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HR 1: Mike McCarthy Presser, Steelers Coordinators Speak · The Steelers Report

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Today is a Wednesday. Tomorrow will be more of a
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: combination of Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is a Saturday. We'll
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: go to Cleveland on Wednesday, get up Thursday morning, and
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: have a normal night game morning at the hotel, and
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we'll kick it off and go win the game. That
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: was Mike McCarthy at Monday's press conference. And it is Tuesday,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: and Brian Bacco wrote on Steelers.com, Monday was the first
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: of two Thursdays this week for the Steelers, but it
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: was also a Wednesday. If that makes sense to you,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: you've been around the NFL long enough to know the
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: challenge of playing Thursday night football.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's football math when you're on a short week.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: I mean, you just, you got to just try to
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: get everything done as quickly as you can. I don't
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: know that anybody really enjoys it, but Mike McCarthy also
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: said yesterday that there's no environment that you don't want
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: to compete in at this level. If they tell you
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: to roll the ball out there and play on a
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Tuesday morning in Madagascar, you'll go do it as long
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: as there's a club on the other sideline and there's
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: stakes to the game. So that's what you're looking at.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: For Thursday night in Cleveland, not an easy place to play.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: That fan base is fired up. It actually just dawned
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: on me today on the ride in here that that
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: was their home opener last week, beating the Carolina Panthers,
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: did the Browns. But obviously the Steelers have some momentum
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: right now as well. I mean, just Monday around town
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: after a Steelers win, everybody's more chipper. The mood's better.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: It seems like the lights shine brighter. The sun is warmer.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: That's the experience that I had Monday, Ed.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: I don't know about you.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, no doubt. When you come off of a victory,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: it's always a good thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Steeler Nation, and that's certainly where we are currently sitting here. But, Brian,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: we've got to turn our attention to the Cleveland Browns
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: rather quickly. The Steelers have already begun to do that.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: We will do that here as well as we navigate
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the next few days with you to get you prepared
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: for Thursday night. Pittsburgh at Cleveland. A tradition unlike any
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: other in my best Jim Nance quote to give you.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Jim Nance won't be there Thursday night. That won't be
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: CBS's production. But it should be a good one because
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: it's a showdown for first place. Both teams are 2-1.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: We didn't really expect that at the beginning of the season,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: at least for Cleveland. Maybe the Steelers, but certainly not
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: the Browns.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but hey, it's the NFL in 2026. I know
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: that's every year, but it seems even more so this
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: year so far. I mean, just look at last night's game.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you caught eagles bears but case
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: keenum out of nowhere i didn't even realize he was
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: starting i mean i'm so locked in on right dealer
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: stuff week to week now that i was actually talking
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: to my neighbor a couple hours before the game and
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: i was like ah no caleb williams i'm not really
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: as jazzed up to watch this monday night football game
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: it'll probably be a blowout and she's like oh well
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: who is starting instead of caleb williams for the bears
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: i was like i assume it's tyson bajan Turn on
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: my TV at 8.15. It's not Tyson Bajent. Case Keenum
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: was out there. But what a cool moment for him.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Hadn't started a game in the NFL in three years.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: It was 2023. I caught, they showed the locker room
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: speech afterward.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: And it was like, it was moving.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, he talked about how he didn't think he
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: was ever going to get a chance to do that again.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: But Ben Johnson called him up and he's there. Caleb
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Williams goes down. I guess Tyson Bajent was injured as well.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: And lo and behold, he's out there starting a game
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: on Monday Night Football and dicing up the Eagles for
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: a 27-7 win. He said he didn't think his family
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: was ever going to get a chance. He's got little kids.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: He's talking about watching Bluey after the game. You could
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: relate to that. Yeah, the on-field interview. So that was
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: just another cool moment turned in by the NFL. And
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: hopefully we get another one for the Steelers Thursday night.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: And actually, speaking of locker room speeches, did you see
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: the one that the Steelers put out Monday night?
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  Speaker 5: I did.
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  Speaker 3: Frazier.
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  Speaker 1: Frazier.
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  Speaker 4: Frazier he was one of the captains for the week
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: he was one of the captains and i don't you
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: know nobody's really said this explicitly but like i think
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: everybody in that room was sort of collectively wondering how's
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: he gonna hold up against big dexter lawrence that's right
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: is art is he gonna sink or swim and i
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: don't know if that's part of the rationale of mccarthy's
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: captains we're still kind of learning how he does it
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: every week we should do a segment tomorrow of We
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: can call it like the captain circle or the captain's chair.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Let's try to guess who this week's captains will be.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I like that idea.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I think that's.
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  Speaker 4: Your homework assignment for tonight.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: All right.
