Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / Hour 1: Steeler Updates + News from Around the NFL

Transcript

Hour 1: Steeler Updates + News from Around the NFL · 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.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: We're on a seven-day week flow here.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: We were playing yesterday in Tampa, traveled back, that factors
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: into it. We play again seven days later against Cleveland.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: All those factors go into this. Whether you're playing in
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: the Super Bowl or you're playing in a Monday night
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: game that's more than five, six hours in the area,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: you look at all those things and the reality of
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: it is I've always just tried to stick to the basics,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the hydration, the sleep, and just to make sure you
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: give the give the men the best opportunity to prepare,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: to perform.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And welcome inside the locker room with Max Starks, Willie Colon,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: our producer Justin Miller. I'm Rob King. We thank you
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: very much for being with us. As we get you
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: that was head coach Mike McCarthy talking yesterday with the
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: assembled media about the trip to Paris, France. First ever
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: game in In Paris, Stade de France, Saint-Denis, Max Starks, wee, wee, wee.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: How are you, my friend?
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: Oh, I am doing wonderful. And here we go. Getting
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: ready for that game.
• 1:52
  Speaker 6: You're right, Rob.
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's, you know, for the Steelers, it has
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: to be business as usual because they're not getting the
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: normal buy that teams have the option or election to take.
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: after coming overseas. And, you know, for the Steelers, they're like, no,
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: we want that mid-season bye. Like, put it in the
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: middle of the season for us. So this is what
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: you kind of have to deal with. You know, travel
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: a week before to Tampa, like he said, and then boom, now,
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: you know, on the road going to Paris as well
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: and not doing the same approach as what the Saints
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: are doing. Right, the Saints left Sunday night. But they're
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: also the home team, so there's a little bit more,
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: I guess, involved for them than us. But still, a
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: road game's a road game, and going across the Atlantic
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: Ocean is going across the Atlantic Ocean, no matter how
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: you cut it. So it's going to be an adjustment.
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: Six hours ahead time-wise for.
• 2:50
  Speaker 6: The body clock.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: So to get a little bit adjusted as much as
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: possible beforehand, that we're not as close as The Rams
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: did with Australia, which I still don't understand.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: How they thought that was a good idea.
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: And that's way further. But still, an adjustment indeed. And
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: then you come right back home and you're hosting Cleveland
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: the following week. So no rest for the weary. But
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: the goal and the prize is to come out on
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: the other end of this kind of stretch and end
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: that first half of the season. Six and two is
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: a really good number because you know that after the bye–
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: even though we've gotten some news, it's still going to
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: be a tough sledding in that second half, the end
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: of the season. So you want to prepare yourself as
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: much as possible. So I agree with taking that bye
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: as late as possible.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be a brutal schedule for the
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Steelers after the bye, and you want to stack as
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: many wins as you possibly can. I also think that
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy was talking about when you go over. Like
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: you said, the Rams and the way they handled it.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: As you said, they were sending staff and personnel over
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: there to test teams The sleep and recovery and all
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: this other stuff.
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: They didn't send us, though, Rob. They didn't send us.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: That's what I'm a little miffed about. I'm like, I
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: can give you a better analysis than anybody else. But also,
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: I was only around for like three weeks.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: So, but anyhow.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the point being they didn't send players over there
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: to see how. Right. See how they would react.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think, and that was one of the
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: things that's kind of like a point of consternation, right?
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: Like, if you're going to do this, do it right.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: I mean, and you're sending him in the offseason.
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: I mean, listen, you know, would a player love an
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: all-expense-paid trip to a foreign destination in the offseason?
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: But also, for research purposes, find the right ones, you know,
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: guys who are going to play, but also understand, like,
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: what all needs to be taken into account, right? I mean,
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: and I would think that would be the better thing
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: than sending Joe for marketing, you know?
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 4:51
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Man, I felt great, man. I took a melatonin on
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: the plane, and I got up. I did four hours
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: of office work. I went and got a light lift
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: in the hotel lobby gym or whatever.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: Like, no, no, no, Joe. No, that's not what we're doing. Oh, man,
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: I saw the Sydney Opera House.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: It's like, no, no, Joe, we're here to play football. Oh, okay, sorry. No,
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: I think they'll be fine. Like, no, you don't need
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: to do it that way.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: It is a– if anybody's ever traveled to Europe, it is, it,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: it's tough. It's tough to get used to it. Um,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I actually went to, uh, one of the first ones ever,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I was ever on a plane. I, I, my wife
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and I went to France for our honeymoon and I
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: couldn't sleep at all. I had no, I'd never heard
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: of melatonin and my sleep cycle just got completely screwed up.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't understand that, you know, You just got to
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: fight through that first night, right? But if you fight
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: through the first night on Friday when the Steelers land,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and then Saturday you get another night's sleep, and then
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Sunday you should be good to go. Now, whether you're
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: as good to go as you would be here, I
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: don't know. But I think that that should be ample
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: time to recover. The hardest day is the day you
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: get there and the next day. But then by Sunday,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I think you should be fine. It's not like they're
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: just willy-nilly. I mean, these are things that they've thought about, Max,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: and that they've thought through. There's a lot on the line.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: There's one of 17 on the line. So you want
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: to do what you think is best for your team. Now,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: New Orleans went over because they were already in New York.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Didn't make any sense for them to go from New
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: York back to New Orleans for a couple days and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: then had that longer flight all the way to Paris.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: So they just decided, you know what, pack a couple
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: suitcases and we're going.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and they've already gained one of the seven time
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: zone differences, right, by being in New York.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: So it's like, don't go back, get your body messed up,
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: and then now you've got to go then, you know,
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: reduce yourself to seven hours. And you're doing it early
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: enough that it's like, okay, you will get into a
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: rhythm eventually with being there for a week. And I
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: think for the Steelers, like you said, Rob, you laid
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: it out. That's the plan. That's the course of action.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: And also, this game, you have to remember, is a
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: 330 kick local time.
