Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / HR1: Cool Breeze

Transcript

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

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: And we thank you for being with us in the
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: locker room as we are preparing for the Steelers taking
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: on The New England Patriots with Max Starks and Willie Colon.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I'm Rob King. Plenty of excitement as we lead up
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to this game. Max Starks, and I'm sure as a player,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: come Thursday, it's starting to feel real again, right? You
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: put some stuff in on Wednesday, and then Thursday is
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: go time?
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's one of those things where, you know, you
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: have the initial game plan. That's what the coaches did
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: on Tuesday, players' day off, and they come up with
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: these great, awesome ideas.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: And then Wednesday happens.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And then you're like, okay, let's get rid of this
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: crap because this looked terrible. And then it's like, okay,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: let's refine what these guys are doing. And I think
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: that's kind of the process that you take. It's a
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: process of elimination. As you get through the week, you
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: want to see what your team actually has and.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: What they can offer. And you go from there. So
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: I think this is that. kind of tightening up period.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to call it like a full sail,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: you know, switch or anything, but it is, it is
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: a refinement because Friday is your ultimate kind of dress
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: rehearsal day. And, you know, it's a little bit faster tempo,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: just so guys feel good about.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Where they're at.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And physically, and then what they can do capabilities wise.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: You know, Max, Mike McCarthy is, It's really interesting because
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin spoke a certain way and talked about certain things,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: had his certain catchphrases and different things that became catchphrases
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: because he believed in them as far as turning out
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: quality football performances. Mike McCarthy has a different way of
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: breaking things down where you think, huh, I didn't know that.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: And obviously he's a very detail-oriented guy, not saying Mike
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Tomlin isn't or wasn't, but just different ways of sort
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of viewing and disseminating the information on hand. So he
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: had the statement last week that roughly through the first
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: four weeks or so of the season, I think it
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: was four weeks, but certainly the first several weeks, 35%
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: of the looks you get are unscouted. So teams are
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: putting in new things. So I think the temptation is
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to look at that offensively. How are we going to
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: attack people? But I want to look at it from
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: an offensive lineman's perspective, because if that's true, that probably
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: also means the defense is doing some things that are unscouted.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: How do you rely on or what do you rely
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: on to make sure that you as a front five,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: which is, let's face it, you know, the heartbeat of
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: an offense can deal with an unscouted look or looks
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: from a defense?
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Uh, it's about being sound in your, in your philosophy, right?
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: There's rules.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: And so you have to kind of know your rules and,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: and when in doubt, you lean back on your rules.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: There's four man spacing offensively, there's three man spacing, and
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: then you kind of take it as it is from
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: that point forward. So, you know, when we're looking at
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: different ways that guys can attack, um, you know, you,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: you're like, okay, well, what is it?
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: What does this do? And, um, And what does that do?
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: And if a guy is lined up a little bit
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: wider than we want, okay, well, what's the call here?
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: That's what you kind of rep through.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: You rep through those different scenarios so that you're in
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: position so that even if things go wrong, you have
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: a way of fixing it on the fly because you
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: have rules in place. And that's how most guys usually
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: do those type of things is it's a rule-based system.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: And And that's how, that's how you kind of go
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: through the whole situation is let's figure.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Out what is the rule here?
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: You know, if, if I have a, if I'm supposed
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: to do this against a four, well, a guy moves
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: in half a man, they call it a four. I then,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: how does that change my responsibility or what adjustments do
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: we make normally? Like, is the backer there or is
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: there somebody else there that we're working up to?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: How do I change that? You know, those are the
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: things you kind of, you kind of have to troubleshoot
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: and diagnose on the fly. It's like, you know, If
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: you've never had a flat tire and you have to
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: figure out how to change a tire, like there's rules
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: to it.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Okay, I need a wrench, right?
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: A wrench is a necessary thing and it has to
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: match and it has to be somewhere in this car
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: because the hubcap, you know, the wheel base is there
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: and I have to use this wrench to loosen up
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: these wheel bases so I can get the wheel off.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: And then there's a spare tire. Okay, I got to
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: make sure I fit it to that. Even though I've
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: never done it before, but I have rules on how
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: to change a tire. So the same thing is with
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: it when it comes to offensive game plans.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: Like you have rules.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: If a quarterback is saying, okay, my rule versus two
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: high is different versus single high versus no high.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Okay, what are my rules in each of those situations?
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Because I have to be prepared just in case, you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: that when in doubt, it might not be as clean.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: It might not be just, you know, cover one. Like
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: they're going to fake and show some shells of stuff.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: So I need to be ready for that as well.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: So the same thing applies, and that's what they go through.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: You want to go through all the possible scenarios and
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: eliminate all the stuff that we do know so that
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I can prepare for what I don't know.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: So as you progress as a unit and mature as
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a unit, I would imagine that communication, that ability to
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: understand without having to say anything, that, hey, this is
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: something different, but we still know what to do, would
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: come in handy for an offensive line.
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's one of those things where you have
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: to have these steadfast rules.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: And listen, it's never going to go right.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I could tell you many times having like Jeff Hardings
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: and Alan Fanica get a look that they weren't used
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: to and both of them arguing about what we should do.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: And at that moment, it's almost like when you're a
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: kid and your parents are having an argument at the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: kitchen table. You know, it's like you might believe mom
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: or dad's right, but you're not picking sides because that's
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: not your place. As a kid, you just sit there
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: and listen. That's what it's like. It's ultimately like that.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Like they were like the parents were there and the kids,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: you were to be seen and not heard. And that's
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: how you need to operate.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: You know, I think we have Willie. Willie, you're with us. Yes, yes.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: You hear me? Yeah, we're talking about the different looks.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: You know, Mike McCarthy talked about, you know, this over
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: the first several weeks of the season, 35 percent of
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: the looks you get are unscouted.
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: I suppose I.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Remember watching, you know, Syracuse University had an offense coordinator
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: named George DeLeon, very creative mind.
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: And he came out one time.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And at the first drive of the season, Syracuse did
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: stuff they'd never done before. They're disengaging guys from the line.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: There's motion and movement all over the place. And the
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: opposing defense was caught so off guard that they just
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: stayed in their base.
