September 3, 2025 • 45 mins
Max and Rob discuss the latest team news and chat matchups to watch for against the Jets on Sunday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, everybody, Welcome inside the locker Room with King and Stark.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Presented by our neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers
Audio Network alongside Max Starks.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I am Rob King. Max.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We are on a Wednesdays Wednesday, right Wednesday of a
game week, Holy macl Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Ah, right, we got that.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's the week, that important piece of news the day
of the week straightened out. Uh So, Max, I've got
a ton of questions to ask you about about pass
rushers and getting prepared for them.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
But there is some news to report. A couple of
different factors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
One, Robert Woods apparently asked for and was granted his
release from the Steelers' practice squad. Is that just a
case of a veteran guy looking for another opportunity, do
you think?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
You know?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And is that something that happens on a regular basis here?
Is that something that's a little more unusual.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You're saying for a veteran guy to leave the practice.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Squad, so yeah, to ask for his release?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, sometimes it is. And maybe maybe there is another
team that they want to join. Maybe they don't see
the value or they think that they could be better
or suited on somebody else's practice squad, because remember, you
can't go practice squad to practice squad. For a team
to take you off the practice squad, they have to
(01:28):
go up to the active roster, right. That's the only
way they can leave the team via another team. If
you're swapping practice squad for practice squad, you need to.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Actually ask for your release, right, right, So is this
do you think again?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
With This could be any number of things.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It could be, look, you know, at this point in
my career, maybe I just you know, maybe I just
want to hang it up. Or it could be, look,
I just don't see the path to playing time here,
and maybe you sit out and have an honest discussion
with the coaches and say, hey, listen. Or maybe as
a player, you just feel it. Can you feel as
a player when there is no path to playing time?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There comes a moment, But usually that's later in the year, right,
because the one thing you can anticipate is injuries, and
when my number might get called. Now you might be
lower on that depth chart, and that's why you feel like,
first injury, I'm not the first option, you know what
I'm saying. That's where they could feel that type of pressure,
(02:36):
like dang. You know, man, I gotta wait for two
guys to get injured before I can even see an opportunity.
That's that's when it get That's when it can get here.
But you know, once again, you never know. I mean,
it doesn't matter how deep it is, because I remember,
you know a few years ago when we were literally
taking linebackers and dbs off the streets, you know what
(02:56):
I'm saying, Like at one point the only healthy secondary
guys we had was Terrell Edmunds and Miles Killerbrew And
I can also remember when you know, we were down
to just a Landing Roberts at linebacker, you know what
I'm saying. So you know, so like seeing that and
hearing that, you know that, that's where it's a little
(03:16):
frustrating because it's like, yeah, you want to play, but
you know, yes, it might not be to a week
ten or you know, heck, it might even be as
early as week four. You know, you never know when
it's gonna happen. But if there is, you know, and
I'm not gonna sit there and say it's a lack
of confidence, but you know, some guys are not as
confident as you would think they are about their skill
(03:39):
set and about earning the opportunity because sometimes it just
takes a little bit more time and veterans should understand that.
But you know, hey, listen, you're not You're not going
to fight another person's feelings, like because you can't change him, right. Uh,
you know, once they once they've made their mind up
and they've you know, hopefully sought you know, wise counsel,
and they have another landing spot. But I'm like, man,
(04:03):
if I get an opportunity, I'm gonna wait this thing
out because you never know, right and and so so
that that that is a little you know, it's understandable,
and I'm never I'm never gonna fault anybody for their
decision making skills. But you just you wonder, it's like
it's so hard to already get into the league and
then defines you a spot, you know, and you know
(04:25):
the system, you know, sometimes you know, it's like sometimes
better just be patient.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, I think he was at the point of his career.
And again I haven't seen any quotes directly attributed to him,
just reports that you know, he just look thirty three
years old. I've had a long and very fine NFL career.
A ton of catches, a ton of success. If I
(04:51):
can't be on a regular roster, maybe that's, you know,
maybe it's time to go. Maybe maybe it's time. Maybe
the league is telling me it's time to retire, as
the league will always tell you, you know, at some point. Uh,
almost the vast majority of people, and think about this now,
I'm guessing there are very few, if any former NFL
(05:14):
or professional athletes listening to us right now. But even
put yourself in you know, sixth grade trying to make
the the the junior high team, or trying to make
the college team, or or maybe you played small college
ball in your career is over at the collegiate level.
The only reason you don't keep playing anymore for most
(05:35):
people is because you're not wanted anymore. That's just that's
just the way it goes, you know. Uh, you know,
if you're a high school player you're not quite good
enough to play in college, then that's that's the world
telling you you're not quite good enough to play anymore,
and it's time to do something else. You know, if
you finish, you finish college, and you know, small college
(05:56):
and the NFL doesn't nobody offers you try out you know,
there's a different in keeping your dreams alive and realizing it's.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Time to move on.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And maybe Robert Woods just says listen, I and and
who knows. You know, Here's the other thing, too, is
that you know, if the Steelers and it's time to
knock on Wood again, potentially have an injury and it
happens early in the season.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
You know, Robert Woods knows the system. He's a veteran guy.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I would have thought he'd be the first guy to
be called up if an injury happened. But again, you know,
I think he just from from everything that I've seen,
it just sounds like it was he's at that point
of his career. Where's hey, fifty three man roster or
you know, I don't really want to be scuffling around
in the practice squad. This isn't about keeping that sort
(06:42):
of dream alive. It's about understanding that the end of
the road is upon me potentially.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
More like a Boys de Men song, But I'm gonna
say this, Rob Yeah, you know, you know, I don't
know where else you can make twenty thousand dollars a week.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Well, if you don't need it, right, listen, listen, I
hear you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
People don't need twenty k a week.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I hear you.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I can tell you right now, ro Yeah, if the
Steelers said, hey, Max, we're gonna put you on the
practice squad. Sorry, locker room, I'll be back once once
they cut me.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yes, I am available.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I am rememberable, remember Max, right now, I have the
greatest of ability.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Right now, I have availability.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, exactly. Availability is another.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Reason why availability is not the best ability.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's an iceability.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But when people say the best ability is availability, that's
not true.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Because I'm available.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Everybody listening to this, to this show is probably available
to make twenty thousand dollars a week on the Steelers
practice squad.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
None of us will be called for that duty.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
No, sad sadly not sadly not.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, it is, it is.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know, I've definitely written it in my Polly Pocket
notebook and it still hasn't come true yet.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, so news of a different sort. So that is
kind of a minor matter, although again nothing's minor, right
you know to me. You know you've got developmental guys
like Williams and Hurlman on your practice squad at the
receiver position. He would have been to me, this the
(08:21):
stop gap guy. Even if those guys develop and by
the middle of the season you're like, whoa, we really
have something here. Even if that were to happen, and
there's no guarantee of that, Woods I would think would
have been the first guy called up. So you know,
that's potentially an issue for the Steelers. And of course,
you know, the receiver position has been a hot button
topic among fans. You know, I've seen opinion article as well.
(08:43):
We all know the Steelers are out looking for another receiver.
I don't know, you know, if that's true, Frankly, Max,
In fact, i'm sure that they're I'm not sure that
they're looking for a receiver at all. But this would
have been a nice little safety blanket for the team
to have.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, it would have been a nice safety blanket. And
like you said, a veteran of his elk, you know,
would would have would have probably you know, yielded and
that hey, all right, this is that moment or somebody
doesn't quite live up the expectations during the season you
want to change things up. He would have been a
guy you would have thought, probably would have been that guy.
But you know, maybe he's like man you know, I
(09:22):
don't think that I'm going to play anytime soon, and
I need to play. Can't say what the intentions or
motivations are, but to each their own, right, Like you said,
some people don't need twenty k a week, or you know,
there's there's a certain level of you know, cachet that
(09:46):
goes with being on the active roster versus not, or
maybe I haven't dealt with this before. I don't understand.
I wish there was a practico at at the end
of my career. I probably might have played a little
bit longer. Who knows. But but yeah, listen, I'm never
going to fall to guy. They know their intentions better
than I do, and it's something that that that that
(10:07):
they have figured out, and so more power to them.
