November 19, 2025 • 45 mins
Max and Rob continue to preview this weekend's matchup against the Bears in Chicago. They also continue to discuss various topics surrounding the team currently.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The F one fifty is the.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop.
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And we thank you very very much for being with
us in the locker room. We love that you're here.
We love doing the show.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
We love Steelers Football, we love Max Starks, we love
Justin Miller. We're in lovew mood today. Justin Miller the
controls in our iHeart studio. Max Starks joining us. Max,
How's how's your day going?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
My friend?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Rain watch two point oh? Remember talking about Arizona no way?
Uh yeah, it's rain and it was worse today than
it was yesterday. A gray sky, heavy down for early
We're getting a little bit of a lull, you know.
I think I think this is carried over from California.
(01:10):
I don't know, because if you were watching the news
like Californias had like these heavy rains, like flooding in
areas over the last few days, and I think this
is that carryover, right, it's moving west to east, so.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We're getting all of that.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
So I don't know if you could hear this in
the background, it's up and up against my window. I
got caught and uh, in traffic because of the weather,
because apparently people in Arizona don't know what.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Rain is.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Well, I can't only imagine if snow ever hit here.
But yeah, I got caught taking my kids to school
in traffic.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So now you've got plenty of rain, and you got
plenty of brain in Orlando, right, Oh.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Weh plenty of rain, Yeah, hurricanes all that stuff. Yeah,
I got got all the rains and the windses.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Now I do wonder because you know, cars stop at
stop lights and they leak things out of the car
and they sit in the pavement, and if you don't
get a lot of rain washing that away, I wonder,
is are the road slicker out there?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
For? Are they just as slick as anywhere else?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
With the rain.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
They're just as slick as anywhere else. I mean, you know,
we also are tremendously dry and hot, so you know
a lot of that stuff, you know, get could I
could I ever get burnt into into it? But we're
always resurfacing pavement and all that kind of stuff. So
the slick factor I don't think really applies as much.
(02:38):
Maybe on the freeways because those don't get resurfaced as much,
you would probably see that, But on main roadways and thoroughfares,
I think it's I think it's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So by the way, you asked if I ever you know,
if I happen to be in touch with the news.
The answer to that is pretty much always no, So
no idea. I didn't know there was rain in California.
But but it is nice of you to try to
draw me into the conversation. Chances are I haven't seen it.
You know, I appreciate it, though you're trying.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
I took to the Tony Tony tone school of method.
It doesn't rain in southern California. I don't know if
that was more your speed, but I was gonna give
it a shot.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, I know I appreciate it. So, but I have
to say this real quick before we get unto the Steelers.
I was out at the Fiesta Bowl when Pitt was
out there, oh many years ago, Missy Matthews, Missy Matthews,
we're discussing this. Uh, I think this was. I think
it was before she interned at our TV station, but
(03:40):
she was out there as part of the dance team
at Pitt.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I you know, I didn't know that. Of course I wasn't.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I was doing my radio show, my other stuff, and
the Pitt dance team was doing their thing. But she
was out at that Festa bal too, which is kind
of fun to talk about. She'll be joining us on Friday.
But I was all excited because I hadn't been out
there that often, and I wanted to go up and
go to Sedona. So I had a couple of hours
I thought, man, I gotta go to Sodona. By the way,
I did play the golf course where they have that
(04:05):
Phoenix open where everybody goes wild and gets hammered and
throws beers around and stuff. It's gotten crazier in the
last twenty years. It was known as being energetic twenty
years ago. Now it's just like, you know, people are
shot gunning beers and throwing them all over the place.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And anyway, So that was good.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I did get that in so in case anyone's wondering
whether I had a nice a nice time. But they
got an inch of rain and all the roads were closed,
and I thought, what an inch of rain? And so
I didn't get to Sedona until many many years later,
which is, by the way, an incredibly beautiful place. But
an inch of rain shuts everything down there. Here, we
(04:42):
call that a tuesday there. It's like it shuts everything down.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Well, the problem is it's more so to run off
because we don't have you know, soil so to speak, right,
you have out there, yeah, sure, well yeah, we we
have sand, very hard clay and dirt, right, so water
doesn't absorb.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That's why.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So an inch of water in one place can end
up being a foot in other places because of the
runoff in the elevation, right, And if you catch a
valley somewhere, then you know, you can actually literally flood
the freeway, right because it's below level and below grade
and you catch it on the side of a hill
(05:29):
or mountain. So so yeah, that one ench doesn't get
absorbed into that sand and dirt. And well, so that
that's where the negativity, the negative aspect of it is. Yeah,
it's not gonna be slick, but yeah, you can't get submerged.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So, by the way, I understand, and we're getting far
feel but this is it, I promise. So the red
clay thing I get because where I live the soil
is red clay, which.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Makes it very difficult to grow anything.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
But I when I first moved into this house twenty
something years ago, I went to go get a shrub,
you know, and and plant a shrub. And they said,
I said, well, how how you know deep should I
put the root ball? And they said, well, you know,
dig a hole, fill it full of water all the
way to the top, and when the water after one hour,
go back and wherever the water dissipates to, that's where
(06:21):
you want the bottom of the root ball. I thought, oh,
I'd never heard that before. That's very very cool. So
I filled. I dug a hole, you know, put the
filled the water in, and about five or six hours later,
I remembered, oh, man.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I filled that. I forgot that water.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Hole that I filled up, and I'm like, I'm thinking
to myself, no, I'm gonna have to start all over again,
you know, with what's left of the day. And I
went over there and it was still absolutely full to
the brim, had not dissipated a centimeter.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I had to get a plastic cup and scoop the
water out of the hole in my hands and knees.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Uh because yeah, so I get I get the red
clay thing. Water does not go anywhere on red clay,
just sits there, So I get you.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So I'm glad you. Are you safe? Sound though? Max?
You got through the traffic? Are you home?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I'm almost held. I'm like, I'm like three minutes away.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Okay, good, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
So, uh, yesterday, let's begin with this Mike Tomlin with
his press conference, and it sounds like a lot of
the banged up guys have an opportunity to play, and
that includes, of course, at least the door open for
Aaron Rodgers, so we can dig into these guys a
little bit more individually. But all in all, I thought
(07:32):
the injury news for this time of the season going
up to Chicago to take on another division leader was
pretty good for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well it was. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't It
wasn't bad at all. I think I think because.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
We had so many injuries, it's like, Okay, so nobody's
rolled out today on Tuesday, Okay, good job.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Exactly, We're not that bad.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
But I think you know, guys having an opportunity to
come back, you know, biggest ones.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I thought that, you know, gave me the relief.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Jalen Warren Kenneth gained well, were two that I was
happy to hear about Darius Slay being able to come
back as well. And like you said, Aaron doors open.
Obviously we've gotten the reports, Adam Schefter's of the world
and everything reporting that there was no break. So I
(08:30):
guess you know that's it. But you know, I am
intrigued to follow his status throughout the week. I guess
you could say, because you know something about mojo, something
about you know, confidence going into a certain arena, especially
when you're an away team.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I want I want all of I want all of
the I want.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
All the good stats, I want all the good records,
I want all the good you know, superstitious, whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
To call it.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I need all that for this game this weekend. And
Aaron Rodgers and his ridiculous record in Chicago from all
those years playing at Green Bay and him owning Chicago
so to speak. I mean, you know, Chicago fans do
not want to see Aaron Rodgers because he has ruined
a lot of seasons for them.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I need I need that on my side. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
There's something about that lucky totem of Aaron Rodgers in Chicago, Uh,
is something that I'm just I'm looking forward to the
potential of that.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But also I don't feel I don't. I don't.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
I don't feel scared, scared or you know, nervous if.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If Mason has to go. You know.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
I think that's the other thing is that I feel
good either way with the quarterbacks. Just I would rather
take the ritualistic nature of it, and of course the good,
the good voodoo of Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, and I don't disagree with that. And let me know,
we're not HND springing here, right, But I think there
was some thought that Mike tom might come out and say, hey,
Aaron Rodgers got a fractured wrist. You know it's gonna
require surgery. No, it doesn't require surgery. We're gonna put
him on the shelf for a couple of weeks. And
you know, so none of that's now. He still might
(10:16):
not play right that the injury news might turn more
ominous on Friday. The other one, of course, is with
everybody else apparently getting through the game. Okay, Cole holcom
some other guys trending toward coming back is Alex high
Smith is still Hey, we'll leave the door open for him,
but it didn't sound like, hey, we're expecting him definitely
(10:39):
to play. So we'll know more at the end of
the week. But I think the good news sometimes you go,
you go into these press conferences with coach Tomlin and
it's this guy's out, this guy's out, this guy's out,
and you're thinking, uh oh, So at least it wasn't
anough oh for that now. It may still be an
on Friday, but right now it's not an h.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Oh, yeah, right now it is a uh well, none
of those So that's always a good side, right You
didn't get any of those phrases. Yeah, So, I mean,
you know, like I said this time of year, the
(11:18):
attrition game not a matter of if, but a matter
of win. And the winds have been constant, but there
are very few ifs as far as return is concerned.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So you know, the wins, you know, you got to
deal with them.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
And I think I think we I think we've done
a good job with adversity for the most part. It
has not completely crippled us or tanked us or in
any type of way.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So, I mean, I feel good about where we're at.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
And you know, like I said, the news is encouraging,
so that that that's all we can go with.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And as far as the Bears, and we'll get more into,
you know, the the matchups and the other things. You know,
I'm going through my Bears games and you know, you
talk about a team letting a you know, pulling a
rabbit out of the hat. Well, against Minnesota in the
first game, the rabbit hopped out and escaped and got
(12:17):
away from them when they were dominating that game. But
other than that, they've had a knack. So again we'll
get into the specifics of that. The Steelers are a
team Max that had that from the outside looking in,
seems to have a knack. Their record in one score
games under Mike Tomlin is incredible. They play a ton
(12:41):
of them. Usually those wind up being fifty to fifty
type of deals. There are certain coaches that win a
ton of one score games. Mike Tomlin is at the
top of that list of coaches that know how to
win one score games. As a player, do you feel
that does any of that you know, sort of purveyed
(13:03):
down through the roster. You know, hey, listen, one score game,
fourth quarter, we're fine, as opposed to maybe a team's like,
oh my gosh, one score, what are.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
We gonna do?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Is there any of that or is that? Is that
just you just take each game and each play as
it happens. Is there a comfort in knowing you're good
in one score games?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
There is? There is.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
In fact, here's a funny thing, Rob, You just set
this up perfectly. I famously said during the Super Bowl
that we were built for this. When we had to
go in a one score game against the Arizona Cardinals
in Super Bowl forty three. I was going up and
down the offensive side of the ball on the sideline saying,
we're built for this. We're built for this because we've
(13:46):
done this enough this season and we're ready for the challenge.
