
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: going to go into survival mode. Then the guy, it's
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: a chain reaction. Because like we said, the goal of
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: an offensive line is not for five guys to play
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: as individuals. You want all five to play as one.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: So if one is overhypely stressed because he's getting cooked
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: on the edge and That means the left guard has
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: to pay more attention to him. Now the center has
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: to pay more attention to the left guard. Now the
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: right guard and the right tackle, now they're being left
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: on islands because now we're sliding everybody, those three, to
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: handle one or two guys.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: So it's imperative that.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: These guys, from an individual standpoint, start to figure out
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: what do they do well. Because if one– like Max
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: can tell you, I remember the game against Green Bay.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: Max had a handful– with Clay Matthews and I'm not
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: talking bad. I hope I'm not trying to be bad
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: with Max. But he had a handful with Clay Matthews.
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: But I remember going to the sideline and we was like,
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: all right, Max is having a tough day. Let's turn
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: our eyes and let's figure out how we can neutralize that. Willie,
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: you're now, you're out there. So now I'm saying, all right, well,
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: they have another good guy on this side. So now
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: I'm on an island by myself trying to figure out
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: how I can, now I have to get in my bag.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: This bag that I brought to the table, now I
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: got to start digging in it because I know this
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: guy now understands Clay Matthews has a lot more attention.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Now I'm left by myself, and I got to be
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: more in tune to what I do so my sets change.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Now I'm trying to figure out, do I have help?
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: Do I do not have help? All these little things
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: you're trying to figure out on the run and this
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: line together to keep themselves out of survival mode because, listen,
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: the Pats have a good defensive line.
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: Individually, they got to start sharpening their two so they
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: can be a lot better, man.
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: And this is why week two is important to having
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: solid game week, preparation week, so you can go into
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: the game prepared for all situations.
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: As the old adage goes, Willie, we all we got.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: We all we got. Yeah, right?
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: You ain't lying.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: And you had to channel that.
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: And like you said, that's where it comes, and that's
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: in-game transitions that we had to make.
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: Like, I had a great plan for Clay Matthews. Then
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: the game happened, right?
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: And you're like, as much as I'm punching this dude,
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: he is not stopping.
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: Like, he is coming around.
• 38:27
  Speaker 6: That was that try-hard type of, But he had a
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: different type of physicality, and I think that's what you
• 38:34
  Speaker 6: kind of learn.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: But as so when we got to that point, we
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: had already been together as a unit. We had gelled.
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: So we knew we could adjust on the fly. We
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: knew we could trust, okay, Willie, we're going to get
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: some more slide in this. You're going to be point guy,
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: and you're not going to get the chip or the
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: body presence as much. You'll get a running back reading
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: and then getting out into the route. And you understand that,
• 38:57
  Speaker 6: but we also knew what all of our strengths were.
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: And that week– You know, I went into it. I
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: thought I had a good game plan. And then you
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: adjust on the fly. And that's what good teams do.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: Good teams figure.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: That stuff out.
• 39:06
  Speaker 6: They figure out how to make that transition in game.
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: And we also know each other. I knew that next
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: to Juice, what I could and couldn't get away with.
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: And Willie knew the same thing, whether it was Darnell,
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: whether it was Ramon or Kendall. He knew what he
• 39:21
  Speaker 6: could and couldn't get away with. And then at the
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: center position, I mean, we went through what? Hardings, Mahan, Hartwig.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: To Pouncey, right?
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, so.
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: We all transition, but we all love each other. And
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: that's why it's important that this group stays tight because
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: you won't know that and you won't be able to
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: do that unless you've spent time together.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: All right. Hey, Patrick Graham on Twitter. on T.J. Watt,
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: a look at our power rankings, and more to come.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: We continue here in the locker room on the Steelers
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: I think we're going to hear from Patrick Graham here
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: talking about T.J. Watt, the coordinators who spoke and have
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: spoken about the game, and we're just sort of putting
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: a wrap on that, and then we're going to turn
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: the corner here on hump day as we get around
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: to the top of the hour and move on to
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: the Patriots and some other matters, including the power rankings
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: in the NFL. But let's hear what Patrick Graham had
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: to say about T.J. Watt.
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, difficult for.
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: I.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Mean.
• 40:53
  Speaker 7: Yeah, we're not going to be able to do it,
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: but TJ, I don't know. I mean, just watching the
• 40:58
  Speaker 7: highlights over the years and watching him in practice, getting
• 41:03
  Speaker 7: to know him as a person, as a football player,
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: pretty much probably could do whatever he wants, what he
• 41:09
  Speaker 7: puts his mind to on that football field. I mean,
• 41:12
  Speaker 7: that's why he is who he is.
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: So to me, it's a great football play.
• 41:17
  Speaker 7: For us, impossible. There's no way I'm doing that. No
• 41:20
  Speaker 7: way I could have done that. Even back at Crosby
• 41:23
  Speaker 7: High School, it's not getting done, period. But for him,
• 41:27
  Speaker 7: he's different.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: He's different.
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: And that's what I love at this level. You get
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: to coach the dudes.
• 41:32
  Speaker 7: That's what I tell my buddies in college. I'm like,
• 41:35
  Speaker 7: don't you want to coach the dudes?
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: I'm like, yeah.
• 41:37
  Speaker 7: Hey, play this block. Play the chip block. Go speed
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: the power on the tackle. Jump up and, yeah, pick that.
• 41:42
  Speaker 7: You might be able to say that.