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: And you know what? It worked.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: So instead of the mass confusion of these guys chasing
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: people all over the field, they were so confused they
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: just said, well, we're just going to stay in our
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: base because you can't call timeout, timeout, timeout. and use
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: all three timeouts in the first quarter on defense. So
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I do wonder if there's some of, okay, well, we
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: know what we're supposed to do. They're trying to do
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: something different. Let's just have at it. Let's just do
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: what we expect, you know, what we do. Or are
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: you adjusting, or is it a combination of both?
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: I think it's a combination of both.
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: You know, the great Bill Belichick was always known for
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: those type of annex of showing you one thing in
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: the first half and giving you a whole new script
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: in the second half and keeping their, you know, keeping
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: their opposition off guard. I think when it comes to
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: having the ability to adjust to something that you didn't
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: see is really just being, having an understanding of what
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: you do well, kind of what we hit on yesterday.
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: I think a lot of times when an offense, like
• 9:03
  Speaker 7: for instance, we all, we all, we all know, like.
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: When you prepare for a week of practice there, everybody always.
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: Gets enamored with the offense who comes out the gate
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: really high and polished, right? Well, they done scripted that
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: first 15 over and over throughout the week. It's really
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: the second half is where you see what the team
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: is really made of, right? Because it's kind of the
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: whole week you're kind of going through dress rehearsal and
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: then boom, right out the gate.
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: Like, man, this team is hovering.
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: Yeah, the second half, the team that you're going against
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: either adjust or they figure it out or at the
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: end of the day, they can't figure it out and
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: you just throw something else at them. With all that said, man,
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: I think it comes down to really understanding what you
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: do well and understanding what your personnel does well as well.
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: So it's never a tough, excuse me, it's never an
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: easy task, but that's the life of the league.
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and I was exploring a little, Willie.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: You know, I got to thinking as Max was answering about,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: you know, Dick LeBeau, his record was unbelievable against rookie quarterbacks, right?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: And my assumption is part of that must have been,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: let's confuse him with looks he hasn't seen on tape before.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And I'm assuming then, that it's easier to confuse, say,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: you know, okay, we have a bunch of different looks. Well,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: it's a big leg up to have Aaron Rodgers in
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: there to organize things as opposed to a rookie quarterback
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: who is still trying to adjust to the speed of
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: the game and the different reads and the complexities of
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the NFL. And now, you know, Dick LeBeau is throwing,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: you know, a couple of other twists at you that
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: you've never seen before that are unscoutable. That might be
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: in week 12 or week 13. I mean, we're talking
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: about it now because it's early and because of Mike
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: McCarthy's comments, but I would imagine Aaron Rodgers gives you
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: a leg up in that department.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, of course.
• 10:54
  Speaker 7: I think if you talk about being a new quarterback,
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: going to defense like the Steelers, especially if Dick LeBeau
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: was out there coaching hypothetically, man, I know one thing
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: he always do was, just like other great defensive corners,
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: they wanted to take away your number one option, right?
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: So whoever your crutch is, whatever your safety value is, Valves,
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: they want to race that off the field ASAP. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: I think the emphasis when you run in a 3-4
• 11:19
  Speaker 7: and you're blitzing at the value and we blitz like
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: how Dick LeBeau used to do, kind of like how
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: Brian Flores does.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: They continue to lean on you.
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: And it puts so much pressure on the offensive line
• 11:30
  Speaker 7: where they constantly have to communicate, constantly have to find guys,
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: constantly have to be on the same page every snap.
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: It really kind of puts a lot of pressure on
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: the efficiency of the quarterback and And when you talk
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: about what really good defenses do well, they come at
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: you through a myriad of ways. And a lot of
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: teams can sit in their base personnel and kind of
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: dictate things through that. But if you've got the elite
• 11:54
  Speaker 7: edge rushers we have, man, sometimes you've got to reconsider
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: those things. And that's what makes the Steelers great and
• 12:00
  Speaker 7: have great for a long time, the fact that we've
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: got S rushers that can beat double teams and put
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks.
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: Max?
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm right with Willie. I think that's the way
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: that you kind of have to go. It's never tried, tested,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: and true until you tried, tested it, and it turns
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: out to be true, right? I mean, you have to
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: start somewhere. And I think that's the case here. And
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: as you get through this season, people get tape on you, right?
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, they study you just like we study them.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: And so you have to be prepared for all those
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: different scenarios that can come up.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: In a game.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I kind of talked about this earlier, Rob,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: you know, practice makes perfect. That's why practice is necessary.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: That's why you just don't show up and do game
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: day every day. It's, it's a process that you have
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: to work through and you have to figure out, and
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: it's a delicate game of chess. You know, I don't
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: know how much chess you guys have ever watched, but
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: You watch these rounds, and sometimes they play speed rounds.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Sometimes they do a regular chess match, and they get
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: the full time to wait through. And that's kind of
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: what it is. You're waiting through, trying to hold. That's
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: why we talk.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: About disguises, disguise-style defenses.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Disguises, we're going to show them two because we want
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: them to think it's two, and then at the snap,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: we're going to drop into one. The safety is going
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: to come up. Troy Palomaro is a prime example of that.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: It was like, yeah, we can have a defense structure,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: but then you get that one guy. that just freestyles
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: and just messes up all your rules, all of the
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: things you think you know.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: And I can say this, Willie knows this. Willie, you
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: remember early on playing Baltimore?
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: When the stand-up defense, they walk around schoolyard, remember that?
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah, right.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah. That's the 35% you don't know.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: It's like, why the hell is Terrell Suggs lined up at,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: the Sam Backer, and why is Ray Lewis walked up
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: in the A-gap like a nose tackle?
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: And, you know, and Helody Nata is playing the five. Like,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: these are the things, but you have to have rules.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: And our rule was MDM rule, right, Will? It was
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: five most dangerous men.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: And you just, everybody set off the ball.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was sugar sets, right? It was sugar
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: all the way.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Take two sets vertical and let them clear out because
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: they had to make a decision after that. You know,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: it looks funky right now, but we have to set
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: off the ball, and they're going to declare themselves, and
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: we have to just be ready for the five most
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: dangerous guys. Whoever's the guy's rushing, that's the guy you
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: need to take the nearest to you and make sure
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: everybody understands their spacing. And even when they had the
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: triple blitz up, remember triple agap blitz?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Same thing.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: Another Baltimore thing, right? It would be both of your backers.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: We walked up in a 4-2 open look, double mug,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: as we called it, And then Ed Reed's coming up
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: the middle in between both of them. And the 2D
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: ends are dropping. Or they'll have the 2D tackles dropping.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: So those are things you can't plan for. But if
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: you rehearse your rules, you're going to feel good about it.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: You're going to be a lot more confident. Willie, I
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: wanted to answer Max's question. The answer is pretty much none.
