November 7, 2025 • 46 mins
Max and Rob briefly recap last night's game between the Raiders and Broncos, and then continue to dive into what the Los Angeles Chargers will bring to the field this Sunday Night.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one P fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
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shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
And hello everybody, thanks very much for being with us
in the locker room alongside Max Starks. I'm Rob King,
Justin Miller with the controls in our iHeart studio. We
thank you for being with us on this Friday as
we get you ready for the Steelers and the Chargers
and other big matchup on Sunday night. Fun stuff all
the way around. Max, how are you today, my friend?
You good? Uh?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's Friday, so you know, how
how could you not be excited? End of the quote
unquote work week for the majority of us, But uh,
you know, for you and I Rob, it's just getting
heated up. I mean, you know, we we are just
we are just two sleeps away from Sunday night football
(01:06):
and you can't sleep on the third night because we'll
be playing.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, it'll be up late, although not so late for you. Right,
That'll be like a five to twenty body clock kick
off for you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, five twenty body clock kickoff, and you know, out
I'll feel as spry as possible at that hour, you know.
But I mean, you know it's an earlier game here.
But you know, I fly so much, Rob, I mean,
I don't know what time's oving I'm in most of
the time mentally, and my body, my body is just
(01:37):
mad at me all the time. But so so yeah,
so I'm sure. I'm sure there'll be some some East
Coast wear and tear fatigue. Luckily, I will not be
making my travails east and then coming back west like
you guys. I'll be staying on the West coast this weekend,
so it'll be an easier, easier weekend for travel. So
(02:00):
I'm happy. This is actually the shortest game distance I
have to travel all season, So pretty good.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Who do you have?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I I am I am not going to have because
I am worried about the flight situations across the country
and you know what those expected reductions in flights and
air traffic control. I'm just not going to take the
risk because I was supposed to be. I was I
was slated for the Indiana penn State game, and and
(02:29):
UH and and State College. So yeah, not flying to
middle of Pennsylvania to then hope to get back all
the way to the west coast in a timely manner.
So I'm just gonna avoid that risk altogether.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, sorry for you, but grateful for me that that
there will be no no risk of not having Max
Starks there kickoff on Sunday night. So that's good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Now year to plan if a flight cancels and in
Phoenix and drive to LA And.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I mean it's it's been a mess before this for you,
right the flying? Yeah, has this been last week?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It was my first one, which was which was the
flight to Pittsburgh last week was my first on time
scheduled departure.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Now has this been noticeably worse than in years past?
I mean everything now everyone's you know, we got family
coming into town next week. They're all worried about their flights.
And and because all these airports are being you know
there there curtailing flights are cutting them back prior to
this because you know the troubles about to start. And
(03:37):
it just does every time I talk to him, like, man,
is this is this normal? Is this the way it's
usually been or has it already been worse leading.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Up to this, No, it is. This has been by
far my worst airline flying travel season of all time.
Like I mean, and you know, I fly a lot.
I mean, as we've kind of recanted, but I mean,
over the five years that I've been with ESPN and
(04:08):
with and with the Steelers, you know, I fly, and
I do thirty six games a year normally, so and
that's you know, that's a lot of football games, a
lot of a lot of different cities. But yeah, I
mean all of those have gone swimmingly the last four years,
and this year just has been an absolute mess from
(04:29):
the from the moment we started the season, rob and
you know all about that background of getting to that
first game yep in New Jersey. So uh yeah, it's been.
It's been. It's been. It's been a bear. And uh,
you know, I don't complain because once again I have
made it to every single game, and I we we've
(04:50):
had great broadcasts. So I mean, I guess, like I said,
I love what I do, so once I get to
the stadium, that's all that matters, right right, But it's
just the lead up of getting to the stadium. That
has been just an absolute mess getting there. But I
make it there, and that's the most important thing. And
I will not miss a broadcast. I don't care if
I had to drive eight hours in the middle of
(05:11):
a torrential storm to get there. I will get there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, we look forward to seeing you in LA. That's
all good stuff. Can't wait for this game against the
Chargers before we charge ahead on the Chargers. Did you
watch last night's game? I see what she did there.
I see what she did there. Thank you. That wasn't good.
But it's over.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Now, I mean, but and it was. It was very,
very very concise and very redundant too. So you charged
on through that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So did you did you watch last night?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yes? I did watch that terrible display. Oh my and
our confidence? How bad was your confidence level of how
we just guaranteed victory for the Broncos earlier on the
broadcast yesterday, and then we're watching this and daliel Cars
is lighting up the tightest game and going to over time.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well I was. I was certainly rooting for the despite
what we said. I once I once asked a question
of a friend of mine who was a weather person
at a previous stop wasn't in Pittsburgh, previous stop. And
(06:21):
I asked her, I said, hey, let's say you forecast
rain for the weekend. You go on the air Friday
night and you say it's gonna rain. Now Saturday, You've
got a family reunion picnic lined up. Would you rather
have no rain in the picnic and be wrong on
(06:42):
your forecast? Or would you rather be right in the forecast?
And she just said, you know the answer to that.
So the answer is take cover family, You'd rather be right.
But I was rooting for us to be wrong last night.
I was rooting in the other direction. I was rooting
for the Raiders. Listen, bluddy it up, right, you know,
throw some other teams back, and why not?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean, that's what this season has been. Ye, that's
what the season has been. Why not, right, you know,
just just let chaos rain at this point, you know,
and don't don't get comfortable, don't you know, mess up
Vegas's favorite odds. And of course having a team from Vegas,
I just would have threw things in a tizzy. But
(07:24):
it's just like, why not, why not add to this?
Because you know anything you can quote unquote hang your
hat on see seems seems to fall off the wall, right,
you know, the coach stands, seems to disintegrate from week
to week. But I mean you're sitting on a team
now that has what seven straight seventh straight game win
streak right now, as wrong as win streak in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Doesn't matter how you get them. And by the way,
just a reminder, uh to fans out there, because listen,
we we know we always you always see your own
team's weaknesses. You see them up close, and you wonder
why did they blow them out? You know, I'm watching,
I'm through. I think it's six games of the Chargers
(08:06):
season and they're four and two. They just beat the
Dolphins in a game in which the Dolphins just let
it slip away. The Dolphins had control of that game.
The week before, the Chargers were playing the Commanders and
they look like they were on the run them out
of the building. You know, they get a pucket for
(08:26):
a touchdown, it gets called back and then you look
up and it's like the Commanders are routing them. I mean,
there are just plays in almost every game, two or
three plays and if your team makes those plays, and
we understand there are teams that blow other teams out,
you know, the elite teams, the Bills, the Chiefs, they
the Eagles, you know, they may run somebody out of
(08:49):
the building. I understand that. But the good teams, almost
by definition, are the ones that make those three or
four plays. And it's crazy to think Bill carow to
say there's a fine line in this business. It's crazy
to think that a play here, a play there, turns
almost every single game, and the good teams find a
(09:10):
way more often than not to turn those plays in
their favor.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, I think that's really what it comes down to.
It comes down to who can take advantage of the
opportunity when it presents itself. And because you're already playing
against what the top one percent of human athletes on
this earth right on the field, so it's always good
on good Even a bad team has a lot of
(09:37):
good players, right, you know. So it's just about how
you manage the opportunities and when the moment presents itself,
can you take advantage? Can you rise to the occasion
or rise above the occasion in those ones, But the
second you sink below it, it becomes even more glaring.
Because of the microscope you're under and that's that's really
(10:00):
what NFL football is about, because there's a key third down,
there's there there's there's a there's a key catch, there's
a key you know, sack, tackle, tip that could alter
your way. Remember that, clem Remember Cleveland at home a
few weeks ago, where we had like five attempts at
(10:23):
at catching a tip pass or getting an interception or
getting a turnover, and we didn't. We had that drought,
and then of course last week we cleared that drought out.
In fact, in fact, I think we replenished all of
the stores of the village with the amount of turnovers
we had. But it was like Cleveland could have been
what the Colts game was like. It was narrowly. You're
(10:45):
talking about like six inches here, maybe a foot there,
maybe if you step a little bit further left. I mean,
there was just all of these just marginal minute calculations
or miscalculations that that could have really altered that game completely.
Now we still won handedly and it was still a
(11:06):
very convincing, thorough victory, but it didn't it didn't have
the flash, it didn't have those moment and you kind
of overcame the lack of those explosive moments with consistent play.
But when you get up against good teams, that is
what the difference is. As we saw on the Coast game,
(11:26):
you take the number one offense and you turn them
over five times and they only had what six on
the season before that. That that that's a hell of
a job, right, I mean, that's talking when you talk
about luck. Luck is preparation and opportunity meeting at that
at that intersection. Right, That's what luck is. And that's
exactly what happened in the game, and we want to
continue that. But that's what all of these NFL games are.
(11:49):
I mean, I'm you know, I watched the Chargers Minnesota game,
which you're you're you're gonna be coming up on soon.
And at the start of that game, if Minnesota gets
that gets the tip pick and it's a pick six,
you know, and they're up seven to zero instead of
it being called back, and then next thing, you know,
the Chargers just reel off, you know, fourteen fourteen points
(12:12):
and now fourteen to three halfway through this game. Stale
made it. But you know, that's what you're talking about
the differences in those games is if that changed that
changed the complete complexion of the game, and especially when
it happens early.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, and to your point, I mean, you talk about
the Jets have it can make a very strong case
for being the worst team in the NFL. And look
what they got for their guys. Look what they got
for Sauce Garden. Look what they got for Quinn and Williams.
