May 27, 2025 • 20 mins
Labs and Tom talk about the start of OTA’s before getting to this week’s batch of questions
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is asked and Answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Today is Tuesday, May twenty seventh, and other than the
greatest podcast in the history of the world being recorded
right now, it is also the which one is that
it's asked and answered with Bob Labriola, myself Tom Offerman.
It is also the first day of OTAs for your
Pittsburgh Steelers. They are at the South Side facility, going
to have some football in Jim shorts going on today,
(00:31):
Tomorrow and Thursday, and then you do it all again Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday next week for the OTA phase of the off season.
It's exciting times, Labs.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm I know, I'm I'm really excited. I'm I'm sure
you are too. This is you know another well, it's
phase three. Uh, you know the way the NFL designates
its off season program, right, But it is a beyond
being a start of a phase in the NFL's off
season program. It's a you know, ratchet up a little
(01:05):
bit in the football in Jim Schwartz period of the
NFL calendar.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Which is my favorite part of the NFL calendar because
I love the takeaways that you'll see some from some
people in this time of year, like, oh, this quarterback
has a lot of zip on the ball, or man,
this running back looks like he's in the best shape
of his career, and you really just have no idea
to get you're guessing at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, And there's there's a couple of, you know, cautionary
tales I've learned myself the hard way. One of them
was after OTA's one year, I really thought Drew Archer
was going to be a great player sorts, and and
(01:53):
the other one and this is, you know, we learned
this over time. Looking back on it. The only only
bad seasons that Troy Polamal, who had once he became
a full time starter, was when he participated in OTAs
instead of you know, Troy used to use that time
(02:15):
and instead of going to OTAs, he would, I don't know,
join the Monks or something and do some sort of
off season program that only he understood but worked for him.
And I remember a couple of times he would come.
He came to the off season program OTAs and got
(02:39):
injured that year, and then his those seasons were ruined
by injuries, and therefore that wrecked the Steelers season as well.
So you know, as I said, it's it's a nice,
you know thing to go on and watch a little bit,
but don't make too much out of it one way
or the other. One final little anecdote. Bill Cower used
(03:03):
to not attend all the time when he was the coach.
I mean he'd watch, you know, the layout of the
upmc rooney Sports complex. The practices were on that backgrass fields.
There's that balcony up there, and Cower would sometimes just
be in his office when it started. He'd come out
and watch a little bit from the balcony and then
(03:24):
go back into his office.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I like that image him just like lording over the
practice field, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Kind of like Bear Bryant in his tower back in
the day. But you know, I'm just saying, you know,
people have a tendency to get too excited and or
alarmed or you know whatever by what happens in OTAs,
and you know, I don't it's but social media they'll
handle it.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
They'll definitely handle it. You'll get to see some cool
little action shots of the players participating down on the
south side. Over these next couple of days. We'll have
some coverage on Steelers ASHA Radio and the Sea Was
Audio Network while OTAs are happening as well. Tell you
a little bit more about that at the end of
our podcast today. But let's get right into our batch
of questions. Our first one comes from Ray Hall from
(04:11):
Las Vegas, Nevada. Well, our rookie quarterback Will Howard be
given the chance to compete as the number one quarterback?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, speaking of blowing out of proportion issues for OTAs,
let's start with one. You know, look, I don't want this.
This should not come off as demeaning Will Howard. Okay,
but it was a sixth round pick. Okay, let's keep
(04:40):
that in perspective. And he is a rookie, so you
know the way that it usually works, both with Mike
Tomlin and Bill Kauer, the last two Steelers coaches. You know,
the depth chart quote unquote or the practice rep rotation
(05:01):
maybe is a better way to explain it. And this
goes into training camp too, is you know, most experienced
people first. So for example, when Ben in two thousand
and four was a number one pick, he was a rookie.
He opened training camp behind both Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch.