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: This isn't.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: This isn't like it's a noon or 1 p.m. kick,
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: you know, Paris time. This is a 3.30 kick, which
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: is 9.30 in the U.S.
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: Side.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: So you do have time to sleep in on Sunday
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: as well as you get adjusted.
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: This isn't as early of a kick time.
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: You got about an extra two hours that you have
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: at your disposal to get some rest, stay off your feet,
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: and prepare for the match. So I think that's another
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: thing to add is with the time difference, that game
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: is later in the local time than it would be
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: normally in the U.S., It's.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: A big factor, and people talk about it a lot.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Hopefully you just go over, you play a good football game,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: you come home, and then you've got a short week
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: to prepare because the team will land, what, Monday morning, Max?
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: Yeah, early, first thing.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, you know what? They might land. Do you
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: know what time that plane lands?
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: Probably, like, I would imagine anywhere from 3 to 5 a.m.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're not leaving until 8, 9 o'clock at night.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Best case scenario.
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: Best case scenario is that.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: What is it, a 3.30 local time? I don't even know.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: I should know this. Yeah, 3.30 local time. It's over
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: at 6.30.
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: It's six hours ahead.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: You're in the airport at 8. It's 8.30. You're leaving
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: at 8. Maybe a 9.30 departure. Eight-hour flight. You know what?
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: It'll be 1 o'clock in the morning probably. I'm just
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: going to guess. Something like that.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Well, I think on our itinerary because, you know, The
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: flight probably is going to be a little bit longer
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: since you have to get everything packed up and on
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: that plane that you shipped over. So it might be
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: a little bit. They might be leaving around 11 o'clock
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: at night.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: I think it's a departure.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: So, yeah.
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: So, you know, get in anywhere from 3 to 5 a.m.
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: I can't remember exactly.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: And then boom.
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: And then, yeah, you'll kind of have a late. I
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: would assume you just go do a.
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: Later Monday morning or later Monday morning. day of practice,
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: like get back together. Cause normally they meet on Mondays,
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: you know, have like, and we've done it before. We've
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: had like some games where we got in really late
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: on Monday. I think Arizona, a couple of times when
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: we played them, we actually were doing like.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: A Sunday night game last year. I think it was six, seven.
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: So, so they would do like a four or 5.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: PM meet at the facility next day. So you just
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: have a later corrections day and then you get your
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: Tuesday off Get yourself back together and then come back Wednesday.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: By the way, hard on everybody. Right. So hard on
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the players, obviously, physically, because you just played a football game.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: You know, you were just a car crash.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: But by the same token.
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: And you're dehydrating yourself for eight hours in the air.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. When you sit down, right, and you
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: go to those meetings, it's not by magic that the
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: tape got cut up and you've got to print out
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: and you've got reports. And so somebody had to land
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: and get all that stuff done, too. Or do it
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: in the air. Or actually doing it in the air.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: A lot of them do it in the air.
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: It is nice that they can do that now because
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: it used to be like you'd go back and, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: cut up the tape and all that other stuff. Yeah,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: that's right. Straight to the facility.
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: No doughs and coffee, baby. No doughs and coffee.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: That's right. A lot goes into this stuff. This is
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: life into big time. This is the way it goes.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: And so that's the way it's going to be for
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the Steelers. Now, we're going to do our power rankings
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: coming up in a little bit. I wanted to get
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: to a couple of bits of news. You know, the
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Indianapolis Colts are one of those organizations, Max, that I
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: think people look at. and they've been sort of consistently solid.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Not at the same level maybe as the Steelers, but
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: just one of those organizations where you expect them to
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: be kind of in the running every year. You know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: they were dealt a big blow when their quarterback a
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: few years ago just kind of quit. I think he
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: quit during camp, didn't he?
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Andrew Luck quit during camp because he was trying
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: to come back from an injury. And he was coming
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: off of IR and he just woke up one morning
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: and was just like, I.