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: The question was, I don't know how much.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Chess you guys have watched. I did watch the Queen's
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Gambit series, though. A very good series on TV. I
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: actually remember my grandfather when I was a kid. He
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: was from Germany. I don't know how he became a
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: chess fan. His English wasn't great, so I didn't really
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: ever ask him about it. But I think it was
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Fischer and Spassky. They actually showed it on TV. They
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: didn't show the actual match, but there'd be like this
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: little quilt hanging on the wall, and they'd tell you
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: what moves were made. I think that's the only chess...
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: You know, you can see it in the parks in
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: New York City, though, Willie, guys playing chess.
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah. They have chess clubs, and chess is definitely
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: picked up.
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: You're right.
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: You definitely see it in the park. My son has
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: now joined a chess club.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: Very cool.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: There we go.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: That's my godson.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: Yep, yep, yep. He's learning.
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: He's learning as– and I didn't know– I don't know chess.
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: I'm kind of learning– with him and through his eyes.
• 16:23
  Speaker 7: And so he's, he's now, you know, I, it's funny
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: when you have kids, man, you always want to know who.
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: The friends are.
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: And I'm just like, Hey man, any of your friends
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: are in chess? And he's like, no, I'm like, so
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: you're the only one in chess. He's like, well, it's
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: like four other guys. I'm like, how you guys feel
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: about it? He goes, we're all figuring it out, dad.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: I said, okay. All right. All right. Baby steps. Okay.
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: And, uh, but what's interesting about it, you know, he's,
• 16:49
  Speaker 7: He's starting to, like I said, I'm not immersed into
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: the chess world and I'm learning as he learns.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: But, you know, he comes to me and I get,
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: you know, peppered with a bevy.
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: Of questions like, hey, dad, how do you feel about
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: Godzilla versus, you know, I don't know, Shimo?
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: I'm like, I don't know. Let me look that up.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: And then he hits me with, hey, how do you
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: feel about bishops and rooks? I'm like, let me look
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: that up.
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: So on top of preparing for my nine to five job,
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: my other half is trying to figure out what's coming
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: out of this young man's mouth. So I'm a I'm
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: on a quest for knowledge at all times in the
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: cologne house. Yeah.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I was wondering how, how a queen to night two
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: and Mothra figured out.
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: But they're two separate, two separate things.
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: All right. I'm with you. I'm with you. It took
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: me a minute there. Um, so, uh, okay. So we're
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: going to take a break.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Um, and, and I, it is a fact, you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: they always talk about it being a chess, but by
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: the way, I think chess is a fascinating, I wish I,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I wish I was better at it. Um, I think
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: it's a fascinating game to get great at. So I
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: hope your son is a few years from now a
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: grandmaster when we're talking on this program.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: We're going to have Jerry Dulac coming up next.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: There's obviously some Steelers news, Joey Porter, injuries at practice,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: that sort of thing. Jerry's going to give you the
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: latest intel. And we continue in the locker room here
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, you got the cool breeze of Jerry Dulac.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Blowing through the locker room, a man who's always dressed
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: for a round of golf or a day at the
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: pool or a day covering Pittsburgh Steelers football. A man
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: for all occasions. And Jerry Dulac in the locker room
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: is brought to you by Frank B.
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: Fuhrer Wholesale. Jerry, how are you, my friend? Rob, I
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: am fine.
• 19:02
  Speaker 8: Good morning.
• 19:03
  Speaker 9: Yeah, no, good afternoon. I apologize to Max and Willie
• 19:07
  Speaker 9: as well. Max, I will tell you that Rob was
• 19:10
  Speaker 9: driving by as I was taping TV, and he sees
• 19:14
  Speaker 9: my attire, and he immediately asked, oh, did you play golf?
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: Are you going to play golf? And I said, no,
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: I'm too busy. I'm taping television, and I have to
• 19:23
  Speaker 9: look pretty.
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: He did look pretty. He did look pretty.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Listen, Jerry's one of the cleanest guys in the press
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: box week after week.
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: Oh, number one.
• 19:35
  Speaker 9: And Max, that's a low bar, too, my friend, but
• 19:38
  Speaker 9: thank you.
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: It is.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Hey, anytime you can jump over the bar, Jerry, we
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: take those victories, right? It doesn't matter if the bar
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: is two inches off the ground.
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: That's exactly right.
• 19:50
  Speaker 9: With the Steelers and the Falcons last week.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Same deal.
• 19:52
  Speaker 9: Low bar, injuries, third-team quarterback, but you know what? You
• 19:56
  Speaker 9: got to jump over it, and they did, and that's
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: good for them.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: 16 teams would gladly change their 0-1 record for 1-0 records,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: which is what the Steelers have.
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: Sartorio Splendor, Jerry Dulac.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Hey, Duke.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: There's some news going here into week two. I think
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: one thing that fans have been talking about since the
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: offseason began and are still talking about it is Joey
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Porter Jr. It feels like I know the Steelers made
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: an exception 30 years ago. I think it was with
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Darren Perry where they did sign a player after the
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: season began. I don't know if our expectations should be
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: anything like that. but do you think there is any
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: door open for an extension being signed for Joey Porter Jr.?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: And of more immediate notice, do you expect him to
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: play on Sunday?
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: Well, let me say this, Rob.
• 20:49
  Speaker 9: You know, I was told Sunday before the game that,
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: you know, they're done talking. There's no more discussion. That's finished.
• 20:56
  Speaker 9: I've also asked about what happens if Joey says, hey,
• 21:00
  Speaker 9: you know what, I'll take that deal, even though, you know,
• 21:02
  Speaker 9: the deal was less than.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: What he wanted.