I said it right before the final drive that we
went down and Santonio just went went bonkers. But yes,
so I do believe you're absolutely right, and I have
historical evidence to back that up.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Well, this will be if this game comes down to
the fourth quarter, and I don't see any reason why
it won't. And the reason I say that is because
that's the way both these teams have been, both the
Steelers and the Bears. A bunch of their games have
come down, you know, historically under Mike Tomlin, and a
(14:26):
couple of games this year as well, But historically that's
what happens. The Steelers won a lot of games in
the fourth quarter, and the Bears under Ben Johnson have
done an excellent job in one score games. The Minnesota
game notwithstanding, which is the first game he coached. They
have just found a way. I mean, look, you know,
I don't want to spoil too much too early because
(14:47):
we have a lot of game to build up to.
But in the Washington game, I mean, look, there are
games in which, you know, you something great happens, or
you make something happen. The Commanders, I think it was
a third and one. They had a third and one
from the forty five yard line thereabouts of Chicago, possibly
(15:09):
four down territory, but certainly with a two point lead.
If they pick up a first down on a third
and one or maybe a fourth and one, the game's over.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
It's finished. It's done.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
There's three minutes left in the game thereabouts.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It's over.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
And even if you don't get the first down, you
punt it and pin them deep, and you still have
to make them drive the length of the field. They
fumbled the Commander's on a third and one. The snap
to Caleb Williams, they were in a pistol formation. He
turns around to hand the ball off and he never
might have been a shotgun he regardless as a snap
to him, he never gets control of the ball. The
(15:49):
Bears pounce on the football and march down the field,
and with no time left, they get a field goal
to win the game. Now, that was almost the only
way they could win the game, you know, And as
a fan, you can't sit there and say, well, geez,
if they fumble, we have a chance of winning this game.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I mean, it's something you don't expect.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
And yet I just wonder if with the magic keeps
on happening, and it's happened for the Bears all year long.
They won back to back twenty five twenty four games.
How about that for a bizarre score. I just I
wonder if if this is a team that is firmly
convinced that they're gonna win every game no matter what
(16:30):
the outcome or what the circumstances are and I think
that makes a team a dangerous team.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
No, it does.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
I mean, and you talk about look at the uh
the Cincinnati game right a couple of weeks ago. Uh No,
they've got they've got They've got a you know, twelve
or thirteen point lead, and you know, all of a sudden,
Cincinnati scores to touchdowns in the span of a minute
(17:01):
at the end of that game, right, And they don't blink,
they don't panic, gotta have it moment and they drive
it down to get in field goal ranging and win
by one.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
And this is a game that was scored in the forties,
so you know, yeah, back to back twenty five to
twenty four games.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
But did you have a game like that?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
This forty one is also another one, so they've had
they they've been magicians more so than anything else.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think that that's it.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
I mean, they are they are doing their best uh Houdini,
David Copperfield insert magicians name here, type of type of
their escape artists. So more Houdini than anything else, I guess.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
You could say.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
And they just they just find find ways to get
out of out of stadiums with the w and that's
something you know that, like you said, they'll never get
too down. Another team like that's kind of similar to
that Denver Broncos, right, And we talked about we talked
about it the other day when we're talking about the
power rankings.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You know, Denver's a.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Team that has never let that does not lead in
the first three quarters of games. They but they find
that they figure out a way to stay tight and
then and then take the lead at the end. And
that's also a gift, right because that just means you're
a fourth quarter team and you're a team that does
(18:28):
not quit, and that breeds confidence, that breeds a lot
of a lot of self assuredness when you're able to
create that. So, yeah, Chicago is not going to be easy.
This is going to be a sixty minute tilt, and
you know, more often than not gonna come to whoever
has the ball last in their hands.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yep, for the third time in the last four weeks,
the Steelers are playing a division leader. And so when
you think about you at the beginning of the season,
you talk about strength to schedule and who are you
going to face and when you know sometimes it's who
you're going to face. Sometimes it's when you're gonna face him,
and sometimes it's where did that team come from? Like
(19:06):
when the Steelers beat the Commanders last year that wound
up being a really good victory. You know you, I
don't know who would have predicted that at this point
of the season the first place teams in their respective
divisions would be the Colts in the AFC South, the
Chargers in the AFC West going into that game, and
the Bears going into this game the leaders in the
(19:27):
NFC North. I don't know as anybody had that, but
here it is, and that's what the schedule has has
laid out for the Steelers. So you know, this maybe
look like an easier game at the beginning of the season,
It certainly does not look like an easy game now
as the Steelers get ready to head on the road
and take on the Chicago Bears coming up on Sunday.
(19:47):
Can't wait for that game. Want to remind you that
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(20:08):
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the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And we thank you for being with us.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
From sunny Pittsburgh to rainy Phoenix. You don't get to
say that very often, but we get to say it today.
Max Starks of navigating the rain, and I'm assuming you
were on a.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Drop off duty? Was that?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
What had you out driving in the rain? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
on drop off duty. Had to get the girls of school.
So with the time change usually gives me a you know,
time in the morning to do that because our show
moves from eight am my time for our start of
our show versus seven am. So with that shift, it
(21:38):
gives me an opportunity to then be did then be
on the duty in the morning, and my wife's obviously
out of town, so that also is why I'm on
duty even more so today.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Right, And you have to keep the although I'm sure
the lines of communication are always opening, the start household
you for for all men out there, you have to
keep the stiff upper lip. And so when your wife
comes home and asks you out, went absolutely fine, no
no problems at all. Was great, It was fantastic. I
remember thinking. I remember thinking, because the kids, kids are
(22:17):
a lot of work. You love them, uh and and
you know a lot of times the wife takes on
a lot of those responsibilities. And so there are times
when when and I don't mean the strong way, but
when she came back, I couldn't wait to get.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Back to work so I could relax a little bit,
you know what I mean. So, but we have to
hate how did to go? Fine? Fine?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Right?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
It went great, It went went marvelous, It went marvelous.
So you used the word opportunity, and we didn't talk
a whole lot about Mason Rudolph in the first couple
of days, but tremendous job by him seizing that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And now what's interesting, not only with that, is that Will.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Howard potentially, if you know, listen the entire second half
of that game, Will Howard was one snap away from
being your Steelers quarterback. And so this is an interesting
week in that you would assume those guys will get
some reps. Will Howard will probably get more reps than
he would normally have gotten. I'm sure the butterflies are
(23:22):
going to be, you know, flapping around in his belly
all week as he thinks about the possibility that if
Aaron Rodgers can't go, he might play much like Mason
Rudolph played. But Mason Rudolf's been down this road before.