(05:25):
Third he was working with the third teamers, and you know,
one of the best things that happened to Ben in
terms of him moving up into the better group the
second group was Charlie Batch injured to knee early and
ended up on IR and so Ben got a lot
(05:45):
of second team reps for a big portion of that
training camp, and that certainly helped him. You know, going
playing with you know, the second team guys and against
the second team defense helped his development as opposed to
what he would have gotten doing you know, third string
reps and competition. So you know, the way Mike Tomlin
(06:09):
talks about it is, you know, you start out on
the JV and then if you do better, you work
up to varsity. And I'm sure that that's kind of
going to be the way with Will Howard. I mean,
you're not going to throw him in there, you know,
right away running first team reps or sharing first team
reps and having like an quote unquote open competition that
(06:31):
includes him. It's just too early. He needs to adapt
to the NFL game. He needs to get a grasp
of the Steelers offense, the professionals that he's playing with
and against. You know, because Will Howard maybe as well
as he did in critical games for Ohio State. If
(06:55):
you look at the competition he was going against, you know,
there are a lot of teams that he did not
face a defense with maybe more than one or two
NFL players on it. But once you get to the NFL,
every defense is filled with NFL players on it. So
(07:18):
that step up in competition is something that new guys
need to adapt to, you know, and learn how to
handle it. So he's not going to be precluded from
winning the starting job, but let's face rookies have a
little bit more proven to go to do along the way,
because if Ben didn't come out of camp as the
(07:39):
starter over Tommy Maddox, Tommy Maddox, let me repeat who
that was, Tommy Maddox. You know It's coaches are not
necessarily thrilled with, you know, throwing a rookie in there
right off the bat, unless he's a I don't know,
maybe maybe cam Wore gets that treatment this year, gets
(08:02):
thrown in right. We'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Rick Miller from Columbia, South Carolina. My friend who is
a Vikings fan, and I were planning on attending the
regular season game versus Minnesota with it being scheduled for
September twenty eighth in Ireland. Is the game going to
be broadcast at the stadium or another venue with a
large screen for fans who can't afford to travel to
the game.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I doubt it. I mean, I'm not aware of any
current plans to have a mass viewing of Steelers vikings.
You know, maybe Rick is referring to, you know, sometimes
you see that, you know, like the Penguins used to
do that.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
With big screen outside of the stadium.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Big screen outside the arena. I don't think the NFL
is allowed to do that. There may be, and I'm
this is something I think I remember at one point
having to do with the TV ratings, uh exkews them
and then networks don't like that. And so because so
(09:06):
much of you know, the NFL product is based on
their partnership with their you know, the broadcast networks, they
don't do that for that reason, because you know, the
Steelers could certainly have that, for example, it's staye AE
or somewhere like that on the North Shore for every
game at Acreature Stadium, but they don't. So I think
(09:29):
if it was allowed and it was a revenue generating situation,
we would see it more and we don't see it
at all. But the Steelers will be in Ireland, Okay.
So I'm sure the north Shore is going to be packed,
and it's going to be packed, you know, all those
places there, bars, restaurants, whatever. I'm sure that they'll be
(09:52):
open early for the nine point thirty pickoff, and maybe
the south side too, uh you know, And I think
that you know, anywhere you go that will be gathering
of Steelers fans and they will have the game on.
So maybe that's the way to get that done.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's a kind of a unique and fun experience in
its own right way, or in its own way right
when you get up at nine in the morning and
go to a bar and have about fifteen beers, eat
a little breakfast and watch the Steelers beat the Vikings
and every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Because it's called it used to be called anyway, I'll
back in my younger days that on the in Station Square,
on the day of the Saint Patrick's Day parade, they
had a thing at one of those places called Kegs
and Eggs. Yes you remember.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That, I remember Kegs and eggs.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yes, Okay, okay, good I'm glad it wasn't some fabrication
of my memory.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Brett Ensley from Fayetteville, North Carolina. I know Andy Russell
returned to fumble ninety three yards for a touchdown in
a nineteen seventy five playoff game against the Baltimore Colts.