• 21:05
  Speaker 9: I will tell you that, you know, it not only,
• 21:09
  Speaker 9: in my opinion, was a more than fair offer, and
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: it was what a top, not a top five corner
• 21:17
  Speaker 9: would make, but it was certainly more than what just
• 21:20
  Speaker 9: your average top 10 quarterback would make. And by that,
• 21:24
  Speaker 9: I mean there's 11 cornerbacks in the league. who average
• 21:28
  Speaker 9: more than $ 20 million a year. Joey would have easily,
• 21:32
  Speaker 9: easily been in that group, but he wanted to have
• 21:36
  Speaker 9: a three in front of his number. That didn't work out.
• 21:38
  Speaker 8: And then, of course, you have.
• 21:39
  Speaker 9: Other issues, which was one of them about guaranteed money.
• 21:44
  Speaker 9: But I think what's interesting now to me is the designation,
• 21:53
  Speaker 9: the change on the official injury report, which has always
• 21:56
  Speaker 9: been a back. He has a back injury. And I
• 21:59
  Speaker 9: was told before the game, he has been deemed healthy
• 22:03
  Speaker 9: enough to play, but they list, always list him as
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: a back injury. That all changed yesterday. The official designation
• 22:10
  Speaker 9: was conditioning. So what that is saying to me is
• 22:14
  Speaker 9: that the Steelers are no longer going to list it
• 22:17
  Speaker 9: as a back injury, whether some people maybe think they're
• 22:21
  Speaker 9: complicit in this whole you know, situation that's existing as
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: to why he's playing, why, or why he isn't playing.
• 22:29
  Speaker 9: Is he practicing? Isn't he practicing? And so to me,
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: it takes on a whole nother animal with that conditioning
• 22:37
  Speaker 9: tag that they put on him, that that's the reason
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: to answer your question. If he plays Sunday, then I
• 22:44
  Speaker 9: don't get it.
• 22:45
  Speaker 8: I don't, because then this.
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: Whole thing is for not, if you're Joey Porter, if
• 22:50
  Speaker 9: you go play Sunday, then what you were saying is, okay,
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: that was a waste of time, and I walked away
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: from $ 27 million this year. Look, he walked away from
• 23:00
  Speaker 9: $ 27 million either way. But if he goes and plays,
• 23:04
  Speaker 9: what's the point of playing if you're going to now say, okay,
• 23:07
  Speaker 9: I walked away from $ 27 million? There are ways for him,
• 23:11
  Speaker 9: as long as the Steelers own that, this is what
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: we're going to find out. How long will they keep
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: him on the roster if he says, okay, you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 9: my back is bothering me or I have pain in
• 23:22
  Speaker 9: my back. And one of the things I was told, fellas,
• 23:24
  Speaker 9: as you well know, there's no blood test to determine
• 23:27
  Speaker 9: the level of pain. So if Joey says his back
• 23:31
  Speaker 9: is bothering him and he has pain in his back, well, then, okay,
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: that's what he says. I don't think there's any question
• 23:38
  Speaker 9: this thing quietly at some point after the season doesn't
• 23:41
  Speaker 9: impact the public or anybody else, but I definitely think
• 23:45
  Speaker 9: this thing is headed for a union fight, but that's
• 23:46
  Speaker 9: a whole other matter.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Jerry, let me just follow that up. There's rumors, of course,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: rumors just all over the place about everything. Would they
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: entertain a trade, do you think?
• 24:01
  Speaker 9: Absolutely. They would entertain a trade at the right price.
• 24:05
  Speaker 9: I've also been told they're not going to just trade
• 24:07
  Speaker 9: them right away, that that's not going to happen. Obviously,
• 24:12
  Speaker 9: if somebody comes in knocking and in week one or two,
• 24:16
  Speaker 9: you don't see that happen too often. As somebody says,
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: we'll give you a number one for Joey Porter.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: But then they still, you know, if they make that trade,
• 24:25
  Speaker 9: that team has to still be able to pay him
• 24:28
  Speaker 9: what he is wanting to be paid. You know, has
• 24:31
  Speaker 9: he demanded a trade? Well, you know, it depends on
• 24:34
  Speaker 9: the vernacular that you're listening to, whether you're the Steelers
• 24:38
  Speaker 9: or Joey Porter. And look, they like Joey. They want
• 24:42
  Speaker 9: him on his football team. The other question becomes, and
• 24:45
  Speaker 9: maybe Max and Willie can address this But if this
• 24:48
  Speaker 9: just lingers and they know he's healthy enough to play,
• 24:52
  Speaker 9: but he's not playing. And again, this is what we're
• 24:53
  Speaker 9: going to find out.
• 24:54
  Speaker 8: That's why I say there's so many twists and turns.
• 24:56
  Speaker 9: To this whole situation. But if he is healthy enough
• 25:00
  Speaker 9: to play and isn't playing for whatever reason, at what
• 25:06
  Speaker 9: point do the players in the locker room who publicly
• 25:09
  Speaker 9: support his business stance think like, hey, you know what?
• 25:13
  Speaker 9: You're under contract. And, you know, we lost this game
• 25:17
  Speaker 9: because of our secondary or Joe, you could have helped
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: us here. At what point does that become a problem?
• 25:22
  Speaker 9: I don't know that it does, but I have to
• 25:24
  Speaker 9: think at some point, you know, there's a little element
• 25:27
  Speaker 9: to that as well.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, to answer that question for you, Jer, yeah,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think natural human nature, right? If it comes,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: you want every guy to get every single dollar that
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: they feel they're owed. Right, and that's for every player, right?
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: Because they know at some point, it's going to come
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: my turn. And if you're going to support, I need
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: you to support me the same way that I supported you.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: And so players will be pretty united. And I'm sure
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: there will be.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: A little bit in the back of your mind, a
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: resentment factor, if it does come down to, man, you know, just,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, and not even that the secondary let us down.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Say there's injuries to the secondary. which is a very
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: plausible thing, Jerry, as we know, right?
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's an inevitable. I always say this on
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: the show. It's not a matter of if. It's a
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: matter of when. When will that attrition strike?
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: And we've seen it more our fair share over the
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: last couple of years with the Steelers secondary. And then
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: you have a Joey sitting there, and you know you
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: need him, but he's in the middle of his contract dispute. And,
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: you know, you quietly put pressure. Hey, man, you know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a tough matchup this week.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: What do you think? You know, we kind of need you.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, we had five guys show up
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: for this workout yesterday. And there's a reason why they
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: came in for the workout because they're not on other teams.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: And you've been here. You know the system.