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: Don't want to feel worse than this. That's essentially what
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: that decision is.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: I don't want to feel worse than this feeling I'm
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: feeling right now. Because this is the best I'm going
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: to feel for the next six months. Like this day
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: right here is the 100% day. And then you just
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: keep chipping away at it until February, potentially, if you.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Make a long run. And they tried to recover. And
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: by the way, you know, there's a really good organization.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: And again, I'm just going to, I just think this
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: bears repeating because, you know, there are a lot of
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: fans out there and some media members that are like, hey,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: rip it down, tear down to the studs, rebuild. So
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: here you have a really good organization. Really good. Don't
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: you agree? I mean, the Colts are just a good organization.
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: Solid organization, yeah.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: They got that high pick. And they drafted their quarterback,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: and it didn't work. And you know what happens now?
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: It does.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Here we are.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Sadly.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: You're wallowed in mediocrity, and less than mediocrity now. You
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: have to change horses in the middle of the stream, right?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Go pick somebody up in free agency, and Daniel Jones,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: hope he's the answer. Give him a lot of money.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And all this leads to your GM getting fired. What's that?
• 12:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: Just so he'll show up, you have to give him
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: a lot of money, right?
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: And then pray that it works.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: For people that think that there's just this, oh, you
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: rip down and then you build it back up again,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: the same people that think it's this sort of God-given
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: right that the Steelers win the Super Bowl every four
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: or five years, it ain't that easy. And it ain't
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: that easy to rebuild. Just a cautionary tale, throwing it
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: out there. I think the Colts are a cautionary tale.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: It's a good organization, and they cannot get out of,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: the sort of 8-9 rut that they find themselves in,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: and it cost Chris Ballard his job.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: It did, and, you know, for a team that, like
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: you said, for a long time, when Peyton Manning was
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: competing for Super Bowls, was always in AFC Championship games,
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: always had these high-profile seasons, to go, I think the
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: last five years of Chris Ballard's tenure has been, all mediocrity,
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: no playoff appearances. So you go five years with no
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: playoff appearances and you had top picks that were supposed
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: to work out that didn't work out, right? We talked
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: about Anthony Richardson and it was one of those with
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: Anthony Richardson because I had him.
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: He's a Gator, right?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: He was a baby Gator and.
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: I just, he was not seasoned enough and I kind
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: of cautioned everybody like, hey, man, you know, how does
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: it feel to get.
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: A quarterback in the first round that came from your school?
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: I'm like, It's great if he's ready, but he wasn't ready.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: He wasn't mature enough, and the team didn't do enough
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: to put enough around him to help incubate him longer.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: They didn't put the resources that they needed around. Yes,
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: they had a decent offensive line, and yes, they had
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: a decent running back, but the receivers weren't there, the
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: tight ends weren't there, and the defense wasn't there. And
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: I always say this, you've got to build the nest
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: and then drop the quarterback egg in the middle of
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: the nest.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Totally agree.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: If you don't build the nest, you can't warm around it,
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: and the egg can't incubate to give you the chicken, right,
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: or the bird or whatever you're looking for. So you've
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: got to have those things. When they're not, this is
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: what you get. And then, like you said, now I
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: go into free agency. Now, hell, I'm bringing Phillip Rivers
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: out of retirement, you know, for seven years, you know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: that he's been retired and you're bringing our four years
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: retired and bringing him back in and trying to dust
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: the cobwebs off of him. And I think that's where
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: you get into a problem when you start chasing, because
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: you're like, I don't want to, I don't want to
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: do this.
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: I don't want to do this.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Chasing, chasing, chasing, and you're throwing the wrong resources at it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: Whereas you should do this, continue to just stay steady,
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: build everything around it, Take the two or three uncomfortable
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: years that it takes to get everything right without completely
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: tearing it down, and then insert quarterback here. I mean,
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: you know, I always go back to Ben, right, because
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: that's my reference point, and the Steelers were kind of
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: in that similar situation at that point, right? You had
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: everything else built around that quarterback position, and you just
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: needed the quarterback to be that catalyst.
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: Nothing against Tommy. Like, Tommy was a good quarterback, right?
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: Tommy Gunn.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: Was a heck of a quarterback, but he was also
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: an older quarterback at that time. So you needed somebody
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: with a little more juice. So you went and got
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: Charlie Batch as well. And then Charlie gets injured. You
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: bring in Brian St. Pierre from Boston College.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: Brian St.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: Pierre gets injured. And now Ben is your second string quarterback.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: Remember when they drafted Ben, Ben was fourth on the
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: depth chart.
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: And by injuries moved up. It wasn't because of his play.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: It was because of injuries that moved Ben up initially.
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: Charlie broke his collarbone. Brian got injured in training camp.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: Going to the season, Ben's your backup because of those injuries.
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: And he kept playing in practice.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: And then Tommy then gets knocked out of the second
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: game of the season against Baltimore in Baltimore right before
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: the end of the first half. And Ben now gets
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: thrust into the position.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: It wasn't like it is today where it's like we
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: draft you in the first round, boom, you're christened. Domine Patry, boom,
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: you're in, right? You know what I'm saying? It's like
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: we put all of our eggs in there. Ben had
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: to sit there and wait and earn his way up,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: and it was by luck and by chance when he
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: got there, and then we get a 19-year career that
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: we did out of Ben Roethlisberger.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Well, remember, at the time, Alan Fennec had one of
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: my favorite quotes of all time. They're like, yeah, you know, hey,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: are you excited to see this? No, I'm not excited.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: You know, I want Tommy Maddox to start quarterbacking.
