HR1: Cool Breeze

The guys talk more on the Steelers Dolphins matchup on Monday night and speak to Gerry Dulac.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
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
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
And we thank you very much for being with us
in the locker room. Yeah, exciting stuff, right, getting ready.
The holidays are descending upon us, and you know, the
Steelers have an opportunity to watch the games on Sunday tonight,
but it's an NFC matchup tonight. Watch the games on Sunday.
You know, see what Monday's game means. If it means

(00:48):
more or less, it's going to mean a lot either way, obviously.
But hey, you know, if the Ravens defeat the Bengals,
there's a different feel to the game on Sunday night.
We're gonna get into all that because we have our
AFC preview coming up. We'll look at all the weekends
matchups and you know what's going to be big in
terms of that as we as we get through the
remainder of this show. Of course, just starting here, I

(01:11):
also want to remind you that Jerry Dulac will be
joining us at ten twenty and Jerry will but he
had a great statistic that I want to follow up
on regarding Derek Harmon and the students run defense. Just
a great stat and is it just a stat or
is there something more to it? And that's something we're

(01:31):
going to talk about with Jerry Doulac coming up in
just a little bit. Also, we want to obviously start
diving into some of the key matchups. Kind of did
an overview a little bit of the Dolphins yesterday what
they have, particularly on the offensive side. We haven't really
dealt with micka Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins defense, which has
been tremendous through the last four weeks. So that is

(01:52):
something we're going to dive into, you know, today and
tomorrow as well. By the way, I wanted to remind
you tomorrow he said, we had a special guest and
Faith Wolfly is going to be joining us.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Of course, Craig Wolfly's wife.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know wolf you know, left us in March and
of course has left a gaping hole in our lives
and just a huge, huge presence. He's got a book
that would make a book out with Jim Wexel. If
these Walls, If these Walls could talk, it's stories from Wolf.

(02:27):
And if you've heard you know Wolf on this show
for many, many years, going back to tounch in the
locker room when they started the program, to his coalition
with Max Starks, and then of course hearing him on
the broadcast with Bill Hillgrove, and then last year, unfortunately,
just one year with Wolf myself. You know, you'll you'll
hear his voice as you read the book telling you

(02:51):
the stories. It's fantastic. The only other time that that's
really happened to me where I knew the author's voice
first and then read something they'd written later was Myron Cope.
So Larry Eldridge was our general manager when I first
got to Pittsburgh a quarter century ago, my goodness. And

(03:13):
Larry was the general manager of ben Fox sports Net,
and I'd been listening to and he was at a
long affiliation with pitt as well, and I've been listening
to the students broadcast. Of course, I love radio. I've
always loved radio, and inevitably you're going to be driving
around and hearing broadcasts. Well, I heard Myron Cope, and
I'm like, Wow, what a distinctive voice he had, right,

(03:35):
And I did not know at the time, because I
didn't grow up in Pittsburgh. I did not know that
Myron was a phenomenal sports writer. And I don't know
if younger fans would know that that would know Myron
from his days as a studious broadcaster, incredible writer, tremendous.
So Larry handed me this book and I'm reading through
the articles, and some of the articles were written by

(03:56):
Myron Cope, but most of them dealt with I think
all of them dealt with pitt and it was it
was fantastic to hear my Gran's voice coming through while
I was reading the words. So you'll get that with Wolf.
So Faith is going to join us tomorrow as well
as Missy Matthews. So Max, that's kind of the the
plate that we've set out for people going to talk
about the Dolphins defense, because we really didn't get to

(04:17):
that yesterday. The Dolphins are the key matchups, but also
plenty of other things to get to, including our AFC
preview before we do all that, I guess my first
question to you should be how are you today?

Speaker 4 (04:28):
My friend? You know what I am, I am great
Rob and it is it is a sunny day here,
So I am ecstatic that I am. I am at
a place that I remember and I know what time
zone is. So there's that. There's that because you know,
full disclosure, yesterday, you know, we were doing the show, right

(04:49):
I was. I was in an airport, you know, as
you were, and we we got we got the show done.
So I was in Chicago coming from New York. And
it has been Yeah, it's been a whirlwind. I have
been on a plane for six straight days. I've and
this will be the first day of not I'm not

(05:10):
getting or getting off of a plane. So yeah, very
excited about that, Very excited to be at home. Uh man,
AD's a lot. And you know, full disclosure, you know,
before before we get to the bell lap of this show,
there is there is some clam chowder in the fridge
that is calling my name. I'm just gonna say, that's

(05:31):
gonna be my I'm calling I'm calling my shot right now.
I am calling my shot right now.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
I can't say as they blame you, Max, you know
that's uh, that's a good thing to have waiting for you, right.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Yeah, I've earned it today. I mean, it's it's your
it's it's it's your apple pie. You know what I'm saying, Like, like,
that's what the clam chowder is to me. It's the
object of of my of my carnal uh you know,
appetite effect.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Now does does Tiffany make the clam chowder.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
No, she does not make the clam chowder. She makes
a lot of great soups. But the clam chowder comes
from Clamshack up in the New England area. So yes,
a special one. So so I I do. I do
enjoy theirs of the ones that I don't have locally,
Like I have a couple of places in New England