I don't know when the last time Will Will Howard
had to think about being the number two and preparing
probably back in college and preparing to get in and
(23:45):
and you know, trying to get the reps and get
himself prepared.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Yeah, I mean, I mean it's definitely I would say
have been a while for him, you know, he's used
to being the guy, and you know this season obviously
you know, going on IR for a little bit. You know,
this is this is now the ramp up. You know,
late in the year, you've got to be ready to
rock and roll. So he's he's been, he's been prepping
for this opportunity. So hopefully you know, he he will,
(24:12):
he will be up to speed and we'll understand. Hey,
I'm watching been on the sidelines right as the emergency
third for a number of weeks. Now, Uh, hopefully you
know you have to you have to pick up the
offense when you're not gonna get the reps. You've got
to be able to learn by absorbing through your eyes
and not through the physical play to get ready for
(24:34):
a game.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So it's gonna on, It's gonna be on him.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Uh, he'll get up, He'll get He'll definitely get a
shot early in the week here as we prepare, because
I imagine, you know, at least at the beginning, Aaron
will probably sit out as he's trying to heal that wrist. So,
like you said, Mason now moves up to QB one,
snaps and then Will comes in gets all of your
scout team and a couple of the little compensatory uh
(25:01):
you know, play plays at the end of practice with
the with the second opportunity. So it's going to be
more than he's had. But I'm sure he welcomes that
opportunity to get any volume in uh.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
This late in the season.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Oh absolutely, So take us through if you can. Max.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
See, I'm out of practice and I'm watching and you know,
guys are you know, the practice squad guys are out
there right they're able to practice with the team, and
you know they're jumping in on scout team and other stuff.
You know, somebody in the practice squad will be wearing
you know, if they're if they're concentrating on, say Colston
Loveland the tight end, Hey, where's he going to be?
Somebody be running around with it with an eighty four
(25:43):
jersey on, you know, like a little red jersey or whatever,
letting everybody know, Hey that's Colston Loveland as we're as
we're going Loveland, as we're going through the uh, you know,
the defense is going through. It's it's keys and all
these other things. You know, how much uh, you know,
what is the interaction like with those practice squad guys,
and does that, you know, at least familiarity in being
(26:03):
around with the guys a little bit help guys ascend
from the practice squad to the regular squad. And again
you talk about guys being ready, right, like Mason Rudolph
being ready. Well, you know, the Steelers had to make
sure that Keishawn william I beg your pardon, not Keishan Owings.
(26:24):
DeShawn Jamison was available because when Keyshawn Williams got hurt,
DeShawn Jamison, who'd been upgraded to the regular roster from
the practice squad, now suddenly he's back there returning kicks.
So how do these guys from the practice squad make
sure they're ready? And does that interaction with the rest
of the team sort of helped them mentally at least
(26:44):
if nothing else, get ready.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Well, you know, the biggest thing, they're in the same
meetings that your starters are in. They're in the same
meetings that the regular special team squad is in. And
for every starter quote unquote, look there there there is
an opposite and equal opportunity on the scout side of it.
(27:08):
So the scout we call it scout team because obviously
you're running the terminology of the and and defensive structure
or offensive philosophy.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Of the opponent.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
But football plays are very similar, right, I mean, really,
the biggest difference that comes down to it is tendencies
and terminology. And so if you look at it from
that perspective, every opportunity you're getting reps, you're getting games
that there's so only so many ways to run an
inside zone. There's only so many ways to run a
(27:41):
five or six man man protection or a slide protection.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Or you know, a play action one.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You know, you either got twins receivers, trips receivers, or
a nice over receiver, right and every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You can get four over there. The route tree is
the route tree.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So a lot of those reps they're getting on the
on the scout side of it can be applied directly.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
To what the offense is.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
It's just not being called that in the huddle per se,
and you're going off of a card. But the concepts
are very similar, not a lot of differentiation, and so
it actually helps, you know, for guys to come out there,
to be in practice, to be helping, and to.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Be watching, you know, because when they're not in there.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
They're watching their side of the ball because you have
a scout in verse on the other side.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You know, every once in a while.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
You know, you might have to pull alignment from either
offensive or defensive side of the ball from the on
the scout side to play you know, their respective you know,
opposite positions, right, because you don't have enough big bodies
or or you don't have enough guys. But for the
most part, you have enough guys to run a whole
(28:59):
full sec unit to be able to go out there
and play. And like you said, the only difference is
some guy might throw on an eighty five jersey, or
you might throw on a Kalmon nun Guy jersey if
he's a key for you, or DeAndre Swift. And of
course every quarterback you know has their jersey or so
somebody's gonna be wearing you know, Will Howard will probably
(29:20):
Will Howard probably be wearing Caleb William's number.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
And those are the keys.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Defensively, you might have some different guys that you're looking
at as keys to what their tendencies are going to be,
they'll get a jersey as well.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
But other than that, it's football at the end of
the day.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
So the students have had to rely on some of
those guys obviously coming up and the latest guys from
either the bench, Mason Rudolph, the practice squad, Deshaun Jamison
coming up doing a nice job.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And Trace Sermon on kick return.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Trey Sermon, Yep, he stepped up and fascinating to see.
And we've talked, you know, again, we did references, but
we talked you know, up in La Trobe and throughout
the preseason and telling people that hey, this is a
team that has good depth, and we've seen the importance
(30:22):
of that, right, I mean, don't forget that when Mason
Rudolph came in to play quarterback, this game was still
very against the Bengals, was very much in doubt, and
in fact, it took the Kyle Duggar interception to really
kind of put things away and really kind of give
you that And that didn't put it away, but it
gave you that breathing room you needed. This game was
(30:44):
very very much in doubt. Mason Rudolph had to come
in and get.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
The job done.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
It's funny to say that when it's thirty four to twelve,
and we talk about this a lot on this program,
how there are four or five plays every game. We
just mentioned the Bears Commanders game. The Bears win twenty
five twenty four, the Commanders had gone for two, didn't
get it. Otherwise that field goal attempt is a tie
at the end. So what happens if you get the
two point conversion? What happens if you simply don't fumble
(31:08):
the football? And so on and so forth, And sometimes
that means it's a twenty five to twenty four game,
But even in a thirty four to twelve game, max,
there are moments here or there that spin the game
one way or the other. And if Mason Rudolph had
been the guy who had made that mistake for whatever reason,
we might, as crazy as this sounds, after thirty four
(31:30):
to twelve, we might be talking about a different outcome
of this game, a different outlook for the Steelers on
the season. These guys being prepared, being ready to go,
being pros, stepping in doing the job. And Mason Rudolph,
I'm I'm kind of talking about him in particular because
of the nature of when he came into the game.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
It's a big, big item.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
For the Steelers to be able to have a guy
like that and some of the other guys we've mentioned,
but again in particular Mason to come in and help
lead the team to an absolute sort of must win
victory over the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, I mean, I mean this is.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
Kind of, I guess, quintessential of what an NFL season
looks like. You know, it's it's the nones and the
unknowns that become nons if that makes sense to it. Yes, okay,
because I was I was like, wait a second, hold
on the actually got got caught in myself for following. Yeah,
(32:32):
so you know, you you have to deal with attrition,
you have to deal with depth, and you have to
be able to come at a team in waves.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Right.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
If somebody's not up to the task, somebody gets injured,
somebody is not available, the game's not gonna stop there. Hey, hey,
hey guys, Hey, sorry, are guys not here?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Can we like post pone?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
This cool?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Is iou?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (33:03):
Really no, when he gets healthy, we'll play it again,
because you know, he's not here, so we can't play it.
We don't have eleven. Uh so it's unfair. No, nobody
says that, like, right, you you know, you move on,
you insert, you replace, and you adapt and you overcome.
That's just what this game is. And and you know
(33:24):
when you have those type of guys that you have
faith in it. And you know, that was one of
the things we talked about in training camp, right. We
were so excited for the depth of this team because
we were like, man, this is the deepest the team's
been in a number of years at a lot of positions.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Well, those positions get tested.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
So we've seen the depth of this team and we
wonder it wasn't enough, and you know, we thought it was, and.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Then we made some upgrades. Right.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
You know, you wouldn't because you're like, hey, you know, Deshaun,
he's been out of he's been out of the lineup
a number of times now, and now you know he's
on it. He's on an ir So we need somebody
to come in and we have to get somebody that
can give us a boost. And you know, kudos once again,
is always front office going. You find a guy, a
(34:11):
guy like Kyle Dugger, who Bill Belichick loved and you know,
was very you know, played in that system, was a
longtime starter in Belichick system. But you know, and even
Gerrod Mayo, but he wasn't a Mike Rabel guy, and
so he kind of had a diminished role with Mike
Brabel because they were playing a different style of defense.
(34:32):
And opportunity presents itself. So you go out, you make
that trade, you go find that guy, and he's been
an instant boost instant boosts. You heard Labs yesterday, right, Kigger.
He's been there fifteen minutes and he was already starting
and has played in almost one hundred percent of the
snap since he's been here. That's crazy, that's crazy, but
(34:54):
also goes to show you that football's football at the
end of the day, comes down to the terminology, right,
and the technique and if if if you got, if
you if you got. The concepts are all very similar.