Teams inquired about Garrett Wilson, teams inquired about Breese Hall.
They have a lot of good players. What they don't
have is a lot of victories. And the Steelers, Yeah,
(12:48):
going to this game this weekend five and three. By
the way, they announced yesterday that they had signed Broderick Martin,
who I believe now goes by Broderick Martin Rhodes. So
Broderick Martin, you know, for fans that are really into it,
will remember perhaps that he was a third round pick
of the Lions a couple of years ago. So if
you one of those draft knicks and you're thinking, hey,
(13:08):
the Steelers need to shore up the defensive line, you
might have remembered Broderick Martin, and he was with the Lions.
He was a third round pick. Evidently battled some consistency issues,
but He's a big guy, supposed to be a run
stuffer type. So you bring him in, you add him
to the active roster. You signed him off the Chiefs roster.
(13:30):
Now I'm of two minds of this Max, because the
Chiefs never gave him an opportunity and they had some
issues along their defensive line, and they never elevated him
for the practice squad. He just signed that. It was
between the end of the preseason and prior to Week one,
was put on their practice squad by the same took.
And I also see a guy with some pedigree of talent,
a big body, and you know, listen to Steelers sought
(13:52):
enough of them to add him to their roster. So
Broderick Martin now Broderick Martin Rhodes is a member of
the Pittsburgh Steelers wearing numbers seventy eight. And we may
see him on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yes, I know. And this is one that you know,
I'll be cautiously watching. You know, I'm very protective of
my number.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, somebody represent the number. You know, you tune
up the antennas. You know, Gareth Warren and ya you know,
you know gave me some hope and then shuddered that hope,
you know, because you know it was one of those
things that Gareth you know, he got he got knocked
out with a concussion. And then then ya decided to
(14:34):
switch to an ugly number ninety four. I don't know
why you picked that number, but you know, seventy eight
looked way better on him, and you know he had
the belly celly in that jersey. I don't know why
you just you don't keep it. I mean, it was
a good number on him. But it is interesting. You know,
we'll get another defensive line. They'll try and try and
you know, bring their esteem back to that number, you know,
(14:58):
and kind of rekindle the du White White era of
the Steelers with very nice defensive line.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
There you go Steelers history. Bob Labriol will be proud.
But you know, I'm excited about this because, like you said,
you know, you just you don't you want to have
contingencies in place for your d lineman. And and that's
one of the things is it's a it's a position
that you want to have well stocks. You don't want
to have that injury. We've gone through a rash of
injuries and other position groups on the defense. We have
(15:25):
not really hit true attrition on the D line, so
you want to be prepared for that if it does happen.
But I think, you know, the other interesting thing is
not necessarily you know, project Martin Rose, who we signed,
but the prospect potentially that Sante Samuel Junior also a
scheduled to meet with the Steelers on Wednesday because he
got cleared from his neck injury and he's highly sought after.
(15:47):
I mean, I think I think he's I think he
started visits yesterday and he's he's booked. He's booked through Wednesday.
Obviously you can't do visits on Saturday and Sunday teams
are prepping and playing. But after that he's got a
full schedule. So it'll be interesting, you know, with our
secondary you know kind of I think needs concerns as
(16:08):
far as health throughout, and especially now with Jalen Ramsey
switching to the safety position, you want to make sure
you have enough bodies at the cornerback position. Obviously, if
you do sign the side, he's not like he's jumping
out there and playing on a Sunday after you sign him,
like he's been out of football for a while. He
has to make sure he's in shape, he understands everything,
make sure he can move. He's gonna go through a
(16:29):
lot of battery of physicals over the next you know,
five visits. But that's another one that's intriguing as well.
You know, not only signing a defensive lineman to bolster
that depth, but now also looking at you know, the
cornerback and secondary positions as well.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
For sure. Listen, this is what happens every year, right,
you're looking, you're scouring. This is why you have pro scouts.
You know, everybody thinks about.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Sheldon White and Company pro personnel coordinator.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Right, and you know this stuff gets passed along, right,
so you know, the the amateur scouting staff may have
a line on a guy, right, you know, Danny Colbert's
out there scouting a guy and now he's drafted by
another team. Well, that information then gets passed on in
a database and in a bank of names, and now
(17:22):
you know Sheldon White, you know, has gotten a look
at that guy, and now you know he's on the
pro scouting side, and you have things you can lean
back on, right, you can you know, hey, what was
your reports on this guy coming? Out of college and
what have we seen now? And you know everything has
to work together and work together well. And you know
it's not like you know, I mean, I'll hear fans
(17:43):
say things like, why don't we take a flyer on
so and so? Well, there is a clearly there is
a little.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Bit of that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You know. Anytime you draft a guy, you're taking a flyer.
I mean, if you want to broaden the define mission
of taking a flyer. But it's done judiciously. It's done
because you've done your homework. It's done because you might
have a four or five six year database on a guy.
Somebody scouted him, he popped up on somebody's radar, you know,
when they were scouting somebody else as a freshman. And
(18:16):
now you talk to the coach and you you know,
you learn a little bit about something, and now you know,
a couple more years at college, maybe five more years
of college these days, and you you builds right, right,
you build a book on a guy, and and now
you feel like you've got enough information to go out
and sign a guy. So it's not just a flyer.
(18:39):
There's a lot of thought and a lot of research
and a lot of scouting that goes into it. And
so you know, we'll see about Sante Samuel. But you know,
Broderick Martin, for now, maybe an opportunity to show something.
And you know you're constantly looking to upgrade areas of
your roster. Right now, the Stealers have some injuries at
(19:00):
defensive back, but those injuries have so you know, are
you looking for defensive back? Well, you might just think, hey,
this is the best guy out there, we have a vacancy.
Let's get him in here. And now if you're at
the end of the roster and your defensive lineman, all
of a sudden, you know, if your ears were perked
up already, they certainly are now because he's going to
come in trying to make sure that he sticks on
(19:21):
this team if you go out and make another move.
So an interesting signing for sure. He's a guy with
some pedigree, ins in talent, and we'll see if you
can get out there and do something for this to others,
perhaps as early as this Sunday.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah, And which is interesting because right you've had some
healthy scratches of like Logan Lee and Otomewe and you
know you think, okay, well those guys will be next
up naturally in line, right, But no, I mean if
there's something they're seeing in practice, something there or they're
not seeing in practice, that's why you go and you
make these type of moves to be prepared in case,
(19:55):
right because you know, yes, you didn't have Derek Harmon
start the season, but you have plenty of bodies in there,
and Derek Harmon kind of solidified things along with Keanu
Binton and Cam Heyward, but we haven't seen still seeing
the rawness, you know, from that second wave of guys,
and then you lose a daniel aquality you know, and
(20:15):
you never really replaced it. I think Broderick Martin probably
corresponding move for the Daniel aquality injury more so than
anything else. But that's another game day Jersey Potentially that
could be taken away from one of those other guys.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That's right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So so I think that's how we kind of have
to frame this when we're looking at the body count,
you know, and and you know, and Broderick Martin roads
is more of a nose ish type of type of
player versus a three technique or a defensive tackle you
know what we would traditionally call a three technique and
a four to three or the defensive ends and a
(20:52):
three to four become like four and four eyes just
just a gap wise, I mean, it's literally the difference
of a gap. Do I line on the outside shoulder
regard or the inside shoulder of the tackle? Like, that's
literally the difference that we're splitting hairs about. But yeah,
he fits more in the A gaps.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And by the way, you're right about a quality that
was a couple of weeks ago, so i'd kind of
I kind of looked. I guess I kind of overlooked that.
So you're right, a quality going out. And that's, by
the way, you know, an injury that this is a
guy we talked about him. I think it was last
week playing good football for this team, and he's out.
So now regardless, opportunity max, regardless opportunity for him, an
(21:30):
opportunity for others, you know, opportunity for others to show
that hey man, I want to put my hand in
the piles, so to speak, and and be part of
this thing. Moving forward. So moving forward for us, we
have Missy Matthews coming up at the top of the hour,
and we will get her insights and her as she
prepares for the broadcast coming up on Sunday. We have
a lot of key matchups to get to. In fact,
(21:52):
our keys to the game coming up in a little bit.
We want to remind you first you should gear up
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(22:13):
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a part of the Steelers Audio Network, This is give.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Them Blockapheel with Shan Stars on Steelers Nation Radio, presented
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Speaker 2 (22:51):
Com, and thank you very much for being with us
on this Friday, and we are going to be spending
a bulk of the the show. Missy Matthews joining us
at eleven, but the bulk of the show going over
our Keys to the Game presented by your neighborhood Forts
or the F one fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know, one of the things that
Mike Tomlin talked about right out of the shoot and
(23:13):
we alluded to yesterday and I did not want to
forget for today is Derwin James. And James is He's everywhere.
He's a four time Pro bowler, He's a one time
All Pro. You know, suffered a ghastly injury, you know
early in his career. You wondered if it would rail him.
He's come back from that, made Pro Bowl since then. Max.