And like you said, you never know. There could be
an opportunity where we bring him back later and it
is something that he feels better about or he's he's
he's in the right mental space for it. So you know,
you just you never know. But man, twenty K week, right, Yeah,
(10:30):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not saying it's all about
the money. But money doesn't hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
No, Yes, that's it. That's a larger discussion for another
time about where where money changes the way you might
think about things. And that's not really the not really
the purview of this show.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So no, we're just here to report the news.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Not here just in just in case, and I just
a little peer behind the curt just in case we
missed the news. You know who is the best on
our team of broadcasters, right our our team of producers,
on air people, sideline people, engineers. We have a little
group that makes sure everybody stays on top of some.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Of the news that's going on.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And I think I think it's safe to say that
the number one person on top of that and making
sure we're all in line is Missy.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Matthews, No question, t mom.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
She is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
In fact, I have put forth the notion that we
all know there's no I in team right, not nope, no,
just no Iron Team and Missy. But Missy has two
eyes in her name, that's true. So I propose that
we officially change the spelling of her name on all Steelers'
(11:57):
websites and everything to M T E A M S
S t E A M pronounced Missy. But it's kind
of like one of those Gaelic words. You're like, how
do you pronounce that? So it looked like a Gaelic word,
but it's pronounced missy because she's an unbelievable team player.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
No, I mean, Missy is one of the best. You know,
I adhere as long as she adhars.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Okay, Okay, Yeah, that's that's that's a very good that's
a very good way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
If it's okay with her, it's okay with us. So
making sure that we.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
All knew the news, and it is big news, and
it happened yesterday and it just broke a short time
ago that Elijah Vera Tucker who was just named a
Jets captain. He is their starting right guard. He's had
some injury issues. It was a first round picking twenty one,
but when he is healthy, he is a good football player,
(12:51):
a really good football player. And I think for Aaron Glenn,
there's a reason. You know, again, I'm not in the
Jets locker room, but there's a there's a reason he's
a captain, and part of that, I would think has
to be with the fact that he fits perfectly into
what it looks like the Jets are trying to accomplish,
(13:12):
which is they want to and again we have you know,
we don't know because we haven't seen the first game
under Aaron Glenn, but all signs point toward a team
that wants to line up and mash it into your face.
You got a running quarterback, You have a stable of
running backs, one of whom Braileen Allen is a big,
physical guy. Breiest Hall is a game breaker. You know,
(13:34):
you have a lot of different weapons there at the
running back position. You want to I think the Jets
want to line up and ram it at you. And
not having Elijah Vera Tucker in there. And again right
now they're they're evaluating his arm injury. They said it
has potential to be a serious arm injury and if
(13:55):
it is, he could miss significant time. Don't know, I
haven't heard for sure whether he's ruled out of today
Sunday's game, But Max, that would be a large blow
to a Jets team trying to establish an identity in
game one under Eron Gwynn.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, no, this is a I'm not gonna call it
a major blow. This this is a big blow, like
you said, especially to start the season. That's the other
thing that kind of makes it. I think even tougher
is that. Yeah, it's like it's like we have all
we have these goals, we have these aspirations as a unit,
but it only goes as far as the team will go.
(14:34):
So you know, for a guy like Elijah vera Tucker
to be missing from that lineup is going to be
something that they're going to be, you know, trying to
scramble to figure out. Like you said, when you get
the captain's title, you get the nod to to be
the guy that one. That one hurts even more because
(14:56):
it's like, man, we were really depending on this guy.
Like you said, we don't know this of of it
just yet, but you know, given the timing and everything
else like that, it couldn't have happened at a more
at a worse time.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right, Yes, And when you consider, you know, the Steelers
aren't gonna cry any crocodile teers here. Man, They're they're
not gonna nobody's gonna be at another team's misfortune. But
you know, in his press conference yesterday, Mike Tomlin only
ruled one person out and that's Derek Harmon. And you know,
when we think about the Steelers run defense, which towards
(15:36):
the end of the year began to have some issues,
and the Steelers clearly saw that. You know, we've talked
about this.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
They went out.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
They drafted Harmon in the first round, they drafted Black
in the fifth round, they signed daniel Lequale, they signed
to sase O Tomewo. So they went out. You know,
Logan Lee's back. But the idea was, let's bolster that
frontline with quality, and let's bolster it with depth. And
(16:05):
Derek Harmon is out of this game and to have
Elijah Vera Tucker out as well seems you know, Okay,
that's that maybe levels of playing feel back again a
little bit because Harmon's a guy. Look, there's a reason
and I'm not saying Derek Harmon is Cam Hayward yet,
but there's a reason you take a guy in the
(16:25):
first round, and it's because you expect him to be
able to step in right away and make an impact.
So that that kind of in some ways, uh for
the short term period, meaning this game, if Vera Tucker
can't go, that mitigates a little bit the loss of
Derek Carmon for this year. This wo's the only guy
right now that's been ruled out of the game by
(16:46):
head coach Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah. No, I mean, you know, obviously we knew with
Derek the you know, the injury in Carolina, the perceived
MCL was going to be something that was going to
take a couple of weeks, right, and something that you
know you can brace, but you also needed to heal
first before you brace it, Right. You don't want to
risk further injury, especially so young in his career, right,
(17:10):
I'd rather I like the cautious approach, because like you said,
I don't need him for the first four games. I
need him for the next ten years, right, or more
so if I if I gotta wait a little bit
longer and the front end, so be it. And like
you said, we have plenty of capable guys. That's why
(17:30):
we took as many guys active roster. Remember we went
through that lineup. You know, that's that's what we're looking at.
We're looking at a long term solution. And so why
am I Why am I gonna Why am I gonna
take it? You know too early? You know it's just
like we we make. When you make a cast role,
you know you got you gotta wait till everything congeals
(17:51):
together before you take it out. You take it out
anytime too soon, it's gonna be runny. It's not gonna
hold together. It's not gonna it's not it's not gonna
come out the way you want it. So you have
to wait the time right now for it. You love
to rush an m CL, but you know, once again,
you know, full disclosure, everybody, a sprain is still a tear.
(18:12):
Don't let the don't let the wording fool you. There
is a tear in there. I I sprained my l
C O ligament in the AFC Championship Game and then
played in the Super Bowl. You know, two weeks later
it was a tear in my lateral colliteral ligament. You know,
(18:33):
ligaments don't get blood like muscles, so you have to
do some other things to get that in their PRP
is one of those things where you're trying to you're
trying to inject the blood into the area to promote healing.
You know, in certain joints, you're trying to make sure
that everything kind of takes properly, and it takes time.
(18:54):
You know, it's different, like I probably should not have
played in the Super Bowl, but you know, God bless
our training staff. They raped me like a mummy and
my left leg from my hip all the way down
to my ankle, you know, to protect the entire ligament
that runs down the side of your leg, you know,
to make sure that that I was ready to go
(19:16):
and protect me as much as possible, because it's like
one game, you know, you know, for the next six months.
So that's some of the sacrifices you make. This is
not that sacrifice. This is at the beginning of the season.
You have a lot of fresh bodies and you have
time on your side. Time was not on my side
during a Super Bowl, but it was on my side,
(19:38):
but it was on it is I'm sorry, it is
on Derek's side right now. So I'd rather be cautious
because when that guy's fully healthy, that guy's a monster.
He's a problem for people. So I would rather get
the monster back in a couple of weeks then possibly
push him out there too soon and we might lose
him for the rest of the.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Year, right or have him hobbling around and never quite
one hundred percent and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, and you don't want that either. That's that that's
not fun because like you said, you could potentially, you know,
derail somebody's career, you know by that type of hate,
hasty type of decision.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So, by the way, and we are talking about the
Steelers Jets and the big injury news for the Jets today.
And if if he's out for this game that listen,
that benefits to Steelers. If he's out longer term, that's
going to affect the Jets. And that's the injury. Arm
injury to Elijah Vera. Tucker waiting to get official word
on it, but it looks like it could potentially be
(20:41):
a serious arm injury. Before we get onto the New
York Jets and start to dig into some of these
matchups here inside the locker room. Uh, the Steelers just
set out a press release Max and I would like
to read just a little portion to this, and it's
about the trip to Ireland and it is the Terrible
Towel Tour. September twenty second through twenty fourth, Steeler's legend
(21:06):
and radio personality Max Starks will travel across the island
of Ireland in a Steelers branded van, giving out Terrible
Towels and uniting Steelers Nation so that this tour sets
the stage for the team's arrival and is an opportunity
to connect with and rally fans across the island ahead
(21:27):
of the game. Fans can follow the tour on Steelers'
social media. You know, there's a there's yep, there's a
little something. There's a there's something missing out of this sentence.
I don't read where it says Steelers legend vated personality
Max Starks and his broadcast partner Rob King, I don't
(21:49):
see that part of it. Hey man, that's gonna be fun,
Max all side, that's gonna be That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And I think, uh, you know, have you been to Ireland?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
No, I have not.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The people are so friendly.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You know, you talk about stereotypes like the stereotypical friendly irishman.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It is. It is on. They are so friendly. You're
gonna have such a great time.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And I I you know, that's a nation that's into football,
and I think that's part that nation is part of
Steelers nation. Man, it's gonna be a great trip. And
I know you're excited about it and looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Max, Hu Man, I'm so I'm so excited. King Or
You're absolutely right. Man, I cannot wait for this opportunity.