That was a record for the longest fumble return for
a touchdown in the playoffs at the time. Is it
still a record or has it since been broken?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
It's not still a record. It was broken. It was
broken on January fifteenth, two thousand and three. The game
was a wild Card round game at the end of
the two thousand excuse me, twenty twenty three. At a
wildcard round game at the end of the twenty twenty
two season, Sam Hubbard of the Bengals scooped the fourth
(11:36):
quarter fumble by Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley. He returned at
ninety eight yards for a touchdown, and the Bengals won
twenty four to seventeen. So, while you know, we can
look at it as a bad thing that Andy Russell's
record was broken, I personally look as look at it
(11:58):
as a good thing that it cost the Ravens a
playoff win and eliminated them from there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
If only it could have been anybody but the Bungles
who delivered that blow thoughts, I guess you got to
take a little bit of the bad to have a
lot of the good.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Though, As I was going to say, as I always say,
anybody but the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Dick Vochek from Portage, Pennsylvania. I've been listening to the
Steelers audio network since the George Pickens trade. There has
been mentioned of the conduct related finds the team, not
the NFL levied. I tried to search for them, but
was unable to find anything. Is there a resource slash
website you're familiar with that would show that information?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know, this is not a right to know issue,
and so finds issued by any NFL team to any
player for whatever reason or not public knowledge. And you know,
we don't even know the NFL doesn't even release their
own fines on players. You know that that usually leaked
(13:00):
out over the course of you know, whenever those letters
FedEx letters come to players, I don't know if it's
Thursdays usually during the week or whatever. You know, if
your socks weren't right or you know, a late hit
or whatever, whatever the NFL is fining people for so
(13:23):
that kind of stuff is not public knowledge, so there
is no website for especially for the inside the team.
You know, a team issued fine to a player for
whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It might be Geo Collabro from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
I was just a kid during the nineteen seventies Super
Bowl run, and with training camp not far away, it
had me wondering what the daily battle with Joe Green
versus Mike Webster was like. Did either get the best
of the other or was it more of a daily
stalemate between these pro Bowl players.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You know, I wasn't much older than you, Geo during
the nineteen seventies, even though I am an old man.
But one of the things I remember it wasn't so
much Joe Green versus Mike Webster. It was you know,
the Steelers did the Oklahoma drill, which is now illegal
by NFL rules. They would open camp with it and
(14:23):
then there would be you know, maybe one or two
more over the course of a Chucknol training camp, and
in that drill it was always Mike Webster against Lambert.
That was the pairing. And Webster used to own that,
(14:43):
you know, he had the he had. He weighed more
than Lambert, he was stronger, you know, and it was
close quarters. Oklahoma Drill and Webster usually got the better
of the matchup. And then after it was over, you know,
meeting media after practice, Lambert would complain about getting held.
(15:05):
He would be angry, and Webster would always laugh about
it and you know, rag on him a little bit
about it, and you know, it was kind of fun,
in good fun, even though you know, Lambert didn't seem
like he was really enjoying it or the repartee that
went back and forth at the end. But that's what
I remember about one on one training camp matchups that
(15:30):
involved Mike Webster.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
You know, the Oklahoma Drill was really one of the
things that opened my eyes to football is not the
sport for me in my youth. That is not fun.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
That is not fun.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And do you remember the old drill bull in the
ring labs. I'm sure you do.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
That was terrible because you had no idea where that
player was coming.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, and you know, one of the one of Chuck
Knowles's quotes about football in general and things like you're describing,
he always said, it's not normal human behavior to be
good at that kind of thing. I'd say to to
you know, to relish that, to look forward to that,
to embrace that kind of thing, you know, because you know,
(16:14):
when I remember as a young person, as a kid,
when you were about to run into someone or there
was going to be a a collision or something, you
would shrink a little bit and close your eyes. You know,
that was just natural for me, and it's not natural
(16:34):
for professional football players obviously, And yeah, Chuck was right
on about that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, nice to know in Chuck's eyes were normal.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yes, John Poohatch from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What is going on
with the signing of TJ.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Watt?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Have not heard anything lately? And we need him?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know, I'm not going to argue about that we
need him part about TJ what, But I'm gonna I'm
gonna suggest patients, you know, signing a superstar like TJ.
Watt to a contract extension that's not a simple matter.
It's going to take time. And traditionally with the Steelers,
(17:18):
those kinds of things usually take place during the summer.