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  Speaker 2: I never did my homework in school, though. So I
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: could be in trouble.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I had senioritis. I had senioritis as a freshman.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I think we have stealeritis right now.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. But yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Come up with your predictions for tomorrow. We'll see if
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: we can get. Offense, defense, special teams. But my point is,
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  Speaker 4: I don't know if he generally tries to pick a
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: guy who's got a lot of pressure on him that
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: week or is coming off of a rough week like
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: Frazier was in New England, but it was so cool
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: to see that behind-the-scenes video from our Steelers content crew
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: of McCarthy rallying the troops and everybody rallying around Frazier.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Who gave just a little speech there.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: He's a man of few words, but that really got
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: you fired up to see that.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I absolutely love how Coach McCarthy does this team captain thing.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Different captains each week, and then in the locker room
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: after the game, he said, team captains, break it down. Frazier,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: here we go. So he also has them break it
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: down in the locker room.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: And T.J.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Watt was a captain Sunday too, but I think everybody, again,
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: probably knowing what was on the plate for Frazier, I
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: think all his teammates wanted to see what he would
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: have to say after that game.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Jalen Warren got the game ball. Mike McCarthy told us that.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: But I think there was also just a ton of
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: respect emanating from that team for Frazier, who already had it.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's been great his first.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Two seasons in the league, but he faced a little
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: bit of adversity and then a lot of adversity when
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: you talk about 97 coming in there for the Bengals,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: but stood his ground like we talked about on Monday's show.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: And he's kind of like, you know, any team you've
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: been on in your life. And if you're listening, maybe
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: you were this this person or this kid. But like
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: you've always got the kid who's kind of quiet. And,
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: you know, he's more of just goes out and plays
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: and laughs at some jokes. But he's far from like
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: a vocal leader. Well, that was cool to see Frazier
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: come out of that shell. And I think as McCarthy
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: put it, he opened up his heart to the team
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: in that role, which is I think that's just good.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Good team building, honestly.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: When it comes to the offensive line, the center is
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: the captain of that offensive line. When you look at
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: a huddle from youth football all the way through the pros,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the center, everyone lines up in and around the center.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: You can't be too mute, but there's something to be
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: said for making the calls but then doing the extra stuff,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: which I don't think is really Zach's cup of tea.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Right, but he was that leader that had to get
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: that offensive line back on track this past week because
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: not only him, but the entire offensive line for the
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: first two weeks had their struggles running the football, protecting
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers. Well, that all clicked this past week. Now, again, Brian,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: you can make the argument that, hey, look, Frazier played better,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: McCormick played better, Fontano played better. Maybe the addition of
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Brock Hoffman, certainly at the right guard, helped. And Maxi Onachor.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: The first-round draft pick. He held up well, too, in
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: his first NFL football game. So maybe the Steelers have
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: turned a corner early in their season. They faced some
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: adversity with this offensive line early on. They figured a
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: few things out. We'll see on Thursday if they can
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: put back-to-back games together. That's when I get impressed, Brian.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Any type of adjustments in an NFL season, if it
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: can go back-to-back games, then you have my attention.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: And I feel like the.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Side note, do you think seeing that Steelers locker room
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: speech video with Zach Frazier, our buddy Wes Euler just
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: ascended to a higher plane?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: It's probably on loop.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, he just reached a state of absolute nirvana.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, basically heaven on earth for West Virginia superfan
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: and Zach Frazier, day one believer, Wes Euler. I'll have
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: to text him about that, or maybe they'll talk about
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: it on the drive.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, stay tuned for them after us today.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: But Yeah, I mean, but what I was going to say, though, Ed,
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, when you go from Sunday to Thursday night,
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: I don't know how much time you really have to
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: tweak too much or make adjustments. I think you kind
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: of got to roll with what's been working for you
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: and obviously try to execute the details at a high level. And, man,
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: we heard from offensive coordinator Brian Angelico Monday after Mike McCarthy,
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: and he talked about how they didn't really, you know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: change a whole lot of what they'd been running but
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: they dusted some things off and dressed some things up
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: with creativity and formations and motions and I said it
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: yesterday and I feel like I feel like it even
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: more now I mean if that was them paring down
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: the volume I'm impressed because it sure seemed like it
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: was every wrinkle was hitting for that offense and give
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: them a lot of credit for the way they tweaked
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: things from week two to week three without apparently trying
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: to reinvent the wheel and actually simplify things for their offense. Again,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: I think that was a great scheme, great plan, great
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: coaching all around.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Coming up here.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: You need more of it for Thursday night football now.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: You need a lot.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: On the road.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: You need a lot of it. Coming up here next
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: at 2.20 and at 2.40, we will actually hear from
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Patrick Graham and Coach Angelico ahead of this game on Thursday,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: get their thoughts on the performance this past weekend and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: the big victory against the Bengals as well as the
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Browns who are upcoming. Back to Mike McCarthy and his
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Monday press conference. Brian, you wrote about it on Steelers.com.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Great stat here. He has a 17-8 record as a
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: head coach on Thursday nights. This includes a six Thursday
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: night win.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I think it's just Thursdays.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Just Thursdays.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because you've also got your Thanksgiving games and stuff
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: like that.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, splitting heads. but not all Thursday games
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: are created equal.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: I love you, man. Take the night out of it.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: That's the journalist in you. You've got to make sure you.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Get it right. It does say Thursday games.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: It does say Thursday games. I added in the night.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: You're right, because when he was in Dallas, to your point,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: he would have played Thursday games with the Cowboys.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: And some of those were not necessarily short weeks because