I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in Ireland because I
feel like we're gonna see just about everything there. So no,
it's gonna it's gonna be a lot of fun. I
(22:49):
can't wait. You know. The other cool thing is is that,
you know, I'll get to have my family with me
at a certain point of the t so, you know,
being being able to kind of kind of share this
experience with my kids and be able to just go see,
go see, go see, you know, the the ale right
(23:11):
to go go see Ireland proper is going to be
a lot of fun. We have a lot of great
stuff cooked up. I mean, we will be on Steelers
Social but yeah, we're gonna be doing some things that
are going to be a little unorthodox along the way,
because I mean, you know, no, no, no better time
than the president to do something a little funky and
little a little weird in the process. And I plan on,
(23:32):
I plan on making sure that uh that we can
that we that we keep it loose, we keep it fun.
But it's going to be a great time. I mean,
you know, anytime you get an opportunity like this to
really you know, ingratiate yourself with with the people and
get and get into the nitty gritty of it all.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's pretty awesome, man, it's pretty awesome. I can't wait
and uh, thank you for that because I didn't even
know that they got released it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You know, the whole experience is going to be wonderful.
The fans there are just stoked. It's great to you know,
we saw representatives from the Irish media over. They've been
they you know, they come over periodically. You know, we
saw them Mike McQuaid I think was at the was
at the Combines and you know we've seen other guys
(24:22):
coming over for games and they are fired up. And
the excitement level at Croke Park is you know just
just through the roof and so you know, just just
getting earlier, what's that.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, then we get to see that earlier, you know
already with UH with Iowa State and Kansas UH State.
You know, they played over in Ireland to start Croke Park.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Though they didn't play Croak.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Oh they did, they did not where they play at
I don't know, Uh, there there was there was another
there's another stadium over there evidently well and and actually
kind of I should change that to evidently do obviously,
because if they didn't play Parks, they played somewhere.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeah, play the game.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Just slathered the obvious on on this this program.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So yes, there's another, there is another another.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
There's another alegend stadium over there.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
But man, they're they're they're into it, you know. And
I think that the fact that there's you know, there's
Irish rules football and there's rugby, and there's other sports
that involve uh men running into each other in a
physical nature will makes them ready to go for this sport.
So that's gonna be a fantastic trip. I'm super stoked
(25:39):
for you to be a big part of that and
and can't wait to join you over when I do
and experience the great city of Dublin and the great
country of Ireland as we get ready for that game.
But we have another game to get ready for. Man,
it's the Steelers in the Jets. That was a little
aside just because that press release literally just came out,
so stick around. Much more to get to is the
(26:01):
Steelers get ready to start their season at MetLife Stadium
against the Jets on Sunday. When we resume inside the
locker room, at King and Starks presented by your neighborhood
Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And welcome back.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Inside the Locker Room with King and Starks presented by
your neighborhood Fords Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Getting you ready for the Steelers and the Jets the
first game of the season. So Max, before we kind
of get into the specifics of the matchup, and we
only have to do this once, but take us through
kind of a normal week, so preseason ends, right, you
(26:43):
know what happens in this week of practice leading up
to the first game, and you know what's sort of
the excitement level for the players and that kind of thing.
But also just like what's the routine is as players
get into routine and young players kind of climb aboard
and figure out how, you know, what it takes to
be a professional and how much different you know, college
football week a game week for a team preparing is
(27:06):
for an NFL team preparing for a game week.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Well, I think the biggest thing is obviously there's not
as many bodies, so you know, you have to be
way more efficient with your workload as far as what
you're going to do. How you're going to accomplish certain
things that that's always the key to starting this thing
out right the proper way. And so you have to
go into your routine knowing that, hey, you know, we're
(27:34):
here to work, and so you're going to have In
a normal week, Monday happens to be your corrections practice.
Well there's no game, so there's no corrections right for
week one. Tuesdays every player league wide day off and
that's where you can come and get treatment. You can
get some workout in if you want to. If you
want to knock out one of your workouts for the week.
(27:56):
Usually you know you have to get like three in
a week, so you can usually take Tuesday at your leisure,
come in usually you know that's available, hang out, maybe
go go go, you know, grab some lunch, go go
talk with your coach, see if there's any additional notes
or anything he's seen in breakdowns. And then Wednesday is
the first day. Wednesday is a first day. You you
(28:16):
you're getting a full crack at all of the scouting.
This is usually quote unquote your padded day. If you're
if you're gonna use one of your padded days, you
usually use it for Wednesday, and this is going to
be the initial look at what the coaches think is
going to be the the template or the base of
the of the game plan. So you're gonna have your
(28:38):
inside run period. You're gonna have, you know, your your
seven on seven and pass scale are gonna be geared
towards first and second down passes. Then defensively your first
and second down run and run blitz, you know packages.
You're going to go into this game knowing what you
know about the team, and that's gonna be your breakdown
(29:01):
mainly for the first day. You're also gonna have probably
your seven shots or what we call Steelers on Steelers
period usually happens every Wednesday. This is not you know
during training camp, it happens every day during the season.
You only usually do it once. Then you get into Thursday.
Thursday is the refinement period. Right, things that we didn't
that that did look good Day one, toss it and
(29:23):
replace it, and that's gonna now be more of your
second down and then you're getting into your third down
packages on Thursday. So you're gonna have some second down
runs that you think are a little bit better. You're
gonna mix in your screen game. You're gonna mix in
some of your bootleg misdirection stuff, and then it's gonna
be a lot of pass so a lot of third
(29:44):
down passing, third down passing, red zone passing, and also
whatever your short yardis and goal line packages are gonna be.
That's Thursday. Then Friday you go in and Friday's a
clean up day. It's you know, it's fast Fridays. It's
it's definitely league you know, shell shells. We call it,
you know this underwear Olympics day where you're just gonna
(30:05):
come out there and just gonna go through everything one
last time, fast paced walk through type of deal. That's
what Friday is. Saturday, of course, is the true walkthrough
where we're gonna go through personnel, call out different groupings,
you know, run twenty plays each, simulated drives, and you're
gonna walk through it and then boom on the airplane
(30:26):
headed to headed to New Jersey if it's an away game.
If it's a home game, and that usually happens a
little bit later, so you usually do your walk through
at the facility a little bit later. They head straight
to the airport. You know, home game weekend, earlier morning
you're gonna report there and then you're gonna be back
home because you have to report to the hotel in
the evening. That's kind of how the game weeks go.
(30:50):
And you know, then Sunday board meeting. Let's see what
we learn. Let's see, let's see, let's see if the
stuff that we practice during the week actually works in
a game and you play the game and then boom,
we're off, rinse, repeat the whole season.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
As a rookie, is that something that needs to be
adjusted to just that NFL schedule?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Oh yeah, because because this is the first time where
you don't have class interfering. It's truth true with football.
So you know, for rookies you have to learn what
this is. This is now a profession. This is you know,
like they say, like Spartas, what is your profession? Oh
oh yeah, this is this is your aou. You know
what I'm saying, like, this is this is there. There's
(31:32):
no hey, I got to hit study hall later. Oh man,
teachers just hit us with pop quiz. Now none of
that anymore. You know, pop quiz is game day. You know,
it's like, hey, what did you learn? And the margin
for error now goes down to about zero, because this is.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
What you're expected to do, right, So, uh, we are
going to get into some specific breakdowns. But you know,
we mentioned the Elijah via Tucker injury news which just
was announced this morning, and started to get out there
a little bit, and so I've been able to do
a little bit of a dive into what a potential
(32:12):
offensive line could look like for them, and they might
have to do some maneuvering around and so you know
what would probably what could happen. I shouldn't say what
will probably happen. It's a new coaching staff, right. So
Josh Myers was the starting center for Green Bay for
the last four years when he was healthy, he was
(32:33):
their starting center. So fifty six games in the last
four years, fifty six starts. So he's a guy that
can move right into the center position for you. Now,
you know, you could talk about the quality of those starts.
He wasn't a coveted free agent. He signed a one year,
three and a half million dollar deal to be with
(32:53):
the Jets. But there's probably some sense of security for
the Jets and knowing that this guy has been a
starter in the NFL, right that he is, you know,
he's not a raw, untested guy, but a guy who
has some NFL experience if you move him to center.
And by the way, on the Jets step chart, the
(33:14):
only position on the offensive line in which they do
not have a backup listed for Elijah is it right guard.