(23:35):
He's a guy that you you know, Aaron Rodgers has
got to identify. Of course, this is one of the
things Aaron Rodgers is great at. Where is Derwin James
Because they line him up all over the field. You'll
see him in the slot, You'll see him on the
back end, you'll see him rushing the passer. He's just
a really, really terrific football player. Bop. I think my
(24:00):
question fell on deaf ears. Max. Are you there? Did
we lose him? Okay, so we may have lost Max momentarily,
but we will get back to him. So James, you know,
Mike Tomlin talked about him earlier in the week about
how important he is to the Chargers defense. When you
think about the Chargers defense, probably the pass rushers, and
we're gonna get to that next, they have a lot
(24:23):
of you know, sort of youth or untested or unproven
guys or guys that you wouldn't think of his household
names on the outside at the cornerback position, even next
to Derwin James. Back in the safety positions, you know,
you have Tony Jefferson, who's a veteran guy who's been around,
Elijah Molden, veteran guy who's been around. But I don't
(24:43):
think most people think of those guys at this point
of their career as elite, top end talented guys to
go along with Derwin James, and then you do have
a great number of pass rushers. Adafe Oway has been
a huge improvement for this team. In the four games
he's played, come up with four sacks. Twy Polodu that's
helped him as well. Toy Polodu is tied for six
(25:05):
in the NFL, he has seven sacks. Talking to Matt
Williamson yesterday during the matchup, one of the reasons that
they felt comfortable letting Bosa go was that they had
Towy Polodu as a guy that they could bring off
the edge and come up with a lot of sacks.
But all that Max starts with Derwin James and you know,
look one sack or i mean sorry, one interception, one
(25:27):
and a half sacks. You might not see like eye
popping numbers from Derwin James. Statistically, he is the team's
second leading tackler as well, but just his all round
game and the way he's utilized makes him the guy
you just have to know where he is.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, win healthy, game changer. Right, this is a guy
second team All Pro just a year ago, his fourth
All Pro nod and eight seasons. But he's a difference maker.
He forces you to go play places that he's not
and that's all you can ask for out of that
out of a strong safety position, right, you have to
(26:04):
be that enforcer. And he roams that secondary in that
back half of the field. Then he's defending, you know,
like you know, like a law dog. You know, he
has a sheriff's badge out and he's making sure that
everybody stays in line. And that's what you want. So
the stats aren't going to be great because foolish enough
if you are to go in his area, because he
(26:24):
will make you pay. Hence why people avoid that area.
So he's doing his job, and he is. He is
a definitely a key difference maker. He can blitz off
the edge, he's a great perimeter, sure tackler, he can
defend the ball in the air. He provides an all
around well balanced approach. He is the elevated, you know,
version of what we have and Deshaun Elliott, right, DeShawn
(26:47):
hasn't been a starter as long as Derwin James. But
the same tenacity, the same skill, the same ball IQ
they both possess it and I think that's something when
you think of Derwin jameson this is also a guy
Jalen Ramsey school. Right, they were both DB's at FSU.
So there's something in the water there now Jalen Ramsey
free safety and Derwin James strong safety. So you can
(27:11):
imagine when you think about you know, some some some
greats back in the day, some college some college backed secondaries.
You look at that, you go, man, I mean it
reminds me, you know, this is this is more familiar
than anything else. But when my uncle Joey Browner and
Ronnie Lott were teammates at USC and they that was
strong and free. And you look at Derwin James and
(27:34):
jailers because Jalen Ramsey did play safety in college. So
imagine those two on the back half together in their prime,
like as young as young men, flying around and not
knowing you know what what tired, what the word tired was,
not knowing what the word injury was, and just playing
loose and free. There were some devastating dudes. So Derwin
(27:54):
James is definitely in that same cut cutting vein of
Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know, I'm glad you said that because when I
watched James, and obviously I'm familiar with James. I mean,
you know, he's been a star in the league for
a long time, and I'm you know, clearly I know
exactly who he is, and I've seen him play an occasion,
but now I've seen him play six consecutive games, and
he he reminds me a lot of Jalen Ramsey, or
(28:21):
maybe the other way around, in that he's got, you know,
great field coverage. You're never quite sure where he's gonna be.
And then the other thing on top of that is
he brings the wood man he is. He is eager
to hit you and hit you hard. And that's the
way I feel about Jalen Ramsey. You know, they talked
about the level of violence at Jalen Ramsey brings to
(28:44):
the game, and I felt the same way about him
coming in seen him play, knew how good you know
he was, but wasn't really that aware of just how
physical a player he is. And Derwin James to me,
is cut from that same sort of off.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
No, absolutely absolutely. I mean a zest and a zeal
for blood, right, you know, that's that's the that's the
that's the that's the gladiator kind of ethos. And this
is a gladiatorial sport. So you know, you have you
have to play with that type of conviction, you have
to play with that type of tenacity to be great
and he does that just like Jalen Ramsey does and
(29:24):
happy that we have our own version of that here
on the Steelers squad.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
So Max, when a guy like that moves around as
much as he does, is there look Aaron Rodgers first
and foremost, He's gonna identify him. He's going to know
where he's going to be. You know, I'm sure he
will either adjust or or do things to line of
scrimmage differently maybe than was called in the huddle. So
(29:50):
he is the first line of defense against the guy
like Derwin James. But how much of his stress does
he put, say on an offensive tackle or you know,
a tight end or something. You know, Hey, do I
need to stay in and block this guy's coming off
the edge? I need to know where he is. Are
you kind of looking around because he could come flying
at it nowhere? Remember Mike Hilton was so good at
(30:12):
timing those blitzes right, and he usually comes off the edge,
which usually means the guy at the end of the
line of scrimmage has got to do something about picking
that guy up. Does James provide additional stress to other
players other than simply the quarterback? Or does mostly this
fall on the shoulders of Aaron Rodgers to identify him
and figure out where to go with the ball.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
He's taller than the starting two inside linebackers, so he's
bigger than the two guys that are charged with responsibility
playing in the box. So that right there lets you
know that if he's in the box, you need to
know where he is, and he will put stress on them,
just like a linebacker blitzing does, and so you have
(30:56):
to know you have to make sure that you're accounting
for him if he is in a blitzable position. So
whether that's putting a tight end on him, whether that's
putting a running back on him, or you know, within
the slide construct of movement on your Mike I D
he replaces a guy who's dropping offensive lineman, then have
(31:16):
responsibility for him. So if he falls within the seven
man box, you're gonna count him as a known rusher
because why is he.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Down there right?
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Why is he in Why is he in the space
that most secondary guys don't go unless he is going
to be coming, And so you have to be prepared
to know where he is, just like you have to
know where Khalil Mack is. You know, I'm not going
to say he's he's a Troy Polamalu type, but he
is a person of interest. And you want to know
(31:48):
if he's poking around anywhere in that and in that
and that seven man the run box we call it,
if he's anywhere near that or hanging around around the
side of it or the outskirts of it and on
the edges, be aware, Be aware because Derwin James is
not there by accident. He's not there by accident, right
(32:08):
and there is there there is some type of you know,
as I call it, smells funny and jesse Mentor is
a type is the type of guy that he's not.
He's not going to just put a guy out of
position and force them, you know, out out of just
some extended disguise, right he If you're in that zone,
that means he plans on utilizing you. So you better
be head on the swivel, Understand what the structure is,
(32:29):
Understand who's coming and if they Now him and Khalil
Matt come from the same side. At least at least
you're already looking that way. But is when there's is
when it's quote unquote split sides where now you're you're
you're you're almost going to the opposite across side. You're
going uncrossed eyes trying to trying to see him and
figure out where he is and make sure the communications
cleaning along the offensive line, so none of them overlook
(32:50):
the fact that you need to know where number three
is on the field.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I think he's the wild card. I don't you know.
I think, Mike, I'm gonna describe him as a straw
that stirs a drink. I don't necessarily think that he
in and of himself can be considered the strong suit
of the team. I think that's the pass rush, which
we'll get to in a minute. But just the fact
and he can be part of that pass rush, but
just the fact that he can do multiple things, Max,
(33:18):
as you said, makes him a person of interest and
somebody that the Steelers have to account for. And he is,
without being by himself, the strength of the team. He is,
you know, the guy that most fans are gonna know
on this defense. He and of course you know you
mentioned Khalil Mack has been you know, a multiple Pro
(33:38):
Bowl players, so you know he's another guy. But I
just for sheer star power, he's the guy, you know,
Number three out there that you got to be paying
attention to if you're a fan, and if you're a
snugger by the.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Way, yeah, I mean well I think also you know,
he doesn't he's not necessarily, like you said, on his own,
a true bona fide game rerecord by himself. But he's
a guy that he's one of those expensive add ons
you know that you're gonna notice it, Like, you know,
(34:11):
is a spoiler on the back of a Porsche gonna
really make the car go you know, that much faster? No,
you need the engine to do that, right, But once
you have the engine, like a Khalil Mack, the spoiler
helps on the drag coefficient, right, so it allows it
to go faster than it already can go because it's
(34:31):
a fast vehicle. I don't want to see a spoiler
on the back of a Ford Fiesta, you know what
I'm saying, Like, that's just it's pointless, right, And that's
essentially how this so's he's like the spoiler on the
sports car, right, and he's you know, some type of
fender flare. He's in addition to something that's already good,
(34:51):
and you have Khalil Mack on that squad that makes
them a really good and he's a guy that can
be a game wrecker by himself. But now you take
the game wrecker and you add another piece to it,
and now it becomes even more magnified. So that's what
Derwin James can bring to, you know, any defense he's on,
but especially this the Chargers defense and why they've been
(35:15):
good at a lot of points this season.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, there's there's a lot of strength to get to
on this Chargers defense and we're gonna get to that
coming up next. Missy Matthews also joining us at eleven o'clock.
We are getting close to game time. We still have
to talk about Justin Herbert because he is a phenomenal
force in his own right and a very good receiving core.