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: you could go from Thursday to Thursday.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And they typically do that a lot if you look
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: at their schedules. But six Thursday wins in a row
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: and four straight on three days rest. So there you go.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: And that's obviously the scenario that we're in. this week.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: So there, there's something about his routine and the way
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: he does things that, well, I guess, you know, let's
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: not take anything for granted. It clicked and it worked
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: with the Dallas Cowboys and the, the personnel that Mike
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: McCarthy had there. But I mean, I think that that's
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: just a, you know, running your program is one of
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: those things that should carry over and transfer from whether
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: it's green Bay, the star now here in Pittsburgh, you know,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: and just the, To go back to that behind-the-scenes locker
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: room video again, it sure seems like these guys are responding.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: To Mike McCarthy.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I want to ask Missy Matthews about that when we
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: have her on later in today's show. But yeah, that
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Thursday night record, that's encouraging. And we know that the
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: flip side of it, the Steelers have struggled. Now, granted,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: that was not under Mike McCarthy. That was under Mike Tomlin,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: who also has many.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Streaks similar to that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: You know, like the Monday night primetime streak for the
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Steelers is just otherworldly what they do on, on those days.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: And sometimes I wonder if, if this is just talking
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: head stats and fodder that we get too caught up
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: in coincidental things and maybe we make too much of it,
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: but that'd be great. If, if McCarthy's recent success on
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Thursdays can help kind of snap the, the struggles that
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: the Steelers have had on Thursdays.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: At Also noted on your Steelers.com article from Mike McCarthy's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: press conference on Monday, his teams have won three consecutive
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: road games on Thursday as well. So that's notable because
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: we just talked about going on the road, especially within
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: a division, Brian. If you look across the NFL on
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Thursday night football, Thursday night, you have a struggle within
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: these divisions, and that's where the Steelers currently sit. This
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: is an AFC North divisional game in Cleveland who has
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: not been kind during the post-Ben Roethlisberger era.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: No, not at all.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: But, you know, to this point, Ed, in this season,
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: you know, it's been kind of hit or miss because
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: the Falcons just this past week went on the road
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Thursday night and won at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: So it's, you know, it can be done clearly. And
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: McCarthy's teams have done it. I don't know if it's better.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I guess it's better that the Steelers road game is
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: in Cleveland. Now I've heard people say like, oh, that's,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: that's Bush league that if you've got to play a
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Thursday road game, it shouldn't be a divisional game because
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: of how important and significant those are. And I, I
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: understand that, but this is the NFL, all games count
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: the same. And we know that you're competing with your
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: divisional foes for first place by the end of the
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: season record wise. But I think it's a good thing
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: that all you have to do is take a two
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: hour bus trip the day before the game. I agree
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: to get to your destination and, Then I'm sure it'll
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: be a lot of waiting around on Thursday for these
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: guys and they'll be champing at the bit to play
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: when kickoff arrives. But yeah, I mean, Mike McCarthy said
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: that they even considered like maybe trying to have the
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: guys sleep in their own bed Wednesday night and just
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: leave Thursday. But apparently that's you can't do that. The
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: NFL requires it. I didn't really understand that role, but
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: 19 hours, I think. Yeah, he said 19 hours.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I never knew that either.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: I don't know all the fine print and legalese of
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: NFL travel guidelines and memos, but I'm sure there's a
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: method to the madness.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: I always assumed, and of course they say never assume,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: that the Steelers just bust up to Cleveland the morning
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: of and then came back that night after the game.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: If it's a later game, if it's a 1 o'clock game,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: maybe you do have to go out the night before,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: but with this being a 8-15 kickoff on Thursday night,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I would think you'd go up in the morning, get
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: your business done, and then come back. It's only, as
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: you said, two hours away.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: I think his point was, theoretically, you could do that
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: fairly easily, but not allowed i guess the nfl wants
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to have teams in place to make sure that there's
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: no last minute snafu.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Right i think that because a few times that's happened
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: i think with travel plane delays and different things where
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: teams have been i mean.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Where that logic falls apart is just like all right
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: say your bus malfunctions you're still two hours away from.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Back up on the turnpike give the police escort to
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: get you there so i think you're just fine whenever
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: brian and i come.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: Back i'm sure there's lawyer stuff in there right like
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: what's the disaster clauses and stuff uh I'm not a
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: lawyer or an attorney, but I know there's stuff like
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: that all the time.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: When Brian and I come back, we are going to
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: hear from the Pittsburgh Steelers' coordinators and Coach Angelico with
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: the offense and Coach Patrick Graham, one of our favorites.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: We love listening to Coach Patrick Graham post-Steeler games. He's back. Oh,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I'm Troop. It's the Steelers Report here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Backo and Ed
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: Audio Network.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: One thing is for certain, you do not have to
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: sell the Steelers-Browns heated rivalry over the years to Mike McCarthy.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: He experienced it growing up in Pittsburgh. He said at
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: the end of his press conference on Monday, quote, we're
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: looking forward to Thursday night football. It's incredible. I've never
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: not experienced an atmosphere that you would love to compete in.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: It will be that way when we get to Cleveland.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a battle. It's the Steelers versus Browns.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: We know what that means. I grew up with that.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to playing in my first Pittsburgh-Cleveland game. He
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: won't be playing in it. He'll be coaching in it,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: but we get what Coach was saying.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's good energy from McCarthy, though. You