But Elijah via Tucker, in case you're just joining us now,
has suffered a potentially serious arm injury, and his status
for this game and beyond is in serious jeopardy. No
official word yet on whether he's going to be out,
(33:34):
but you know, we're expecting to hear that later today
when when the Jets have practice and Aaron Glenn perhaps
makes that announcement. But so you would then move Joe Tipman. Now,
Joe Tipman is your starting center. He's been a solid
player at the center position. Obviously he's beaten out Josh Myers,
a veteran guy who started for four years and and
Tipman has started for two years. Some of those starts
(33:57):
for Tipman came as a rookie at the right guard
position when they had injuries.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Once those injuries.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Were resolved, he moved back to center and that's where
he's been and he's again when we talk about this
Jets offensive line, and why you know, we think or
certainly I think they might want to play bully ball.
Let me run it down for you. Forshanu their left tackle,
first round pick Simpson. We probably know from a little
(34:25):
bit of time with Baltimore, Joe Tipman, second round pick
at center, Elijah Vera Tucker, first round pickt guard in
twenty one armand Membao the first round pick this year
at right tackle. So three first round picks, a second
round pick, and a free agent. That tells me, and
a running quarterback and a stable of running backs and
(34:47):
one really good receiver, and beyond that not a lot
of resources poured into the receiver position by the Jets.
That tells me they want to try to ram the
ball at the pirates. I beg your pardon a pirates right.
I think they'll have great success doing that. They get
Paul Skins lined up at right tackle. Uh, we got a.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Chance, definitely, he's definitely a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, we don't want him anywhere near his hand too valuable.
So so anyway, a little cross uh cross pollination there.
So your thoughts on what that shuffling would mean. At
this point of the week, we talk about the routine
so presumably in practice today, that's what's gonna happen, right,
They're gonna they're gonna put out whether that's the move
(35:33):
that would seem to be the move Myers the center
because he started there for four plus or three plus
years for the Jets or the Packers. Tipman, who's played
some right guard and is a is a very fine
offensive lineman in his own right, moves to right guard.
Is that plenty of time coming off the preseason, maybe
they've done a few of these things. Is that plenty
(35:54):
of time to get an offensive line ready for a game?
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I think it's easier to move one position than to
I would assume Josh would go to guard just because
he's your interior swing, Okay, you know, And I don't
think you moved Tipman off of that just because he
won that job, right, I mean, I think I think
you know, when you're trying to you're trying to keep
as many things the same as possible, and you you
(36:20):
only want to insert one position. You don't want to
shuffle too very rare occasions, do do you do you
move a starting guy to a different starting position unless
it's like it's just glaring, like you know, I would
say more so like it tackles. You know, I remember,
(36:40):
you know, the year before I got to the Steelers,
Alan Fanica, right, you know, Marvel Smith goes out, they
bump Alan Fanica out to out to left tackle. The
only year he does not make a Pro Bowl because
he bumped out to left tackle for the season and
you had and then you had you had to insert
and alignment at guard. But you know, because at that
(37:04):
point you think about this, five years, four Pro bowls
for Alafantaka, right, I mean, right, you know, why would
you move your Pro Bowl left guard to left tack
because he was the best option available right, And you know,
the guy we had at left tackle, he could only
do pass blocking. He couldn't do run blocking. So it
was a tell if he went in at left tackle.
It was like, oh, that's a pass play, up, that's
(37:25):
a run play. So it's like, well, let's just let's
just negate this. We're just gonna keep him over there
the entire time. That's like a rare occasion. More often
than not, it's usually if Josh Myers was a guy
that won out for the for the second string job.
He's the what we call the interior swing, so it
means he plays center in both guards if anybody has injury.
(37:45):
That's how you kind of work your game day roster,
your top seven. So you would bring him in. Maybe
maybe Xavier Newman might be an option, but you know,
because he's another interior swing guy in your act active roster.
But I would I would probably think that Josh Myers
would probably be your first option to go in there
(38:06):
and be the guard because I'm assuming he's your normal
dress day guy, and now you dress Xavier Newman and
then it's between Chukes and Max Mitchell for who's going
to be the swing tackle that backup anything should happen
between Fashanu or Membu. That's kind of how how you
know normal coaches and everything, and then my experience, that's
(38:28):
how it's usually gone. Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Now, having said that, wasn't there an instance in which
you brought in a backup center and moved Marquise Pouncy
to left guard? So you did move a player, not
just insert a guy to left guard position.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Okay, I wasn't on the team. Okay, I promised that
that was probably during my during my period where I
was a college only guy and I was not watching
his main Steeler game. So I probably missed that instance.
But it's all good. It's all good. I mean, hey, listen,
that's that's why there's two of us. You know, you
gotta have you got two sets of eyes on this.
(39:03):
So I missed when when when Pounce went to guard?
So but once again, rare situation. It's Pro Bowl caliber,
Hall of Fame, fringe talent, right, you know what I'm saying, Like, right,
you know to say that, Okay, it's Alan Fanica and
Marquis Pouncing were the two guys that did it, right,
you know, but traditionally you know, and you know that
(39:25):
doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
And let me just again, we can't you know, we're
trying to put ourselves in the Jets shoes and we
don't know and we don't know the severity.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
We don't know of Vera Tucker's injury.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Would it be how permanent or how mazy or is
it a short term? Right? You know? Maybe that, But
if it has to be a permanent placement it's an
I R thing, then that that's a whole different story.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Now that's I guess that's my next question. So if
it's one week, maybe it's one move. If it's a
longer term injury, perhaps that's a different shuffling of.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
The offensive line. But we're scrambling, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So I think at this point you're saying, look, what's
our best offensive line for the rest of the year,
because you want to get your best five out there.
It's an interesting dilemma for the Jets. And by the way,
you know, again, I don't know how Tipman performed at
guard I don't you know. It was two years ago.
He was a rookie for the New York Jets. I
(40:22):
don't know how he performed. I do know this, He's
a good center and he's kind of you know, I
think I'm not saying I don't want to compare him
to the Zach Frasier whatever, but you know, you think
of Zack Fraser is a good, strong, physical player. I
think that's what you know. That's Tipman's forte. Tipman's forte
is he's a strong player, good pass blocker, but he
(40:43):
he he, you know, strikes he as one of those
guys that wants to run the ball so he can
go out and hit somebody, you know. So it's gonna
be interesting to see what the Jets doing this offensive
line because Vera Tucker if he can't play. Will it
be short term, will it be long term? How will
they shuffle around the offensive line. We don't know. We
should probably have a better idea of this during the
(41:05):
show tomorrow. We do know that the Steelers and Jets
will be playing on Sunday, and we're going to continue
to get you ready for that matchup when we continue
inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
(41:38):
Welcome back inside the Locker Room, King and Starks, presented
by our neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
And Max, before we get too far down the road
on this offensive line talk, well, actually we're already. We're
already pretty far down that road. Do you think that
I'm reading the tea leaves properly? Do you think this
(41:58):
is a Jets team that will want to come out
and play a physical brand of football and run the
ball right at the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
I think I think they kind of have to. I
think that's kind of the way your team is built,
you know, And I think that's how I would I
would approach you know that is you know, we have
this guy by the name of Justin Fields who you know,
we can utilize. He is a weapon. He's an extra
running back in the backfield at times because of his past,
(42:29):
his skill set. I actually watched the play. I was
watching the Giants film last night and you know, watching
Justin uh, you know, go and play and you know,
took that drive all the way down the field and
there was a breakdown on a pass play. It was
(42:49):
a twist stunt, was a t T stunt in the middle.
Both tackles kind of twisted and Justin got pressure, he
shook off, you know, the arm tackle and then then boom,
you know, he he was out and opening the in
the open field and scored a touchdown on that drive.
And it was like, yep, that's what he's there for.
(43:10):
It's not just traditional handed off to breist Hall, you know,
you know, four times, you know, three times in a row,
and we're gonna be that. No, they're gonna use quarterback
design run game. They're good. They're they're gonna want to
keep this game as physical as possible because, like you said,
on the outside, you know who you're really targeting is
Garrett Wilson. Obviously you'll see what Arian Smith has to offer.
(43:32):
Alan Lazard is a vet. You know, he was a
holdover from the from the Aaron Rodgers regime there and
and you know, we're gonna see what young Mason Taylor
can do that that and Mason Taylor also that is
that is Jason Taylor's nephew. So sorry, Jason Taylor's son.
(43:53):
That's Jason Taylor's son. And uh, you know, and and also,
by the way, there's a guy that he calls uncle.
This you know, just happens to be a very Zach Thomas,
a very famous football player down in Miami as well.