(06:25):
that when I go there, it's my favorite clam chowder
like places like of course, I have a running list
in my head of when I know I've got I mean,
I've got a spot or I got a guy, you
know what I'm saying, Like you just have that type
of deal. But Clamshack comes from that area and the

(06:46):
creaminess of that clam chowder, it brings me back to
the New England area, so you know, so yeah, so
I look forward to that and tiff was able to
procure me a package of it, so I am going
to enjoy it and and enjoyed on this day a
little chili, little brisk here, not not you know, obviously
nothing like the East Coast because I was just in
New York yesterday and it was seventeen degrees when I

(07:09):
left for the airport, and then it was and then
it was snowing before we took off in Chicago, and
like the wheels weren't getting traction on the runway so
like an hour. So it's like it's like, oh God, please, yes,
let's we do not need to go baby deer in
an airplane. So I was just happy that, you know,
it took a little bit longer to get us up

(07:29):
in the air and they de iced and did all
the green stuff on the plane, so I was happy
about that we got off. But yeah, so I'm I'm
enjoying my moment not being in those adverse conditions.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
So I'm glad, you know, it is It is great
to know that Max always has a guy in a
place right somewhere to go. Yeah, my buddy Robbie and
s Mkowski by the way, from the from the baseball broadcast,
he's that way too. He's always got a guy. He
knows a guy, I knows a place. I'm lucky if
I know what city I'm in. Much less have a

(08:05):
long list of where to go and who to see.
So I'm more than happy to be the co pilot
on these excursions, more than happy to to glean other
people's knowledge and get the and get the nod that's
where to go, So all good stuff, you know, Max,
I as as people know, and you know, I don't
know how much it would really interest anybody, but each

(08:27):
week I go through, I try to go through the
progression of the team, timing it out so that if
they're at home, you know, I watch a final game,
the last game they played the opponents, Steelers, opponent, either
the night before, morning of you know, if I'm on
the road and I have my laptop, you know, same
sort of thing. But I try to, you know, because

(08:50):
I want to be as friend. That's my job, right
I want to call the team and I want to
call the game.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
Yeah, so I was.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
I was upset with myself this morning because I'm at
that point. I'm at the last you know, sort of
four games that the Dolphins have played, and I watched
the Commanders before I watched the Bills, much to my annoints.
You gotta go up there and hit the back button
dot NFL dot com, you know, and get get back.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah, that's game.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
So I watched the wrong game.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
But I gotta tell you, man, they were extremely lucky
to win that game.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
That was a game in Spain. I believe, unbelievably lucky
to win that game.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Although you know, when you win four in a row,
five in a row, six in row, inevitably there are
gonna be games in which you were fortunate to win.
And I still think it makes them dangerous. Now, I'll
also say this, they held the Commanders down. They won
that game in overtime. But we talked a lot about
the offense yesterday. Here's what the defense is given up

(09:51):
in this four game winning streak the Dolphins. Thirteen points
to the Bills, thirteen points in overtime to the Commanders,
who got the ball to again over time, seventeen points
to the Saints, and ten points to the Jets. It's
a defense. I don't know any of us. When you
think Dolphins, think oh I got a great, snarling defense.

(10:12):
But they've got some nice players, some young players that
are coming along. I think you could say the same
thing about their offensive line, which has been a huge,
huge problem for this team really under all of Mike
McDaniel's tenure. They just he has been scheming around the
offensive line. But that offensive line's gotten better, which is
I think a big reason that they are running the

(10:34):
ball so effectively.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
But you know, this is a young defense.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
It's got some They've got some nice players, a couple
of rookies up on the offensive line. Kenneth Grant coming
out of Michigan was a guy max that I was
really interested in for the Steelers. I thought he was
going to be there when the Steelers picked, the Dolphins
grabbed him, big, massive guy, got off to a very
slow start, was getting a lot of criticism and he's
come on, Jordan Phillips on that on that line, and

(11:01):
then you have you know, Dodson and Brooks as young linebackers.
I mean, I I could see where the Dolphins could
think of themselves as a team on the rise.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Well, you're you're right, I think I think you look
at that and you know, young pieces coming together. Stop
me when you've heard the story before, Uh, you know,
we have a lot of young pieces that need to
mold into a veteran group. I mean that that that
kind of sums it up, and I think that you're right.
I mean when you look at that, you know, they

(11:35):
have they have a nice rotation of of big bodies
that they've they've amassed and they you know, and they
spent they spent resources on that defensive line. I mean,
they spent three draft picks on the defensive line alone. Right.
You know, we talked about Kenneth Grant, like you said,
you know, Jordan Phillips, they came in day three and
then and then Zeke Biggers was another one that they

(11:56):
went and he's humongous. He is Biggers, Yeah, six six,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, I haven't looked at their snapcounts, but it looks
like he's starting to get just a little bit more
roun Yeah as well.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, he is, he is. He's starting to get a
little more into the rotation. So that, you know, when
you're thinking like Yya black esque, you know, as far
as body dimensions, that's kind of what you're getting. A
little bit taller version of y Ya a little bit
just a little bit leaner, but you're getting very similar
raw talent in Zeke as you do as you do
with Yya, So you know, kind of thinking that vein