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: feel like you're one of the combatants between the sidelines. Obviously,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: he and Todd.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Munkin will not be trying to block or tackle each other.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: But it's two first-year coaches. Well, Munkin, a first-year NFL coach.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: McCarthy in his third go-around, but first season with their
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: new teams. Two of the three new coaches in the
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: AFC North. McCarthy already 1-0 against the only returning team.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: coach in the AFC North and Zach Taylor of Cincinnati
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: so yeah there's a lot of change on both sides
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: in this rivalry but a lot of the player faces
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: stay the same Steelers Bengals was chippy I think the
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: subtext of that McCarthy answer Steelers Browns will be chippy
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: and you know he's talked a lot all season at
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: about getting a lot of firsts out of the way
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: you know they had their first preseason game back against
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: Green Bay in August and then they had their first
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: regular season game and they got a win at home
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: against the Falcons and they had their first road game
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: didn't go so well against the Patriots he's still looking
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: for his first road win with the Steelers they had
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: their first AFC North game under McCarthy last week this
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: will be their first Browns game but also their first
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: road divisional game first Thursday night first primetime game under
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: McCarthy so once they get all these firsts out of
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: the way I think everybody will be a little less
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: on edge but I like having some edge going into
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: this game.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: And you and I were talking about Coach Munkin, the
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: new head coach for the Browns, before we came on
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to do the show today, and how we were both
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: kind of blown away by his energy that he has
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: early on in the season.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: He's feisty. Yeah.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: And I think that adds to this heated matchup between
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: these two.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: I think that's what they needed, though. I agree.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: This is one of those situations, probably, where because of
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: the albatross at quarterback, I don't imagine a lot of
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: People were clamoring for that job, but there are only
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: 32 of them. And Todd Munkin's a 60-year-old guy who's
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: been a head coach at the college level. He's been
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: an OC at the NFL level. He's never had a
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: chance to sit in that chair at the NFL level.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: So I think he needed the right, probably, personality fit
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: and combination for this team. Now, I bet a lot
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: of Browns fans expected or maybe even hoped or wished
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: for a younger, you know, fresh-faced coach to grow with
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: this young team. That sounds familiar, but Munkin's been a hit,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: it seems like, so far. Not that I've talked to
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: a ton of the Browns fans in my life about him,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: but when you're 2-1 and people expected you to be
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: 1-2 or maybe even 0-3 at this juncture of the season,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: you're going to get some goodwill and equity on your side,
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: and he has been a big big difference from Kevin
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Stefanski who I also think is a darn good football
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: coach but personality wise you couldn't get more sort of
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: even keel he wasn't high-fiving fans after Todd Munkin he
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: is excitable to say the least.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah high-fiving fans after they've won in Tampa and including
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Cleveland this past week lots of energy we know that
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: he kind of Called out Mike Tomlin after that first
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: win last week.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin kind of called out them, to be fair.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: He started it. There you go, if you're pointing fingers. Oh, gosh,
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: we don't need to do Cleveland finished it again or whatever. But, no,
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, this is the kind of juice that makes
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: these rivalry games fun. They're a lot more fun when
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: you're on the winning side of it, of course. But
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: there's so much history. There's so many little flashball memories
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: like that that come rushing back. when you talk about Steelers,
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Browns and Munkin kind of interesting. You know, he was
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: formed just until this year was with the Ravens as
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: their offensive coordinator. So he's very familiar with the ins
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: and outs of the AFC North series. He's just going
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: to see this one through a much different perspective now.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: And if you remember back in the, well, I was
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: going to say spring. I guess it would be late winter,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: early spring when the coaching carousel process was going on
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: across the NFL. This was the last job to be filled.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: And Brian, nobody really wanted this Browns job.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: The candidates were very slim in Cleveland.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: There were even reports that people turned it down.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: And turned down interviews, I should say. And that's usually
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: not a great sign. I don't follow or cover every
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: intricacy of the Browns like I do the Steelers.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: So I don't know all the inner workings. But they've
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: got a nice young nucleus.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, we know that those draft picks last year
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: were impressive, whether it was Quinshawn Judkins or Harold Fannin,
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: Carson Schlesinger.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: You've got to slow down on that one. Oh, my gosh.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: That's one of the toughest names out there.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Better you than me.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Mason Graham up front.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's good.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: D-tackle. So, I mean, they've got a lot of pieces
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: out there.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: But I think not having the QB situation figured out
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: probably made that a less enviable job. And maybe Munkin
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: was the right kind of hire for them regardless.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk with Ashley Bastok of the Cleveland.com
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: publication there in Cleveland. She's the Browns reporter later this week.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: So we'll get her thoughts on Coach Munkin and the
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: reaction that Cleveland has had three games into this season.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: One reaction that we've had here in Pittsburgh since he
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: got hired is our love for the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: coordinator so far, Patrick Graham. And each week here on
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: the Steelers Report, we know you can get the McCarthy.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: First of all, we air the McCarthy press conference live
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: after us on Monday, so chances are by today you've
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: already heard from Coach McCarthy and some of our other
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: great shows here on SNR also cover that for you.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: But here we like to talk to the coordinators, and
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: we love hearing from Patrick Graham. And here's Coach Graham
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: yesterday speaking with the media.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: Well, it starts with, one, just true transparency. That's how
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: I was trained when I got to the league in
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: terms of where I worked at my first job for
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: the first seven years. It was whatever was the game
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: plan for that game, what we thought was best for
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: that team at that point in the season. So that's
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: how my mind's been working since I've been in the league. Now,
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: is it difficult? Not if you train that way. I
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: don't think so. Now, what makes it come to life?