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: I want the veteran guy. I want the guy that
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: I know.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Right. The fans get excited, but that doesn't necessarily mean,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: you know, you're equating that with victories. And Ben, you know,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Ben was on our air last year, and he said
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: the best thing that happened to him was being dropped
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: into that situation. That's the situation the Steelers are trying
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to get themselves to, building along the offensive.
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: Line, you know, adding out to the field position.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Building the defensive line. Yeah. So that's right. So anyway,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Chris Ballard canned, fired. And, hey, that's the way it goes.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: The drafts have been okay. They certainly haven't been resurrective.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a word. I'm going to
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: have to look that up during the break.
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: You know what? In the Wolfley Dictionary it is, so
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: let's roll with it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: I'm going to have to look that up. Anyway, we're
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: going to take a break. Willie Colon going to be
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: with us. A couple other bits of news and notes
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: from around the NFL that are extremely important.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: Monday Night Football recap.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Monday Night Football recap. And our rankings. and I don't
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: think we're going to be happy again. But we'll get
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: to that when we continue in the locker room here
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: This is in the locker room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and Willie Cologne on Steelers nation radio brought to you
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers pro shop. Get it direct
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers pro shop at shop.steelers.com
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and by your neighborhood Ford store. The F one 50
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: And thanks very much for being back with us here
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: inside the locker room. And we, uh, End of the
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: last segment after talking about the logistics of the trip
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: to France with the news that Chris Bauer that came
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: down yesterday was fired. We didn't have time to get
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to that because of the recap of the game on Sunday.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: The general manager of the Colts, again, an organization that
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I think most would agree is well run. So be
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: careful what you wish for. That's all I'm saying as
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: far as rebuilding and all that other stuff. Willie, let's
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: start with you on this Jalen Hurts story. blood clot
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: thing and this is this is not a good story
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: man I mean um he had to miss the game
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Sunday when they found a blood clot in his leg
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: now they're finding more in his lungs I mean you
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: know you just hope the guy's health is OK. And then,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: you know, his career could be in jeopardy as well.
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it's interesting, Rob. There's a lot of moving pieces.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: There's a lot of blurry parts, murky parts, if you will,
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: that there's no. You know, I covered this topic today
• 20:03
  Speaker 7: on Good Morning Football, and, you know, unfortunately, not unfortunately,
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: but I thought I would never say this. I have
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: empathy for Nick Sirianni because they've ushered him out there
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: to kind of be the voice of what has happened
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: to Jalen Hurts. And, you know, I don't think, you know,
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: Nick Sirianni is just the head coach. You know, I
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: think it's imperative if you have a medical staff and
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: you have doctors who have been closely evaluating and have
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: had a hands-on approach to the Jalen Hurts situation, those
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: are the guys, first and foremost, should be speaking because
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: they have the medical background and the professional experience, that is,
• 20:44
  Speaker 7: to speak on these issues. I think ushering a coach
• 20:48
  Speaker 7: out there to be the voice on Jalen Hurts and
• 20:51
  Speaker 7: what has transpired thus far, he can only do so
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: much or say so much, and so he may not
• 20:55
  Speaker 7: know enough.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: With that said, this.
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: Is dangerous, right, because we know the severity of having
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: a blood clot. There are different ones. I know some
• 21:07
  Speaker 7: people were trying to– I have also made the comparison
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: to what Chris Bosh went through. People have to understand
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: the Chris Bosh situation, it was something that happened internally,
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: and the clots were happening repetitively, and which ultimately led
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: to some of the clots– forming in his lungs and
• 21:28
  Speaker 7: which ultimately led to his retirement jail in her situation
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: this this blood clot happened because he injured his calf
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: in the rams game and he pushed through it and
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: it was evaluated and you know obviously he to my
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: reports and rob you can clean me up if i'm
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: if i'm off if i'm off base here i think
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: he practiced friday and then saturday there was evaluation and
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: everything kind of transpired to uh from there rob i
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: don't know how to say it but it We just
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: don't know what.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: The hell happened and how we got here. We just don't.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: There's so many conflicting stories.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Did he sleep?
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: Did he not sleep? Did he know about it? Did
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: he want to push through? All I know is that sometimes,
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: and I know a lot of people have spoken up
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: about this situation, and there's this running headline that sometimes
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: you have to take the gloves away from the fighter,
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: meaning that Jalen Hurst probably knew about the severity of
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: the situation and said, hey, man, if I could run, Hey,
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: you pay me to be out there, I'm going to
• 22:23
  Speaker 7: be out there. Because think about this too, Rob and Max.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: We just dragged Caleb Williams up and down the United
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: States for what? For getting carted off due to a
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: hamstring strain, right? And now it looks like after the
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: game against Atlanta Falcons, Caleb Williams, he's on a killing spree,
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: if you will. It seems like he heard every critic,
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: he heard everybody talk about how soft and how– how
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: he didn't handle that injury well. Well, Jalen Hurts is
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: a man's man. He's a tough guy. He's an extremely
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: private person. I think with the state of the Eagles
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: and how they've been playing thus far, he said, listen, man,
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: it's my job to play. You've heard me and Max
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: say this a couple times. There's a difference between hurt
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: and injured. He probably just felt like he was hurt.