Lots to continue to get to when we continue in
(35:39):
the locker room here, and of course the locker room
is presented by a neighborhood Ford store and this Steelers
Pro shop on Steve His Nation Radio a part of
this tee. There's audio network.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And this is given the locker room with King and Starks.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
On Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neghborhood 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.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Com, and we thank you for being with us as
we continue our Keys to the Game presented by our neighborhood.
For sure, the F one fifty is the official truck
of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And when you think about the
Chargers defense, we talked about Derwin James just moments ago
and how he's the guy. Mike Tomlin said, he's a
straw that stirs a drink over there, and so he's
(36:34):
that guy. But if and listen, let's just at least
quickly talk about their interior defensive linemen. They're very thin.
As of right now, they only have four defensive linemen
listed on the roster, and then those guys are backed up.
So we're talking about Tier Tart, Jamari Caldwell, the rookie
nose tackle justin to Boyd B. And then behind them
(36:56):
is Nakwon Jones by the way, Jones, Caldwell, Tart all
three hundred plus pound, big, wide bodied sort of guys.
And then behind them Dayon Henley, who's really emerging as
a star, but a lighter guy, former safety. He's their
leading tackler. He's got three sacks, he's got an interception.
Next to him is Denzel Perryman. You have Troy Dye
(37:17):
has been playing a lot. They also have del Sean Phillips,
but Troy Dies the other guy that's really been playing
a lot of football for him, especially after you know,
before Perryman got hurt. While Perryman was hurt and then
came back, so you know the middle of that defense, Max,
I believe it's an area that the Steelers can can
hopefully be physical and run the ball at. You know,
(37:40):
Henley's a sideline to sideline guy. The idea of maybe
running right at them is that something that could potentially
work against this Chargers team. Although they have a lot
of beef up front with Caldwell, Jones and Tart Now.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
They do have a lot of big guys, but like
you said, the problem with three hundred pound is they
tire quicker and so.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
That so that makes you want to go sideline to
sideline right well.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Sideline to sideline is probably how I would like it,
or at least just outside of that, I'd like the
sweet spot would be between the hashes and the numbers
running the ball this week, I wouldn't necessarily run dive,
you know, and run a lot of counter I mean,
I'm watching how they play there. They're very good at
holding the point. They're more traditional three four sized guys,
(38:29):
you know, even more so than the Steelers. I think
we have three four body types, but our guys have
more of a four to three attacking mentality versus the
true two gap Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Brett Keesel types
like our guys can get upfield and they can generate
their own pass rush, and I think that's that's the
advantage of ours. These guys are definitely more traditional two gappers.
(38:53):
And I'm a little miffed you forgot about one other
defensive lineman. There's five active. You know who the fifth is?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
It is the little engine that could number forty four.
Scott Mattlock's a defensive time.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if she's. I don't think
i've seen him out there yet, though, again I'm six
games into the season. Matt Locke was a defensive tackle
and it was much like Patrick Ricard moved to the
full back positions. You know what, when I say they've
only got four guys, you're right. They could play him there. Yeah,
they could play him there.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
And I think the necessity is they haven't had to
play him there because they've utilized him a lot more
in getting the run game going because of the Naji
Harris injury. Omaron Hampton. He's been that extra guy if
you ever if you've noticed, and a lot of the games,
like between him and Tucker Fist, they're in there for
a lot of the run game, and they're trying to
(39:49):
run a lot of more traditional twelve personnel I formation,
broken eye formation, double wing type of concepts because they're
trying to generate a passers or t trying to get
a lead blocker for Kamani Vidal, especially as of late,
and so that's why you've seen more of him on
offense than defense. But he is by trade still a
(40:09):
defensive line and we'll play probably both those and I
imagine against us, he'll probably need to be utilized on
the defensive side of the ball as well.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Three snaps that's always had on defensive store I discovery
and look it up, so he could be that he
could be a guy there. I should add him. I'll
add him to my chart on.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Adam to the list. Adam to the list.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Adam to the list. Number forty four Scott Matt Locke. So,
but you know, and we'll talk about why they are
using the heavier personnel coming up in a little bit,
and how they've had to adapt their team philosophy due
to injury. Well, not their philosophy, the use of their personnel,
I think is probably more like it, and a little
bit of that bleach into the philosophy category. But you know,
(40:53):
so that's the sort of the middle of their defense.
You know, Perryman is a tackling machine, a veteran guy,
and I think they have to feel pretty good about
the fact that, Look, they played a lot of the
season without Denzel Perryman, they played a lot of the
season without Khalil Mack. Both those guys were injured. They
just got a Dafe oh Way. So this is a
defense that's getting healthier. And when I bring up oh Way,
(41:16):
I get to the area that I think I would
perceive as the charger strength and why it's so important
to make sure you stay in good down and distances,
and that is because they have a lot of really
good pass rushers. You know Khalil Mack. You might look
and see he only has three sacks. Well, he's only
played six games. You know, he's been injured. And you
(41:36):
know a couple of years ago he had the seventeen sacks.
And this is a multiple time Pro Bowler and All Pro.
And then you have two Y two Y Polo two
who has become their guy, and Tuley has seven sacks,
that's tied for six in the league. Then you make
a trade, trade a lowie Gilman, your safety to the Ravens, who,
by the way, then had to go out and get
(41:57):
Draymond Jones because because they were counting on others and
they had some injuries, and so they trade away who
wasn't productive for them this year. He had ten sacks
a couple of years ago, four games, four sacks for him.
And then the other guy that's out there providing you
with some depth is our old buddy Bud Dupree is
your fourth pass rusher. So to me, Max, that is
(42:20):
that is the strength of this Chargers defenses. They have
some excellent pass rushers.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
They do have some excellent pass rushers, and you're right,
I mean, you look at Khalil Mack. He's only a
half a sack behind TJ on his career, so to
put it, to put it mildly, he's a triple sack
He's a triple digit sack career guy. So Khalil Max
has been doing it at a high level for a
very very long time, and that's why you have to
make sure that you are on top of who he is.
(42:46):
And like you said, he can still get after the
pass rusher indeed, and then you know, Touy Polotu has
has really flourished in his third year with the Chargers
and really a good compliment to Khalil Mack when they're
on the field together. We'll see what Ada fe Owe,
you know, continues to to get going. I mean, he
(43:07):
had two sacks last week, so he's he's finding hisself.
He is the number three guy, he's the nick Herbig
of their defense. Uh rotation at that outside linebacker position.
And then you know there's Bud Bud Bud Dupree still
still hanging around, still still out there and still producing
it as a solid solid run run gap defenders, especially
(43:29):
from from his right outside linebacker position a k a.
The Alex Heismith position. So doing a solid job and
they are the strength. So the edges is where Roger Jones,
Troy Faltanu are going to be tested. You think of
Darnel Washington's gonna probably have some one on one opportunities
with those guys as well. You know how, I don't
(43:50):
see how you leave them free for for a running
back or a fullback in the backfield. And lets unless
you are unless you're running a play action run play
that looks like a counter style. But you've got you've
got to put a body on all these outside backers,
and you've got to make sure it's a big body
that has a seventies number attached to it, or sixties
(44:13):
or sixties. I mean, Asce McCormick could duel out there.
I don't know, but it's imperative that you control the edges.
The middle they're just gonna they're just gonna try and compress.
So they're not a they're not a high move type
of group up front, and you're not gonna see a
lot of you might see a basic swim or basic
rip move and they just picked that direction, just keep
(44:33):
going that way, but you're not gonna you're not gonna
see the side to side movement like a Cam Hayward
of Keanu Benton, Derek Harmon. You're not gonna see that
type of movement from their D line. So they're trying
to funnel and squeeze everything to the outsides, trying to
force flow to Khalil Mack and two we plow too,
So that's what you got to keep your eyes on.
(44:54):
And then, of course don't forget there's a random blitzer
in Derwin James. They can also come off the edge,
so he can be an edge rush. Sure, not an
edge rusher, but an edge rush. Sure you see the
inflection there, there's a difference between the two.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Okay, well, thank you for the By the way, don't
forget about Henley. He's got three sacks coming up out
of the middle line. Yeah, dayon Henley.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Yeah, And they do run traditional cross dog up the middle,
so there are opportunities where he comes in. And then
I mean, I feel like every team we've watched run
some form of the four to two open where they
have the double mug backers over the either side of
the center. I feel like every team has that now
in their arsenal when they get in the sub package.
So there's some opportunities there where where where he where,
(45:38):
He'll he'll he'll get he'll get the mismatch on that
you'll miss ide it, and then he's able to come through.
And he has a nice swim move pre contact on
running backs and has had a couple of nice sacks
because of it.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, there are some there are some formidable pass rushers
on this team. And again you wonder we'll find out
more with Isaac Cimala, whether he's out there in practice,
whether he's going to play left guard, how much that
effects what you could do with a jumbo package. Assuming
that they are going to have a jumbo package this week,
and we'll have somebody else ready. You can't have, you know,
Mike Tomlin, who's asked about that by Bible Labriel. You
(46:11):
can't have a backup jumbo guy in practice because there's
just not enough practice time. But if Spencer Anderson's taking
those reps at left guard, then expect that somebody else
would have at least a few snaps this week to
get ready should they decide to go to that jump
ban m again, he's that guy. Yeah, against a very
good again, a very good pass rushing Chargers team, we're
(46:35):
going to take a break now. Missy Matthews is going
to join us.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Next.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
We are going to also dive into the key matchups
we haven't gotten to Justin Herbert and this potentially and
frequently explosive Chargers offense. We will all that when we
continue in the Locker Room, presented by your neighborhood Ford
Store and this year this pro Shop on Steer's Nation
Radio a part of this Steeer, there's Audio Network
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
And hello everybody, thanks very much for being with us
in the locker room alongside Max Starks. I'm Rob King,
Justin Miller with the controls in our iHeart studio. We
thank you for being with us on this Friday as
we get you ready for the Steelers and the Chargers
and other big matchup on Sunday night. Fun stuff all
the way around. Max, how are you today, my friend?