Soason Taylor married that Yeah, Mason Taylor. Zach Thomas's sister
(44:15):
is his mom.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Zach Thomas's sister is his mom?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, okay, and Jason Jason Mary Zach's sister.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Aha, Wait a minute, but but that's not Wait are
you saying Mason's his dad or me? Or Jason's his uncle?
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Jason's his dad?
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Zak is I got.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
I was a little confused for a second because I
should have known I had l s U. I've seen
Mason play like five times. So yes, it's Jason Jason's son,
Mason Mason Jason makes sense, right.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Jason Taylor is a guy that obviously he's got the tea.
Pittsburgh Ties went to Woodland Hills High School, phenomenal, phenomenal player.
George Novak, the great coach at Woodland Hills, had him
as a player. So yes, that's one that we're going
to want to be keeping an eye on throughout the
course of the game. And he's the second round pick
for them, and they're expecting big things from him, certainly
(45:11):
in the passing game and also in the blocking game
as well for the New York Jets as a rookie
tight end.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
So that's just a brief, brief overview.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Lots to dig into here as we get you ready
for the Steelers and the Jets. When we continue on
the other side at the eleven o'clock hour inside the
locker Room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood
Forge Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Hello, everybody, Welcome inside the locker Room with King and Stark.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Presented by our neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers
Audio Network alongside Max Starks.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I am Rob King. Max.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We are on a Wednesdays Wednesday, right Wednesday of a
game week, Holy macl Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Ah, right, we got that.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's the week, that important piece of news the day
of the week straightened out. Uh So, Max, I've got
a ton of questions to ask you about about pass
rushers and getting prepared for them.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
But there is some news to report. A couple of
different factors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
One, Robert Woods apparently asked for and was granted his
release from the Steelers' practice squad. Is that just a
case of a veteran guy looking for another opportunity, do
you think?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
You know?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And is that something that happens on a regular basis here?
Is that something that's a little more unusual.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You're saying for a veteran guy to leave the practice.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Squad, so yeah, to ask for his release?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, sometimes it is. And maybe maybe there is another
team that they want to join. Maybe they don't see
the value or they think that they could be better
or suited on somebody else's practice squad, because remember, you
can't go practice squad to practice squad. For a team
to take you off the practice squad, they have to
(01:28):
go up to the active roster, right. That's the only
way they can leave the team via another team. If
you're swapping practice squad for practice squad, you need to.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Actually ask for your release, right, right, So is this
do you think again?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
With This could be any number of things.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It could be, look, you know, at this point in
my career, maybe I just you know, maybe I just
want to hang it up. Or it could be, look,
I just don't see the path to playing time here,
and maybe you sit out and have an honest discussion
with the coaches and say, hey, listen. Or maybe as
a player, you just feel it. Can you feel as
a player when there is no path to playing time?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There comes a moment, But usually that's later in the year, right,
because the one thing you can anticipate is injuries, and
when my number might get called. Now you might be
lower on that depth chart, and that's why you feel like,
first injury, I'm not the first option, you know what
I'm saying. That's where they could feel that type of pressure,
(02:36):
like dang. You know, man, I gotta wait for two
guys to get injured before I can even see an opportunity.
That's that's when it get That's when it can get here.
But you know, once again, you never know. I mean,
it doesn't matter how deep it is, because I remember,
you know a few years ago when we were literally
taking linebackers and dbs off the streets, you know what
(02:56):
I'm saying, Like at one point the only healthy secondary
guys we had was Terrell Edmunds and Miles Killerbrew And
I can also remember when you know, we were down
to just a Landing Roberts at linebacker, you know what
I'm saying. So you know, so like seeing that and
hearing that, you know that, that's where it's a little
(03:16):
frustrating because it's like, yeah, you want to play, but
you know, yes, it might not be to a week
ten or you know, heck, it might even be as
early as week four. You know, you never know when
it's gonna happen. But if there is, you know, and
I'm not gonna sit there and say it's a lack
of confidence, but you know, some guys are not as
confident as you would think they are about their skill
(03:39):
set and about earning the opportunity because sometimes it just
takes a little bit more time and veterans should understand that.
But you know, hey, listen, you're not You're not going
to fight another person's feelings, like because you can't change him, right. Uh,
you know, once they once they've made their mind up
and they've you know, hopefully sought you know, wise counsel,
and they have another landing spot. But I'm like, man,
(04:03):
if I get an opportunity, I'm gonna wait this thing
out because you never know, right and and so so
that that that is a little you know, it's understandable,
and I'm never I'm never gonna fault anybody for their
decision making skills. But you just you wonder, it's like
it's so hard to already get into the league and
then defines you a spot, you know, and you know
(04:25):
the system, you know, sometimes you know, it's like sometimes
better just be patient.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, I think he was at the point of his career.
And again I haven't seen any quotes directly attributed to him,
just reports that you know, he just look thirty three
years old. I've had a long and very fine NFL career.
A ton of catches, a ton of success. If I
(04:51):
can't be on a regular roster, maybe that's, you know,
maybe it's time to go. Maybe maybe it's time. Maybe
the league is telling me it's time to retire, as
the league will always tell you, you know, at some point. Uh,
almost the vast majority of people, and think about this now,
I'm guessing there are very few, if any former NFL
(05:14):
or professional athletes listening to us right now. But even
put yourself in you know, sixth grade trying to make
the the the junior high team, or trying to make
the college team, or or maybe you played small college
ball in your career is over at the collegiate level.
The only reason you don't keep playing anymore for most
(05:35):
people is because you're not wanted anymore. That's just that's
just the way it goes, you know. Uh, you know,
if you're a high school player you're not quite good
enough to play in college, then that's that's the world
telling you you're not quite good enough to play anymore,
and it's time to do something else. You know, if
you finish, you finish college, and you know, small college
(05:56):
and the NFL doesn't nobody offers you try out you know,
there's a different in keeping your dreams alive and realizing it's.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Time to move on.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And maybe Robert Woods just says listen, I and and
who knows. You know, Here's the other thing, too, is
that you know, if the Steelers and it's time to
knock on Wood again, potentially have an injury and it
happens early in the season.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
You know, Robert Woods knows the system. He's a veteran guy.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I would have thought he'd be the first guy to
be called up if an injury happened. But again, you know,
I think he just from from everything that I've seen,
it just sounds like it was he's at that point
of his career. Where's hey, fifty three man roster or
you know, I don't really want to be scuffling around
in the practice squad. This isn't about keeping that sort
(06:42):
of dream alive. It's about understanding that the end of
the road is upon me potentially.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
More like a Boys de Men song, But I'm gonna
say this, Rob Yeah, you know, you know, I don't
know where else you can make twenty thousand dollars a week.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Well, if you don't need it, right, listen, listen, I
hear you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
People don't need twenty k a week.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I hear you.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I can tell you right now, ro Yeah, if the
Steelers said, hey, Max, we're gonna put you on the
practice squad. Sorry, locker room, I'll be back once once
they cut me.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yes, I am available.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I am rememberable, remember Max, right now, I have the
greatest of ability.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Right now, I have availability.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, exactly. Availability is another.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Reason why availability is not the best ability.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's an iceability.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But when people say the best ability is availability, that's
not true.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Because I'm available.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Everybody listening to this, to this show is probably available
to make twenty thousand dollars a week on the Steelers
practice squad.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
None of us will be called for that duty.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
No, sad sadly not sadly not.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, it is, it is.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know, I've definitely written it in my Polly Pocket
notebook and it still hasn't come true yet.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, so news of a different sort. So that is
kind of a minor matter, although again nothing's minor, right
you know to me. You know you've got developmental guys
like Williams and Hurlman on your practice squad at the
receiver position. He would have been to me, this the
(08:21):
stop gap guy. Even if those guys develop and by
the middle of the season you're like, whoa, we really
have something here. Even if that were to happen, and
there's no guarantee of that, Woods I would think would
have been the first guy called up. So you know,
that's potentially an issue for the Steelers. And of course,
you know, the receiver position has been a hot button
topic among fans. You know, I've seen opinion article as well.
(08:43):
We all know the Steelers are out looking for another receiver.
I don't know, you know, if that's true, Frankly, Max,
In fact, i'm sure that they're I'm not sure that
they're looking for a receiver at all. But this would
have been a nice little safety blanket for the team
to have.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, it would have been a nice safety blanket. And
like you said, a veteran of his elk, you know,
would would have would have probably you know, yielded and
that hey, all right, this is that moment or somebody
doesn't quite live up the expectations during the season you
want to change things up. He would have been a
guy you would have thought, probably would have been that guy.
But you know, maybe he's like man you know, I
(09:22):
don't think that I'm going to play anytime soon, and
I need to play. Can't say what the intentions or
motivations are, but to each their own, right, Like you said,
some people don't need twenty k a week, or you know,
there's there's a certain level of you know, cachet that
(09:46):
goes with being on the active roster versus not, or
maybe I haven't dealt with this before. I don't understand.