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: You're one of our leaders. You're a locked down corner.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: So, I mean, you will get some of that.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: But I think the biggest thing is hoping that it
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: doesn't get to that point. But, you know, players are
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: going to stay united because they understand, you know, with
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: the mathematics of everything, That, you know, hey, I want
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: somebody to be in my corner if the shoe was
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: on the other foot.
• 27:13
  Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I'm with you, Max, in that regard, though, too.
• 27:16
  Speaker 9: And I'm well aware, you know, the way the players
• 27:18
  Speaker 9: feel and the stance they take. And, yeah, I would
• 27:23
  Speaker 9: expect that to be the case. You know, they're going
• 27:25
  Speaker 9: to stick behind Joey through and through. And they can
• 27:29
  Speaker 9: sit there and say, well, it might be my turn.
• 27:31
  Speaker 8: But there aren't going to be many instances with that many.
• 27:34
  Speaker 9: Players who are going to have this opportunity to be
• 27:36
  Speaker 9: in this position to get that kind of money and
• 27:39
  Speaker 9: to be in a contract dispute. So, you know, you're
• 27:42
  Speaker 9: talking only, what, a handful of guys maybe who would
• 27:45
  Speaker 9: even be in this position, who would be able to
• 27:49
  Speaker 9: be in this position to kind of negotiate or take
• 27:52
  Speaker 9: a stance, a hard-line stance as it is, like Joey
• 27:55
  Speaker 9: is doing. You're talking, what, three, four guys at most,
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: at most.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Well, and Jalen Ramsey was one of those guys that
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: has gone through that before. So I imagine he's probably.
• 28:03
  Speaker 8: That's exactly right.
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: That's exactly right.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Leaning the ear of a guy in the locker room
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: I wanted to ask you also, we got injury update,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: a real injury.
• 28:13
  Speaker 8: Sorry.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: I know Joey's injured condition wise. But Troy Fatano, do
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: we know anything about his status?
• 28:23
  Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, Max, one thing that we have discovered
• 28:26
  Speaker 9: already with Mike McCarthy, and I'm not complaining because, one,
• 28:30
  Speaker 9: I like him, and two, that's his deal. We don't
• 28:33
  Speaker 9: get to watch practice. You know, since the beginning of
• 28:36
  Speaker 9: Bill Cower, and even longer than that, but since the
• 28:39
  Speaker 9: beginning of Bill Cower, we have always been able to
• 28:42
  Speaker 9: watch practice every minute of every day. That is not
• 28:46
  Speaker 9: the case with Mike McCarthy. We get to watch him stretch.
• 28:49
  Speaker 9: And right now there's an open window when they're just
• 28:51
  Speaker 9: doing some drills and special teams. So we have no
• 28:54
  Speaker 9: idea what they are doing in terms of team stuff.
• 28:59
  Speaker 9: And so quite naturally, because of that, Mike McCarthy has
• 29:05
  Speaker 9: everybody very tight-lipped about who's going to be playing and
• 29:12
  Speaker 9: who isn't. And he's just going to kind of leave
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: that to the injury report. So it's really hard to say,
• 29:18
  Speaker 9: and without being able to see with my own eyes,
• 29:22
  Speaker 9: usually they can have their injury designations all they want,
• 29:25
  Speaker 9: but you know how it goes. We can see through
• 29:28
  Speaker 9: team stuff, okay, he's ready to play.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: No, he's not ready to play.
• 29:31
  Speaker 9: And that's one thing that none of us are going
• 29:34
  Speaker 9: to be able to answer this year because unlike the
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: last 34 years, we're not able to watch practice.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: What's up, Jerry? Willie here. Hey, a question for you.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: We're staying on the offensive side of the ball.
• 29:49
  Speaker 7: You know, Rob and Max and I yesterday talked about
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: power rankings and the Steelers were ranked 16th in the
• 29:55
  Speaker 7: power ranking.
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: When it comes to the athletic power ranking.
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: And then one of the reasons why they didn't bump
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: up or they were kind of in the mid-tier, if
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: you will, is because Steelers struggled to run the ball
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: on Sunday against the Falcons. How much of an onus
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: do you think that's going to be from Mike McCarthy
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: to get this run game going to kind of mirror
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: this pass game?
• 30:19
  Speaker 9: Willie, good to hear from you, my man. Yeah, I
• 30:22
  Speaker 9: expect it to be a big emphasis this week. You know,
• 30:25
  Speaker 9: even Aaron Rodgers said after the game he thought some
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: of the opportunities were might present themselves a little bit
• 30:30
  Speaker 9: more and open up if the running game was working.
• 30:34
  Speaker 9: You know, they finished with 58 yards. Now I know
• 30:36
  Speaker 9: a couple of those were because of kneel downs at
• 30:38
  Speaker 9: the end, but they, you know, the best they ran
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: the ball was in the fourth quarter. I think 34
• 30:42
  Speaker 9: or 36 of those 58 yards were in the fourth quarter,
• 30:45
  Speaker 9: but they're going to have to do that sooner. And
• 30:47
  Speaker 9: I was a little surprised, you know, Jalen Warren was
• 30:50
  Speaker 9: Jalen Warren. I was a little surprised what I saw
• 30:52
  Speaker 9: from Rico, Rico Dotto, but it's one game, certainly not
• 30:56
  Speaker 9: going to judge him. After one game, we'll see how
• 30:58
  Speaker 9: it progresses. But I don't think there's any question that's
• 31:01
  Speaker 9: going to be a point of emphasis. And, you know,
• 31:04
  Speaker 9: as far as the passing game, I like what I
• 31:09
  Speaker 9: saw from Aaron Rodgers. And, you know, for any number
• 31:11
  Speaker 9: of reasons, it could have been a really big day
• 31:14
  Speaker 9: on the stat sheet for him with, you know, some
• 31:18
  Speaker 9: of the plays, you know, like with DK, Roman, Wilson,
• 31:23
  Speaker 9: if they connect for all the reasons Aaron complained that
• 31:26
  Speaker 9: they didn't. You know, you had some drops. You had
• 31:28
  Speaker 9: the offensive pass interference calls. You know, you had the
• 31:32
  Speaker 9: penalties that weren't called or plays where penalties weren't called.