(12:31):
of that and of course Kenneth Grant being your Derek
Harmon equivalent. So they have some nice pieces on that group.
And you know, we we thought about oh man, they
were there, they were selling off pieces early. But I mean,
you know, Chop Robinson is a guy that they went
the year before and spent a first round pick on.
So you put two first round picks next to each

(12:51):
other on one side, that group's going to eventually gel
at some point. And I like Chopping. You know people
from the Western pa are you should know who that is, right,
Penn State. And he was he was a difference maker
on you know, on that team defensively, I mean he was.
He was your poor man's Micaeh Parsons, right, you know,
he had he had some very adepth skill sets that

(13:14):
that he could use. Now, Bradley Chubb is like that
veteran guy. He's not quite what he used to be,
but he's he's still got still got some wiggle. I mean, heck,
he has six and a half sacks. He he would
be tops on our team, you know, right up there
at the top of our of our of our sack list.
So he's a guy you don't want to mess with
as well. So I kind of look at that and
I say, hey, they got they got some good stuff.

(13:34):
Raeuell Douglass in the backfield. Uh, you know we remember
him from playing against him at Green Bay. Still a
very capable corner.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Games in West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yeah, yeah, Still you got Rasoul and Jack Jones. Jack's
been one that's that's been a very very heady guy
for them. He has an interception on the season. And
then uh Melafon, will you know Melafan with the fafety
along with Menca, you know, So I mean there's some
good pieces there. And like you said, you know, I
don't know how well that travels below forty degrees, but

(14:08):
I know Minca can play in it because right he
was he was a steeler. So the rest of that group,
I mean, when warm can cause some damage.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
You know, it is interesting and you know, I think
each week, you know, I try to put myself into
the shoes of the opponent. What are they trying to accomplish?
Who do they have?

Speaker 3 (14:30):
You know, what, what what are they? Where are they trending.
You know, what are they how close are they to
being good? Are they good?

Speaker 4 (14:38):
You know?

Speaker 2 (14:38):
And are they Are they on the downside or are
they are they? Are they on the upswing? And you know,
just try to sort of enter into their world. And
I think you laid it out perfectly. And if you're
if you're the Dolphins, you know, you can go into
subsequent drafts and say, okay, well, you know Brooks and
Dotson there and there, you know, sort of late twenties,

(14:58):
twenty seven and twenty eight years ars old. You have
Chop Robinson, a young pass rusher by the way, three
and a half sacks, but two and a half in
the last two games. He's a big reason that they've
started to come on. And you know, they've added some
sort of backup pieces, you know, rotational pieces in the secondary,
but you know, you start to get a little bit
younger in the secondary, and you know, maybe, again it's

(15:22):
funny to say this, maybe you need another receiver to
pair with Jail and Waddle. But they've also invested a
little bit in the offensive line because that's been an issue.
And suddenly, you know, a Dolphins team that seemed like
they were ready for the scrap peep and they're gonna
blow it all up, and everybody starts over, and you
start everything over. And they did make some trades at
the trade deadline, we do know that. But they're they've

(15:46):
got my attention. They're kind of an interesting team, Max
that they've you don't see a team sort of be
able to resurrect themselves quite like this and in quite
this fashion, because they've really changed what they do offensively.
You know, after the injury to Tyreek Hill, they've gone
away from the passing game, even though Waddle is still

(16:08):
a great weapon. They're they're running the football behind it
an improving offensive line again that has been their achilles heel.
And now as they're controlling the clock and running the football,
guess what we've talked about this all year. Now the
defense looks better and the defense is improving. And some
of that as young guys Lake Grant and Phillips and
Chop Robinson improving.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
So it's an interesting team. Mac.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Again, we're gonna dive more into the specifics, but just generally,
you know, we talked a lot about the offense yesterday,
but just generally speaking, it's an interesting team.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
I think, No, it definitely is. And like you said,
there's a there's a there's a lot of interesting pieces
and apparently those pieces have figured have fit their way
in right. You know. It's almost like when you get
you know, in the toolbox, you have like the universal
type of tool, you know, like the like there's a

(17:01):
certain like ratchet or wrinch set where it just fits
around the pieces versus being specifically for it. You know,
I feel like they have like some of those pieces, right,
So there's this universal piece that usually fits in most
places but hasn't found the right fit maybe somewhere else.
But they came there and they found their right way
and now they're all working together. That's kind of what

(17:23):
this Dolphins team is, you know. And like you said,
was left for dead, was left for you know, just obscurity.
I mean, people were betting when he was going, when
they were gonna let go of McDaniels. But they found
a way. They've worked together and they figured out how
to fuse. So it's gonna be really interesting as we
get ready for this game for Monday night, how all

(17:45):
those pieces are gonna fall into place on Monday and
how can we dislodge them and.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Helping us get ready for that Monday night game.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Is Jerry Dulac, who is going to be joining us
next when we continue in the locker Room presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store and the Students Pro Shop on Steve.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
There's Nation Radio a part of this. See there's Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
This is in the locker room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one point fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
Oh, we're trying to I know it's a cool breeze,
but we're trying to strum up some summer vibes there
down in Western PA, trying to at least pretend that
there's a warm, salty breeze coming through.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
We know that Jerry is one of those guys that
you know, inspires the funness that is the summertime with
that cool breeze. But you know, we're we're not hitting
it fixing any divots on the golf course today. We're
trying to fix the divots on the game playing field
and figure out how we can get a par or

(19:00):
better on Monday Night football. So we welcome in the
one the only, Jerry Dolac and Jerry's brought to you,
brought to us by the Walnut Grille. Four dollar bud Lights,
twenty two ounces, that's right, the Golden Brew. They're on
draft for all Steelers' games. What's up, Jerry? How are
we doing today?