I wish there was a practico at at the end
of my career. I probably might have played a little
bit longer. Who knows. But but yeah, listen, I'm never
going to fall to guy. They know their intentions better
than I do, and it's something that that that that
(10:07):
they have figured out, and so more power to them.
And like you said, you never know. There could be
an opportunity where we bring him back later and it
is something that he feels better about or he's he's
he's in the right mental space for it. So you know,
you just you never know. But man, twenty K week, right, Yeah,
(10:30):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not saying it's all about
the money. But money doesn't hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
No, Yes, that's it. That's a larger discussion for another
time about where where money changes the way you might
think about things. And that's not really the not really
the purview of this show.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So no, we're just here to report the news.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Not here just in just in case, and I just
a little peer behind the curt just in case we
missed the news. You know who is the best on
our team of broadcasters, right our our team of producers,
on air people, sideline people, engineers. We have a little
group that makes sure everybody stays on top of some.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Of the news that's going on.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
And I think I think it's safe to say that
the number one person on top of that and making
sure we're all in line is Missy.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Matthews, No question, t mom.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
She is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
In fact, I have put forth the notion that we
all know there's no I in team right, not nope, no,
just no Iron Team and Missy. But Missy has two
eyes in her name, that's true. So I propose that
we officially change the spelling of her name on all Steelers'
(11:57):
websites and everything to M T E A M S
S t E A M pronounced Missy. But it's kind
of like one of those Gaelic words. You're like, how
do you pronounce that? So it looked like a Gaelic word,
but it's pronounced missy because she's an unbelievable team player.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
No, I mean, Missy is one of the best. You know,
I adhere as long as she adhars.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Okay, Okay, Yeah, that's that's that's a very good that's
a very good way of putting it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
If it's okay with her, it's okay with us. So
making sure that we.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
All knew the news, and it is big news, and
it happened yesterday and it just broke a short time
ago that Elijah Vera Tucker who was just named a
Jets captain. He is their starting right guard. He's had
some injury issues. It was a first round picking twenty one,
but when he is healthy, he is a good football player,
(12:51):
a really good football player. And I think for Aaron Glenn,
there's a reason. You know, again, I'm not in the
Jets locker room, but there's a there's a reason he's
a captain, and part of that, I would think has
to be with the fact that he fits perfectly into
what it looks like the Jets are trying to accomplish,
(13:12):
which is they want to and again we have you know,
we don't know because we haven't seen the first game
under Aaron Glenn, but all signs point toward a team
that wants to line up and mash it into your face.
You got a running quarterback, You have a stable of
running backs, one of whom Braileen Allen is a big,
physical guy. Breiest Hall is a game breaker. You know,
(13:34):
you have a lot of different weapons there at the
running back position. You want to I think the Jets
want to line up and ram it at you. And
not having Elijah Vera Tucker in there. And again right
now they're they're evaluating his arm injury. They said it
has potential to be a serious arm injury and if
(13:55):
it is, he could miss significant time. Don't know, I
haven't heard for sure whether he's ruled out of today
Sunday's game, But Max, that would be a large blow
to a Jets team trying to establish an identity in
game one under Eron Gwynn.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, no, this is a I'm not gonna call it
a major blow. This this is a big blow, like
you said, especially to start the season. That's the other
thing that kind of makes it. I think even tougher
is that. Yeah, it's like it's like we have all
we have these goals, we have these aspirations as a unit,
but it only goes as far as the team will go.
(14:34):
So you know, for a guy like Elijah vera Tucker
to be missing from that lineup is going to be
something that they're going to be, you know, trying to
scramble to figure out. Like you said, when you get
the captain's title, you get the nod to to be
the guy that one. That one hurts even more because
(14:56):
it's like, man, we were really depending on this guy.
Like you said, we don't know this of of it
just yet, but you know, given the timing and everything
else like that, it couldn't have happened at a more
at a worse time.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right, Yes, And when you consider, you know, the Steelers
aren't gonna cry any crocodile teers here. Man, They're they're
not gonna nobody's gonna be at another team's misfortune. But
you know, in his press conference yesterday, Mike Tomlin only
ruled one person out and that's Derek Harmon. And you know,
when we think about the Steelers run defense, which towards
(15:36):
the end of the year began to have some issues,
and the Steelers clearly saw that. You know, we've talked
about this.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
They went out.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
They drafted Harmon in the first round, they drafted Black
in the fifth round, they signed daniel Lequale, they signed
to sase O Tomewo. So they went out. You know,
Logan Lee's back. But the idea was, let's bolster that
frontline with quality, and let's bolster it with depth. And
(16:05):
Derek Harmon is out of this game and to have
Elijah Vera Tucker out as well seems you know, Okay,
that's that maybe levels of playing feel back again a
little bit because Harmon's a guy. Look, there's a reason
and I'm not saying Derek Harmon is Cam Hayward yet,
but there's a reason you take a guy in the
(16:25):
first round, and it's because you expect him to be
able to step in right away and make an impact.
So that that kind of in some ways, uh for
the short term period, meaning this game, if Vera Tucker
can't go, that mitigates a little bit the loss of
Derek Carmon for this year. This wo's the only guy
right now that's been ruled out of the game by
(16:46):
head coach Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah. No, I mean, you know, obviously we knew with
Derek the you know, the injury in Carolina, the perceived
MCL was going to be something that was going to
take a couple of weeks, right, and something that you
know you can brace, but you also needed to heal
first before you brace it, Right. You don't want to
risk further injury, especially so young in his career, right,
(17:10):
I'd rather I like the cautious approach, because like you said,
I don't need him for the first four games. I
need him for the next ten years, right, or more
so if I if I gotta wait a little bit
longer and the front end, so be it. And like
you said, we have plenty of capable guys. That's why
(17:30):
we took as many guys active roster. Remember we went
through that lineup. You know, that's that's what we're looking at.
We're looking at a long term solution. And so why
am I Why am I gonna Why am I gonna
take it? You know too early? You know it's just
like we we make. When you make a cast role,
you know you got you gotta wait till everything congeals
(17:51):
together before you take it out. You take it out
anytime too soon, it's gonna be runny. It's not gonna
hold together. It's not gonna it's not it's not gonna
come out the way you want it. So you have
to wait the time right now for it. You love
to rush an m CL, but you know, once again,
you know, full disclosure, everybody, a sprain is still a tear.
(18:12):
Don't let the don't let the wording fool you. There
is a tear in there. I I sprained my l
C O ligament in the AFC Championship Game and then
played in the Super Bowl. You know, two weeks later
it was a tear in my lateral colliteral ligament. You know,
(18:33):
ligaments don't get blood like muscles, so you have to
do some other things to get that in their PRP
is one of those things where you're trying to you're
trying to inject the blood into the area to promote healing.
You know, in certain joints, you're trying to make sure
that everything kind of takes properly, and it takes time.
(18:54):
You know, it's different, like I probably should not have
played in the Super Bowl, but you know, God bless
our training staff. They raped me like a mummy and
my left leg from my hip all the way down
to my ankle, you know, to protect the entire ligament
that runs down the side of your leg, you know,
to make sure that that I was ready to go
(19:16):
and protect me as much as possible, because it's like
one game, you know, you know, for the next six months.
So that's some of the sacrifices you make. This is
not that sacrifice. This is at the beginning of the season.
You have a lot of fresh bodies and you have
time on your side. Time was not on my side
during a Super Bowl, but it was on my side,
(19:38):
but it was on it is I'm sorry, it is
on Derek's side right now. So I'd rather be cautious
because when that guy's fully healthy, that guy's a monster.
He's a problem for people. So I would rather get
the monster back in a couple of weeks then possibly
push him out there too soon and we might lose
him for the rest of the.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Year, right or have him hobbling around and never quite
one hundred percent and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, and you don't want that either. That's that that's
not fun because like you said, you could potentially, you know,
derail somebody's career, you know by that type of hate,
hasty type of decision.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So, by the way, and we are talking about the
Steelers Jets and the big injury news for the Jets today.
And if if he's out for this game that listen,
that benefits to Steelers. If he's out longer term, that's
going to affect the Jets. And that's the injury. Arm
injury to Elijah Vera. Tucker waiting to get official word
on it, but it looks like it could potentially be
(20:41):
a serious arm injury. Before we get onto the New
York Jets and start to dig into some of these
matchups here inside the locker room. Uh, the Steelers just
set out a press release Max and I would like
to read just a little portion to this, and it's
about the trip to Ireland and it is the Terrible
Towel Tour. September twenty second through twenty fourth, Steeler's legend
(21:06):
and radio personality Max Starks will travel across the island
of Ireland in a Steelers branded van, giving out Terrible
Towels and uniting Steelers Nation so that this tour sets
the stage for the team's arrival and is an opportunity
to connect with and rally fans across the island ahead
(21:27):
of the game. Fans can follow the tour on Steelers'
social media. You know, there's a there's yep, there's a
little something. There's a there's something missing out of this sentence.