It's just how you get to them, right. A little
bit of a little bit, a little bit of smoke
and mirrors, a little bit of cloud and pixie dust
(35:15):
is about the difference. You know, for a lot of
the defensive concepts. Offense can be a little bit more,
you know, sophisticated, but.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Not that much.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
But he's able to plug and play and play he
has done and like you said, to get the play
that you did out.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Of him in that game on Sunday was phenomenal. That.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
I mean, that's a guy who studied, and the luck
that was involved is, you know, where preparation meets opportunity,
and he was prepared for the opportunity and he made
the play and it helped us win.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
I would also think, and one last thing on this
topic and then we'll we'll move forward a little bit.
But it strikes me that you know, on a on
a practice squad, you know, you might have somebody who
you're betting on their talent, right, and hey, can we
develop this guy? Can we bring this guy along? We're
seeing more and more veterans now in practice squads as
(36:12):
they've changed the rules, But I would think that you
it's necessary to have some sort of high character guys
who take the work seriously, who understand what needs to
be done, who were willing to fill a role in
order to be the next man up. That it takes
(36:34):
a certain type of guy to be able to do that.
It would seem to me, I don't want to oversell it,
but it would seem to me that maybe not everybody's
cut out for that guy and or that role. And
when you can find a guy that is and understands
what that role is and and the importance of it.
Almost like a utility infielder in baseball. You understand, Okay,
this is my role, and I got to be prepared
and I got to be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And you can't have somebody who's in.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
That role who's complaining all the time about playing time
and undercutting, you know, saying bad stuff about the person
behind their back. You don't you understand what I'm saying. Like,
is it kind of like being a utility guy in baseball?
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Yeah, utility guy in baseball, the third the sixth man
off the bench in basketball. And also you know, being
being that you know, the number number two guy on
any depth chart in the NFL, or that set you know,
second line in hockey.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I mean, there's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (37:28):
Places where those positions are desirable when you have flexibility
because you don't know where it's going to be, but
you just know it's gonna be and being prepared for
all situations as much as possible. Some people can do
it with mental reps. Some can do it with the
visual and they don't need the physical repetition to get
(37:49):
them in the groove. And that's a special that takes
a special skill set to be able to just be dropped,
you know, dropped in randomly in this game, and whether
it's for a couple of plays, or whether it's for
a series, a quarter a half or heck, it might
even be you know, after the first snap of the game.
I'll never forget my freshman year in college at the
(38:11):
University of Florida. Are starting right tackle can YadA Walker
had the flu and we're playing Vanderbilt, and I'll never
forget this. You know, my office line coach, Jimmy Ray
Stevens at the time, Jimmy Ray goes, hey, uh, you know,
uh starts be on the lookout for for YadA, big YadA.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You know, he's not feeling well.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
He's been throwing up this morning, and you know he
might not be able to go. This is game day,
by the way, I'm finding this out right. You know,
it was right before about to get on the team buses.
Where at team breakfast and get to the stadium. You know,
I get ready, I'm like, okay, you know I'm looking
at YadA YadA.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I mean, he's just bluing the gills.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
I'm like, YadA, man, hey, you know, just let me
know he's all right, Max, I'll let you know, man,
I'm try and go.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I'm gonna try and go. I'm gonna try and go.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We got out there.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
He went out for the first play, looked through the sidelines,
tapped his helmet, and started jogging off the field. I'm like,
uh oh, it's go time and we're just running out there.
And I played every snap but the first play. Got
no reps with the ones all that week because he
was he was healthy. But it came to game day
and he was and he wasn't ready to go another time,
(39:23):
the last last one because I know we got to
hit the brake.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
But we're we're, we're, we're. We're in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Were about to play the Miami Dolphins, the famous lawn
Dark game. That's the one where where, yeah, the hurricane
came through our tropical storm and we tried to double side.
We double sided of the field because we didn't have
enough time to strip the field and put the new
turf on, so they just put it on top of
the other one, right, And there were and I remember
coming to the stadium that week that that day, walking
(39:51):
in and normally, you know, you can tell a lot
of things. So I look for those little intrinsic things.
So normally when you walk in the stadium, guys who
are seeing your your top forty six pads, they put
the jersey on the pads before you get there, so
they're they're they're up top in the lockers, and it's
the wire open. Like anybody has been on the stadium
(40:13):
tour and been in the locker room, understand the locker room. Uh,
the lockers aren't really this fancy ornate things like you
see a lot of these college locker rooms. Ours is
ours is rather just simple and normal. It's wire, black
black wire.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
And then you have the wood well up top is
the open space.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
That's where the that's where the shoulder pads go when
you when you undo the the your your carry bags
for your pads and everything. So it's usually laid out
for guys who are dressing. So I just remember walking
into the office line. We're in one little corner towards
the front end, the far end of the locker room
from where you walk in close to the side door
(40:52):
before we go out into the field for the tunnel
for like intros and player warm ups, and so I
just remember looking and not seeing Marvel's pads up top,
and I was like, what, that's weird. But I also
know that Marvel likes to tape his own pads, so
I'm like, okay, not as crazy as you think. And then,
you know, you look to the right when you're walking
in the locker room, and that's where the training room is,
(41:14):
and I just remember seeing Marvel laying on his stomach
on one of the training tables with a heating pad
on his back, and I was like, huh.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
I was like, well, I guess he's getting warmed up.
Speaker 5 (41:24):
So I go about my business and then I Marvel
kind of kind of walks gingerly out out of the
training room.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
He looks at me, He's like, you're up, Max. I'm
like what huh? I'm sorry, what was that? You're up?
I'm out, like, uh what do you mean my back? Huh?
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Jason Taylor No reps really yep. He's like, and you know,
then are like I said, all right, starts actually boy,
you know he's you know, he's like, he's like, oh,
you had left tackle you you you you and nine
to nine about to go at it. I was like, okay,
(42:04):
all right, let me go ahead and get my warm
up outfit on it, and let me get my butt
out to the field and take some reps because I'm
going in at left tackle, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
And I was a swing tackle.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
I was a starting right tackle for about three years
and then transition to the swing guy. And then now
I got to go in it left right because I
have to be ready either the right or the left tackle.
So Willie colohmbs our starting right tackle, Marvell Smill was
our starting left tackle, and I'm I'm the top back
of I'm the six man off the bench, so to speak,
right at at either tackle position. So I just remember
(42:36):
running out to the field, I'm excited, like okay, nervous,
and then I looked the field still tarped, and I'm
like okay.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
So I got no reps. I was doing some reps
in the locker room and.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Had to go out and play the whole game against
Jason Taylor and that in that horrible field conditions game.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
So that's just how it happens. But you have to
be ready.
Speaker 5 (42:55):
You have to be ready for the opportunity because you
never know when it's going to strike. So I was
good at visually watching practice versus being a guy that
was you know, they had to have physical reps and
it paid off.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
So we've seen that payoff for the students, paid off
for Max Stark's always prepared.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Of course stick around. We have much to get to.
Jim Wexle is going to be joining us.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
On this hump Day and we are going to start
to really focus in on some of the key matchups
and players for the Bears and the Steelers in matchup
on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago. When we continue
in the Locker Room presented by you Neighborhood Ford showing
Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by Your Neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
And welcome back. Thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
As luck would have it, as we mentioned this year,
that would be facing a third division leader in the
last four weeks, defeating the Colts at home, losing to
the Chargers on Sunday night they beat the Bengals, of course,
not a division leader, and now they take on the
Chicago Bears. Probably all three of those teams would have
been upsets at this point of the.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Season to be division leaders. But there you have it.
Speaker 4 (44:23):
So this year is one and one, looking to make
it two to one against those division leaders when they
head up the Soldier Field to take on the Chicago
Bears Sunday, kickoff scheduled for one pm. Weather conditions were
certainly a factor this past Sunday in Pittsburgh at Aquisher Stadium.
You know, people were talking about the offense not looking
(44:44):
as good and you know, sort of carrying that over,
particularly the passing game, carrying that over from what had
happened in LA. But again, keep in mind, neither team
moved the ball well. Neither team's offense found its groove.
Think about the Bengals averaging thirty eight points per game
in their last three. They put up twelve against the Steelers,
(45:05):
eighteen mile hour wins. Don't forget about that. Very very
difficult to throw the ball under those conditions. So hopefully
the offense gets back on track. There are a lot
of really, really intriguing matchups in this game. So if
you're a fan of not only the game at large,
but maybe every once in a while taking your eyes
off the ball to watch a particular matchup, we've got
(45:28):
some for you, some beauties.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
We're going to get to that.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Jim Wexel is going to be joining us next on
this wex Wednesday, a hump day when we continue in
the Locker Room, presented by our neighborhood Forward Store and
the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part
of the Steelers Audio Network.
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The F one fifty is the.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop.
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And we thank you very very much for being with
us in the locker room. We love that you're here.