You good? Uh?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's Friday, so you know, how
how could you not be excited? End of the quote
unquote work week for the majority of us, But uh,
you know, for you and I Rob, it's just getting
heated up. I mean, you know, we we are just
we are just two sleeps away from Sunday night football
(01:06):
and you can't sleep on the third night because we'll
be playing.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, it'll be up late, although not so late for you. Right,
That'll be like a five to twenty body clock kick
off for you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, five twenty body clock kickoff, and you know, out
I'll feel as spry as possible at that hour, you know.
But I mean, you know it's an earlier game here.
But you know, I fly so much, Rob, I mean,
I don't know what time's oving I'm in most of
the time mentally, and my body, my body is just
(01:37):
mad at me all the time. But so so yeah,
so I'm sure. I'm sure there'll be some some East
Coast wear and tear fatigue. Luckily, I will not be
making my travails east and then coming back west like
you guys. I'll be staying on the West coast this weekend,
so it'll be an easier, easier weekend for travel. So
(02:00):
I'm happy. This is actually the shortest game distance I
have to travel all season, So pretty good.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Who do you have?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I I am I am not going to have because
I am worried about the flight situations across the country
and you know what those expected reductions in flights and
air traffic control. I'm just not going to take the
risk because I was supposed to be. I was I
was slated for the Indiana penn State game, and and
(02:29):
UH and and State College. So yeah, not flying to
middle of Pennsylvania to then hope to get back all
the way to the west coast in a timely manner.
So I'm just gonna avoid that risk altogether.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, sorry for you, but grateful for me that that
there will be no no risk of not having Max
Starks there kickoff on Sunday night. So that's good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Now year to plan if a flight cancels and in
Phoenix and drive to LA And.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I mean it's it's been a mess before this for you,
right the flying? Yeah, has this been last week?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It was my first one, which was which was the
flight to Pittsburgh last week was my first on time
scheduled departure.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Now has this been noticeably worse than in years past?
I mean everything now everyone's you know, we got family
coming into town next week. They're all worried about their flights.
And and because all these airports are being you know
there there curtailing flights are cutting them back prior to
this because you know the troubles about to start. And
(03:37):
it just does every time I talk to him, like, man,
is this is this normal? Is this the way it's
usually been or has it already been worse leading.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Up to this, No, it is. This has been by
far my worst airline flying travel season of all time.
Like I mean, and you know, I fly a lot.
I mean, as we've kind of recanted, but I mean,
over the five years that I've been with ESPN and
(04:08):
with and with the Steelers, you know, I fly, and
I do thirty six games a year normally, so and
that's you know, that's a lot of football games, a
lot of a lot of different cities. But yeah, I
mean all of those have gone swimmingly the last four years,
and this year just has been an absolute mess from
(04:29):
the from the moment we started the season, rob and
you know all about that background of getting to that
first game yep in New Jersey. So uh yeah, it's been.
It's been. It's been. It's been a bear. And uh,
you know, I don't complain because once again I have
made it to every single game, and I we we've
(04:50):
had great broadcasts. So I mean, I guess, like I said,
I love what I do, so once I get to
the stadium, that's all that matters, right right, But it's
just the lead up of getting to the stadium. That
has been just an absolute mess getting there. But I
make it there, and that's the most important thing. And
I will not miss a broadcast. I don't care if
I had to drive eight hours in the middle of
(05:11):
a torrential storm to get there. I will get there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, we look forward to seeing you in LA. That's
all good stuff. Can't wait for this game against the
Chargers before we charge ahead on the Chargers. Did you
watch last night's game? I see what she did there.
I see what she did there. Thank you. That wasn't good.
But it's over.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Now, I mean, but and it was. It was very,
very very concise and very redundant too. So you charged
on through that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So did you did you watch last night?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yes? I did watch that terrible display. Oh my and
our confidence? How bad was your confidence level of how
we just guaranteed victory for the Broncos earlier on the
broadcast yesterday, and then we're watching this and daliel Cars
is lighting up the tightest game and going to over time.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well I was. I was certainly rooting for the despite
what we said. I once I once asked a question
of a friend of mine who was a weather person
at a previous stop wasn't in Pittsburgh, previous stop. And
(06:21):
I asked her, I said, hey, let's say you forecast
rain for the weekend. You go on the air Friday
night and you say it's gonna rain. Now Saturday, You've
got a family reunion picnic lined up. Would you rather
have no rain in the picnic and be wrong on
(06:42):
your forecast? Or would you rather be right in the forecast?
And she just said, you know the answer to that.
So the answer is take cover family, You'd rather be right.
But I was rooting for us to be wrong last night.
I was rooting in the other direction. I was rooting
for the Raiders. Listen, bluddy it up, right, you know,
throw some other teams back, and why not?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean, that's what this season has been. Ye, that's
what the season has been. Why not, right, you know,
just just let chaos rain at this point, you know,
and don't don't get comfortable, don't you know, mess up
Vegas's favorite odds. And of course having a team from Vegas,
I just would have threw things in a tizzy. But
(07:24):
it's just like, why not, why not add to this?
Because you know anything you can quote unquote hang your
hat on see seems seems to fall off the wall, right,
you know, the coach stands, seems to disintegrate from week
to week. But I mean you're sitting on a team
now that has what seven straight seventh straight game win
streak right now, as wrong as win streak in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Doesn't matter how you get them. And by the way,
just a reminder, uh to fans out there, because listen,
we we know we always you always see your own
team's weaknesses. You see them up close, and you wonder
why did they blow them out? You know, I'm watching,
I'm through. I think it's six games of the Chargers
(08:06):
season and they're four and two. They just beat the
Dolphins in a game in which the Dolphins just let
it slip away. The Dolphins had control of that game.
The week before, the Chargers were playing the Commanders and
they look like they were on the run them out
of the building. You know, they get a pucket for
(08:26):
a touchdown, it gets called back and then you look
up and it's like the Commanders are routing them. I mean,
there are just plays in almost every game, two or
three plays and if your team makes those plays, and
we understand there are teams that blow other teams out,
you know, the elite teams, the Bills, the Chiefs, they
the Eagles, you know, they may run somebody out of
(08:49):
the building. I understand that. But the good teams, almost
by definition, are the ones that make those three or
four plays. And it's crazy to think Bill carow to
say there's a fine line in this business. It's crazy
to think that a play here, a play there, turns
almost every single game, and the good teams find a
(09:10):
way more often than not to turn those plays in
their favor.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, I think that's really what it comes down to.
It comes down to who can take advantage of the
opportunity when it presents itself. And because you're already playing
against what the top one percent of human athletes on
this earth right on the field, so it's always good
on good Even a bad team has a lot of
(09:37):
good players, right, you know. So it's just about how
you manage the opportunities and when the moment presents itself,
can you take advantage? Can you rise to the occasion
or rise above the occasion in those ones, But the
second you sink below it, it becomes even more glaring.
Because of the microscope you're under and that's that's really
(10:00):
what NFL football is about, because there's a key third down,
there's there there's there's a there's a key catch, there's
a key you know, sack, tackle, tip that could alter
your way. Remember that, clem Remember Cleveland at home a
few weeks ago, where we had like five attempts at
(10:23):
at catching a tip pass or getting an interception or
getting a turnover, and we didn't. We had that drought,
and then of course last week we cleared that drought out.
In fact, in fact, I think we replenished all of
the stores of the village with the amount of turnovers
we had. But it was like Cleveland could have been
what the Colts game was like. It was narrowly. You're
(10:45):
talking about like six inches here, maybe a foot there,
maybe if you step a little bit further left. I mean,
there was just all of these just marginal minute calculations
or miscalculations that that could have really altered that game completely.
Now we still won handedly and it was still a
(11:06):
very convincing, thorough victory, but it didn't it didn't have
the flash, it didn't have those moment and you kind
of overcame the lack of those explosive moments with consistent play.
But when you get up against good teams, that is
what the difference is. As we saw on the Coast game,
(11:26):
you take the number one offense and you turn them
over five times and they only had what six on
the season before that. That that that's a hell of
a job, right, I mean, that's talking when you talk
about luck. Luck is preparation and opportunity meeting at that
at that intersection. Right, That's what luck is. And that's
exactly what happened in the game, and we want to
continue that. But that's what all of these NFL games are.
(11:49):
I mean, I'm you know, I watched the Chargers Minnesota game,
which you're you're you're gonna be coming up on soon.
And at the start of that game, if Minnesota gets
that gets the tip pick and it's a pick six,
you know, and they're up seven to zero instead of
it being called back, and then next thing, you know,
the Chargers just reel off, you know, fourteen fourteen points
(12:12):
and now fourteen to three halfway through this game. Stale
made it. But you know, that's what you're talking about
the differences in those games is if that changed that
changed the complete complexion of the game, and especially when
it happens early.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, and to your point, I mean, you talk about
the Jets have it can make a very strong case
for being the worst team in the NFL. And look
what they got for their guys. Look what they got
for Sauce Garden. Look what they got for Quinn and Williams.
Teams inquired about Garrett Wilson, teams inquired about Breese Hall.