I don't read where it says Steelers legend vated personality
Max Starks and his broadcast partner Rob King, I don't
(21:49):
see that part of it. Hey man, that's gonna be fun,
Max all side, that's gonna be That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And I think, uh, you know, have you been to Ireland?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
No, I have not.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
The people are so friendly.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You know, you talk about stereotypes like the stereotypical friendly irishman.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It is. It is on. They are so friendly. You're
gonna have such a great time.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And I I you know, that's a nation that's into football,
and I think that's part that nation is part of
Steelers nation. Man, it's gonna be a great trip. And
I know you're excited about it and looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Max, Hu Man, I'm so I'm so excited. King Or
You're absolutely right. Man, I cannot wait for this opportunity.
I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in Ireland because I
feel like we're gonna see just about everything there. So no,
it's gonna it's gonna be a lot of fun. I
(22:49):
can't wait. You know. The other cool thing is is that,
you know, I'll get to have my family with me
at a certain point of the t so, you know,
being being able to kind of kind of share this
experience with my kids and be able to just go see,
go see, go see, you know, the the ale right
(23:11):
to go go see Ireland proper is going to be
a lot of fun. We have a lot of great
stuff cooked up. I mean, we will be on Steelers
Social but yeah, we're gonna be doing some things that
are going to be a little unorthodox along the way,
because I mean, you know, no, no, no better time
than the president to do something a little funky and
little a little weird in the process. And I plan on,
(23:32):
I plan on making sure that uh that we can
that we that we keep it loose, we keep it fun.
But it's going to be a great time. I mean,
you know, anytime you get an opportunity like this to
really you know, ingratiate yourself with with the people and
get and get into the nitty gritty of it all.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's pretty awesome, man, it's pretty awesome. I can't wait
and uh, thank you for that because I didn't even
know that they got released it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You know, the whole experience is going to be wonderful.
The fans there are just stoked. It's great to you know,
we saw representatives from the Irish media over. They've been
they you know, they come over periodically. You know, we
saw them Mike McQuaid I think was at the was
at the Combines and you know we've seen other guys
(24:22):
coming over for games and they are fired up. And
the excitement level at Croke Park is you know just
just through the roof and so you know, just just
getting earlier, what's that.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, then we get to see that earlier, you know
already with UH with Iowa State and Kansas UH State.
You know, they played over in Ireland to start Croke Park.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Though they didn't play Croak.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Oh they did, they did not where they play at
I don't know, Uh, there there was there was another
there's another stadium over there evidently well and and actually
kind of I should change that to evidently do obviously,
because if they didn't play Parks, they played somewhere.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeah, play the game.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Just slathered the obvious on on this this program.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So yes, there's another, there is another another.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
There's another alegend stadium over there.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
But man, they're they're they're into it, you know. And
I think that the fact that there's you know, there's
Irish rules football and there's rugby, and there's other sports
that involve uh men running into each other in a
physical nature will makes them ready to go for this sport.
So that's gonna be a fantastic trip. I'm super stoked
(25:39):
for you to be a big part of that and
and can't wait to join you over when I do
and experience the great city of Dublin and the great
country of Ireland as we get ready for that game.
But we have another game to get ready for. Man,
it's the Steelers in the Jets. That was a little
aside just because that press release literally just came out,
so stick around. Much more to get to is the
(26:01):
Steelers get ready to start their season at MetLife Stadium
against the Jets on Sunday. When we resume inside the
locker room, at King and Starks presented by your neighborhood
Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And welcome back.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Inside the Locker Room with King and Starks presented by
your neighborhood Fords Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Getting you ready for the Steelers and the Jets the
first game of the season. So Max, before we kind
of get into the specifics of the matchup, and we
only have to do this once, but take us through
kind of a normal week, so preseason ends, right, you
(26:43):
know what happens in this week of practice leading up
to the first game, and you know what's sort of
the excitement level for the players and that kind of thing.
But also just like what's the routine is as players
get into routine and young players kind of climb aboard
and figure out how, you know, what it takes to
be a professional and how much different you know, college
football week a game week for a team preparing is
(27:06):
for an NFL team preparing for a game week.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Well, I think the biggest thing is obviously there's not
as many bodies, so you know, you have to be
way more efficient with your workload as far as what
you're going to do. How you're going to accomplish certain
things that that's always the key to starting this thing
out right the proper way. And so you have to
go into your routine knowing that, hey, you know, we're
(27:34):
here to work, and so you're going to have In
a normal week, Monday happens to be your corrections practice.
Well there's no game, so there's no corrections right for
week one. Tuesdays every player league wide day off and
that's where you can come and get treatment. You can
get some workout in if you want to. If you
want to knock out one of your workouts for the week.
(27:56):
Usually you know you have to get like three in
a week, so you can usually take Tuesday at your leisure,
come in usually you know that's available, hang out, maybe
go go go, you know, grab some lunch, go go
talk with your coach, see if there's any additional notes
or anything he's seen in breakdowns. And then Wednesday is
the first day. Wednesday is a first day. You you
(28:16):
you're getting a full crack at all of the scouting.
This is usually quote unquote your padded day. If you're
if you're gonna use one of your padded days, you
usually use it for Wednesday, and this is going to
be the initial look at what the coaches think is
going to be the the template or the base of
the of the game plan. So you're gonna have your
(28:38):
inside run period. You're gonna have, you know, your your
seven on seven and pass scale are gonna be geared
towards first and second down passes. Then defensively your first
and second down run and run blitz, you know packages.
You're going to go into this game knowing what you
know about the team, and that's gonna be your breakdown
(29:01):
mainly for the first day. You're also gonna have probably
your seven shots or what we call Steelers on Steelers
period usually happens every Wednesday. This is not you know
during training camp, it happens every day during the season.
You only usually do it once. Then you get into Thursday.
Thursday is the refinement period. Right, things that we didn't
that that did look good Day one, toss it and
(29:23):
replace it, and that's gonna now be more of your
second down and then you're getting into your third down
packages on Thursday. So you're gonna have some second down
runs that you think are a little bit better. You're
gonna mix in your screen game. You're gonna mix in
some of your bootleg misdirection stuff, and then it's gonna
be a lot of pass so a lot of third
(29:44):
down passing, third down passing, red zone passing, and also
whatever your short yardis and goal line packages are gonna be.
That's Thursday. Then Friday you go in and Friday's a
clean up day. It's you know, it's fast Fridays. It's
it's definitely league you know, shell shells. We call it,
you know this underwear Olympics day where you're just gonna
(30:05):
come out there and just gonna go through everything one
last time, fast paced walk through type of deal. That's
what Friday is. Saturday, of course, is the true walkthrough
where we're gonna go through personnel, call out different groupings,
you know, run twenty plays each, simulated drives, and you're
gonna walk through it and then boom on the airplane
(30:26):
headed to headed to New Jersey if it's an away game.
If it's a home game, and that usually happens a
little bit later, so you usually do your walk through
at the facility a little bit later. They head straight
to the airport. You know, home game weekend, earlier morning
you're gonna report there and then you're gonna be back
home because you have to report to the hotel in
the evening. That's kind of how the game weeks go.
(30:50):
And you know, then Sunday board meeting. Let's see what
we learn. Let's see, let's see, let's see if the
stuff that we practice during the week actually works in
a game and you play the game and then boom,
we're off, rinse, repeat the whole season.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
As a rookie, is that something that needs to be
adjusted to just that NFL schedule?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Oh yeah, because because this is the first time where
you don't have class interfering. It's truth true with football.
So you know, for rookies you have to learn what
this is. This is now a profession. This is you know,
like they say, like Spartas, what is your profession? Oh
oh yeah, this is this is your aou. You know
what I'm saying, like, this is this is there. There's
(31:32):
no hey, I got to hit study hall later. Oh man,
teachers just hit us with pop quiz. Now none of
that anymore. You know, pop quiz is game day. You know,
it's like, hey, what did you learn? And the margin
for error now goes down to about zero, because this is.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
What you're expected to do, right, So, uh, we are
going to get into some specific breakdowns. But you know,
we mentioned the Elijah via Tucker injury news which just
was announced this morning, and started to get out there
a little bit, and so I've been able to do
a little bit of a dive into what a potential
(32:12):
offensive line could look like for them, and they might
have to do some maneuvering around and so you know
what would probably what could happen. I shouldn't say what
will probably happen. It's a new coaching staff, right. So
Josh Myers was the starting center for Green Bay for
the last four years when he was healthy, he was
(32:33):
their starting center. So fifty six games in the last
four years, fifty six starts. So he's a guy that
can move right into the center position for you. Now,
you know, you could talk about the quality of those starts.