And here we are sitting on May twenty seventh. Yesterday
was Memorial Day, so we're not to the summer. Yet
sometimes these things go right up until the season opener,
so we'll see, but I do believe that there will
(17:39):
be a contract extension in the in the offing for TJ.
Watt this summer.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And our final question today comes from Mickey Hamer from Troy, Ohio.
I keep hearing about this year's game being the first
NFL game in Ireland. I remember in August day in
nineteen ninety seven, sitting in Croke Park and watching the
Pittsburgh Steelers play the Chicago Bears. Two NFL teams playing
an NFL game. Why are people discounting this game?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Okay, so the game referenced by Mickey was July twenty seventh,
nineteen ninety seven. The Steelers and the Bears played in
Croke Park. It was a preseason game. And while the
NFL prefers that they those kinds of games be referred
(18:29):
to as preseason games, and in fact they are exhibitions
do not count in the standings. The stats accumulated in
the accumulated in them do not count. And so that's
an entirely different situation than what we're going to have
on February or September twenty eighth against Minnesota, and so
(18:53):
my personal way of handling it is in my references
to it. I have tried to refer to it as
the first NFL regular season game in Ireland, which is
accurate that I'll do it for us today.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
OTAs are actually just about to get underway down at
the South Side for the first day of OTAs. Then
we've got a couple more this week, and then another
week of them next week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday next week.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, we've
got coverage down there Dale, Lollie, Matt Williamson on site.
I believe Wes Euler's there today and I'm actually allowed
to go down their labs. Isn't that amazing that I'm
(19:28):
gonna be able to sneak onto those sidelines and do a.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Little radio Well, they know, you know, everybody in the Steelers'
organization listens to this podcast religiously, and obviously they're just
impressed with the work you do here.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Couldn't it say better myself? And glad you got that
money that I sent you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, the check hasn't cleared yet, but I trust you
these labs.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I'm Tom thanks has always for giving us a listen,
enjoy OTAs these next couple of weeks. Listen to our
coverage right here on Steelers Nation Radio, and we'll talk
to you next week. On Asked, The Answered,
This is asked and Answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Today is Tuesday, May twenty seventh, and other than the
greatest podcast in the history of the world being recorded
right now, it is also the which one is that
it's asked and answered with Bob Labriola, myself Tom Offerman.
It is also the first day of OTAs for your
Pittsburgh Steelers. They are at the South Side facility, going
to have some football in Jim shorts going on today,
(00:31):
Tomorrow and Thursday, and then you do it all again Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday next week for the OTA phase of the off season.
It's exciting times, Labs.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm I know, I'm I'm really excited. I'm I'm sure
you are too. This is you know another well, it's
phase three. Uh, you know the way the NFL designates
its off season program, right, But it is a beyond
being a start of a phase in the NFL's off
season program. It's a you know, ratchet up a little
(01:05):
bit in the football in Jim Schwartz period of the
NFL calendar.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Which is my favorite part of the NFL calendar because
I love the takeaways that you'll see some from some
people in this time of year, like, oh, this quarterback
has a lot of zip on the ball, or man,
this running back looks like he's in the best shape
of his career, and you really just have no idea
to get you're guessing at this point.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, And there's there's a couple of, you know, cautionary
tales I've learned myself the hard way. One of them
was after OTA's one year, I really thought Drew Archer
was going to be a great player sorts, and and
(01:53):
the other one and this is, you know, we learned
this over time. Looking back on it. The only only
bad seasons that Troy Polamal, who had once he became
a full time starter, was when he participated in OTAs
instead of you know, Troy used to use that time
(02:15):
and instead of going to OTAs, he would, I don't know,
join the Monks or something and do some sort of
off season program that only he understood but worked for him.
And I remember a couple of times he would come.
He came to the off season program OTAs and got
(02:39):
injured that year, and then his those seasons were ruined
by injuries, and therefore that wrecked the Steelers season as well.
So you know, as I said, it's it's a nice,
you know thing to go on and watch a little bit,
but don't make too much out of it one way
or the other. One final little anecdote. Bill Cower used
(03:03):
to not attend all the time when he was the coach.