We love doing the show.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
We love Steelers Football, we love Max Starks, we love
Justin Miller. We're in lovew mood today. Justin Miller the
controls in our iHeart studio. Max Starks joining us. Max,
How's how's your day going?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
My friend?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (00:49):
Rain watch two point oh? Remember talking about Arizona no way?
Uh yeah, it's rain and it was worse today than
it was yesterday. A gray sky, heavy down for early
We're getting a little bit of a lull, you know.
I think I think this is carried over from California.
(01:10):
I don't know, because if you were watching the news
like Californias had like these heavy rains, like flooding in
areas over the last few days, and I think this
is that carryover, right, it's moving west to east, so.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We're getting all of that.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
So I don't know if you could hear this in
the background, it's up and up against my window. I
got caught and uh, in traffic because of the weather,
because apparently people in Arizona don't know what.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Rain is.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Well, I can't only imagine if snow ever hit here.
But yeah, I got caught taking my kids to school
in traffic.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So now you've got plenty of rain, and you got
plenty of brain in Orlando, right, Oh.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Weh plenty of rain, Yeah, hurricanes all that stuff. Yeah,
I got got all the rains and the windses.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Now I do wonder because you know, cars stop at
stop lights and they leak things out of the car
and they sit in the pavement, and if you don't
get a lot of rain washing that away, I wonder,
is are the road slicker out there?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
For? Are they just as slick as anywhere else?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
With the rain.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
They're just as slick as anywhere else. I mean, you know,
we also are tremendously dry and hot, so you know
a lot of that stuff, you know, get could I
could I ever get burnt into into it? But we're
always resurfacing pavement and all that kind of stuff. So
the slick factor I don't think really applies as much.
(02:38):
Maybe on the freeways because those don't get resurfaced as much,
you would probably see that, But on main roadways and thoroughfares,
I think it's I think it's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So by the way, you asked if I ever you know,
if I happen to be in touch with the news.
The answer to that is pretty much always no, So
no idea. I didn't know there was rain in California.
But but it is nice of you to try to
draw me into the conversation. Chances are I haven't seen it.
You know, I appreciate it, though you're trying.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
I took to the Tony Tony tone school of method.
It doesn't rain in southern California. I don't know if
that was more your speed, but I was gonna give
it a shot.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, I know I appreciate it. So, but I have
to say this real quick before we get unto the Steelers.
I was out at the Fiesta Bowl when Pitt was
out there, oh many years ago, Missy Matthews, Missy Matthews,
we're discussing this. Uh, I think this was. I think
it was before she interned at our TV station, but
(03:40):
she was out there as part of the dance team
at Pitt.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I you know, I didn't know that. Of course I wasn't.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I was doing my radio show, my other stuff, and
the Pitt dance team was doing their thing. But she
was out at that Festa bal too, which is kind
of fun to talk about. She'll be joining us on Friday.
But I was all excited because I hadn't been out
there that often, and I wanted to go up and
go to Sedona. So I had a couple of hours
I thought, man, I gotta go to Sodona. By the way,
I did play the golf course where they have that
(04:05):
Phoenix open where everybody goes wild and gets hammered and
throws beers around and stuff. It's gotten crazier in the
last twenty years. It was known as being energetic twenty
years ago. Now it's just like, you know, people are
shot gunning beers and throwing them all over the place.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And anyway, So that was good.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I did get that in so in case anyone's wondering
whether I had a nice a nice time. But they
got an inch of rain and all the roads were closed,
and I thought, what an inch of rain? And so
I didn't get to Sedona until many many years later,
which is, by the way, an incredibly beautiful place. But
an inch of rain shuts everything down there. Here, we
(04:42):
call that a tuesday there. It's like it shuts everything down.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Well, the problem is it's more so to run off
because we don't have you know, soil so to speak, right,
you have out there, yeah, sure, well yeah, we we
have sand, very hard clay and dirt, right, so water
doesn't absorb.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That's why.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So an inch of water in one place can end
up being a foot in other places because of the
runoff in the elevation, right, And if you catch a
valley somewhere, then you know, you can actually literally flood
the freeway, right because it's below level and below grade
and you catch it on the side of a hill
(05:29):
or mountain. So so yeah, that one ench doesn't get
absorbed into that sand and dirt. And well, so that
that's where the negativity, the negative aspect of it is. Yeah,
it's not gonna be slick, but yeah, you can't get submerged.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So, by the way, I understand, and we're getting far
feel but this is it, I promise. So the red
clay thing I get because where I live the soil
is red clay, which.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Makes it very difficult to grow anything.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
But I when I first moved into this house twenty
something years ago, I went to go get a shrub,
you know, and and plant a shrub. And they said,
I said, well, how how you know deep should I
put the root ball? And they said, well, you know,
dig a hole, fill it full of water all the
way to the top, and when the water after one hour,
go back and wherever the water dissipates to, that's where
(06:21):
you want the bottom of the root ball. I thought, oh,
I'd never heard that before. That's very very cool. So
I filled. I dug a hole, you know, put the
filled the water in, and about five or six hours later,
I remembered, oh, man.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I filled that. I forgot that water.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Hole that I filled up, and I'm like, I'm thinking
to myself, no, I'm gonna have to start all over again,
you know, with what's left of the day. And I
went over there and it was still absolutely full to
the brim, had not dissipated a centimeter.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I had to get a plastic cup and scoop the
water out of the hole in my hands and knees.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Uh because yeah, so I get I get the red
clay thing. Water does not go anywhere on red clay,
just sits there, So I get you.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So I'm glad you. Are you safe? Sound though? Max?
You got through the traffic? Are you home?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I'm almost held. I'm like, I'm like three minutes away.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Okay, good, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
So, uh, yesterday, let's begin with this Mike Tomlin with
his press conference, and it sounds like a lot of
the banged up guys have an opportunity to play, and
that includes, of course, at least the door open for
Aaron Rodgers, so we can dig into these guys a
little bit more individually. But all in all, I thought
(07:32):
the injury news for this time of the season going
up to Chicago to take on another division leader was
pretty good for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well it was. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't It
wasn't bad at all. I think I think because.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
We had so many injuries, it's like, Okay, so nobody's
rolled out today on Tuesday, Okay, good job.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Exactly, We're not that bad.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
But I think you know, guys having an opportunity to
come back, you know, biggest ones.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I thought that, you know, gave me the relief.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Jalen Warren Kenneth gained well, were two that I was
happy to hear about Darius Slay being able to come
back as well. And like you said, Aaron doors open.
Obviously we've gotten the reports, Adam Schefter's of the world
and everything reporting that there was no break. So I
(08:30):
guess you know that's it. But you know, I am
intrigued to follow his status throughout the week. I guess
you could say, because you know something about mojo, something
about you know, confidence going into a certain arena, especially
when you're an away team.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I want I want all of I want all of
the I want.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
All the good stats, I want all the good records,
I want all the good you know, superstitious, whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
To call it.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I need all that for this game this weekend. And
Aaron Rodgers and his ridiculous record in Chicago from all
those years playing at Green Bay and him owning Chicago
so to speak. I mean, you know, Chicago fans do
not want to see Aaron Rodgers because he has ruined
a lot of seasons for them.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I need I need that on my side. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
There's something about that lucky totem of Aaron Rodgers in Chicago, Uh,
is something that I'm just I'm looking forward to the
potential of that.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But also I don't feel I don't. I don't.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
I don't feel scared, scared or you know, nervous if.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If Mason has to go. You know.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
I think that's the other thing is that I feel
good either way with the quarterbacks. Just I would rather
take the ritualistic nature of it, and of course the good,
the good voodoo of Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, and I don't disagree with that. And let me know,
we're not HND springing here, right, But I think there
was some thought that Mike tom might come out and say, hey,
Aaron Rodgers got a fractured wrist. You know it's gonna
require surgery. No, it doesn't require surgery. We're gonna put
him on the shelf for a couple of weeks. And
you know, so none of that's now. He still might
(10:16):
not play right that the injury news might turn more
ominous on Friday. The other one, of course, is with
everybody else apparently getting through the game. Okay, Cole holcom
some other guys trending toward coming back is Alex high
Smith is still Hey, we'll leave the door open for him,
but it didn't sound like, hey, we're expecting him definitely
(10:39):
to play. So we'll know more at the end of
the week. But I think the good news sometimes you go,
you go into these press conferences with coach Tomlin and
it's this guy's out, this guy's out, this guy's out,
and you're thinking, uh oh, So at least it wasn't
anough oh for that now. It may still be an
on Friday, but right now it's not an h.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Oh, yeah, right now it is a uh well, none
of those So that's always a good side, right You
didn't get any of those phrases. Yeah, So, I mean,
you know, like I said this time of year, the
(11:18):
attrition game not a matter of if, but a matter
of win. And the winds have been constant, but there
are very few ifs as far as return is concerned.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So you know, the wins, you know, you got to
deal with them.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
And I think I think we I think we've done
a good job with adversity for the most part. It
has not completely crippled us or tanked us or in
any type of way.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So, I mean, I feel good about where we're at.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
And you know, like I said, the news is encouraging,
so that that that's all we can go with.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And as far as the Bears, and we'll get more into,
you know, the the matchups and the other things. You know,
I'm going through my Bears games and you know, you
talk about a team letting a you know, pulling a
rabbit out of the hat. Well, against Minnesota in the
first game, the rabbit hopped out and escaped and got
(12:17):
away from them when they were dominating that game. But
other than that, they've had a knack. So again we'll
get into the specifics of that. The Steelers are a
team Max that had that from the outside looking in,
seems to have a knack. Their record in one score
games under Mike Tomlin is incredible. They play a ton
(12:41):
of them. Usually those wind up being fifty to fifty
type of deals. There are certain coaches that win a
ton of one score games. Mike Tomlin is at the
top of that list of coaches that know how to
win one score games. As a player, do you feel
that does any of that you know, sort of purveyed
(13:03):
down through the roster. You know, hey, listen, one score game,
fourth quarter, we're fine, as opposed to maybe a team's like,
oh my gosh, one score, what are.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
We gonna do?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Is there any of that or is that? Is that
just you just take each game and each play as
it happens. Is there a comfort in knowing you're good
in one score games?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
There is? There is.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
In fact, here's a funny thing, Rob, You just set
this up perfectly. I famously said during the Super Bowl
that we were built for this. When we had to
go in a one score game against the Arizona Cardinals
in Super Bowl forty three. I was going up and
down the offensive side of the ball on the sideline saying,
we're built for this. We're built for this because we've
(13:46):
done this enough this season and we're ready for the challenge.