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: It's on tape.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: By the way, T.J. Watt officially named the AFC Defensive
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: Player of the Week. Two sacks, three tackles for loss,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: two QB hits, one interception return for a touchdown. The
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: first ever interception return for a touchdown of his career.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: And 100 plus sacks, 10 plus interceptions. Just the, I
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: think it's the second player in NFL history to do that. Max,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: you're calling for it during the broadcast. You said, give
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: that man the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: And he got it.
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I absolutely call for it.
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: I mean, while in the game, because I was like,
• 42:20
  Speaker 6: there's nobody that's going to top that performance, right? I mean,
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: somebody would have to come out and had like six
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: sacks in a game, you know, and TJ deserved it.
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: I think when you look at.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: I mean, you could probably argue he probably had the
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: greatest defensive stat-getting day in the entire NFL. I mean,
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: nobody else really came close. I mean, you could even
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: call it NFL Defensive Player of the Week. But it's
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: the guys– Like TJ, like Cam, like Alex. You know,
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: Mike Tomar always had a saying, A players need to
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: have A games. Well, he's an A-plus player that had
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: an A-plus game. And it proved to be the difference
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: in the game, right? When all things are equal, we
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: won by what? Seven points. What did TJ Watt do defensively?
• 43:08
  Speaker 6: Score a touchdown. That's what led to victory. That's what
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: A-plus players do. So a well-deserved honor for him. And
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: I'm sure it's the first of many more to come
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: as this season unfolds.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think a lot has to do with
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: a lot of what his performance was, was his ability
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: to get out of his comfort zone. I think I
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: kind of highlighted what Patrick Graham has now demanded of him.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: And I know he talked about Denzel Martin, his linebacker coach,
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: kind of saying, hey, man, we got to get more
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: out of you. I think you, over the last year,
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: your game has become stagnant and When you have an
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: elite room like the Steelers do, having Herbig and Highsmith
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: and Jack Sawyer kind of, you know, now immersing himself
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: as a part of that pack, TJ obviously being the
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: alpha leader, man, you want to preserve that alpha leader
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: for the guy to have at games. And I think
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: right now, after the performance he had Sunday, not only
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: was it a great performance, but you tell it takes
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: a lot for a guy of his caliber to humble
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: himself and say, all right, I'm taking less snaps. I'm
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: moving around. I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone. And
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: I'm able to be highly productive. You know what that
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: does for the guy behind him, like a Nick Herbig?
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: You know what that does for a guy like Jack
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: Schleyer and Highsmith? It makes them buy in and be
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: all in if requested to step outside of their comfort zone.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: So I thought it was big for TJ to not
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: only have that type of game, but also publicly admit, like,
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: I wasn't comfortable not lining up where I normally line up.
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: You know, I wasn't comfortable lining being spread out a
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: little bit. I wasn't comfortable taking less steps, but I
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: still had a high-level production. So everybody behind him now
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: falls in line, and if it was ever requested of
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: those guys outside of that comfort zone, they have no
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: choice but to buy in because T.J.
• 44:56
  Speaker 5: Watt did so.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: Yep, I love it. And, you know, as I look
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: at that defense, guys, you know, after week one, T.J.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Watt obviously off to a phenomenal start. Alex Highsmith I
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: thought was outstanding defensively. I thought Cam Hayward was really good.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: I thought Peyton Wilson was outstanding. I thought both corners,
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: especially because we didn't hear him a whole lot, right?
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: I thought both those guys were very good, and I
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: thought Jaquan Brisker was excellent as well. A lot to
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: build on, Max, from my perspective going into week one.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: I just named off, I think, seven or eight guys
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: that I thought really turned in excellent games. They're going
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: to need them all and more against the Patriots on Sunday.
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: You're absolutely right. I think this is where it starts in.
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, think about this.
• 45:43
  Speaker 6: The secondary surrendered non-B. John Robinson catches four.
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: Four catches.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: That's a heck of a day.
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: And then when you think about what the linebacks were
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: asked to do and how they deployed B.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: John, they did a solid job. Now, can it get better? Absolutely.
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: Patrick Queen reading some of that late jet motion. Or
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: some of the split outs at the end.
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: Can he get over a little bit quicker? Yeah. Peyton Wilson,
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: can you diagnose and blitz a little bit quicker? Yes.
• 46:16
  Speaker 6: The responsibilities were new. But the defensive line, you listed
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: across the board. I even think Keanu Benton had a
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: solid day. You know, having to go back to the
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: nose position because of the way that Atlanta was structured,
• 46:28
  Speaker 6: you didn't see as much YA black. So that forced
• 46:31
  Speaker 6: Keanu Benton back down into the nose in a lot
• 46:33
  Speaker 6: more 4-2 situations where you had two outside backers Cam
• 46:38
  Speaker 6: at the three, Keanu had to play the nose in
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: those moments. You didn't get as much base as you
• 46:43
  Speaker 6: would have liked, as we kind of expected, because of
• 46:46
  Speaker 6: the way they deployed their tight ends as wide receivers.
• 46:48
  Speaker 6: So they had a lot of 12 personnel that shifted
• 46:50
  Speaker 6: to 11, and they adjusted on the fly accordingly. So
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: I think with all this newness and having these reps
• 46:56
  Speaker 6: for the first time and everybody playing together, I thought
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: this was solid to have that many guys still be
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: able to produce consistently throughout the game.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: And how solid? Well, we're going to find out because
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: we're going to dive into one of our favorite things
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: of the week, the power rankings. As we grumble about
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: the Steelers not being ranked high enough, I'm predicting. That's
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: a prediction. We're going to grumble. Maybe not. We'll see.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: I haven't looked at them yet. So we're going to
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: find out. We're going to do them live on the air.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: The power rankings in the NFL. We continue in the
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.