I mean he'd watch, you know, the layout of the
upmc rooney Sports complex. The practices were on that backgrass fields.
There's that balcony up there, and Cower would sometimes just
be in his office when it started. He'd come out
and watch a little bit from the balcony and then
(03:24):
go back into his office.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I like that image him just like lording over the
practice field, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Kind of like Bear Bryant in his tower back in
the day. But you know, I'm just saying, you know,
people have a tendency to get too excited and or
alarmed or you know whatever by what happens in OTAs,
and you know, I don't it's but social media they'll
handle it.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
They'll definitely handle it. You'll get to see some cool
little action shots of the players participating down on the
south side. Over these next couple of days. We'll have
some coverage on Steelers ASHA Radio and the Sea Was
Audio Network while OTAs are happening as well. Tell you
a little bit more about that at the end of
our podcast today. But let's get right into our batch
of questions. Our first one comes from Ray Hall from
(04:11):
Las Vegas, Nevada. Well, our rookie quarterback Will Howard be
given the chance to compete as the number one quarterback?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, speaking of blowing out of proportion issues for OTAs,
let's start with one. You know, look, I don't want this.
This should not come off as demeaning Will Howard. Okay,
but it was a sixth round pick. Okay, let's keep
(04:40):
that in perspective. And he is a rookie, so you
know the way that it usually works, both with Mike
Tomlin and Bill Kauer, the last two Steelers coaches. You know,
the depth chart quote unquote or the practice rep rotation
(05:01):
maybe is a better way to explain it. And this
goes into training camp too, is you know, most experienced
people first. So for example, when Ben in two thousand
and four was a number one pick, he was a rookie.
He opened training camp behind both Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch.
(05:25):
Third he was working with the third teamers, and you know,
one of the best things that happened to Ben in
terms of him moving up into the better group the
second group was Charlie Batch injured to knee early and
ended up on IR and so Ben got a lot
(05:45):
of second team reps for a big portion of that
training camp, and that certainly helped him. You know, going
playing with you know, the second team guys and against
the second team defense helped his development as opposed to
what he would have gotten doing you know, third string
reps and competition. So you know, the way Mike Tomlin
(06:09):
talks about it is, you know, you start out on
the JV and then if you do better, you work
up to varsity. And I'm sure that that's kind of
going to be the way with Will Howard. I mean,
you're not going to throw him in there, you know,
right away running first team reps or sharing first team
reps and having like an quote unquote open competition that
(06:31):
includes him. It's just too early. He needs to adapt
to the NFL game. He needs to get a grasp
of the Steelers offense, the professionals that he's playing with
and against. You know, because Will Howard maybe as well
as he did in critical games for Ohio State. If
(06:55):
you look at the competition he was going against, you know,
there are a lot of teams that he did not
face a defense with maybe more than one or two
NFL players on it. But once you get to the NFL,
every defense is filled with NFL players on it. So
(07:18):
that step up in competition is something that new guys
need to adapt to, you know, and learn how to
handle it. So he's not going to be precluded from
winning the starting job, but let's face rookies have a
little bit more proven to go to do along the way,
because if Ben didn't come out of camp as the
(07:39):
starter over Tommy Maddox, Tommy Maddox, let me repeat who
that was, Tommy Maddox. You know It's coaches are not
necessarily thrilled with, you know, throwing a rookie in there
right off the bat, unless he's a I don't know,
maybe maybe cam Wore gets that treatment this year, gets
(08:02):
thrown in right. We'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Rick Miller from Columbia, South Carolina. My friend who is
a Vikings fan, and I were planning on attending the
regular season game versus Minnesota with it being scheduled for
September twenty eighth in Ireland. Is the game going to
be broadcast at the stadium or another venue with a
large screen for fans who can't afford to travel to
the game.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I doubt it. I mean, I'm not aware of any
current plans to have a mass viewing of Steelers vikings.