I said it right before the final drive that we
went down and Santonio just went went bonkers. But yes,
so I do believe you're absolutely right, and I have
historical evidence to back that up.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Well, this will be if this game comes down to
the fourth quarter, and I don't see any reason why
it won't. And the reason I say that is because
that's the way both these teams have been, both the
Steelers and the Bears. A bunch of their games have
come down, you know, historically under Mike Tomlin, and a
(14:26):
couple of games this year as well, But historically that's
what happens. The Steelers won a lot of games in
the fourth quarter, and the Bears under Ben Johnson have
done an excellent job in one score games. The Minnesota
game notwithstanding, which is the first game he coached. They
have just found a way. I mean, look, you know,
I don't want to spoil too much too early because
(14:47):
we have a lot of game to build up to.
But in the Washington game, I mean, look, there are
games in which, you know, you something great happens, or
you make something happen. The Commanders, I think it was
a third and one. They had a third and one
from the forty five yard line thereabouts of Chicago, possibly
(15:09):
four down territory, but certainly with a two point lead.
If they pick up a first down on a third
and one or maybe a fourth and one, the game's over.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
It's finished. It's done.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
There's three minutes left in the game thereabouts.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It's over.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
And even if you don't get the first down, you
punt it and pin them deep, and you still have
to make them drive the length of the field. They
fumbled the Commander's on a third and one. The snap
to Caleb Williams, they were in a pistol formation. He
turns around to hand the ball off and he never
might have been a shotgun he regardless as a snap
to him, he never gets control of the ball. The
(15:49):
Bears pounce on the football and march down the field,
and with no time left, they get a field goal
to win the game. Now, that was almost the only
way they could win the game, you know, And as
a fan, you can't sit there and say, well, geez,
if they fumble, we have a chance of winning this game.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I mean, it's something you don't expect.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
And yet I just wonder if with the magic keeps
on happening, and it's happened for the Bears all year long.
They won back to back twenty five twenty four games.
How about that for a bizarre score. I just I
wonder if if this is a team that is firmly
convinced that they're gonna win every game no matter what
(16:30):
the outcome or what the circumstances are and I think
that makes a team a dangerous team.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
No, it does.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
I mean, and you talk about look at the uh
the Cincinnati game right a couple of weeks ago. Uh No,
they've got they've got They've got a you know, twelve
or thirteen point lead, and you know, all of a sudden,
Cincinnati scores to touchdowns in the span of a minute
(17:01):
at the end of that game, right, And they don't blink,
they don't panic, gotta have it moment and they drive
it down to get in field goal ranging and win
by one.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
And this is a game that was scored in the forties,
so you know, yeah, back to back twenty five to
twenty four games.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
But did you have a game like that?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
This forty one is also another one, so they've had
they they've been magicians more so than anything else.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think that that's it.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
I mean, they are they are doing their best uh Houdini,
David Copperfield insert magicians name here, type of type of
their escape artists. So more Houdini than anything else, I guess.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
You could say.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
And they just they just find find ways to get
out of out of stadiums with the w and that's
something you know that, like you said, they'll never get
too down. Another team like that's kind of similar to
that Denver Broncos, right, And we talked about we talked
about it the other day when we're talking about the
power rankings.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You know, Denver's a.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
Team that has never let that does not lead in
the first three quarters of games. They but they find
that they figure out a way to stay tight and
then and then take the lead at the end. And
that's also a gift, right because that just means you're
a fourth quarter team and you're a team that does
(18:28):
not quit, and that breeds confidence, that breeds a lot
of a lot of self assuredness when you're able to
create that. So, yeah, Chicago is not going to be easy.
This is going to be a sixty minute tilt, and
you know, more often than not gonna come to whoever
has the ball last in their hands.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yep, for the third time in the last four weeks,
the Steelers are playing a division leader. And so when
you think about you at the beginning of the season,
you talk about strength to schedule and who are you
going to face and when you know sometimes it's who
you're going to face. Sometimes it's when you're gonna face him,
and sometimes it's where did that team come from? Like
(19:06):
when the Steelers beat the Commanders last year that wound
up being a really good victory. You know you, I
don't know who would have predicted that at this point
of the season the first place teams in their respective
divisions would be the Colts in the AFC South, the
Chargers in the AFC West going into that game, and
the Bears going into this game the leaders in the
(19:27):
NFC North. I don't know as anybody had that, but
here it is, and that's what the schedule has has
laid out for the Steelers. So you know, this maybe
look like an easier game at the beginning of the season,
It certainly does not look like an easy game now
as the Steelers get ready to head on the road
and take on the Chicago Bears coming up on Sunday.
(19:47):
Can't wait for that game. Want to remind you that
you can gear up with the latest game day apparel
and necessities at the Officials Steelers pro shops. Get the
latest Sideline apparel, Jersey's Terrible Tals, authentic memorabilia and custom
exclusives you can only find directly from the team. Visit
one of the official Students Pro shops located at Akfrashuer Stadium,
(20:08):
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at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back more in the
Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford Store and the
Steers Pro Shop on Steers Nation Radio, a part of
the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
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dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And we thank you for being with us.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
From sunny Pittsburgh to rainy Phoenix. You don't get to
say that very often, but we get to say it today.
Max Starks of navigating the rain, and I'm assuming you
were on a.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Drop off duty? Was that?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
What had you out driving in the rain? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
on drop off duty. Had to get the girls of school.
So with the time change usually gives me a you know,
time in the morning to do that because our show
moves from eight am my time for our start of
our show versus seven am. So with that shift, it
(21:38):
gives me an opportunity to then be did then be
on the duty in the morning, and my wife's obviously
out of town, so that also is why I'm on
duty even more so today.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Right, And you have to keep the although I'm sure
the lines of communication are always opening, the start household
you for for all men out there, you have to
keep the stiff upper lip. And so when your wife
comes home and asks you out, went absolutely fine, no
no problems at all. Was great, It was fantastic. I
remember thinking. I remember thinking, because the kids, kids are
(22:17):
a lot of work. You love them, uh and and
you know a lot of times the wife takes on
a lot of those responsibilities. And so there are times
when when and I don't mean the strong way, but
when she came back, I couldn't wait to get.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Back to work so I could relax a little bit,
you know what I mean. So, but we have to
hate how did to go? Fine? Fine?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Right?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
It went great, It went went marvelous, It went marvelous.
So you used the word opportunity, and we didn't talk
a whole lot about Mason Rudolph in the first couple
of days, but tremendous job by him seizing that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And now what's interesting, not only with that, is that Will.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Howard potentially, if you know, listen the entire second half
of that game, Will Howard was one snap away from
being your Steelers quarterback. And so this is an interesting
week in that you would assume those guys will get
some reps. Will Howard will probably get more reps than
he would normally have gotten. I'm sure the butterflies are
(23:22):
going to be, you know, flapping around in his belly
all week as he thinks about the possibility that if
Aaron Rodgers can't go, he might play much like Mason
Rudolph played. But Mason Rudolf's been down this road before.