Speaker 6 (19:20):
You know, mac's easy for you to say when it's
gonna be seventy eight and sunny. They're in the desert
where you reside. But as always, thanks, thanks for that intro,
and of course I'm extremely jealous.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, I will also say this to Jerry do. I
prefer to think of Jerry. You know, he's the cool
breeze and that's that is definitely true. But you know,
kind of like a thermos, can warm you up when
it's cold and can cool you down when it's when
it's warm, just just.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
Right there for you what you need.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's Jerry do Lach, who is also by the way, again,
as we'd like to say, the guests so nice, you
have to say it twice. He's also present of our neighborhood,
Ford Swore the f one fifty is the official truck
of the Pittsburgh's Tea. You know, Jerry, you had a
really interesting statistic about Derek Harmon and early days here.
Don't know if he's gonna play. It'd be great if
he did play. I don't know if you have any

(20:13):
insight on that on Monday night, the difference between when
he plays the rush defense and when he does not. Now,
they're very similar statistics last year with Cam Hayward. The
team was number two in yards per carry a year
ago and thirty first or maybe even last in yards
per carry when he wasn't on the field. So Derek

(20:34):
Harmon now some of that again, you know, you're trying
to figure out what the stats mean now that they
you know, he didn't play against the Jets heavy running team,
didn't play against Seattle, didn't play against Buffalo heavy running team,
didn't play against Baltimore heavy running team. So I don't
know if those stats would have been a little different.
But it's hard to not look at those stats and
say there's got to be something there. Maybe maybe not

(20:57):
quite that stark, maybe if you take quality of opponents
into play and what they want to do, but but
definitely there's.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Got to be something there, right, Yeah, you.

Speaker 6 (21:07):
Know, robbers, you'd like to say there's lives damn wise
and statistics exactly right. And so that's just one. That's
just one of them. But it is intriguing. And it's
not like it's twenty yards difference. It's one hundred yards
difference ninety nine or ninety six yards in the games
when he does play in one hundred and ninety one
yards average in the games he doesn't play. But I mean, look,

(21:32):
is there one hundred yards difference per game when he plays?
Probably not, But is there a difference when he plays
as opposed to that it doesn't play, Yes, there is,
because it's not just him and what he brings. It's
the fact that you know that certainly just cuts into
the rotational depth at a position where you know, to me,

(21:54):
they're still needing a you know, another one in the draft,
not necess necessarily number one, but very high. And so
when he's not there, that just that just hurts the
rotation that Carl Dunbar always uses. And that's just one
less quality body that's out on the field, and not

(22:16):
just quality bottle maybe maybe the best body uh out
there on the field. Mark. With all due respect to
Cam Heyward.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
Of course, well of course, but I mean, but listen, listen.
I Cam might not think he's he's an elder statesman,
but I reminded Cam, you know, Sunday after the Baltimore game, Cam,
you played with me. Okay, So just let you know
you're you're already in You're already an old man. You're
fighting age battle. You are you know, said you are

(22:44):
the guy that that's saying get off my lawn at times.
So you know, he he he, he understands the limits
of his own of his own mortality. But you know,
kind of when we look at that, I mean, you know,
guys able to turn back the clock. Last week, it
felt like, I mean, we looked at what and did
we looked at you know, kind of the the the
things that yeah, I mean TJ were able to do.

(23:06):
But a lot of young guys coming in and really
stepping up big in that Baltimore game. And you know,
we're gonna need it again against the Dolphins because you know,
there is a very youthful team, a team that even
despite their best efforts to try and fire sale their squad,
they still got some good talent there. Jared that and
you know, like you said, they're riding a four game
win streak right now coming into Acorsure on Monday Night.

(23:30):
Just kind of your thoughts about you know, the Steelers
that and this season unlike other seasons, right we have
not had a good post post one pm game start, uh,
you know, schedule and victories in this I mean, has
that been talked about at all about you know, late
starts and kind of not getting started during some of
those late games we've already had this.

Speaker 6 (23:51):
Season, you know, Max, I think so much of that
is is just kind of coincidence because we you know,
when there's positive stats, they are focused on. You know,
Mike Commins overall record on Monday Night football is pretty
darn good. But they are zero and three in prime
time and are not just oh and three. They've been
in they've looked awful, and they've been embarrassed in all

(24:15):
three of those games. For the most part. The Bengals game,
they weren't embarrassed. It was very entertaining of course that
they lost, but nonetheless they still lost. And so there's
a couple of things in play. You know, yesterday was
their victory Wednesday, so the players you know. As to
Derek Carmon, you know, the players haven't been on the
field and they until today this afternoon, so and that'll

(24:37):
be the first day. So it's hard to tell who
might be ready and who might not be ready. But
there's a chance that Derek Harmon, you know, will play
against the Dolphins. As for the Dolphins, you know, you
look at this, they won four to row five or
six and door not four game streak. You know, here
we go again. They're averaging one hundred and ninety two