• 31:36
  Speaker 9: And so I thought from that standpoint, that was really encouraging,
• 31:41
  Speaker 9: along with, of course, Pat Fryer moves reemergence in the offense.
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: But I don't think there's any question they're going to
• 31:48
  Speaker 9: have to try and get that run game going. And
• 31:50
  Speaker 9: I think you're going to see it be more of
• 31:52
  Speaker 9: a focus on Jalen Warren.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: I think that's a great point, and the numbers could
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: have been silly for Aaron Rodgers.
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: Think about it.
• 32:00
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: You know, a couple balls in the end zone. I mean,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: we're talking about two of those plays are in the
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: end zone, one to DK, one to Roman Wilson, the
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: different things that happen. And then that also then you
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: miss a pass play, and if that doesn't happen on
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: third down, guess what? Well, now you've got to throw
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: it on third down again. So some of that.
• 32:16
  Speaker 9: Well, actually, you know, Rob.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 32:18
  Speaker 9: You know, Rob, I wanted to say real quickly, too,
• 32:20
  Speaker 9: since you bring up third downs, three at 13, obviously
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: that's inexcusable. But, you know, like Mike McCarthy pointed this
• 32:26
  Speaker 9: up the other day. So you convert a couple more
• 32:29
  Speaker 9: third downs. Let's say they convert three more third downs.
• 32:31
  Speaker 9: There's six or 13, almost 50%. Well, that's nine or
• 32:35
  Speaker 9: 10 more plays in the offense. And they ran 67 plays,
• 32:37
  Speaker 9: offensive plays. That's more than they averaged last year. I
• 32:42
  Speaker 9: think they averaged last year like 55, 57 snap plays
• 32:46
  Speaker 9: a game. That was second fewest in the National Football League.
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: One of the things Mike McCarthy wanted to do was
• 32:51
  Speaker 9: have more snaps, more plays offensively because that creates more opportunities.
• 32:57
  Speaker 9: And they ran 67 anyhow, and you convert a couple
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: third downs. Now you're looking at almost 80 snaps, certainly
• 33:04
  Speaker 9: 75 to 78 in a game. And, you know, you
• 33:08
  Speaker 9: start doing that, you're not only controlling the clock, but
• 33:10
  Speaker 9: there's more opportunities to make some plays.
• 33:14
  Speaker 8: And score some points.
• 33:15
  Speaker 9: And that's where that lack of conversion. I'm actually shocked
• 33:19
  Speaker 9: that they ran as many plays as they did converting
• 33:21
  Speaker 9: only three of 13 third downs.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: You know, one of those throws by Aaron Rodgers, he
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: does something almost every game that surprises me and amazes
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: me just because of his ball placements. He threw a
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: seam route to Pat Friermuth, and I thought he must
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: have thrown it when the defender's back was turned.
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: I know which one you mean.
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: He kind of threw his hands.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: That had to be the only way to complete it.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: And then we saw the replay up in the booth,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Max and I, and I'm like, oh, my goodness.
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: He had like.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: A 10-inch by 10-inch window over the guy's hands to Pat,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: and Pat had to kind of reach behind him and
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: made a nice grab. But I was– When I saw
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: the throw, I was like, I can't believe it. I mean,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I just, I don't know how many guys would have
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: the guts to make that throw and fewer still would
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: have the ability to make that throw.
• 34:15
  Speaker 9: That's a good point, Rob, because that was my initial reaction.
• 34:17
  Speaker 9: I thought, my God, I can't believe he even attempted
• 34:20
  Speaker 9: that throw into coverage, the coverage the way it was,
• 34:23
  Speaker 9: and then to be able to do it and Pat
• 34:25
  Speaker 9: to make that catch. Yeah, you know, you mentioned the
• 34:27
  Speaker 9: throw to Roman Wilson.
• 34:29
  Speaker 8: You know, I'll say this.
• 34:30
  Speaker 9: Roman Wilson did all the right things on that play,
• 34:32
  Speaker 9: the one into the end zone, not the one where
• 34:34
  Speaker 9: he got tripped up because he did there too, but
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: the one in the end zone.
• 34:37
  Speaker 8: He did all the things, including.
• 34:38
  Speaker 9: Slowing up, getting body position on the cornerback, and then
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: doesn't make the catch. Okay, I know it wasn't the
• 34:45
  Speaker 9: easiest catch, but that's the kind of play that you
• 34:48
  Speaker 9: have to make if you're a young receiver and one
• 34:51
  Speaker 9: that you're going to rely on. He did everything right
• 34:54
  Speaker 9: except catch the ball.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Jerry Dulac, the cool breeze. We love having Jerry Dulac
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: with us in the locker room for another season. Jerry
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: is brought to you by Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale.
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: Jerry, thanks, my friend. Look forward to seeing you in Foxboro.
• 35:12
  Speaker 9: In the ball yard on Sunday. And not only now
• 35:14
  Speaker 9: do I get to get you and Max, I get
• 35:17
  Speaker 9: to get Willie as well. Are you kidding me? How
• 35:19
  Speaker 9: lucky can I be?
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: Thanks, Jerry.
• 35:23
  Speaker 6: It is. You know what, Jerry? Same thing every day,
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: my friend. All right, we'll talk to you soon, Jerry. Thanks, man.
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: Jerry Dulac joining us in the locker room. Plenty to
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: talk about.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to these guys about the injury
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: designation for Troy Fautano and what it could possibly mean
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: for that offensive line when we continue in the locker
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: And thank you for being with us in the locker room.
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: Our thanks to Jerry Dulac for joining us.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Talking about Joey Porter, and we'll just have to wait
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: and see what the practice report is and whether he's
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: able to play on Sunday. Obviously, you get a player
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: of that caliber back. That's always a good thing for
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: a defense. Troy Faltano, also a player of great ability,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: and he exited the game in the third quarter with
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: an ankle injury. Max Ahanachor came on, took one snap
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: at right tackle. Dylan Cook moved to left tackle, was
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: going to get a second snap, Then there was a
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: pre-snap penalty or timeout, I can't remember which, but a
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: stoppage in play that allowed Faltano to come back out.
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: Willie Colon, I thought that might be the end.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Of the story until Troy showed up on the injury
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: report and did not practice yesterday. Mike McCarthy said before
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: practice today that he would be limited, and so this
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: is an opportunity. I mean, it's hard not to think
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: of this as an opportunity for Max Ahanachor, but you
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: also do not want to see Troy Faltano out of
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: the lineup on Sunday in Foxborough.