I don't know when the last time Will Will Howard
had to think about being the number two and preparing
probably back in college and preparing to get in and
(23:45):
and you know, trying to get the reps and get
himself prepared.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Yeah, I mean, I mean it's definitely I would say
have been a while for him, you know, he's used
to being the guy, and you know this season obviously
you know, going on IR for a little bit. You know,
this is this is now the ramp up. You know,
late in the year, you've got to be ready to
rock and roll. So he's he's been, he's been prepping
for this opportunity. So hopefully you know, he he will,
(24:12):
he will be up to speed and we'll understand. Hey,
I'm watching been on the sidelines right as the emergency
third for a number of weeks. Now, Uh, hopefully you
know you have to you have to pick up the
offense when you're not gonna get the reps. You've got
to be able to learn by absorbing through your eyes
and not through the physical play to get ready for
(24:34):
a game.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
So it's gonna on, It's gonna be on him.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Uh, he'll get up, He'll get He'll definitely get a
shot early in the week here as we prepare, because
I imagine, you know, at least at the beginning, Aaron
will probably sit out as he's trying to heal that wrist. So,
like you said, Mason now moves up to QB one,
snaps and then Will comes in gets all of your
scout team and a couple of the little compensatory uh
(25:01):
you know, play plays at the end of practice with
the with the second opportunity. So it's going to be
more than he's had. But I'm sure he welcomes that
opportunity to get any volume in uh.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
This late in the season.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Oh absolutely, So take us through if you can. Max.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
See, I'm out of practice and I'm watching and you know,
guys are you know, the practice squad guys are out
there right they're able to practice with the team, and
you know they're jumping in on scout team and other stuff.
You know, somebody in the practice squad will be wearing
you know, if they're if they're concentrating on, say Colston
Loveland the tight end, Hey, where's he going to be?
Somebody be running around with it with an eighty four
(25:43):
jersey on, you know, like a little red jersey or whatever,
letting everybody know, Hey that's Colston Loveland as we're as
we're going Loveland, as we're going through the uh, you know,
the defense is going through. It's it's keys and all
these other things. You know, how much uh, you know,
what is the interaction like with those practice squad guys,
and does that, you know, at least familiarity in being
(26:03):
around with the guys a little bit help guys ascend
from the practice squad to the regular squad. And again
you talk about guys being ready, right, like Mason Rudolph
being ready. Well, you know, the Steelers had to make
sure that Keishawn william I beg your pardon, not Keishan Owings.
(26:24):
DeShawn Jamison was available because when Keyshawn Williams got hurt,
DeShawn Jamison, who'd been upgraded to the regular roster from
the practice squad, now suddenly he's back there returning kicks.
So how do these guys from the practice squad make
sure they're ready? And does that interaction with the rest
of the team sort of helped them mentally at least
(26:44):
if nothing else, get ready.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Well, you know, the biggest thing, they're in the same
meetings that your starters are in. They're in the same
meetings that the regular special team squad is in. And
for every starter quote unquote, look there there there is
an opposite and equal opportunity on the scout side of it.
(27:08):
So the scout we call it scout team because obviously
you're running the terminology of the and and defensive structure
or offensive philosophy.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Of the opponent.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
But football plays are very similar, right, I mean, really,
the biggest difference that comes down to it is tendencies
and terminology. And so if you look at it from
that perspective, every opportunity you're getting reps, you're getting games
that there's so only so many ways to run an
inside zone. There's only so many ways to run a
(27:41):
five or six man man protection or a slide protection.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Or you know, a play action one.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You know, you either got twins receivers, trips receivers, or
a nice over receiver, right and every once in a while.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You can get four over there. The route tree is
the route tree.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
So a lot of those reps they're getting on the
on the scout side of it can be applied directly.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
To what the offense is.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
It's just not being called that in the huddle per se,
and you're going off of a card. But the concepts
are very similar, not a lot of differentiation, and so
it actually helps, you know, for guys to come out there,
to be in practice, to be helping, and to.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Be watching, you know, because when they're not in there.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
They're watching their side of the ball because you have
a scout in verse on the other side.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You know, every once in a while.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
You know, you might have to pull alignment from either
offensive or defensive side of the ball from the on
the scout side to play you know, their respective you know,
opposite positions, right, because you don't have enough big bodies
or or you don't have enough guys. But for the
most part, you have enough guys to run a whole
(28:59):
full sec unit to be able to go out there
and play. And like you said, the only difference is
some guy might throw on an eighty five jersey, or
you might throw on a Kalmon nun Guy jersey if
he's a key for you, or DeAndre Swift. And of
course every quarterback you know has their jersey or so
somebody's gonna be wearing you know, Will Howard will probably
(29:20):
Will Howard probably be wearing Caleb William's number.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
And those are the keys.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Defensively, you might have some different guys that you're looking
at as keys to what their tendencies are going to be,
they'll get a jersey as well.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
But other than that, it's football at the end of
the day.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
So the students have had to rely on some of
those guys obviously coming up and the latest guys from
either the bench, Mason Rudolph, the practice squad, Deshaun Jamison
coming up doing a nice job.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And Trace Sermon on kick return.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Trey Sermon, Yep, he stepped up and fascinating to see.
And we've talked, you know, again, we did references, but
we talked you know, up in La Trobe and throughout
the preseason and telling people that hey, this is a
team that has good depth, and we've seen the importance
(30:22):
of that, right, I mean, don't forget that when Mason
Rudolph came in to play quarterback, this game was still
very against the Bengals, was very much in doubt, and
in fact, it took the Kyle Duggar interception to really
kind of put things away and really kind of give
you that And that didn't put it away, but it
gave you that breathing room you needed. This game was
(30:44):
very very much in doubt. Mason Rudolph had to come
in and get.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
The job done.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
It's funny to say that when it's thirty four to twelve,
and we talk about this a lot on this program,
how there are four or five plays every game. We
just mentioned the Bears Commanders game. The Bears win twenty
five twenty four, the Commanders had gone for two, didn't
get it. Otherwise that field goal attempt is a tie
at the end. So what happens if you get the
two point conversion? What happens if you simply don't fumble
(31:08):
the football? And so on and so forth, And sometimes
that means it's a twenty five to twenty four game,
But even in a thirty four to twelve game, max,
there are moments here or there that spin the game
one way or the other. And if Mason Rudolph had
been the guy who had made that mistake for whatever reason,
we might, as crazy as this sounds, after thirty four
(31:30):
to twelve, we might be talking about a different outcome
of this game, a different outlook for the Steelers on
the season. These guys being prepared, being ready to go,
being pros, stepping in doing the job. And Mason Rudolph,
I'm I'm kind of talking about him in particular because
of the nature of when he came into the game.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
It's a big, big item.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
For the Steelers to be able to have a guy
like that and some of the other guys we've mentioned,
but again in particular Mason to come in and help
lead the team to an absolute sort of must win
victory over the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, I mean, I mean this is.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
Kind of, I guess, quintessential of what an NFL season
looks like. You know, it's it's the nones and the
unknowns that become nons if that makes sense to it. Yes, okay,
because I was I was like, wait a second, hold
on the actually got got caught in myself for following. Yeah,
(32:32):
so you know, you you have to deal with attrition,
you have to deal with depth, and you have to
be able to come at a team in waves.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Right.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
If somebody's not up to the task, somebody gets injured,
somebody is not available, the game's not gonna stop there. Hey, hey,
hey guys, Hey, sorry, are guys not here?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Can we like post pone?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
This cool?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Is iou?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (33:03):
Really no, when he gets healthy, we'll play it again,
because you know, he's not here, so we can't play it.
We don't have eleven. Uh so it's unfair. No, nobody
says that, like, right, you you know, you move on,
you insert, you replace, and you adapt and you overcome.
That's just what this game is. And and you know
(33:24):
when you have those type of guys that you have
faith in it. And you know, that was one of
the things we talked about in training camp, right. We
were so excited for the depth of this team because
we were like, man, this is the deepest the team's
been in a number of years at a lot of positions.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Well, those positions get tested.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
So we've seen the depth of this team and we
wonder it wasn't enough, and you know, we thought it was, and.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Then we made some upgrades. Right.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
You know, you wouldn't because you're like, hey, you know, Deshaun,
he's been out of he's been out of the lineup
a number of times now, and now you know he's
on it. He's on an ir So we need somebody
to come in and we have to get somebody that
can give us a boost. And you know, kudos once again,
is always front office going. You find a guy, a
(34:11):
guy like Kyle Dugger, who Bill Belichick loved and you know,
was very you know, played in that system, was a
longtime starter in Belichick system. But you know, and even
Gerrod Mayo, but he wasn't a Mike Rabel guy, and
so he kind of had a diminished role with Mike
Brabel because they were playing a different style of defense.
(34:32):
And opportunity presents itself. So you go out, you make
that trade, you go find that guy, and he's been
an instant boost instant boosts. You heard Labs yesterday, right, Kigger.
He's been there fifteen minutes and he was already starting
and has played in almost one hundred percent of the
snap since he's been here. That's crazy, that's crazy, but
(34:54):
also goes to show you that football's football at the
end of the day, comes down to the terminology, right,
and the technique and if if if you got, if
you if you got. The concepts are all very similar.