(24:59):
yards right wishing per game in those four games, and
they two thirty nine last week. They are going to
come out and run the ball. They're trying to put
the ball into his hands less and less each game.
And if you look at the numbers, you know, his
attempts are way down, so or his passing yards because
they've been able to run the ball the way they

(25:19):
have so with the success that they've had, so I
would expect more the same Monday night. And and here
the Steelers will have allowed over two hundred yards rushing
in each of the past two games. And so I
don't think there's any secret to what the Dolphins are
going to try to do. And what the Steelers are

(25:42):
going to have to do to win this game. And
as for the old guys, look Aaron was I asked
Mike tom on this after the game. I said, do
you ever get a sense or a field during the game,
you know, with such things? I said that Aaron Rodgers
looked in complete control from the opening snap, unlike the

(26:05):
previous game where he did not, And a lot of
that could have been the uncertainty of his wrisk. Playing
with it for the first time, played with a little
softer cast last week, you could tell that didn't seem
to be an issue at all. But some of the
throws he may not just down the field, even the
one incompletion over the middle of the field fellas And

(26:27):
I don't know if you recall this play or even
got to see it again, but it was an incompletion
in the middle of the field. I think maybe the
John new Smith. I'm not exactly sure to who, but
you know, he kind of almost had the side of it.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
But the.

Speaker 6 (26:44):
Velocity on that ball and the speed with which he
can delivers it, I mean, that's you know, for a
forty two year old guy. You go, WHOA look at that?
And so if anybody has any questions that Aaron Rodgers
at forty two, you know, said he turned forty two
last week, that maybe his skills or ability to throw
the ball late in the season of declining. I tell

(27:06):
you to go look at those balls down the field
and that incompletion over the middle, which to me was
the most impressive throw he made for an incompletion. So
I thought he was in complete control of that game,
and that was encouraging to see because that was not
the case the week before. But I'm sure again a
lot of that had to do with his wrist.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, I agree, Jerry, And I just think there's times
this year where you know, it is it's so clear
how talented he still is. You know, one of my favorite,
my favorite throw he's made all year.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Was an incompletion.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
He drew Seattle off side, rolled out to his right,
hit Pat Fryer movie, Oh yeah, sixty.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
I was just.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
I said, this, that's the best throw I've seen by
any quarterback all year. It was incredible to throw it sixty,
moving to your right on the run, falling down to
a guy who's covered and hit him over the shoulder
along the sidelines. I mean, I don't I just don't
know how you can make a better throw than that.
I certainly if he plays like we've seen him play

(28:13):
at times now, there's there's been games of Chargers he
wasn't as good. You know, this game against Buffalo, he
wasn't as good. But but overall you're seeing I think,
better quarterback play than we have seen in a long
time in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 6 (28:25):
Yeah, and Rob to your point, I think, you know,
you go back to that the Bengals game. There, I
doubt there was a more entertaining passing game from two quarterbacks,
even though both of them were over forty than what
Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers did in that game. And
he did that on national television, So obviously he convinced

(28:46):
a lot of people then that what you know, he
still has something left in his tank. And so he
gets another chance, you know, to kind of show that
on Monday, coming off the performance you know that he
had in Baltimore. So you know, the Steelers are only
going to go Look, they can rely on their defense,
and it's just been too darn inconsistent to sit here

(29:08):
and say that's what they're going to do. Ideally, that's
what they want to do this time of year. Look
what the Houston Texans are doing with their defense. Uh,
that defense. Nobody's gonna want to play the Texans in
the postseason the way they're playing now. Defensively, the Steelers
aren't aren't that aren't that good on defense like the Texans.

(29:30):
But that's what the Steelers want to do. But ideally,
it's why they brought in Aaron Rodgers to win a
playoff game, and he's going to be the one who
determines what they do in the postseason and should they
get there, which you know, I think they're going to,
but he's going to. It's all gonna be because and
not surprisingly he's the quarterback, but he's also Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Yeah, he definitely is. And and you know, you you
want to have that complimentary balance for a team anyways, right,
you team can go and do what the Steelers defense
has done at like you said, various points arough out
the season, Jared, I mean many times we had that,
you know, multiple turnover game. I mean, heck, we've had
what two to five turnover games this season, which is

(30:14):
an astronomical number. And to do it multiple times, I
mean you have to be doing something right defensively, but
like you said, when there isn't those moments, you know,
be able to steal the possession, be able to make
the big play down the field, to get the juices going,
and give your defense a break when necessary, because they've
been on the field a whole lot this season, and

(30:38):
still stem the tide, and give them enough break that
they could still run one last play and they can
still chase down Lamar Jacks at the most critical point
in the game, right. I mean, you don't want a
team that's just so tired that there's just nothing left.
I mean, we saw that movie last year when the
NFL graced us with the divine opportunity to have three

(30:59):
games in eleven days. Uh, you know the teams in
the league too, Yeah, exactly exactly, like literally one, two,
and three. It was like, are you are you kidding me?
Like one team went to the super Bowl the other
two when you know, well I used to say two
of them went to the Super Bowl and one of them,
you know, made it deep into playoffs. So you know,