They have a lot of good players. What they don't
have is a lot of victories. And the Steelers, Yeah,
(12:48):
going to this game this weekend five and three. By
the way, they announced yesterday that they had signed Broderick Martin,
who I believe now goes by Broderick Martin Rhodes. So
Broderick Martin, you know, for fans that are really into it,
will remember perhaps that he was a third round pick
of the Lions a couple of years ago. So if
you one of those draft knicks and you're thinking, hey,
(13:08):
the Steelers need to shore up the defensive line, you
might have remembered Broderick Martin, and he was with the Lions.
He was a third round pick. Evidently battled some consistency issues,
but He's a big guy, supposed to be a run
stuffer type. So you bring him in, you add him
to the active roster. You signed him off the Chiefs roster.
(13:30):
Now I'm of two minds of this Max, because the
Chiefs never gave him an opportunity and they had some
issues along their defensive line, and they never elevated him
for the practice squad. He just signed that. It was
between the end of the preseason and prior to Week one,
was put on their practice squad by the same took.
And I also see a guy with some pedigree of talent,
a big body, and you know, listen to Steelers sought
(13:52):
enough of them to add him to their roster. So
Broderick Martin now Broderick Martin Rhodes is a member of
the Pittsburgh Steelers wearing numbers seventy eight. And we may
see him on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yes, I know. And this is one that you know,
I'll be cautiously watching. You know, I'm very protective of
my number.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, somebody represent the number. You know, you tune
up the antennas. You know, Gareth Warren and ya you know,
you know gave me some hope and then shuddered that hope,
you know, because you know it was one of those
things that Gareth you know, he got he got knocked
out with a concussion. And then then ya decided to
(14:34):
switch to an ugly number ninety four. I don't know
why you picked that number, but you know, seventy eight
looked way better on him, and you know he had
the belly celly in that jersey. I don't know why
you just you don't keep it. I mean, it was
a good number on him. But it is interesting. You know,
we'll get another defensive line. They'll try and try and
you know, bring their esteem back to that number, you know,
(14:58):
and kind of rekindle the du White White era of
the Steelers with very nice defensive line.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
There you go Steelers history. Bob Labriol will be proud.
But you know, I'm excited about this because, like you said,
you know, you just you don't you want to have
contingencies in place for your d lineman. And and that's
one of the things is it's a it's a position
that you want to have well stocks. You don't want
to have that injury. We've gone through a rash of
injuries and other position groups on the defense. We have
(15:25):
not really hit true attrition on the D line, so
you want to be prepared for that if it does happen.
But I think, you know, the other interesting thing is
not necessarily you know, project Martin Rose, who we signed,
but the prospect potentially that Sante Samuel Junior also a
scheduled to meet with the Steelers on Wednesday because he
got cleared from his neck injury and he's highly sought after.
(15:47):
I mean, I think I think he's I think he
started visits yesterday and he's he's booked. He's booked through Wednesday.
Obviously you can't do visits on Saturday and Sunday teams
are prepping and playing. But after that he's got a
full schedule. So it'll be interesting, you know, with our
secondary you know kind of I think needs concerns as
(16:08):
far as health throughout, and especially now with Jalen Ramsey
switching to the safety position, you want to make sure
you have enough bodies at the cornerback position. Obviously, if
you do sign the side, he's not like he's jumping
out there and playing on a Sunday after you sign him,
like he's been out of football for a while. He
has to make sure he's in shape, he understands everything,
make sure he can move. He's gonna go through a
(16:29):
lot of battery of physicals over the next you know,
five visits. But that's another one that's intriguing as well.
You know, not only signing a defensive lineman to bolster
that depth, but now also looking at you know, the
cornerback and secondary positions as well.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
For sure. Listen, this is what happens every year, right,
you're looking, you're scouring. This is why you have pro scouts.
You know, everybody thinks about.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Sheldon White and Company pro personnel coordinator.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Right, and you know this stuff gets passed along, right,
so you know, the the amateur scouting staff may have
a line on a guy, right, you know, Danny Colbert's
out there scouting a guy and now he's drafted by
another team. Well, that information then gets passed on in
a database and in a bank of names, and now
(17:22):
you know Sheldon White, you know, has gotten a look
at that guy, and now you know he's on the
pro scouting side, and you have things you can lean
back on, right, you can you know, hey, what was
your reports on this guy coming? Out of college and
what have we seen now? And you know everything has
to work together and work together well. And you know
it's not like you know, I mean, I'll hear fans
(17:43):
say things like, why don't we take a flyer on
so and so? Well, there is a clearly there is
a little.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Bit of that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You know. Anytime you draft a guy, you're taking a flyer.
I mean, if you want to broaden the define mission
of taking a flyer. But it's done judiciously. It's done
because you've done your homework. It's done because you might
have a four or five six year database on a guy.
Somebody scouted him, he popped up on somebody's radar, you know,
when they were scouting somebody else as a freshman. And
(18:16):
now you talk to the coach and you you know,
you learn a little bit about something, and now you know,
a couple more years at college, maybe five more years
of college these days, and you you builds right, right,
you build a book on a guy, and and now
you feel like you've got enough information to go out
and sign a guy. So it's not just a flyer.
(18:39):
There's a lot of thought and a lot of research
and a lot of scouting that goes into it. And
so you know, we'll see about Sante Samuel. But you know,
Broderick Martin, for now, maybe an opportunity to show something.
And you know you're constantly looking to upgrade areas of
your roster. Right now, the Stealers have some injuries at
(19:00):
defensive back, but those injuries have so you know, are
you looking for defensive back? Well, you might just think, hey,
this is the best guy out there, we have a vacancy.
Let's get him in here. And now if you're at
the end of the roster and your defensive lineman, all
of a sudden, you know, if your ears were perked
up already, they certainly are now because he's going to
come in trying to make sure that he sticks on
(19:21):
this team if you go out and make another move.
So an interesting signing for sure. He's a guy with
some pedigree, ins in talent, and we'll see if you
can get out there and do something for this to others,
perhaps as early as this Sunday.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah, And which is interesting because right you've had some
healthy scratches of like Logan Lee and Otomewe and you
know you think, okay, well those guys will be next
up naturally in line, right, But no, I mean if
there's something they're seeing in practice, something there or they're
not seeing in practice, that's why you go and you
make these type of moves to be prepared in case,
(19:55):
right because you know, yes, you didn't have Derek Harmon
start the season, but you have plenty of bodies in there,
and Derek Harmon kind of solidified things along with Keanu
Binton and Cam Heyward, but we haven't seen still seeing
the rawness, you know, from that second wave of guys,
and then you lose a daniel aquality you know, and
(20:15):
you never really replaced it. I think Broderick Martin probably
corresponding move for the Daniel aquality injury more so than
anything else. But that's another game day Jersey Potentially that
could be taken away from one of those other guys.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That's right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So so I think that's how we kind of have
to frame this when we're looking at the body count,
you know, and and you know, and Broderick Martin roads
is more of a nose ish type of type of
player versus a three technique or a defensive tackle you
know what we would traditionally call a three technique and
a four to three or the defensive ends and a
(20:52):
three to four become like four and four eyes just
just a gap wise, I mean, it's literally the difference
of a gap. Do I line on the outside shoulder
regard or the inside shoulder of the tackle? Like, that's
literally the difference that we're splitting hairs about. But yeah,
he fits more in the A gaps.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And by the way, you're right about a quality that
was a couple of weeks ago, so i'd kind of
I kind of looked. I guess I kind of overlooked that.
So you're right, a quality going out. And that's, by
the way, you know, an injury that this is a
guy we talked about him. I think it was last
week playing good football for this team, and he's out.
So now regardless, opportunity max, regardless opportunity for him, an
(21:30):
opportunity for others, you know, opportunity for others to show
that hey man, I want to put my hand in
the piles, so to speak, and and be part of
this thing. Moving forward. So moving forward for us, we
have Missy Matthews coming up at the top of the hour,
and we will get her insights and her as she
prepares for the broadcast coming up on Sunday. We have
a lot of key matchups to get to. In fact,
(21:52):
our keys to the game coming up in a little bit.
We want to remind you first you should gear up
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(22:13):
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a part of the Steelers Audio Network, This is give.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Them Blockapheel with Shan Stars on Steelers Nation Radio, presented
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Speaker 2 (22:51):
Com, and thank you very much for being with us
on this Friday, and we are going to be spending
a bulk of the the show. Missy Matthews joining us
at eleven, but the bulk of the show going over
our Keys to the Game presented by your neighborhood Forts
or the F one fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know, one of the things that
Mike Tomlin talked about right out of the shoot and
(23:13):
we alluded to yesterday and I did not want to
forget for today is Derwin James. And James is He's everywhere.
He's a four time Pro bowler, He's a one time
All Pro. You know, suffered a ghastly injury, you know
early in his career. You wondered if it would rail him.
He's come back from that, made Pro Bowl since then. Max.