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: He wasn't injured. And he probably said, and this is
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: me all speculation, he probably said, listen, We got to
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: win a game. We have an opportunity to win a
• 23:21
  Speaker 7: game on the road. If I can play, I'm going
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: to go. And he pushed through it because that's what
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: we do as ballplayers. That's the creed we live by.
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: We're going to push through it until we can't push
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: through it. Now, the issue I have, me stepping into
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: the locker room, I've been around Max a long time.
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: I watched Max Starks hurt his neck. I watched Max
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: tear up his knee. I watched Max Starks do a
• 23:44
  Speaker 7: lot of things. But I also knew one thing. that
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: he was going to do what was best for the
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: team and put his health and mental state behind what
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: was the main goal, right? Like the main goal was
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: to go win a football, go win a football game.
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: But it just kills me because you can't tell me
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: not to have a teammate, right, somebody in the locker room.
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: And I understand Jalen Hurts wasn't around the team Saturday night.
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: He was actually in the hospital. So let's be clear
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: about that. But you can't tell me leading up to
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: that game, there wasn't one of those guys in the
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: locker room saying, man, Jalen, I know you're hurt, but
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: you don't look right. Something is funny. There's an inclination.
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: Because I'm able to look. I know for a fact
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: I can look at Max and know if Max is
• 24:24
  Speaker 7: dealing with an injury or something's wrong, right? And I
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: just feel like there wasn't enough eyes on Jalen Hurts
• 24:32
  Speaker 7: in the locker room. Medically, I think he got all
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: the attention that was necessary. And I also think the
• 24:37
  Speaker 7: powers that be were keeping.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: A close eye on it.
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: But sometimes there's a guy in the locker room that says, dog,
• 24:44
  Speaker 7: I know what you're trying to do, but I don't
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: think we need that right now. This is bigger than football.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Because there was times, especially towards the back of my career,
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: where I know damn sure I was dragging my knee
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: up and down one just drive, and I looked like
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: a dog that got hit by a car. I was
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: just dragging my leg, but I had to play. And
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: I know there was times where my team was just like, man,
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: I don't know how you're doing it. I'm doing it
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: for the love of the game, and I'm doing it
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: because I committed to the journey. I'm going to finish
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: the journey. But sometimes it's that one teammate that says, dog,
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: let me talk to you.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: Where's your head at? How you feeling?
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: No, this is me talking.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: And the fact that we don't know if.
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: There was one guy in our locker room to have
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: that conversation with Jalen during the course of the week,
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: going into Saturday, is what I find a little kind
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: of discouraging because we all know that, yes, it's up
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: to the powers that be to be accountable for the health.
• 25:37
  Speaker 7: And also it's up to the health of Jalen Hurts
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: But it's also up to Jalen Hurst to be accountable
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: for his own health. But at the same time, as
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: a brotherhood, as we love to preach and the family
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: love to preach, there's somebody that should have said, Jalen,
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: let's talk about this dog, right? Because I watched you Monday.
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: I watched you Tuesday. I watched you Wednesday. You don't
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: look good. Well, you look okay, but you don't look
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: good enough. And I just wonder if there was more
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: dialogue from his teammates to teammate, from teammate to teammate,
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: that could have said, Jalen, we can do this without you.
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: And the season is what it is. but we can
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: do this without you. You go get better. So with
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: all that said, I know I was all over the place,
• 26:15
  Speaker 7: but it's discouraging because I think right now everything in
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: that building is in question. The head coach, the medical staff,
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: the organization, Howie Roseman, everybody now seems like they're fleeting
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: because nobody wants to be responsible for what happened to
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: Jalen Hurts.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Look, I understand what you're saying, Willie, and Max, I'd
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: love to hear from you on this. All I know
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: is this. Sometimes you have to protect the players from themselves,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: and I'm glad the doctors found out this information. You know,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: guys that used to be back in the day, guys
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: that go back out there with concussions, I'm glad that
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: they've knuckled down on that. At some point, everybody knows
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: that it's a profession fraught with with danger for your
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: body physically. I mean, you know, you go to shake
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: hands with Tunchoke and his fingers were pointing in 15
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: different directions, you know. Guys are limping around. Guys pass
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: away at a young age because of the physical nature
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: of the game. I'm glad that they found this for
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: whatever it is. And at this stage of the game,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: you just– Max, it has to be about what's best
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: for Jalen Hurts. I mean, this is nothing to be
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: messing around with.
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: This is where the fantasy of football comes to reality
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: of life, right? You know, a lot of people want
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: to throw darts and talk negatively about a guy injury.