(31:20):
I look at that and I say, Okay, well it's
not last year for a lot of intents and purposes,
but you know, this team has grown a whole lot,
and you know, you kind of look, I think one
of the things that kind of goes a little unsung
is just the effort of guys like Alex high Smith, Right,
you know, it's you you focused on the injuries, but
when he's been healthy, he has been a difference maker

(31:42):
on this team, and he's a great, you know, great
guy that provides that that that boost at times. I mean,
you know, he was what Player of the Week earlier
this season, and he's had he's had some multiple you know,
multiple action games where he's turned over, he's had a
turnover where he he's created with him and TJ. And

(32:02):
he just seems to make the opportune plan. And I
feel like that often gets overlooked because you have a
guy of the elk of TJ Watt, but he's still
a very vital part of this defense, and I think
that's something that people kind of forget at times.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
You know, Max, and I know he missed a couple
of games in there, but over the last six games,
he has easily to me, been their best defensive player.
And there've been a couple of guys, you know, you
can make that argument with Jalen Ramsey, you know, Patrick
Queen at times. But Alex Heismith has been the most disruptive,

(32:35):
best defensive player that they've had over this little period.
And so I'm with you there. And you know, he
might eventually get caught in a numbers game financially, of course,
that's a story for another day. But he's been very good,
and he's you know, he sets the edge, but he's
been disruptive in the backfield. You know, his pass rush

(32:55):
has been strong, and yeah, and I thought last week
against Baltimore, I thought it was fitting that he ended
the game with the sack after the game that he had,
you know, three tackles, three quarterback hurries, two tackles Philasky
and and yeah, I really like Alex Heismith, and I
was glad to see him, you know, perform the way

(33:18):
he has because he's just been nagged with those soft
muscle tissue injuries. And but when he's been healthy and
when he's been on the field, he's been very good.
But I think it's important too looking at the big picture.
They did it early in the year when they got
to four and one, they won three in a row.
But you hear him talk about it all the time.

(33:38):
You've got to start putting some wins back to back
to gain if not momentum, confidence or if not confidence, momentum.
But this, you know, this is an opportunity to do that,
you know, at home against the Dolphins, not because you're
going to Detroit, which we have seen is not as

(34:00):
you know, dominating and as unbeatable as we have come
to think of them at Ford Field. But you know,
stack a couple of wins and get some momentum late
in the season, unlike what we have seen for the
past six years where December has just been a disaster
for them with three game losing streaks.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yea, I totally agree.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Just one last thing I want to hit you with
and I'm sure Max and I'll talk more about this
as well, But you know, the whole run the football,
you know, play good defense, whatever it takes to get
the lead, and I think what it's going to take
is stopping eighth chan on defense and whatever it takes
to get the lead on offense.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
Hopefully they'll run the ball.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Look, they want to, They've talked about wanting to be
a physical team in this kind of weather, This is
what they want. Physical offensively and defensively. When you look
at all the interceptions too is thrown. You know, going
back to what you said at the beginning of this conversation, Jerry,
they've protected him a little bit. I mean he's got
fourteen interceptions. He's tied for the league lead with Gino
Smith in interceptions. Now he's only thrown a couple in

(35:00):
the last three games. Last four games, I think he
has three interceptions in the last four games. They are
protecting him, they're running the football. I would like to
unprotect him. I would like to see the Steelers make
him one dimensional and turn loose Alex high Smith, who
is again he's got six and a half sacks.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
He's only played in nine games.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
He's played in four fewer Right and TJ Watt and
three fewer than Nick Herbig, and he's tied with Herbing
and a half sack behind Watt.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
But all three of those guys.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Let's turn these guys loose, Let's force two into mistakes,
and let's see if you can kind of get that
winning streak going here.

Speaker 6 (35:37):
In December, Rob, you know, I went back and looked
Steamers have had to your point about you know, getting
out early and whatnot. They've had the halftime lead in
ten of their thirteen games, and Sunday was the first
time they protected that halftime lead against the quality opponent.
Otherwise they were zero to four. That's right in the one.

(36:00):
So they have been able to get out to early leads.
It's been the third quarter, whether defensively or offensively, that
it's kind of done them in. And one more thing
before I have to go to Max's earlier point about
the defense getting tired and Rob, I can't remember if
you and I talked about this off the air, but

(36:21):
the opponent and Sunday was the most glaring example. The
opponent has run one hundred and seventy six more plays
than the Steelers. That's the equivalent of almost three games
two point nine. So that means the Steeler defense has
played sixteen games already, not just thirteen, and that has
to take its home.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
I totally agree.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
And you know what, because we're going to accentuate the positive.
That means the Steelers offense should be fresh. They've only
played ten games here.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
That's exactly right. They're sitting on that fense. They could
take a nap.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Jerry Doula, the cool breeze do you. I'll see on
the south side a little bit, my friend. Thanks very
much for coming on with us. As always, you got
it all right. We want to remind you that you
can gear up with the latest game day necessities at
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(37:20):
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Back and more in the Locker Room presented by your
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Speaker 1 (37:47):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
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Speaker 2 (38:06):
Com and we thank you for being with us. We
also thank Jerry Dulac for being with us beer on
this Thursday. As we start to you know, really get
into the matchups and the and the key breakdowns in
this game, and you know, an exciting opportunity here for
the game. Before we get back into it, Max, I
want to ask you, like, if you have a Monday

(38:28):
night game late and I don't know how many you
had in your career, I'm guessing you had to have some. Uh,
you know, how much did you watch the games on
Sunday And did it have any effect on you when
you were preparing, you know, when you were getting ready

(38:49):
to play.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Did you that win helped us out? Did it take
a little edge off? Or did it maybe heighten you?
Hey man? But hey we really got helped out.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Like, for example, there're gonna be a lot of Cincinnati
fans I would imagine in Pittsburgh on Sunday you knock
off the Ravens, hey man, we could have a two
game lead here.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Or does it take some of the edge away? Do
you pay attention? Do you not pay attention?