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: I would say probably you might be thinking it has
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: anything to do with me. It's more with the position
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: coaches and the players. And it starts in the spring
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: in terms of how they install conceptually. Big on that,
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: I've always said this, there's no Pat Graham playbook. And again,
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: I don't know if that's the right thing to do
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: or say, but that's how I've chosen to do it
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: for the eight years I've been a coordinator. I come
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: into a situation, see who we have as players, realize
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: the strengths and weaknesses of both them, the coaches, look
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: at the season in terms of a lesson plan like
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: a teacher would, and, okay, where do we want this
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: thing to evolve? And so from there, we teach everything conceptually. So,
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: you know, three deep is three deep. Now, how we
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: get to the three deep, whether we insert, we rotate outside,
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: we cloud it on the backside, whatever it is, if
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: they understand three deep, then we can do whatever we
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: need to do for that game or cover two or
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: man-to-man coverage. So that's really– It's a credit to the
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: players first and foremost, but definitely, I mean, you can't
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: lose sight that the assistant coaches and how they train
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: the players during the spring training camp so that they
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: can adjust to that within the week.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Double B, through the first two weeks of the season
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: in the win against the Falcons and even the loss
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: against the Patriots, his defensive unit performed very well, especially statistically.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Against the Bengals, they did eat. Their offense ate at times.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: They moved the ball. They scored 27 points, but they
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: didn't break the game. The Steelers' defense ultimately at the
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: end made the splash play to win the game.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: That was sort of trying to think of the right
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: phrase to use here.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: That was like mad scientist Patrick Graham cooking stuff up
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: in a lab. Patrick Graham with that lengthy answer when
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: he starts talking about conceptual football.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: You know, that... there's a place for that.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: And I enjoy hearing him talk about that, but maybe
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: we could skip ahead and get some more like talking
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: about dudes, Patrick Graham, because that that's the, the energy
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: that I love to hear from him. You know, he's,
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: he's up there behind the podium with his, his spectacles
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: on and, you know, he's a Yale guy. So you can,
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: you can always tell the football intellect and football IQ
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: that he brings to the table.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: But yeah, that was a, that was a long answer
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: about his overall.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: Philosophy and, in themes coaching defensive football, which, by the way,
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: have certainly paid off for the Steelers through three weeks.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: What I'm here on earth to do is to coach football.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: I mean, not necessarily coach football. I would say I'm
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: probably a teacher. And to help young men, you know,
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: and I just chose football as the path in terms
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: of trying to help them, you know, grow into themselves,
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: make as much money as possible, have some success. hopefully
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: raise that Lombardi at some point because I've been lucky
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: enough to do that. And if I had any, you know,
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: if I affected it in any way to help unlock whatever,
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, again, I don't take credit for that stuff,
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: but I just love seeing them get the reward of
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: their hard work. You know, I talked about it, and
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: I made a point to talk about it in the media.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: I said I want him to see himself as unblockable.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: I really, truly, in my quote-unquote expert opinion in terms
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: of Knowing the front, this guy is different. And I've
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: been around different ones before, whether it was Dexter Lawrence,
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: Snacks Harrison. I mean, I got the privilege to learn
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: from Big V at New England. I mean, I've been
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: around some real dudes, like real dudes, and he has
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: that makeup. And I just want to keep just empowering
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: him with that, just keep saying that to him. And
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: for him to make that play, how decisive he was
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: in terms of his getoff, how decisive he was in
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: terms of his move, And then to finish it the
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: way he did, and again, the thing that separates them
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: from a lot of other people that can play the
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: game is they can do it under pressure. That's what
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: Coach used to say all the time, you know, can
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: you perform under pressure and get that done? So, you know,
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: anytime I see that, you know, I'm very happy for them,
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: happy for his family. And then, of course, after that,
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: I'm like, can you do it again?
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: That's what everybody wants to know and is hoping with
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Derek Harmon. That was, by the way, Derek Harmon he
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: was talking about there.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: In that answer.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: And, uh, what a fun answer that was when he
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: starts invoking guys like Dexter Lawrence, who was on the
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: other sideline Sunday. I didn't even necessarily put two and
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: two together there that, uh, Graham had coached him with
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: the giants, but, uh, you know, not just him snacks, hair,
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Damon snacks, Harrison, and then Vince Wilfork, who, you know,
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: big Vince, absolute load for the Patriots. You know, he
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: and Harmon pretty different style defensive lineman, in my opinion,
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: but the point is the same. It's about, those guys
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: who are built different, different kind of makeup as, as
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: Gramps and, you know, reading between the lines there, it's
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: can be elite, elite makeup is really what he's saying.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: And you don't, you don't take that lightly. And I
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: also just loved, you know, Harmon's celebration after that sack,
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: that was the most fun I've seen the guy have
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: since the Steelers drafted him last year in the first round.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: We know that that was a, You know, it was
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: under tragic circumstances that he heard his name called on
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: draft night. And I'm sure he was just dealing with
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: a ton as a young guy, a rookie coming into
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: the NFL. Not only, you know, the loss of his mom,
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: but just the expectations of being a first round pick. And,
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: you know, you see him get that strip sack on Burrow,
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: beating a veteran guy, too, in Dalton Reisner.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, that wasn't.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: That wasn't Ed Troop that he beat out there at
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: right guard. That would have been too easy.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: That wasn't a practice squad call-up or anything.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: That was a veteran dude who's played a lot of football,
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: and Harmon just ragdolled him, tossed him to the side.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: It was kind of like the LeBron celebration a little bit.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: It was, yep.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, it was just so cool to see him
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: obviously having a ball out there after making that play.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: I don't know how many defensive coordinators would be categorized
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: as patient. I can't say patience is one of my top–
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: virtues that well i would tell you it's definitely not
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: um but what i would tell you is this and
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: this is probably what they're alluding to is trust i
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: mean at this point in my career and i told
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: these guys that the day before i think it was
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: the day before i trust them i trust them wholeheartedly
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: we've taken time to get to know each other we're
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: getting to know each other more i trust that they're
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: gonna they're gonna perform out there and you know we
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: talk about you know I'm not worried about what's going
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: to happen on Sunday. I'm anticipating what's happening on Sunday,
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: and they're anticipating what's going to happen on Sunday, seeing
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: the plays they're going to make. Cam probably saw that
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: play the night before. I mean, knowing Cam, he probably
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: saw that play when he first put on the tape,
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: knowing that was going to happen. I'm sure the same
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: thing with Harmon. So, I mean, I get the patience thing,
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: but that's not a virtue that I possess, to be
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: honest with you. Maybe in terms of planning I can
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: at times, but But I do trust the men out
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: there on the field, you know, all of them. I
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: trust all of them.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: You know, Brian, one thing's for certain with Coach Patrick
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Graham that we're learning here in probably about six months now,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I guess, since he's been around the team, is he
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: is a great coach that I would play for him
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: in a heartbeat. I would want my two young boys
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: who both play football to play for this guy in
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: a heartbeat. I mean, he just gets me fired up.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: I'm ready to put a helmet on and go out
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: and play. And you and I have been around a
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: lot of coaches from high school, college, and even the pros.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: And you can tell. We may not say it on
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: the air. Off air, we can have conversations and say, hey, look,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: this guy doesn't have it. This guy I would never
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: trust my kids to play for. And then there's a
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: guy like this where you absolutely would play for in
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: a heartbeat.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: No doubt.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: And it seems like the defense is evolving already each week,
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: which is really fascinating and exciting to see.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I'm Ed, he's Brian. You're listening to the Steelers Report
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: You know, Double B, I've been meaning to ask you
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: in the last week or so, and I keep forgetting,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: but I did not forget this morning, what's the pool status?