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: Like, you know, Willie referenced it, right?
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: Caleb, we was dragging Caleb Williams up and down, you know,
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: front street, back street, broad street, main street about how,
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: how he Paul pierced his.
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: Way off the field, you know, you know, in that moment.
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: But I think, You know, there's a tale in that,
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: but also there's a tale in, you know, people, because
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: I heard one commentator, I'm not going to mention his name,
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: Willie and I both know him, colleague of ours, that
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: was talking about he was trying to fake this injury
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: to get out of it. And I'm like, you don't
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: fake superficial blood clots. He's like, well, go read up
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: on superficial blood.
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: I was like, how about this? Go read about how
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: many people die from PE, pulmonary.
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: Embolisms, okay? That's also a blood clot. That's something that
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: can hit anybody at any time. I was like, I
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: know one of my good friends and Willie's met him,
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: my boy Jock, who's a lawyer out here. He caught
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: it on a plane and had to be hospitalized immediately.
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: And he don't play football. I was like, I've had
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: friends who have passed away. Once that blood clot leaves
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: wherever it is, because guess what? You got the artery
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: superhighway in your body. The blood clot is on that superhighway.
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: It can end up anywhere. Like I said, to end
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: up in the lungs, the last spot before the lungs
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: is the heart. And you get one of those in there, bye-bye, Jack.
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: So this is where the reality of life comes in.
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: It's a human aspect to this that now comes into play.
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: And people are like, well, if he knew he had a.
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: Genetic issue, don't nobody know about a genetic issue.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: Ryan Clark knew he had sickle cell, did not know
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: that going to Denver could potentially.
• 29:22
  Speaker 6: Kill him, right?
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: It's like, oh, okay, I just got to be able to,
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: certain things I can eat and I can't eat.
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: Man gave away his gallbladder.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: It's sitting somewhere in Denver, Colorado. So these are the
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: things that even when you're armed with information, there's still
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: a certain level of unknown about it. factors that go
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: into this. Because once again, we major in football. We
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: didn't major in medicine. So even when a doctor tells
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: us this, like if the doctor doesn't lay it down, like, hey,
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: you got to stop all this and going on blood
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: thinners and trying to do those things to reduce the clots.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: This is what happens.
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: The multiplication of one clot leads to multiple clots. And
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: going on an airplane is not going to help that
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: because you're dehydrating your system. Your blood needs fluids to
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: replicate and dilute and everything.
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: So my prayers are.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: Up with Jalen Hurts, man, because this is now a
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: human thing. You remove the competitive nature of it. You
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: remove the helmet. You remove the jersey. You remove the organization.
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: What are we doing for the best health and welfare
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: of a human being, one human being to another in
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: this moment. And I just think that that's where you
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: have to take these things seriously and not worry about
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: your fantasy football numbers or worried about, you know, some
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: type of clickbait headline because these are serious issues. And,
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: you know, to insinuate a guy is faking it or,
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: you know, to put the blame on specific individuals, it's
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: a holistic approach. Everybody gets a piece of the blame pie.
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: And I think that's the other thing. Doctors, you are
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: the gurus. You are the main people in charge. Trust me,
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: I have these conversations with my wife all the time, right?
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: Sometimes when I get pissed at a doctor thing, I
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: yell at my wife for no reason. I'm like, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: know it's not even your field, but it's like everybody
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: wants to have a comment after, but when it's nut-crunching time,
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: in the moment, everybody has alligator arms. Nobody wants to
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: reach for the check and take accountability for it. But,
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: you know, it is a responsibility. And I feel bad
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: for Nick Sirianni because they just carted his butt out
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: there like weekend at Bernie's. Like, I know you're dead,
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: but you got to say something. And that's how we're
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: dealing with this. So for the Eagles, it happened. It
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: happened in Washington. Remember when Trent Williams, how he got
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: to San Francisco? It was because of bad medical practices,
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: you know, or I say bad organizational practices. that leaked
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: into pressure into the medical side. So we don't know
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: the true story, but it's something that has to be evaluated.
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: But once again, like I said, at the end of
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: the day, prayers up to Jalen Hurts. I just want
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: him to live a full, successful life. You know, if
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: he doesn't do anything else football-wise, he's already hit the mountaintop, right?
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: He's already gotten a Super Bowl. He's already accomplished Pro Bowls,
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: got the big contract.
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: Now it's about life.
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: I need him to continue to be a productive citizen
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: in this world, a young man that gets to become
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: an old man. That's all I hope for at this moment.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what we're looking for, for sure, for him.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: We're going to take a break. A couple more injuries.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: And our power rankings. Oh, boy. Power.
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: Power rankings.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Opportunity for us to grumble once again. We're going to
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: grumble when we continue in the locker room here.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: Does Geno have our over-unders from our underdog?
• 32:39
  Speaker 6: He does have the underdog. We've got to go to
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: the underdog picks.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: No.