Speaker 2 (39:07):
How would you view a Monday night game this Sunday
before the Monday night game when you.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Were a player.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
We lost Max Starks, but we'll get him back in
a moment. While we do wanted to let you know
that there was a roster move made today. The Students
signed Doug Nester to the practice squad. Nestor spent twenty
twenty four in the Steeris practice squad. He was signed
to a reserve future contract following the season, originally with
the Vikings back in twenty twenty four as an undrafted guy.

(39:39):
He played college football at West Virginia. Wes Uler will
certainly remember that appeared in fifty seven games with fifty
two starts. So he's added to the practice squad as
the Steelers have made some roster moves this week, again
banged up on their offensive line. Dylan Cook earlier in
the week was officially signed to the active roster. So

(40:04):
because of you know, again, the team has had excuse me,
some injuries along the offensive line, they signed David Sharp
to the practice squad. Calvin Anderson was placed on the
reserve injured list. Tray Sermon was released from the practice
squad because they just need to find some offensive linemen. Sharp,
by the way, was had been with the Raiders originally

(40:26):
was drafted in the fourth round in twenty seventeen. Forty
six games, six starts. Over his career, He's been around Chargers, Raiders, Ravens, Panthers, Commanders, Texans,
and Max will probably remember him from his SEC days
where Sharp played college football at Florida, So that's something

(40:46):
that I'm sure that Max will be well aware of.
So the students making some moves and try to shore
up their offensive line because they've had some injuries on
that offensive line. They are down their first ring off
offensive linement. Obviously left tackle, that's Broderick Jones as we
well know, and Calvin Anderson was signed to be the

(41:09):
swing tackle. I don't know whether he was nicked up
and that played a part in Andrews Pete starting at
left tackle in his place. I don't know whether that
was again part of the determining factor, or whether Pete
simply beat him out. Regardless, you know he was he
went into the season as your swing tackle because you
signed him to a two year contract, and then he
got hurt, and so you know, now you're you're trying

(41:33):
to find ways to add to your depth and and
and make sure you have good quality players, because good offensive.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
Linemen are hard, hard, hard to find.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
The Steelers have had a They've done a very nice
job of compiling those guys. I don't think they've missed
much of a beat with Andrews Pete, you know, a
veteran guy coming in at left tackle. But now you
lose Calvin Anderson excuse me, another veteran guy that can
step in at the taposition. So this yearers, you know,
making those moves to try to shore themselves up on

(42:06):
the offensive line here for the stretch run of four
more games and going against a much improved Dolphins defense.
And we mentioned this just briefly, but a much improved
defensive front. So if you follow the NFL and followed,
you know, the draft, and like me, were thinking, hey,
you know, Kenneth Grant could be there. You know, hopefully

(42:28):
if everything breaks right, you have the opportunity to perhaps choose,
Hey do we want Kenneth Grant? Do we want Derek Harmon?
That would be the best case scenario. Both those guys there,
you can make the selection. I agree with you, but
I jumped to the guy.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Grant was gone. He went early.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
So so this offensive line match shored up and you
have to make moves this time of year with all
the injuries Steelers have had on the offensive line they have,
you know.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
And Dylan Cook was a guy that we id during
training camp, right, yep, you know he was having a
solid he was having a solid camp and we're like,
man and Dylan. Dylan was on the active roster last year,
didn't get any play because you know, we had we
had our guys kind of in place, so he was
the oft unused guy, you know, a healthy game day scratch.

(43:19):
But now you know, necessity necessity for us now because
we've had the amount of injuries that we've had at
the left tackle position, you know, losing ap in the
game on Sunday and Dylan stepping in and doing a
great job. I mean you're talking about short order notice,
like a pactice squad elevation on Friday. You know how

(43:40):
many reps he probably got ten mental reps or he
stepped on the field because you're trying to get on
just beed up to speed at left tackle, right, you know,
because remember a Chargers game, his first play of the year,
he was at left guard. So like there's a lot
of those things and then Calvin Andrew going on IR

(44:01):
So you know a lot of missed reps that Dylan
Cook's going to try and hopefully speed up the process
and get himself mentally ready. But you know, out of
necessity comes opportunity, and for Dylan Cook, this is a
grand opportunity for him to put his skills on display
and show this to hey, I'm a guy you need
to consider, you know, in the future moving forward, I

(44:24):
can be hey, count on me up top, not a game,
I got it. That's what you have to kind of
bring to the table. And how many different opportunities have
come that way. I mean even for me, like the
way that my career started, right, I told you my
first game play and starting experience was that Left Guard.