• 37:12
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you don't, especially since he's kind of really trying
• 37:15
  Speaker 7: to feel his way through playing left tackle and the
• 37:19
  Speaker 7: chemistry and continuity he's continuing to try to build with
• 37:21
  Speaker 7: Mason McCormick. You know, that's some of the things you
• 37:25
  Speaker 7: do have to worry about when you do switch positions.
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: I mean, the body chemistry and how.
• 37:28
  Speaker 7: To, you know, I always talk about it's not so
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: much the mechanics, it's about retraining your muscle memory and,
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: you know, footwork and hand placement and, you know, sets
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: and all those things have to kind of get in line.
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: For you to be efficient at the position.
• 37:41
  Speaker 7: And when you're out there trying to figure it out
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: in real time, you know, you sometimes you put your
• 37:46
  Speaker 7: body in compromising positions. I think right now for Troy, man,
• 37:50
  Speaker 7: I would assume, and I'm just going to jump out
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: there that he will still be out there.
• 37:54
  Speaker 5: He's a tough kid. I think he's, he's well aware of,
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: you know.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: After coming off ACL, he, you know, he doesn't want
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: to be considered injury prone. And so hopefully the angles,
• 38:05
  Speaker 7: excuse me, the ankles, nothing, That's something that lingers. Maybe
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: it's something maybe you got to, you know, I don't
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: know what it is, so I don't want to misspeak.
• 38:13
  Speaker 7: But nevertheless, man, I know to your point, Rob, he
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: wants to be out there, and I think he has
• 38:19
  Speaker 7: to be out there. I think collectively as a group, whoever,
• 38:22
  Speaker 7: you know, as of right now, I'm just assuming the
• 38:24
  Speaker 7: five is going to be Dillon Cook at right tackle
• 38:26
  Speaker 7: and Spencer Anderson at right guard, and obviously Zach Mason
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: in Detroit. You know, the longer those guys continue to
• 38:31
  Speaker 7: play together and figure it out together, the stronger that
• 38:35
  Speaker 7: line is going to be. We just emphasize that the
• 38:37
  Speaker 7: run game needs a major pickup and a facelift in
• 38:40
  Speaker 7: that regard. Having Troy out there, somebody who you consider
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: your starting left tackle, you know, you want to see
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: him to kind of figure that out. And obviously you
• 38:48
  Speaker 7: try to figure some of that out during practice. But,
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: you know, it is what it is. I think for me,
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: when you look at bringing a young guy like Max
• 38:58
  Speaker 7: in there, and I talked about his condition previously, But
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: you also have to worry about who he pairs well with.
• 39:05
  Speaker 7: We've seen him with Spencer. We've seen him in a
• 39:08
  Speaker 7: multitude of ways. But now you're forcing him to grow
• 39:10
  Speaker 7: up kind of ahead of schedule if Troy's not going
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: to be able to go. And we just hope that
• 39:15
  Speaker 7: he shows up and plays efficient. Hopefully, while he's taking this,
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: he's had some downtime, that he's really honed in on.
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: His conditioning and keeping his head in the playbook.
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: Because Max would tell you, I would tell you, anybody
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: that's ever told you, you're very first game in a
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: regular season, your mind is moving a mile a minute.
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: The first time my first official start was against the Baltimore.
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: Ravens, and I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: Now, that's just me coming from Hofstra. Max played at
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: Arizona State and has played some big-time football So he
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: may not have that same type of reaction. But this
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: is the New England Patriots, and they're going to be
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: well aware this is a rookie starting that right tackle,
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: and they're going to go at him.
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: So you just hopefully his condition is on par.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: And you really hope that Troy is able to kind
• 40:03
  Speaker 7: of stunk whatever he's going through and be able to get.
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: Up there and play, honestly.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree. And this is where you kind
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: of lean on, you know, the guys around you. This
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: is where continuity is going to be big, and you've
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: got to figure it out. And, you know, for a
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: lot of these young guys, when they get their first start,
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: you know, you kind of have those moments. Now, the
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: good thing is, you know, you have a guy like
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: Spencer that knows the entire offense that's going to be
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: next to him, that knows.
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: All the.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: Positional requirements. So you feel good from that perspective, like, okay,
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: at least I'm next to a guy who knows. And
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: if I don't know, I have to lean on heavy,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: heavy communication. That's got to be the key thing that
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: we have to focus on is communicating as a crew
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: what needs to be done.
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: Because he has the athleticism.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: It's just not necessarily having the prerequisite experience and reps.
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: That's really the biggest thing.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: You know, we have to figure this out. We have
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Max Quatro here, right? Max IV, Max Starks, Maximilian Starks.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: And when Willie put Max Ahanachor at Arizona State, which is,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: of course, where he played, I thought he was displacing you, Max,
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: from Florida to Arizona State, which would have made my wife,
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: as a Tennessee grad, extremely happy had you played at
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: Arizona State, not Tennessee, or not Florida.
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: But he was talking about Max Ahanachor. So I got,
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry there.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: My mind was scrambling around on which Max we were
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: talking about.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: But you were ready to give it like, hey, wait
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: a second.
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: Did Max make a transfer? I know he lives in Phoenix.
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: I didn't think he played at Arizona State. Yeah.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: My wife would have been delighted with that news if
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: we could go back and erase you from Florida and
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: put you at Arizona State. But unfortunately, what was your
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: record against Tennessee.
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: By the way, Max? Max Starks?
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: Two and two and two.
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: All right. My wife could probably do that. I could
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: live with that. I haven't seen that matchup.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: Listen, we couldn't win at home. Either one of us.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: We beat them both times in Neyland, and they beat
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: us both times in the swamp.
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: So, by the way, this is absolutely nothing to do
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: with anything, but Max, Willie, the Washington University Bears were
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: 0-2 against Hofstra in my time. Hofstra was Division III
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: and making the move to 1AA. It was a school.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: In other words, we had no business playing, and they
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: let us know that. I think those are the two
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: worst beatings we took. in my two years playing college football. Anyway,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: that's neither here nor there. So Max agreed. I mean,
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: if he can go, you know, here's the game that
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: fans play. So let's say, for example, you'd won week
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: one at New England. Obviously this didn't happen. I'm just
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: painting a scenario here in which fans could talk themselves
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: into something. And I want to see if this is
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: something that is just a non-starter. Let's say you win
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: in New England in week one, right?