It's just how you get to them, right. A little
bit of a little bit, a little bit of smoke
and mirrors, a little bit of cloud and pixie dust
(35:15):
is about the difference. You know, for a lot of
the defensive concepts. Offense can be a little bit more,
you know, sophisticated, but.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Not that much.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
But he's able to plug and play and play he
has done and like you said, to get the play
that you did out.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Of him in that game on Sunday was phenomenal. That.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
I mean, that's a guy who studied, and the luck
that was involved is, you know, where preparation meets opportunity,
and he was prepared for the opportunity and he made
the play and it helped us win.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
I would also think, and one last thing on this
topic and then we'll we'll move forward a little bit.
But it strikes me that you know, on a on
a practice squad, you know, you might have somebody who
you're betting on their talent, right, and hey, can we
develop this guy? Can we bring this guy along? We're
seeing more and more veterans now in practice squads as
(36:12):
they've changed the rules, But I would think that you
it's necessary to have some sort of high character guys
who take the work seriously, who understand what needs to
be done, who were willing to fill a role in
order to be the next man up. That it takes
(36:34):
a certain type of guy to be able to do that.
It would seem to me, I don't want to oversell it,
but it would seem to me that maybe not everybody's
cut out for that guy and or that role. And
when you can find a guy that is and understands
what that role is and and the importance of it.
Almost like a utility infielder in baseball. You understand, Okay,
this is my role, and I got to be prepared
and I got to be ready to go.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And you can't have somebody who's in.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
That role who's complaining all the time about playing time
and undercutting, you know, saying bad stuff about the person
behind their back. You don't you understand what I'm saying. Like,
is it kind of like being a utility guy in baseball?
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Yeah, utility guy in baseball, the third the sixth man
off the bench in basketball. And also you know, being
being that you know, the number number two guy on
any depth chart in the NFL, or that set you know,
second line in hockey.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I mean, there's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (37:28):
Places where those positions are desirable when you have flexibility
because you don't know where it's going to be, but
you just know it's gonna be and being prepared for
all situations as much as possible. Some people can do
it with mental reps. Some can do it with the
visual and they don't need the physical repetition to get
(37:49):
them in the groove. And that's a special that takes
a special skill set to be able to just be dropped,
you know, dropped in randomly in this game, and whether
it's for a couple of plays, or whether it's for
a series, a quarter a half or heck, it might
even be you know, after the first snap of the game.
I'll never forget my freshman year in college at the
(38:11):
University of Florida. Are starting right tackle can YadA Walker
had the flu and we're playing Vanderbilt, and I'll never
forget this. You know, my office line coach, Jimmy Ray
Stevens at the time, Jimmy Ray goes, hey, uh, you know,
uh starts be on the lookout for for YadA, big YadA.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You know, he's not feeling well.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
He's been throwing up this morning, and you know he
might not be able to go. This is game day,
by the way, I'm finding this out right. You know,
it was right before about to get on the team buses.
Where at team breakfast and get to the stadium. You know,
I get ready, I'm like, okay, you know I'm looking
at YadA YadA.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I mean, he's just bluing the gills.
Speaker 5 (38:52):
I'm like, YadA, man, hey, you know, just let me
know he's all right, Max, I'll let you know, man,
I'm try and go.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I'm gonna try and go. I'm gonna try and go.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
We got out there.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
He went out for the first play, looked through the sidelines,
tapped his helmet, and started jogging off the field. I'm like,
uh oh, it's go time and we're just running out there.
And I played every snap but the first play. Got
no reps with the ones all that week because he
was he was healthy. But it came to game day
and he was and he wasn't ready to go another time,
(39:23):
the last last one because I know we got to
hit the brake.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
But we're we're, we're, we're. We're in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Were about to play the Miami Dolphins, the famous lawn
Dark game. That's the one where where, yeah, the hurricane
came through our tropical storm and we tried to double side.
We double sided of the field because we didn't have
enough time to strip the field and put the new
turf on, so they just put it on top of
the other one, right, And there were and I remember
coming to the stadium that week that that day, walking
(39:51):
in and normally, you know, you can tell a lot
of things. So I look for those little intrinsic things.
So normally when you walk in the stadium, guys who
are seeing your your top forty six pads, they put
the jersey on the pads before you get there, so
they're they're they're up top in the lockers, and it's
the wire open. Like anybody has been on the stadium
(40:13):
tour and been in the locker room, understand the locker room. Uh,
the lockers aren't really this fancy ornate things like you
see a lot of these college locker rooms. Ours is
ours is rather just simple and normal. It's wire, black
black wire.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
And then you have the wood well up top is
the open space.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
That's where the that's where the shoulder pads go when
you when you undo the the your your carry bags
for your pads and everything. So it's usually laid out
for guys who are dressing. So I just remember walking
into the office line. We're in one little corner towards
the front end, the far end of the locker room
from where you walk in close to the side door
(40:52):
before we go out into the field for the tunnel
for like intros and player warm ups, and so I
just remember looking and not seeing Marvel's pads up top,
and I was like, what, that's weird. But I also
know that Marvel likes to tape his own pads, so
I'm like, okay, not as crazy as you think. And then,
you know, you look to the right when you're walking
in the locker room, and that's where the training room is,
(41:14):
and I just remember seeing Marvel laying on his stomach
on one of the training tables with a heating pad
on his back, and I was like, huh.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
I was like, well, I guess he's getting warmed up.
Speaker 5 (41:24):
So I go about my business and then I Marvel
kind of kind of walks gingerly out out of the
training room.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
He looks at me, He's like, you're up, Max. I'm
like what huh? I'm sorry, what was that? You're up?
I'm out, like, uh what do you mean my back? Huh?
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Jason Taylor No reps really yep. He's like, and you know,
then are like I said, all right, starts actually boy,
you know he's you know, he's like, he's like, oh,
you had left tackle you you you you and nine
to nine about to go at it. I was like, okay,
(42:04):
all right, let me go ahead and get my warm
up outfit on it, and let me get my butt
out to the field and take some reps because I'm
going in at left tackle, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
And I was a swing tackle.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
I was a starting right tackle for about three years
and then transition to the swing guy. And then now
I got to go in it left right because I
have to be ready either the right or the left tackle.
So Willie colohmbs our starting right tackle, Marvell Smill was
our starting left tackle, and I'm I'm the top back
of I'm the six man off the bench, so to speak,
right at at either tackle position. So I just remember
(42:36):
running out to the field, I'm excited, like okay, nervous,
and then I looked the field still tarped, and I'm
like okay.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
So I got no reps. I was doing some reps
in the locker room and.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Had to go out and play the whole game against
Jason Taylor and that in that horrible field conditions game.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
So that's just how it happens. But you have to
be ready.
Speaker 5 (42:55):
You have to be ready for the opportunity because you
never know when it's going to strike. So I was
good at visually watching practice versus being a guy that
was you know, they had to have physical reps and
it paid off.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
So we've seen that payoff for the students, paid off
for Max Stark's always prepared.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Of course stick around. We have much to get to.
Jim Wexle is going to be joining us.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
On this hump Day and we are going to start
to really focus in on some of the key matchups
and players for the Bears and the Steelers in matchup
on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago. When we continue
in the Locker Room presented by you Neighborhood Ford showing
Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by Your Neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at Shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
And welcome back. Thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (44:02):
As luck would have it, as we mentioned this year,
that would be facing a third division leader in the
last four weeks, defeating the Colts at home, losing to
the Chargers on Sunday night they beat the Bengals, of course,
not a division leader, and now they take on the
Chicago Bears. Probably all three of those teams would have
been upsets at this point of the.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Season to be division leaders. But there you have it.
Speaker 4 (44:23):
So this year is one and one, looking to make
it two to one against those division leaders when they
head up the Soldier Field to take on the Chicago
Bears Sunday, kickoff scheduled for one pm. Weather conditions were
certainly a factor this past Sunday in Pittsburgh at Aquisher Stadium.
You know, people were talking about the offense not looking
(44:44):
as good and you know, sort of carrying that over,
particularly the passing game, carrying that over from what had
happened in LA. But again, keep in mind, neither team
moved the ball well. Neither team's offense found its groove.
Think about the Bengals averaging thirty eight points per game
in their last three. They put up twelve against the Steelers,
(45:05):
eighteen mile hour wins. Don't forget about that. Very very
difficult to throw the ball under those conditions. So hopefully
the offense gets back on track. There are a lot
of really, really intriguing matchups in this game. So if
you're a fan of not only the game at large,
but maybe every once in a while taking your eyes
off the ball to watch a particular matchup, we've got
(45:28):
some for you, some beauties.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
We're going to get to that.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Jim Wexel is going to be joining us next on
this wex Wednesday, a hump day when we continue in
the Locker Room, presented by our neighborhood Forward Store and
the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part
of the Steelers Audio Network.
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