You know, maybe Rick is referring to, you know, sometimes
you see that, you know, like the Penguins used to
do that.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
With big screen outside of the stadium.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Big screen outside the arena. I don't think the NFL
is allowed to do that. There may be, and I'm
this is something I think I remember at one point
having to do with the TV ratings, uh exkews them
and then networks don't like that. And so because so
(09:06):
much of you know, the NFL product is based on
their partnership with their you know, the broadcast networks, they
don't do that for that reason, because you know, the
Steelers could certainly have that, for example, it's staye AE
or somewhere like that on the North Shore for every
game at Acreature Stadium, but they don't. So I think
(09:29):
if it was allowed and it was a revenue generating situation,
we would see it more and we don't see it
at all. But the Steelers will be in Ireland, Okay.
So I'm sure the north Shore is going to be packed,
and it's going to be packed, you know, all those
places there, bars, restaurants, whatever. I'm sure that they'll be
(09:52):
open early for the nine point thirty pickoff, and maybe
the south side too, uh you know, And I think
that you know, anywhere you go that will be gathering
of Steelers fans and they will have the game on.
So maybe that's the way to get that done.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's a kind of a unique and fun experience in
its own right way, or in its own way right
when you get up at nine in the morning and
go to a bar and have about fifteen beers, eat
a little breakfast and watch the Steelers beat the Vikings
and every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Because it's called it used to be called anyway, I'll
back in my younger days that on the in Station Square,
on the day of the Saint Patrick's Day parade, they
had a thing at one of those places called Kegs
and Eggs. Yes you remember.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That, I remember Kegs and eggs.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yes, Okay, okay, good I'm glad it wasn't some fabrication
of my memory.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Brett Ensley from Fayetteville, North Carolina. I know Andy Russell
returned to fumble ninety three yards for a touchdown in
a nineteen seventy five playoff game against the Baltimore Colts.
That was a record for the longest fumble return for
a touchdown in the playoffs at the time. Is it
still a record or has it since been broken?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
It's not still a record. It was broken. It was
broken on January fifteenth, two thousand and three. The game
was a wild Card round game at the end of
the two thousand excuse me, twenty twenty three. At a
wildcard round game at the end of the twenty twenty
two season, Sam Hubbard of the Bengals scooped the fourth
(11:36):
quarter fumble by Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley. He returned at
ninety eight yards for a touchdown, and the Bengals won
twenty four to seventeen. So, while you know, we can
look at it as a bad thing that Andy Russell's
record was broken, I personally look as look at it
(11:58):
as a good thing that it cost the Ravens a
playoff win and eliminated them from there.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
If only it could have been anybody but the Bungles
who delivered that blow thoughts, I guess you got to
take a little bit of the bad to have a
lot of the good.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Though, As I was going to say, as I always say,
anybody but the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Dick Vochek from Portage, Pennsylvania. I've been listening to the
Steelers audio network since the George Pickens trade. There has
been mentioned of the conduct related finds the team, not
the NFL levied. I tried to search for them, but
was unable to find anything. Is there a resource slash
website you're familiar with that would show that information?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know, this is not a right to know issue,
and so finds issued by any NFL team to any
player for whatever reason or not public knowledge. And you know,
we don't even know the NFL doesn't even release their
own fines on players. You know that that usually leaked
(13:00):
out over the course of you know, whenever those letters
FedEx letters come to players, I don't know if it's
Thursdays usually during the week or whatever. You know, if
your socks weren't right or you know, a late hit
or whatever, whatever the NFL is fining people for so
(13:23):
that kind of stuff is not public knowledge, so there
is no website for especially for the inside the team.
You know, a team issued fine to a player for
whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It might be Geo Collabro from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
I was just a kid during the nineteen seventies Super
Bowl run, and with training camp not far away, it
had me wondering what the daily battle with Joe Green
versus Mike Webster was like. Did either get the best
of the other or was it more of a daily
stalemate between these pro Bowl players.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
You know, I wasn't much older than you, Geo during
the nineteen seventies, even though I am an old man.
But one of the things I remember it wasn't so
much Joe Green versus Mike Webster. It was you know,
the Steelers did the Oklahoma drill, which is now illegal
by NFL rules. They would open camp with it and
(14:23):
then there would be you know, maybe one or two
more over the course of a Chucknol training camp, and
in that drill it was always Mike Webster against Lambert.