(23:35):
He's a guy that you you know, Aaron Rodgers has
got to identify. Of course, this is one of the
things Aaron Rodgers is great at. Where is Derwin James
Because they line him up all over the field. You'll
see him in the slot, You'll see him on the
back end, you'll see him rushing the passer. He's just
a really, really terrific football player. Bop. I think my
(24:00):
question fell on deaf ears. Max. Are you there? Did
we lose him? Okay, so we may have lost Max momentarily,
but we will get back to him. So James, you know,
Mike Tomlin talked about him earlier in the week about
how important he is to the Chargers defense. When you
think about the Chargers defense, probably the pass rushers, and
we're gonna get to that next, they have a lot
(24:23):
of you know, sort of youth or untested or unproven
guys or guys that you wouldn't think of his household
names on the outside at the cornerback position, even next
to Derwin James. Back in the safety positions, you know,
you have Tony Jefferson, who's a veteran guy who's been around,
Elijah Molden, veteran guy who's been around. But I don't
(24:43):
think most people think of those guys at this point
of their career as elite, top end talented guys to
go along with Derwin James, and then you do have
a great number of pass rushers. Adafe Oway has been
a huge improvement for this team. In the four games
he's played, come up with four sacks. Twy Polodu that's
helped him as well. Toy Polodu is tied for six
(25:05):
in the NFL, he has seven sacks. Talking to Matt
Williamson yesterday during the matchup, one of the reasons that
they felt comfortable letting Bosa go was that they had
Towy Polodu as a guy that they could bring off
the edge and come up with a lot of sacks.
But all that Max starts with Derwin James and you know,
look one sack or i mean sorry, one interception, one
(25:27):
and a half sacks. You might not see like eye
popping numbers from Derwin James. Statistically, he is the team's
second leading tackler as well, but just his all round
game and the way he's utilized makes him the guy
you just have to know where he is.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, win healthy, game changer. Right, this is a guy
second team All Pro just a year ago, his fourth
All Pro nod and eight seasons. But he's a difference maker.
He forces you to go play places that he's not
and that's all you can ask for out of that
out of a strong safety position, right, you have to
(26:04):
be that enforcer. And he roams that secondary in that
back half of the field. Then he's defending, you know,
like you know, like a law dog. You know, he
has a sheriff's badge out and he's making sure that
everybody stays in line. And that's what you want. So
the stats aren't going to be great because foolish enough
if you are to go in his area, because he
(26:24):
will make you pay. Hence why people avoid that area.
So he's doing his job, and he is. He is
a definitely a key difference maker. He can blitz off
the edge, he's a great perimeter, sure tackler, he can
defend the ball in the air. He provides an all
around well balanced approach. He is the elevated, you know,
version of what we have and Deshaun Elliott, right, DeShawn
(26:47):
hasn't been a starter as long as Derwin James. But
the same tenacity, the same skill, the same ball IQ
they both possess it and I think that's something when
you think of Derwin jameson this is also a guy
Jalen Ramsey school. Right, they were both DB's at FSU.
So there's something in the water there now Jalen Ramsey
free safety and Derwin James strong safety. So you can
(27:11):
imagine when you think about you know, some some some
greats back in the day, some college some college backed secondaries.
You look at that, you go, man, I mean it
reminds me, you know, this is this is more familiar
than anything else. But when my uncle Joey Browner and
Ronnie Lott were teammates at USC and they that was
strong and free. And you look at Derwin James and
(27:34):
jailers because Jalen Ramsey did play safety in college. So
imagine those two on the back half together in their prime,
like as young as young men, flying around and not
knowing you know what what tired, what the word tired was,
not knowing what the word injury was, and just playing
loose and free. There were some devastating dudes. So Derwin
(27:54):
James is definitely in that same cut cutting vein of
Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know, I'm glad you said that because when I
watched James, and obviously I'm familiar with James. I mean,
you know, he's been a star in the league for
a long time, and I'm you know, clearly I know
exactly who he is, and I've seen him play an occasion,
but now I've seen him play six consecutive games, and
he he reminds me a lot of Jalen Ramsey, or
(28:21):
maybe the other way around, in that he's got, you know,
great field coverage. You're never quite sure where he's gonna be.
And then the other thing on top of that is
he brings the wood man he is. He is eager
to hit you and hit you hard. And that's the
way I feel about Jalen Ramsey. You know, they talked
about the level of violence at Jalen Ramsey brings to
(28:44):
the game, and I felt the same way about him
coming in seen him play, knew how good you know
he was, but wasn't really that aware of just how
physical a player he is. And Derwin James to me,
is cut from that same sort of off.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
No, absolutely absolutely. I mean a zest and a zeal
for blood, right, you know, that's that's the that's the
that's the that's the gladiator kind of ethos. And this
is a gladiatorial sport. So you know, you have you
have to play with that type of conviction, you have
to play with that type of tenacity to be great
and he does that just like Jalen Ramsey does and
(29:24):
happy that we have our own version of that here
on the Steelers squad.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
So Max, when a guy like that moves around as
much as he does, is there look Aaron Rodgers first
and foremost, He's gonna identify him. He's going to know
where he's going to be. You know, I'm sure he
will either adjust or or do things to line of
scrimmage differently maybe than was called in the huddle. So
(29:50):
he is the first line of defense against the guy
like Derwin James. But how much of his stress does
he put, say on an offensive tackle or you know,
a tight end or something. You know, Hey, do I
need to stay in and block this guy's coming off
the edge? I need to know where he is. Are
you kind of looking around because he could come flying
at it nowhere? Remember Mike Hilton was so good at
(30:12):
timing those blitzes right, and he usually comes off the edge,
which usually means the guy at the end of the
line of scrimmage has got to do something about picking
that guy up. Does James provide additional stress to other
players other than simply the quarterback? Or does mostly this
fall on the shoulders of Aaron Rodgers to identify him
and figure out where to go with the ball.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
He's taller than the starting two inside linebackers, so he's
bigger than the two guys that are charged with responsibility
playing in the box. So that right there lets you
know that if he's in the box, you need to
know where he is, and he will put stress on them,
just like a linebacker blitzing does, and so you have
(30:56):
to know you have to make sure that you're accounting
for him if he is in a blitzable position. So
whether that's putting a tight end on him, whether that's
putting a running back on him, or you know, within
the slide construct of movement on your Mike I D
he replaces a guy who's dropping offensive lineman, then have
(31:16):
responsibility for him. So if he falls within the seven
man box, you're gonna count him as a known rusher
because why is he.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Down there right?
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Why is he in Why is he in the space
that most secondary guys don't go unless he is going
to be coming, And so you have to be prepared
to know where he is, just like you have to
know where Khalil Mack is. You know, I'm not going
to say he's he's a Troy Polamalu type, but he
is a person of interest. And you want to know
(31:48):
if he's poking around anywhere in that and in that
and that seven man the run box we call it,
if he's anywhere near that or hanging around around the
side of it or the outskirts of it and on
the edges, be aware, Be aware because Derwin James is
not there by accident. He's not there by accident, right
(32:08):
and there is there there is some type of you know,
as I call it, smells funny and jesse Mentor is
a type is the type of guy that he's not.
He's not going to just put a guy out of
position and force them, you know, out out of just
some extended disguise, right he If you're in that zone,
that means he plans on utilizing you. So you better
be head on the swivel, Understand what the structure is,
(32:29):
Understand who's coming and if they Now him and Khalil
Matt come from the same side. At least at least
you're already looking that way. But is when there's is
when it's quote unquote split sides where now you're you're
you're you're almost going to the opposite across side. You're
going uncrossed eyes trying to trying to see him and
figure out where he is and make sure the communications
cleaning along the offensive line, so none of them overlook
(32:50):
the fact that you need to know where number three
is on the field.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I think he's the wild card. I don't you know.
I think, Mike, I'm gonna describe him as a straw
that stirs a drink. I don't necessarily think that he
in and of himself can be considered the strong suit
of the team. I think that's the pass rush, which
we'll get to in a minute. But just the fact
and he can be part of that pass rush, but
just the fact that he can do multiple things, Max,
(33:18):
as you said, makes him a person of interest and
somebody that the Steelers have to account for. And he is,
without being by himself, the strength of the team. He is,
you know, the guy that most fans are gonna know
on this defense. He and of course you know you
mentioned Khalil Mack has been you know, a multiple Pro
(33:38):
Bowl players, so you know he's another guy. But I
just for sheer star power, he's the guy, you know,
Number three out there that you got to be paying
attention to if you're a fan, and if you're a
snugger by the.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Way, yeah, I mean well I think also you know,
he doesn't he's not necessarily, like you said, on his own,
a true bona fide game rerecord by himself. But he's
a guy that he's one of those expensive add ons
you know that you're gonna notice it, Like, you know,
(34:11):
is a spoiler on the back of a Porsche gonna
really make the car go you know, that much faster? No,
you need the engine to do that, right, But once
you have the engine, like a Khalil Mack, the spoiler
helps on the drag coefficient, right, so it allows it
to go faster than it already can go because it's
(34:31):
a fast vehicle. I don't want to see a spoiler
on the back of a Ford Fiesta, you know what
I'm saying, Like, that's just it's pointless, right, And that's
essentially how this so's he's like the spoiler on the
sports car, right, and he's you know, some type of
fender flare. He's in addition to something that's already good,
(34:51):
and you have Khalil Mack on that squad that makes
them a really good and he's a guy that can
be a game wrecker by himself. But now you take
the game wrecker and you add another piece to it,
and now it becomes even more magnified. So that's what
Derwin James can bring to, you know, any defense he's on,
but especially this the Chargers defense and why they've been
(35:15):
good at a lot of points this season.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, there's there's a lot of strength to get to
on this Chargers defense and we're gonna get to that
coming up next. Missy Matthews also joining us at eleven o'clock.
We are getting close to game time. We still have
to talk about Justin Herbert because he is a phenomenal
force in his own right and a very good receiving core.
Lots to continue to get to when we continue in
(35:39):
the locker room here, and of course the locker room
is presented by a neighborhood Ford store and this Steelers
Pro shop on Steve His Nation Radio a part of
this tee. There's audio network.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And this is given the locker room with King and Starks.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
On Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neghborhood Ford store.