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: All right, we'll do that next. We continue in the
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: And a couple of other injury notes to get to.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: We talked about Jalen Hurts last and also had The
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: news about Chris Ballard, uh, which happened on Monday, but
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: we were, uh, busy wrapping up to see this dramatic
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: overtime victory, um, down in Tampa yesterday, talking to Jerry
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Dulac as well. I spent some time talking about the
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: trip over to France, uh, coming up, uh, later in
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: the week for the team, but a couple other significant injuries.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: One of them last night at Monday night football, Washington,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: you're trying to come back late in this game. Max
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Terry McLaurin, their outstanding wide receiver, uh, looks like a
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: significant knee injury for him and meanwhile Devontae Adams also
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: he's going to be out for a while for the
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Rams but why don't you give us a lowdown on
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: what you saw last night on Monday Night Football.
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: Man you know outside of you know the McLaurin injury
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: and obviously you know losing merit as well during that
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: ball game I mean it kind of was resonant of
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: the game that we had in Tampa Bay where this
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: team was dead to rights going into late in this
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: game where it was just like okay, San Francisco is
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: just going to just overwhelm them, overpower them.
• 34:25
  Speaker 6: And then they just started getting things going.
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: And you saw Jaden Daniels just start to play his
• 34:33
  Speaker 5: game and realize, hey, I've got to use all my
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: weapons available, quick passes, get them out, can't hold on
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: to the football. But I will say this, that San
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: Francisco defense, Fred Warner was trying to take people's heads
• 34:49
  Speaker 5: off in the fourth quarter.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: Literally and figuratively.
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: Him and Mustafa were playing a really good game. And
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: you think about Traylon Burks, right? Comes down to that
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: fourth down in the end zone. Ball is in his hands.
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: He is falling inbounds for the potential game-tying touchdown. And
• 35:09
  Speaker 5: Mustafa gets him right at the end. But I thought
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: it was just a fantastic second half of football for Washington. And,
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: you know, it was a gutsy play for a team
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: like San Francisco to to come away with the victory
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: after all that momentum had kind of went out of
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: their favor.
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: So it was a fantastic game.
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: But like you said, losing significant players in that game
• 35:30
  Speaker 5: that could have possibly changed the complexion. I mean, you
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: were down to Stephon Diggs, Traylon Burks, and the rookie
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: as pretty much your main pass catchers in those moments
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: and trying to run with your second and third string
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: quarterback and using Dayton Daniels.
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: But I thought it was a great game.
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: I thought it was a worth-watching-all-the-way-through type of football game.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: And, Willie, I want you to comment on that, but
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: then think about the NFC East, right? I mean, you
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: had the Giants at 3-2-1, Philadelphia 2-4 without Jalen Hurts,
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: and they're already starting to trade guys. Dallas at 2-4,
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Washington now at 1-4-1. That was a big opportunity late
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: in that game that slipped away from the commanders. But, boy,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've got to look at that and say
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: that is the weakest division in football right now.
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: Who's the weakest team?
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: I think the NFC East is the weakest division in football.
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: Well, yeah, I mean, the problem, nobody can run the
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: damn ball in the division. I mean, the Giants can't
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: run the ball, the Cowboys can't run the ball, and
• 36:34
  Speaker 7: the Commanders proved last night only having 53 yards, they
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: can't run the ball. I mean, in the Eagles, we know.
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: About Saquon, he's cooked.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: So when you talk about a division that their brand
• 36:49
  Speaker 7: of football was supposed to be being a physicality, championship
• 36:52
  Speaker 7: dna and being able to put up points all three
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: of those identities are in crisis right now especially if
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: you're talking about the cowboys giants and.
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: Obviously the eagles with that said.
• 37:05
  Speaker 7: If you're the commanders right now the two positives you
• 37:08
  Speaker 7: take away from last night game is that you can
• 37:11
  Speaker 7: contend with a heavyweight because i think the niners are
• 37:14
  Speaker 7: the most complete team in football What you're disappointed in
• 37:19
  Speaker 7: is that right now you don't have an offensive identity
• 37:22
  Speaker 7: outside of Jaden Daniels. It all relies on him. I mean, Valley,
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: he had 300 yards and two touchdowns. But where's the
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: rest of the help?
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: I think what's.
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: Interesting about the game, and I was trying to put
• 37:35
  Speaker 7: my football brain together, I thought they were going to
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: play like the Arizona Cardinals played against the Los Angeles Rams,
• 37:41
  Speaker 7: meaning they want to run the ball, drain the clock,
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: keep the Niners on the bench, and eventually grit and
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: grind their way to a W, like the Arizona Cardinals did.
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: And it was the opposite. The Commandos were actually explosive.
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: They did have a lot of chunk plays. They were
• 37:56
  Speaker 7: able to execute, and particularly in the second half. What's
• 38:00
  Speaker 7: disheartening with their ability to compete with the Niners is
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: that in situational football, they continue to fail. Now, I
• 38:08
  Speaker 7: don't know what the hell happened at the end of
• 38:10
  Speaker 7: that second quarter between Dan Quinn and Jaden Daniels, But
• 38:16
  Speaker 7: I got to say this. You can talk about what
• 38:19
  Speaker 7: Dan Quinn needs to do better, but if you're a
• 38:22
  Speaker 7: quarterback and it's fourth down and you got to make
• 38:27
  Speaker 7: a play, one thing you can't do is take a
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: bad sack. And what's the next thing, Max? Throw the
• 38:32
  Speaker 7: ball out. You just can't happen. You can't throw it away.