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: You're 1-0 in the AFC game.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: You've got to win over a team that might be
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: something playoff time. Now Max Ahanachor has an ankle. Now
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: you're taking on Atlanta. Well, it's an NFC team. You
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: think maybe you're better than they are so you can
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: get by. Let's let that ankle heal. We all know
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: how a sprained ankle can be. Best thing for the
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: team is see if we can manage our way around
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: this win. If we lose, it's not the end of
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: the world. Let's get him healthier. Are factors like that
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: ever important? even considered by a team, or is it, hey,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: your guy says he can go, your training staff says
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: he can go, therefore, he's going to go?
• 43:49
  Speaker 7: So do you mean like, do you think it's up,
• 43:51
  Speaker 7: are you asking if it's up to the guy or
• 43:52
  Speaker 7: the training staff if a guy's able to go?
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Or like this larger sort of, well, why don't we
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: make the decision as a team because, you know, of
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: all these other outside factors. It always seemed to me,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: pretty much, especially in a situation like this, if he's
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: healthy and ready to go, he's going to go. Now,
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: I understand there's shades of these things, and if anybody's
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: had an ankle or a high ankle, you know, you
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: play on it. You can either sit for three, four,
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: five weeks and be good to go, or that ankle
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: might bother you all season long.
• 44:27
  Speaker 7: Well, I think a couple things. I think it depends
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: on where you're at during the season, right? Like here
• 44:33
  Speaker 7: we are week two. if it's something he can play
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: on and you feel like he can rehab and work
• 44:39
  Speaker 7: through and it doesn't hinder his performance, then you let
• 44:42
  Speaker 7: him out there. But if this is a situation where
• 44:45
  Speaker 7: collectively as a training staff, medical staff and all the
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: above feel like, man, yeah, he can play on it.
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: He's tough enough to play on it.
• 44:53
  Speaker 7: But come late October, excuse me, late November and December,
• 44:58
  Speaker 7: we may.
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: Have to shut him down because he's just in a
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: bad place.
• 45:01
  Speaker 7: And now we're just, instead of getting a, 80% Troy Fatana.
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: We're getting a 60% Troy Fatana. Right.
• 45:07
  Speaker 7: And that's when you have to realize games mean more.
• 45:10
  Speaker 7: The opponent gets a lot tougher sometimes. And on top
• 45:14
  Speaker 7: of that, you don't want to hinder a young man's
• 45:16
  Speaker 7: career because he tried to gut it out for you
• 45:18
  Speaker 7: when you're looking for this guy to be a long-term answer.
• 45:21
  Speaker 7: So all those things come into equation. I think it
• 45:25
  Speaker 7: definitely comes down to his– I got a story in
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: my head as it pops up. I remember against Cincinnati–
• 45:32
  Speaker 7: been through a pick, I ended up running after the
• 45:36
  Speaker 7: defender and I get blindsided, boom, knocked on my tail. Well,
• 45:40
  Speaker 7: when I hit, when I hit the ground, I, I
• 45:42
  Speaker 7: shifted my tailbone. I was, I was in, I was
• 45:45
  Speaker 7: in pain, like serious pain. Like now I got up and,
• 45:48
  Speaker 7: you know, gutted it out and finished the game after
• 45:51
  Speaker 7: the game, got an XRI, excuse me, XRI, MRI, MRI
• 45:54
  Speaker 7: and an X-ray. And I, Just so happened, man, when
• 45:58
  Speaker 7: I fell on my tailbone, it's kind of crooked.
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: It looks like the end of an umbrella handle.
• 46:03
  Speaker 7: And so I remember going into that week, the following week,
• 46:06
  Speaker 7: sitting on a donut. I had to sit on a
• 46:08
  Speaker 7: blue donut in the training room, in the meeting rooms,
• 46:11
  Speaker 7: and people were laughing.
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: Oh, we remember the donut. Oh, we remember that donut.
• 46:16
  Speaker 5: And so going into that week, man, I could barely move.
• 46:20
  Speaker 7: And I practiced Wednesday, and I remember Mike Tomlin, you know, saying,
• 46:24
  Speaker 7: Hey man, we, we appreciate your effort.
• 46:26
  Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you for getting this out. But I
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: also had to remember we were in the thick of
• 46:30
  Speaker 5: the season. We had a fig.
• 46:32
  Speaker 7: There was no time for me to rest. There was
• 46:34
  Speaker 7: no time for me to say, Oh, whoa, it was me.
• 46:37
  Speaker 7: And thank you to modern medicine. And thank you to
• 46:41
  Speaker 7: me just being a tough SOB. And I just had to,
• 46:44
  Speaker 7: you know, put some get right on it and shell
• 46:47
  Speaker 7: up back there, if you.
• 46:48
  Speaker 5: Will, and go play a game. And I did.
• 46:50
  Speaker 7: So, there's a lot of contributing factors. It's just a
• 46:57
  Speaker 7: matter of do you think the risk is worth the reward?
• 47:00
  Speaker 7: And if I'm Mike McCarthy, I'm going to Troy Tano,
• 47:04
  Speaker 7: I'm like, hey, I'm going to lean on you for this.
• 47:07
  Speaker 7: If you can go and you can make hay out
• 47:09
  Speaker 7: there and you're not a liability, I'm going to throw
• 47:11
  Speaker 7: you out there. But if I see you out there
• 47:13
  Speaker 7: and you're limping and we're getting beat off the edge
• 47:16
  Speaker 7: and we're not getting anything out of run game and
• 47:17
  Speaker 7: you're just it looks like you're bracing more than attacking,
• 47:21
  Speaker 7: then I'm going to pull you. And that's a conversation
• 47:23
  Speaker 7: he's going to have to have with Troy and hopefully
• 47:27
  Speaker 7: the medical staff too. So there's a lot of things
• 47:29
  Speaker 7: that way going to him being able to play and
• 47:33
  Speaker 7: get it going on Sunday.
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'd like to dive into this just a little
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: bit more, and then we're going to talk about some
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: of the key matchups as we get you ready for
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: the Steelers and the Patriots when we continue in the
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.