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Have you closed the pool for the season?
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Not yet.
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: I'm still kind of holding out hope for one more, like,
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: at least 75, maybe 80-degree day season. looks like there's
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: a chance we could touch that later this week, but
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: it does, you know, the problem with it for me
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: personally is twofold. Once you're into fall football games are
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: coming hot and heavy every week. And two, yeah, obviously
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: the weather isn't doing you any favor. So to answer
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: your question, no. And it's also the procrastinator in me.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: I just don't feel like getting all the stuff unhooked
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: and putting it away for the winter, but yeah, It's
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: just about time.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: What about you?
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: So last weekend, I began the long process of starting
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: to break everything down, put it in the garage.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: And that's another way to do it. I mean, you
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: can just do it little by little, one by one. Yeah,
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: we usually just try to knock it out in one afternoon.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: I'm now to the point. where the last step is
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: the actual closing of the pool. So when do I
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: pull the trigger? So I was going to do it
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: here at the beginning of this week, and then I
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: saw 80-some degrees on Thursday and Friday. Yeah, possible. So
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: not that we're going to go swimming, but it's still
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: nice to look at.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: So maybe this weekend. yeah yeah like my heater's still
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: hooked up so in theory you could turn it on and.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Turn it on and the water could be manageable but
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: i think my my kids are out of swim mode
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: at this point.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Minor definitely so we haven't been in that pool in
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: two weeks part of the problem is the evenings get
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: so cold now that yeah and i just i mean
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: for me personally i think the most annoying part is
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: getting the big old winter cover out and unfurling that
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: bad boy and putting it over it's also the official
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: end of summer Yeah. In your household.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: It's sad, too, in a way.
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: And, you know, some people don't bother closing their polls.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: They just leave them through the winter.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: I just saw that recently, too.
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: That seems risky.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: It seems risky. It seems like you're not really doing
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: right by your investment there.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Though I started closing my pool probably about three or
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: four years ago now, and I feel like I'm playing
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: roulette every winter because I'm not sure I properly blow
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: out the lines. So you're supposed to blow all the
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: water out of the lines that go underneath the ground.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Mine's an in-ground pool.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, that's more of an in-ground. Yeah, I don't
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: have to worry about that. Winterize it, right?
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: Yep.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: And every year I kind of blow it on. I'm like, hmm,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: is all the water out? And then when I go
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: to open it up in the spring, I'm just hoping
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: and praying everything starts up. And so far, so good.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Knock on wood.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, what's like the worst that
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: can happen there? Is it just the pool won't run
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: or is it like structural damage if water freezes and
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: expands and cracks in the concrete?
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Well, if our pool experts are out there, certainly send
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: us a message to let us know. I think my
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: worry is that the pipes will freeze when it gets
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: below zero and they'll break. And then when they thaw
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: in the spring, look out. Now we're in trouble. Possibly.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: So Double B and I are going to continue to
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: march on in our polls.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: And if anybody wants to come over and close mine
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: for me, have your people call my people.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: Maybe give them a Steeler hat or something. Everybody has
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: a price.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe give them a Steeler hat or something. Maybe
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: sign an autograph form, Double B.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: Would you put BB on it, Double B?
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: I saw a hilarious thing on social media the other
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: day that was like, Someone said, for $ 200, I'll put
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: on a polo and a tool belt, and I'll come
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: over to your house and tell your wife that renovation
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: project is a non-starter because that's a load-bearing wall.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: And that was just hilarious to me.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: That's actually brilliant.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: That is one of those mutually beneficial ideas there. It's
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: easy money for one person, and the homeowner is saving.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: A heck of a lot.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's for sure.
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: That's a very gender-specific joke. You could easily flip that
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: the other way, too. Come over to your house and
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: tell your husband that that renovation project can't work because that's.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: A load-bearing one.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can go either way with that. For all
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: the OG... brian bacco and ed troop listeners out there
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: we know we can probably count on one hand how
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: many there are but for those out there that do
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: listen to us you will remember back in the spring
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: we talked about opening our pools it didn't seem like
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: it was that long ago that we were talking about
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: that we were talking about the nfl draft otas and
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: here we are going to week four of the nfl
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: season and for both you and i we have to
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: close those pools here relatively soon for.