• 38:38
  Speaker 7: So you got to make magic happen. You got to
• 38:41
  Speaker 7: try something, especially with that being the last down. Right now,
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: with the injuries that are starting to pile up for
• 38:48
  Speaker 7: the commanders.
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: Hopefully, I know Terry McLaurin, it looks like it may
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: be an ACL. It's tough.
• 38:53
  Speaker 7: I think a lot of he's well-respected around the league.
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: A lot of people have a lot of respect for him.
• 38:57
  Speaker 7: And I know he's been battling some injuries, so it's
• 38:59
  Speaker 7: tough for him. You already know about Larry Tunsil being
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: out due to his elbow, his tricep, I think, his tricep,
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: that is. And the offensive line is a patchwork group.
• 39:11
  Speaker 7: But defensively, they are strong and they are scrappy. I
• 39:14
  Speaker 7: think the commanders right now have to figure out, do
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: they have a talent problem or do they have a
• 39:18
  Speaker 7: structure problem? And I dare to say they don't have
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: a talent problem. They have a structure problem. They have
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: to figure out if Jaden Davis can't be Hercules on
• 39:29
  Speaker 7: every Sunday, who's the next guy up that can help
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: them provide momentum with that offense? And they don't have
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: an answer, so it's killing them. The Commandos are a
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: solid team, man. You tell they're well-coached. Obviously, penalties showed
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: up in the worst opportune moments, especially off that big run.
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: That was just a big fella just trying to be aggressive,
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: got his hands caught in the face mask. I think
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: the tackle's name was Chris.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: Paul, to be exact.
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: With all that wrapped up in the bow, man, I'm
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: more optimistic about the commanders figuring it out than I
• 40:01
  Speaker 7: am the Cowboys figuring it out. Because one thing we
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: know about the Cowboys, defensively, yeah, they play better, especially
• 40:08
  Speaker 7: Joey Porter Jr. I thought he impacted the game. But
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: what scared me about the Cowboys is they just put
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: on tape.
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: They can't handle the blitz. And.
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: Dak Prescott also came out and said.
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: Blitz me. Well, they blitzed it, and you couldn't do
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: nothing with it.
• 40:24
  Speaker 7: So now you're talking about a team, if they can't score,
• 40:27
  Speaker 7: they can't win. If they can't win, and the way
• 40:30
  Speaker 7: things are starting to line up, now you have to
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: start questioning, all right, when do we, what do we do?
• 40:35
  Speaker 7: Because it seems like they brought in help to help
• 40:39
  Speaker 7: Christian Parker. Shoddy still continues to command the ship offensively.
• 40:44
  Speaker 7: But outside of Dak, man, they got to figure out
• 40:47
  Speaker 7: what the hell is going on with that run game
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: because they did have a healthy enough line on Sunday
• 40:53
  Speaker 7: to be way more productive than they were. So for
• 40:56
  Speaker 7: an offense that's supposed to be well-balanced and put up points,
• 41:00
  Speaker 7: they've been trending backwards. So I think the commanders are
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: just in a situation where they have to figure out
• 41:08
  Speaker 7: how to get healthy in real time. On top of that,
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: how do they build an ecosystem around Jaden Daniels where
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: he doesn't feel like he has to carry that load.
• 41:16
  Speaker 7: Because people have to remember, Jaden Daniels' rookie year, he
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: was their leading rusher. You know what happened to Jaden
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: Daniels thus far? He's been injury-prone ever since, and he's
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: still battling the elbow. So I don't know what Dan
• 41:30
  Speaker 7: Quinn can do, but all I know is the longer
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: this continues, where there's game management questions, Jaden Daniels seems
• 41:37
  Speaker 7: like he has to be Superman, and the defense stays
• 41:41
  Speaker 7: relatively stagnant. Throughout the game, you're going to have to
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: make some questions. You're going to have to answer some
• 41:47
  Speaker 7: questions at the end of the year. I don't think
• 41:49
  Speaker 7: they're ready to answer, but hopefully they'll figure it out.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: You wish you were playing the NFC East, I think,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: as opposed to the Eagles.
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: 8-9 or 9-8 gets you a division crown.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Shoot. And Devontae Adams. Doing it long enough.
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: NFC East-South.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. They battle it out for who's the worst. Yeah,
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: but they're all solid there. Well, they're supposed to be.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: That remains to be seen. Devontae Adams also out. But
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: we'll get to that when we get to the power
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: rankings to see where the Rams must have slipped by now.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Had to have. We think.
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: Listen, the Los Angeles Tide, are you sure about that?
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Crimson Tide of Los Angeles. We'll get to
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: our power rankings when we continue in the locker room
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: here on the Steelers Audio Network.