(44:44):
Like it was week seventeen into the season, playing Buffalo
already sewed up the one seed, and we're playing the
Buffalo Bills, right, and it's like, hey, you know, Jeff
Harding sat down. Jeff was the elder Statesman, and so
Chuck Yakobe goes in for Jeff in that game. Alan
Fanica looks around. It's only seven guys dressed. I'm not playing.

(45:08):
You know. Big Red is Big Red. He's like, hey, rook,
you're in. What I'm sorry huh yeah, yeah, no, no,
you're you're in. I haven't taken a single repid left guard, sir.
He's like, well, Chuck's out. You have a uniform on,
so you're playing right out. Yep, hey, put up or
shut up? Right, These are those type of moments. But

(45:29):
it bred an opportunity for me. And then you look
at just kind of how that, how that transpired after
that showed faith, you know, with the team and me
and my skill set. I win an open competition the
follow a year for right tackle after Oliver Ross leaves.
That's that's how these origin stories start. And whether it's
delayed or whether it's immediate, these are those opportunities that

(45:50):
you have to grasp, you have to take, and you
have to run with them because you never know what
it can lead to down the line.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Well, I think one other thing, and I totally agree.
And look, the players play and we all know that.
And Sheldon White, who's a former player in the NFL,
he knows that too. But you know, there's so much
attention paid to the draft, right and and sort of
this assumption that well everybody knows, you know, who Patrick
Queen is right. Anybody could assigned Patrick Queen. We all

(46:18):
know what you know, we've seen him with the Ravens.
There's more to it than that, obviously, But this is
a moment where I think, you you know, you you
congratulate Sheldon White and his staff, and you know the
rest of the decision makers, you know, Omar Khan and
Andy whiteh and all the other guys stepping into to
confirm these decisions. But you know, this is why Sheldon

(46:41):
White and his group scour through rosters to find players
that can contribute, and find players that can strengthen the
bottom of your roster and strengthen your practice squad. And
it's you know, a lot of these pickups aren't sexy
right up until the moment they are and they help
you win some games, and you think, wow, man, you know,

(47:03):
Dylan Cook, great job. And I think a lot of
people because there's not three days of coverage and it's
not nationally televised, and it's you know, we're bringing the
draft to Pittsburgh and everyone's excited. We're not bringing you know,
college the college free agents. Hey, three days of college
free agents and bottom of the roster guys. You know,
but those guys, it's sometimes an unsung job, man. But

(47:27):
good kudos for finding these players, observing whether they're your
own guys. You know, you're comparing James Pierre to other
guys around the league when you're putting them on your
practice squad, and certainly there's some familiarity there. But you know, hey,
kudos for picking up some of these guys in a
less exalted position, only less exalted in the minds of fans,

(47:49):
I think for Sheldon White and his group.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
Yeah, no, I mean, and this is where, like you said,
this is the meat and the potatoes of what you know,
pro per personnel scouting leads to and those extended tryouts
what we call short lists, which people have heard us
talk about. You know, making your way to that list
and making your way to these opportunities is not an

(48:15):
easy game. And like you said, there's a lot of
guys to balance, and you're also trying to match you're
trying to play psychologists as well, matching personality traits and
skill sets to what the already team dynamic is. You know,
is this guy a right fit culturally for our locker room?
Is he going to be a leader, Is he going
to fall into bad habits, you know, can he stand

(48:36):
on his own? Like, there's a lot of things you
have to take into account for. Is this guy here
just so he can get injured to get an injury settlement? Right?
You know, these are also the you know, the less
talked about side, the less sexy sides of this process.
And for a pro player personnel director, you know, and
you know, I love Sheldon. Sheldon is amazing And I've

(48:58):
known various ones throughout the years, even some of my
former teammates that have taken on that role that have
had a chance to kind of pick their brains and
learn from It's a thankless job. And when you get
it wrong, everybody wants to make sure that they know
that you got it wrong. But when you get it right,
everybody seems to share a piece of that pie. Right.
It's like the little red hen, you know, it's like,

(49:20):
hey man, hey, look at this bread. You built this
loaf of bread man, so good, thank you. But when
his bad's like, nah, that's yours, it's burning around the edge,
is a little crusty. No, I can't No, that's that's
your bread. Right. You have all these situations and I
think that's where when you do find them or you
don't get any rumblings, that's a victory. The guy is

(49:41):
like the guy fits right on end. That's what you
want to hear. And then of course when he gets
his time to shine, he shines like, oh man, where
we get this guy from a guy from Montana?

Speaker 3 (49:50):
What okay?

Speaker 4 (49:51):
All right? Hey, good hey, good job, glad, glad we
did that. Glad we did that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
But it is like you, We've mentioned this before, but
it is really truly one of the great byproducts of stability.
Nobody cares who gets the credit, Nobody cares who gets
to blame. It's hey, we made a bad decision. Let's
move on, Not hey, let's hide this guy and protect

(50:20):
this person who made this draft choice or who went
on on a limb and said we should sign this
free agent or whatever. You can move on, You can
admit mistakes, and it's easier to admit mistakes and move
on when you've got the kind of stability that the
Steelers have have cherished and have had throughout the last
fifty five years of this organization. So anyway, kudos, we

(50:42):
have much much to get to, including a break. We
are way overdue, so we're gonna take that.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Now.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
You're in the locker room presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
And to see this pro shop on see This Nation Radio,
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