That was the pairing. And Webster used to own that,
(14:43):
you know, he had the he had. He weighed more
than Lambert, he was stronger, you know, and it was
close quarters. Oklahoma Drill and Webster usually got the better
of the matchup. And then after it was over, you know,
meeting media after practice, Lambert would complain about getting held.
(15:05):
He would be angry, and Webster would always laugh about
it and you know, rag on him a little bit
about it, and you know, it was kind of fun,
in good fun, even though you know, Lambert didn't seem
like he was really enjoying it or the repartee that
went back and forth at the end. But that's what
I remember about one on one training camp matchups that
(15:30):
involved Mike Webster.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
You know, the Oklahoma Drill was really one of the
things that opened my eyes to football is not the
sport for me in my youth. That is not fun.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
That is not fun.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And do you remember the old drill bull in the
ring labs. I'm sure you do.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
That was terrible because you had no idea where that
player was coming.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, and you know, one of the one of Chuck
Knowles's quotes about football in general and things like you're describing,
he always said, it's not normal human behavior to be
good at that kind of thing. I'd say to to
you know, to relish that, to look forward to that,
to embrace that kind of thing, you know, because you know,
(16:14):
when I remember as a young person, as a kid,
when you were about to run into someone or there
was going to be a a collision or something, you
would shrink a little bit and close your eyes. You know,
that was just natural for me, and it's not natural
(16:34):
for professional football players obviously, And yeah, Chuck was right
on about that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, nice to know in Chuck's eyes were normal.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yes, John Poohatch from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What is going on
with the signing of TJ.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Watt?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Have not heard anything lately? And we need him?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know, I'm not going to argue about that we
need him part about TJ what, But I'm gonna I'm
gonna suggest patients, you know, signing a superstar like TJ.
Watt to a contract extension that's not a simple matter.
It's going to take time. And traditionally with the Steelers,
(17:18):
those kinds of things usually take place during the summer.
And here we are sitting on May twenty seventh. Yesterday
was Memorial Day, so we're not to the summer. Yet
sometimes these things go right up until the season opener,
so we'll see, but I do believe that there will
(17:39):
be a contract extension in the in the offing for TJ.
Watt this summer.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And our final question today comes from Mickey Hamer from Troy, Ohio.
I keep hearing about this year's game being the first
NFL game in Ireland. I remember in August day in
nineteen ninety seven, sitting in Croke Park and watching the
Pittsburgh Steelers play the Chicago Bears. Two NFL teams playing
an NFL game. Why are people discounting this game?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Okay, so the game referenced by Mickey was July twenty seventh,
nineteen ninety seven. The Steelers and the Bears played in
Croke Park. It was a preseason game. And while the
NFL prefers that they those kinds of games be referred
(18:29):
to as preseason games, and in fact they are exhibitions
do not count in the standings. The stats accumulated in
the accumulated in them do not count. And so that's
an entirely different situation than what we're going to have
on February or September twenty eighth against Minnesota, and so
(18:53):
my personal way of handling it is in my references
to it. I have tried to refer to it as
the first NFL regular season game in Ireland, which is
accurate that I'll do it for us today.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
OTAs are actually just about to get underway down at
the South Side for the first day of OTAs. Then
we've got a couple more this week, and then another
week of them next week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday next week.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, we've
got coverage down there Dale, Lollie, Matt Williamson on site.
I believe Wes Euler's there today and I'm actually allowed
to go down their labs. Isn't that amazing that I'm
(19:28):
gonna be able to sneak onto those sidelines and do a.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Little radio Well, they know, you know, everybody in the Steelers'
organization listens to this podcast religiously, and obviously they're just
impressed with the work you do here.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Couldn't it say better myself? And glad you got that
money that I sent you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, the check hasn't cleared yet, but I trust you
these labs.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I'm Tom thanks has always for giving us a listen,
enjoy OTAs these next couple of weeks. Listen to our
coverage right here on Steelers Nation Radio, and we'll talk
to you next week. On Asked, The Answered,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.