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Speaker 2 (36:11):
Com, and we thank you for being with us as
we continue our Keys to the Game presented by our neighborhood.
For sure, the F one fifty is the official truck
of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And when you think about the
Chargers defense, we talked about Derwin James just moments ago
and how he's the guy. Mike Tomlin said, he's a
straw that stirs a drink over there, and so he's
(36:34):
that guy. But if and listen, let's just at least
quickly talk about their interior defensive linemen. They're very thin.
As of right now, they only have four defensive linemen
listed on the roster, and then those guys are backed up.
So we're talking about Tier Tart, Jamari Caldwell, the rookie
nose tackle justin to Boyd B. And then behind them
(36:56):
is Nakwon Jones by the way, Jones, Caldwell, Tart all
three hundred plus pound, big, wide bodied sort of guys.
And then behind them Dayon Henley, who's really emerging as
a star, but a lighter guy, former safety. He's their
leading tackler. He's got three sacks, he's got an interception.
Next to him is Denzel Perryman. You have Troy Dye
(37:17):
has been playing a lot. They also have del Sean Phillips,
but Troy Dies the other guy that's really been playing
a lot of football for him, especially after you know,
before Perryman got hurt. While Perryman was hurt and then
came back, so you know the middle of that defense, Max,
I believe it's an area that the Steelers can can
hopefully be physical and run the ball at. You know,
(37:40):
Henley's a sideline to sideline guy. The idea of maybe
running right at them is that something that could potentially
work against this Chargers team. Although they have a lot
of beef up front with Caldwell, Jones and Tart Now.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
They do have a lot of big guys, but like
you said, the problem with three hundred pound is they
tire quicker and so.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
That so that makes you want to go sideline to
sideline right well.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Sideline to sideline is probably how I would like it,
or at least just outside of that, I'd like the
sweet spot would be between the hashes and the numbers
running the ball this week, I wouldn't necessarily run dive,
you know, and run a lot of counter I mean,
I'm watching how they play there. They're very good at
holding the point. They're more traditional three four sized guys,
(38:29):
you know, even more so than the Steelers. I think
we have three four body types, but our guys have
more of a four to three attacking mentality versus the
true two gap Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Brett Keesel types
like our guys can get upfield and they can generate
their own pass rush, and I think that's that's the
advantage of ours. These guys are definitely more traditional two gappers.
(38:53):
And I'm a little miffed you forgot about one other
defensive lineman. There's five active. You know who the fifth is?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
It is the little engine that could number forty four.
Scott Mattlock's a defensive time.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if she's. I don't think
i've seen him out there yet, though, again I'm six
games into the season. Matt Locke was a defensive tackle
and it was much like Patrick Ricard moved to the
full back positions. You know what, when I say they've
only got four guys, you're right. They could play him there. Yeah,
they could play him there.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
And I think the necessity is they haven't had to
play him there because they've utilized him a lot more
in getting the run game going because of the Naji
Harris injury. Omaron Hampton. He's been that extra guy if
you ever if you've noticed, and a lot of the games,
like between him and Tucker Fist, they're in there for
a lot of the run game, and they're trying to
(39:49):
run a lot of more traditional twelve personnel I formation,
broken eye formation, double wing type of concepts because they're
trying to generate a passers or t trying to get
a lead blocker for Kamani Vidal, especially as of late,
and so that's why you've seen more of him on
offense than defense. But he is by trade still a
(40:09):
defensive line and we'll play probably both those and I
imagine against us, he'll probably need to be utilized on
the defensive side of the ball as well.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Three snaps that's always had on defensive store I discovery
and look it up, so he could be that he
could be a guy there. I should add him. I'll
add him to my chart on.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Adam to the list. Adam to the list.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Adam to the list. Number forty four Scott Matt Locke. So,
but you know, and we'll talk about why they are
using the heavier personnel coming up in a little bit,
and how they've had to adapt their team philosophy due
to injury. Well, not their philosophy, the use of their personnel,
I think is probably more like it, and a little
bit of that bleach into the philosophy category. But you know,
(40:53):
so that's the sort of the middle of their defense.
You know, Perryman is a tackling machine, a veteran guy,
and I think they have to feel pretty good about
the fact that, Look, they played a lot of the
season without Denzel Perryman, they played a lot of the
season without Khalil Mack. Both those guys were injured. They
just got a Dafe oh Way. So this is a
defense that's getting healthier. And when I bring up oh Way,
(41:16):
I get to the area that I think I would
perceive as the charger strength and why it's so important
to make sure you stay in good down and distances,
and that is because they have a lot of really
good pass rushers. You know Khalil Mack. You might look
and see he only has three sacks. Well, he's only
played six games. You know, he's been injured. And you
(41:36):
know a couple of years ago he had the seventeen sacks.
And this is a multiple time Pro Bowler and All Pro.
And then you have two Y two Y Polo two
who has become their guy, and Tuley has seven sacks,
that's tied for six in the league. Then you make
a trade, trade a lowie Gilman, your safety to the Ravens, who,
by the way, then had to go out and get
(41:57):
Draymond Jones because because they were counting on others and
they had some injuries, and so they trade away who
wasn't productive for them this year. He had ten sacks
a couple of years ago, four games, four sacks for him.
And then the other guy that's out there providing you
with some depth is our old buddy Bud Dupree is
your fourth pass rusher. So to me, Max, that is
(42:20):
that is the strength of this Chargers defenses. They have
some excellent pass rushers.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
They do have some excellent pass rushers, and you're right,
I mean, you look at Khalil Mack. He's only a
half a sack behind TJ on his career, so to
put it, to put it mildly, he's a triple sack
He's a triple digit sack career guy. So Khalil Max
has been doing it at a high level for a
very very long time, and that's why you have to
make sure that you are on top of who he is.
(42:46):
And like you said, he can still get after the
pass rusher indeed, and then you know, Touy Polotu has
has really flourished in his third year with the Chargers
and really a good compliment to Khalil Mack when they're
on the field together. We'll see what Ada fe Owe,
you know, continues to to get going. I mean, he
(43:07):
had two sacks last week, so he's he's finding hisself.
He is the number three guy, he's the nick Herbig
of their defense. Uh rotation at that outside linebacker position.
And then you know there's Bud Bud Bud Dupree still
still hanging around, still still out there and still producing
it as a solid solid run run gap defenders, especially
(43:29):
from from his right outside linebacker position a k a.
The Alex Heismith position. So doing a solid job and
they are the strength. So the edges is where Roger Jones,
Troy Faltanu are going to be tested. You think of
Darnel Washington's gonna probably have some one on one opportunities
with those guys as well. You know how, I don't
(43:50):
see how you leave them free for for a running
back or a fullback in the backfield. And lets unless
you are unless you're running a play action run play
that looks like a counter style. But you've got you've
got to put a body on all these outside backers,
and you've got to make sure it's a big body
that has a seventies number attached to it, or sixties
(44:13):
or sixties. I mean, Asce McCormick could duel out there.
I don't know, but it's imperative that you control the edges.
The middle they're just gonna they're just gonna try and compress.
So they're not a they're not a high move type
of group up front, and you're not gonna see a
lot of you might see a basic swim or basic
rip move and they just picked that direction, just keep
(44:33):
going that way, but you're not gonna you're not gonna
see the side to side movement like a Cam Hayward
of Keanu Benton, Derek Harmon. You're not gonna see that
type of movement from their D line. So they're trying
to funnel and squeeze everything to the outsides, trying to
force flow to Khalil Mack and two we plow too,
So that's what you got to keep your eyes on.
(44:54):
And then, of course don't forget there's a random blitzer
in Derwin James. They can also come off the edge,
so he can be an edge rush. Sure, not an
edge rusher, but an edge rush. Sure you see the
inflection there, there's a difference between the two.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Okay, well, thank you for the By the way, don't
forget about Henley. He's got three sacks coming up out
of the middle line. Yeah, dayon Henley.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Yeah, And they do run traditional cross dog up the middle,
so there are opportunities where he comes in. And then
I mean, I feel like every team we've watched run
some form of the four to two open where they
have the double mug backers over the either side of
the center. I feel like every team has that now
in their arsenal when they get in the sub package.
So there's some opportunities there where where where he where,
(45:38):
He'll he'll he'll get he'll get the mismatch on that
you'll miss ide it, and then he's able to come through.
And he has a nice swim move pre contact on
running backs and has had a couple of nice sacks
because of it.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, there are some there are some formidable pass rushers
on this team. And again you wonder we'll find out
more with Isaac Cimala, whether he's out there in practice,
whether he's going to play left guard, how much that
effects what you could do with a jumbo package. Assuming
that they are going to have a jumbo package this week,
and we'll have somebody else ready. You can't have, you know,
Mike Tomlin, who's asked about that by Bible Labriel. You
(46:11):
can't have a backup jumbo guy in practice because there's
just not enough practice time. But if Spencer Anderson's taking
those reps at left guard, then expect that somebody else
would have at least a few snaps this week to
get ready should they decide to go to that jump
ban m again, he's that guy. Yeah, against a very
good again, a very good pass rushing Chargers team, we're
(46:35):
going to take a break now. Missy Matthews is going
to join us.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Next.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
We are going to also dive into the key matchups
we haven't gotten to Justin Herbert and this potentially and
frequently explosive Chargers offense. We will all that when we
continue in the Locker Room, presented by your neighborhood Ford
Store and this year this pro Shop on Steer's Nation
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