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: Sure but hey end of pool season means chilly bonfires
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: um Fall festivals, pumpkin patches.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Well, leaf pickup's not fun, but jumping in the leaves
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: for the kids for a little bit, and then they've
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: got to go, too.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I had my fourth straight day of football this past weekend.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: My wife reminded me. So Friday night, high school game
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: at Woodland Hills. Saturday morning, my son's JV game. He
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: plays on two JV teams at Canamac. Sunday, I was
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: at the Steelers-Bengals game, of course. And then Monday, the
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: second JV game. So this is actually my first day
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: out of.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: The last four. Without an in-person football game.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: In-person football game.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: Because everybody's, you know.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: A lot of people probably watched on TV football from
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: Thursday through Monday. But, yeah, I mean, that's an impressive run.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: For you, Ed.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: I need a breather, Double B. And I'm not going
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: to have too much of a breather.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: What's that? Go read a book.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I've got to do something non-football. My brain's just football, football, football. Hey,
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: we're going to have Missy Matthews on the program coming
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: up here at the 3 o'clock hour. We'll get Missy's
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: thoughts on Steelers-Bengals as well as Steelers-Browns. Quick turnaround for her,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: the broadcast team, Double B, all of us as we
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: head up to Cleveland on Thursday. for thursday night football
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: but ahead of that we just heard from patrick graham
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: the pittsburgh steelers offensive or defensive coordinator now we're going
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: to hear from brian angelico the steelers offensive coordinator which
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: one i guess.
• 36:16
  Speaker 7: The the one at the end was was certainly special
• 36:19
  Speaker 7: uh yeah it's great you get him the ball and
• 36:22
  Speaker 7: he's such a big target and uh he does a
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: great job um you know run after catch you know
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: his physicality and just his awareness of where guys are.
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: It was pretty special. Obviously it was a big play.
• 36:34
  Speaker 7: The first one was big too. He carried two, three
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: guys with him and got the first down. That's pretty special.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: What's maybe the thing that surprised you the most about
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: his skill set?
• 36:47
  Speaker 7: Just remembering him coming out. Darnell, certainly he's a fine blocker,
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: but he's athletic. Just for a guy his size, how
• 36:57
  Speaker 7: he moves and how nimble he is to adjust and
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: um you know make guys miss you know after the.
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: Last game mike mccarthy was talking about how maybe you
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: guys need to pare them.
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: Down a little bit and then in this game we
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: see a brand new motion that you haven't run before and.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: A wide receiver running through the big gap i mean
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: um how.
• 37:15
  Speaker 7: I just need to speak to what it means to
• 37:18
  Speaker 7: dial things back in terms of volume while also maintaining
• 37:21
  Speaker 7: some of that creativity yeah i think you know just
• 37:24
  Speaker 7: trying to really um hone in on what we think
• 37:27
  Speaker 7: we're going to call, you know, um, you know, when
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: we say it doesn't mean we're not trying to be
• 37:32
  Speaker 7: creative or, uh, you know, put the defense in conflict,
• 37:35
  Speaker 7: but maybe not caring as much, or, uh, maybe just
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: emphasizing certain aspects and every game plan is different. Um,
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: you know, what, what team, you know, what, based on
• 37:46
  Speaker 7: who you're playing and, you know, how you want to
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: affect the defense. So, um, hopefully, um, you know, so
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: you'll see some different things each game. Um, but maybe
• 37:55
  Speaker 7: stuff we practice in training camp or OTAs, but we
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: may dust out.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Brian, I thought that Coach Angelico, Coach McCarthy, Coach Tom Arth,
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: the entire offensive staff had a really good, strong game
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: plan against the Cincinnati Bengals. Coming out, the way that
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: they ran the ball when they ran to the left
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: side and had Warren cut back to the right side,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: the early pass dump off to Warren that picked up
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: big chunk yardage, taking some shots downfield, enabling Aaron Rodgers
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: to get the ball out quickly and not get into
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: that pass rush situation. I thought it was a very
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: good game plan this past Sunday.
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: To me, the only negative was taking the play clock
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: down really low on some of those and then getting
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: jammed up and needing to call a timeout, which Mike Pursuta,
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: Rob King, and I had a little bit of a
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: spirited debate about that on last night's point after show
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: on DVE. You can always go back and listen to
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: that if you missed it. The kind of the virtues
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: of taking timeouts to get in the right look versus the,
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: I don't know, analytics or metrics of always saving those
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: timeouts so that you can have them for clock management
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: and game management strategy at the end of halves.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, I mean, other than that, it was humming.
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: It was clicking.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: And a couple times it was player execution, either throws
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: that were off the mark or balls that should have
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: been caught that Did this offense a disservice, but mostly
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: everybody played well. Everybody dialed it up well from the
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: coaches on down to the field, and that's what you
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: want it to look like.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: You definitely wanted to make sure it looked better. than
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: what you saw the first two weeks, specifically the running
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: game too, and it did.
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: And that last answer there from Angelico was what I
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: was referring to earlier in the show about homing in
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: on what they think will work and trying to be creative,
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: put the defense in conflict and emphasize certain aspects of it.
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: without them revealing that, I think we could clearly see
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: from the outside, they emphasized getting the ball in the
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: hands of Jalen Warren and getting the ball in the
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: hands of the tight ends against that Bengals defense.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: Yeah. I think it's just the, the, the comfort level,
• 40:03
  Speaker 7: like for, for, for, for me, it was just, you know, the,
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: the cadence, the snap count on in that, you know,
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: and I think Aaron did a great job with the
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: cadence and, and, uh, you know, uh, communicating that with
• 40:16
  Speaker 7: Max and then Max getting all the reps during the
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: week and how things are going to happen at the
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: line because it happens fast. There could be a can
• 40:23
  Speaker 7: on a play. There could be an alert. The play
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: clock's going down. I thought Max handled it well with
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: what was put in front of him because the physical
• 40:34
  Speaker 7: part of it was you knew Max was going to
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: go out and compete and play really hard. It was
• 40:41
  Speaker 7: certainly a good step and hopefully we can build off it.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: Brian, does he think that that side of it is
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: as easy as.
• 40:47
  Speaker 7: It seems or as quickly as it seems? Well, he's,
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: I mean, he's been since, you know, OTAs, you know,
• 40:55
  Speaker 7: so it's been, you know, you know, he's been over there.
• 40:59
  Speaker 7: So it's, it's a progression and, you know, there'll be
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: growing pains with it, but, you know, he's obviously, you know,
• 41:06
  Speaker 7: got the first one under his belt and, you know,
• 41:08
  Speaker 7: I think he'll get more and more comfortable each week,
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: but he's, he's worked hard at it. You know, he's,
• 41:13
  Speaker 7: He's a pro, and he wants to be great, and
• 41:16
  Speaker 7: he's always asking the right questions, and I think he's
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: got great leadership with the line. Those guys are tremendous
• 41:23
  Speaker 7: to talk with, and I think they've been a big
• 41:26
  Speaker 7: help to him as well.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: From talking to people about Maxi Honachor since the Steelers
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: picked him, I really heard that he's a smart young.
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: Man, and his football.
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: intelligence is probably far beyond what it should be for
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: someone who didn't play in high school. And he's only
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: been at it for five or six years now. And
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: that probably just speaks to his general intelligence too. Now
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: those things aren't always compatible.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: Sometimes you can have.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: A brainiac who's just not getting it from a football standpoint.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: And then other times you can have someone who two
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: plus two equals football and it works, you know, they
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: just have that six cents about it. But I think
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: Maxi Honachor has got both and, that's really aiding him
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: as he tries to get up to speed here. And,
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: you know, it's under construction and he's just learning on
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: the job, but so far so good. And Brian Angelico
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: is right too about, and Mike McCarthy had a great
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: answer yesterday about how smart of a player Brock Hoffman is. And,
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: you know, there's no one else he'd kind of rather
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: pair with a young player who is learning on the fly.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: That's important.
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: And, you know, not that Spencer Anderson isn't and, you know,
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: not that, you know, Mason McCormick isn't, but, Hoffman's seen
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: more ball than those guys, and he's seen a lot
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: more ball in Mike McCarthy's offense from their time together
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: in Dallas. So I think that greased the skids, too,
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: a little bit to get those wheels turning. I'll even add, again,
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: I think having Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook in that room, too,
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: probably really helps because I'm sure those guys are.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: Pitching in and contributing well.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: For Max Ahanachor, even though they're no longer in starting roles,
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: and Troy Faltano probably passing on a lot of knowledge
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: too of what it takes to get up to speed
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: at the NFL level.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden, you've got an offensive line that
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: could really gel together and take over. Boy, a much
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: different conversation than we were having a week ago about
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: this offensive line, Brian, that's for sure. But the Brock
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: Hoffman piece of that puzzle I think is extremely important
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: and not to be undervalued. I think he hit the
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: nail on the head. Mike McCarthy hit the nail on
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: the head. having a veteran that's done it at a
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: high level and is also a very emotional player. You
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: saw that on Sunday, he gets after it. I mean,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: when I say emotional, I mean, you know, he's, he's
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: talking junk. He has that little attitude to him. He
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: has that little bit of extra that you look for
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: that dog in you.
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: You want that nasty in your alignment, especially on the interior.
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: I think the tackles can get away with being a.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: Little bit more.
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: I don't know if finesse is the right word, but Yeah.
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: The guys who are in the middle there, I mean,
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: they need to bring a certain demeanor. Zach Frazier has it,
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: even though he doesn't really talk much smack, but yeah.
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: And then, you know, the last thing I'll say on
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: this topic is I've always enjoyed my interactions with Dylan cook,
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: Spencer Anderson, their team guys, they're going to settle into
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: backup roles. Now it appears, but it's good to have
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: that versatility for both. They've both played on both sides
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: of the line. Anderson's even played tackle at times in
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: his career and, I think they'll, you know, they're not
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: going to go in the tank or anything.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: And you know what?
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: Say what you will about how they played the first
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: two weeks. But in the end, if this is the end,
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: you know, like if it's Hoffman and Honachor the rest
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: of the way, they were a bridge. They bridged the
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: gap for two games and the Steelers went one and
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: one in those two games. And it allowed the coaching
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: staff to reach a level of comfort to feel that
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: the Hoffman and Honachor pairing was ready.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Because you had the other two from previous season.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Who you were comfortable with as well.
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: Exactly.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: So you're exactly right. We did not want to see
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: him as a day one starter. You want to work
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: him into the lineup.
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: The good thing is now we'll never know if like, Hey,
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: maybe he would have bought out in week one. He
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: could have gone out there or maybe he would have
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: been not quite ready. Not, not enough seasoning just yet,
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: but he.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Looked ready and he looks seasoned on Sunday. And again,
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: I want to see it two weeks in a row.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: That's why I'm anxious to see what this line does
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: on Thursday night against a good Cleveland defense as well.
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: We'll get into more of that as we go throughout
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: tomorrow and Thursday here on the show, but up next.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: We will talk a little bit about Brown Steelers with
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: Missy Matthews from the Steelers broadcast team. She will join
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Double B and myself. It is the Steelers Report here
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.