He wasn't a coveted free agent. He signed a one year,
three and a half million dollar deal to be with
(32:53):
the Jets. But there's probably some sense of security for
the Jets and knowing that this guy has been a
starter in the NFL, right that he is, you know,
he's not a raw, untested guy, but a guy who
has some NFL experience if you move him to center.
And by the way, on the Jets step chart, the
(33:14):
only position on the offensive line in which they do
not have a backup listed for Elijah is it right guard.
But Elijah via Tucker, in case you're just joining us now,
has suffered a potentially serious arm injury, and his status
for this game and beyond is in serious jeopardy. No
official word yet on whether he's going to be out,
(33:34):
but you know, we're expecting to hear that later today
when when the Jets have practice and Aaron Glenn perhaps
makes that announcement. But so you would then move Joe Tipman. Now,
Joe Tipman is your starting center. He's been a solid
player at the center position. Obviously he's beaten out Josh Myers,
a veteran guy who started for four years and and
Tipman has started for two years. Some of those starts
(33:57):
for Tipman came as a rookie at the right guard
position when they had injuries.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Once those injuries.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Were resolved, he moved back to center and that's where
he's been and he's again when we talk about this
Jets offensive line, and why you know, we think or
certainly I think they might want to play bully ball.
Let me run it down for you. Forshanu their left tackle,
first round pick Simpson. We probably know from a little
(34:25):
bit of time with Baltimore, Joe Tipman, second round pick
at center, Elijah Vera Tucker, first round pickt guard in
twenty one armand Membao the first round pick this year
at right tackle. So three first round picks, a second
round pick, and a free agent. That tells me, and
a running quarterback and a stable of running backs and
(34:47):
one really good receiver, and beyond that not a lot
of resources poured into the receiver position by the Jets.
That tells me they want to try to ram the
ball at the pirates. I beg your pardon a pirates right.
I think they'll have great success doing that. They get
Paul Skins lined up at right tackle. Uh, we got a.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Chance, definitely, he's definitely a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, we don't want him anywhere near his hand too valuable.
So so anyway, a little cross uh cross pollination there.
So your thoughts on what that shuffling would mean. At
this point of the week, we talk about the routine
so presumably in practice today, that's what's gonna happen, right,
They're gonna they're gonna put out whether that's the move
(35:33):
that would seem to be the move Myers the center
because he started there for four plus or three plus
years for the Jets or the Packers. Tipman, who's played
some right guard and is a is a very fine
offensive lineman in his own right, moves to right guard.
Is that plenty of time coming off the preseason, maybe
they've done a few of these things. Is that plenty
(35:54):
of time to get an offensive line ready for a game?
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I think it's easier to move one position than to
I would assume Josh would go to guard just because
he's your interior swing, Okay, you know, And I don't
think you moved Tipman off of that just because he
won that job, right, I mean, I think I think
you know, when you're trying to you're trying to keep
as many things the same as possible, and you you
(36:20):
only want to insert one position. You don't want to
shuffle too very rare occasions, do do you do you
move a starting guy to a different starting position unless
it's like it's just glaring, like you know, I would
say more so like it tackles. You know, I remember,
(36:40):
you know, the year before I got to the Steelers,
Alan Fanica, right, you know, Marvel Smith goes out, they
bump Alan Fanica out to out to left tackle. The
only year he does not make a Pro Bowl because
he bumped out to left tackle for the season and
you had and then you had you had to insert
and alignment at guard. But you know, because at that
(37:04):
point you think about this, five years, four Pro bowls
for Alafantaka, right, I mean, right, you know, why would
you move your Pro Bowl left guard to left tack
because he was the best option available right, And you know,
the guy we had at left tackle, he could only
do pass blocking. He couldn't do run blocking. So it
was a tell if he went in at left tackle.
It was like, oh, that's a pass play, up, that's
(37:25):
a run play. So it's like, well, let's just let's
just negate this. We're just gonna keep him over there
the entire time. That's like a rare occasion. More often
than not, it's usually if Josh Myers was a guy
that won out for the for the second string job.
He's the what we call the interior swing, so it
means he plays center in both guards if anybody has injury.
(37:45):
That's how you kind of work your game day roster,
your top seven. So you would bring him in. Maybe
maybe Xavier Newman might be an option, but you know,
because he's another interior swing guy in your act active roster.
But I would I would probably think that Josh Myers
would probably be your first option to go in there
(38:06):
and be the guard because I'm assuming he's your normal
dress day guy, and now you dress Xavier Newman and
then it's between Chukes and Max Mitchell for who's going
to be the swing tackle that backup anything should happen
between Fashanu or Membu. That's kind of how how you
know normal coaches and everything, and then my experience, that's
(38:28):
how it's usually gone. Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Now, having said that, wasn't there an instance in which
you brought in a backup center and moved Marquise Pouncy
to left guard? So you did move a player, not
just insert a guy to left guard position.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Okay, I wasn't on the team. Okay, I promised that
that was probably during my during my period where I
was a college only guy and I was not watching
his main Steeler game. So I probably missed that instance.
But it's all good. It's all good. I mean, hey, listen,
that's that's why there's two of us. You know, you
gotta have you got two sets of eyes on this.
(39:03):
So I missed when when when Pounce went to guard?
So but once again, rare situation. It's Pro Bowl caliber,
Hall of Fame, fringe talent, right, you know what I'm saying, Like, right,
you know to say that, Okay, it's Alan Fanica and
Marquis Pouncing were the two guys that did it, right,
you know, but traditionally you know, and you know that
(39:25):
doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
And let me just again, we can't you know, we're
trying to put ourselves in the Jets shoes and we
don't know and we don't know the severity.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
We don't know of Vera Tucker's injury.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Would it be how permanent or how mazy or is
it a short term? Right? You know? Maybe that, But
if it has to be a permanent placement it's an
I R thing, then that that's a whole different story.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Now that's I guess that's my next question. So if
it's one week, maybe it's one move. If it's a
longer term injury, perhaps that's a different shuffling of.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
The offensive line. But we're scrambling, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So I think at this point you're saying, look, what's
our best offensive line for the rest of the year,
because you want to get your best five out there.
It's an interesting dilemma for the Jets. And by the way,
you know, again, I don't know how Tipman performed at
guard I don't you know. It was two years ago.
He was a rookie for the New York Jets. I
(40:22):
don't know how he performed. I do know this, He's
a good center and he's kind of you know, I
think I'm not saying I don't want to compare him
to the Zach Frasier whatever, but you know, you think
of Zack Fraser is a good, strong, physical player. I
think that's what you know. That's Tipman's forte. Tipman's forte
is he's a strong player, good pass blocker, but he
(40:43):
he he, you know, strikes he as one of those
guys that wants to run the ball so he can
go out and hit somebody, you know. So it's gonna
be interesting to see what the Jets doing this offensive
line because Vera Tucker if he can't play. Will it
be short term, will it be long term? How will
they shuffle around the offensive line. We don't know. We
should probably have a better idea of this during the
(41:05):
show tomorrow. We do know that the Steelers and Jets
will be playing on Sunday, and we're going to continue
to get you ready for that matchup when we continue
inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by
your neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
(41:38):
Welcome back inside the Locker Room, King and Starks, presented
by our neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
And Max, before we get too far down the road
on this offensive line talk, well, actually we're already. We're
already pretty far down that road. Do you think that
I'm reading the tea leaves properly? Do you think this
(41:58):
is a Jets team that will want to come out
and play a physical brand of football and run the
ball right at the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
I think I think they kind of have to. I
think that's kind of the way your team is built,
you know, And I think that's how I would I
would approach you know that is you know, we have
this guy by the name of Justin Fields who you know,
we can utilize. He is a weapon. He's an extra
running back in the backfield at times because of his past,
(42:29):
his skill set. I actually watched the play. I was
watching the Giants film last night and you know, watching
Justin uh, you know, go and play and you know,
took that drive all the way down the field and
there was a breakdown on a pass play. It was
(42:49):
a twist stunt, was a t T stunt in the middle.
Both tackles kind of twisted and Justin got pressure, he
shook off, you know, the arm tackle and then then boom,
you know, he he was out and opening the in
the open field and scored a touchdown on that drive.
And it was like, yep, that's what he's there for.
(43:10):
It's not just traditional handed off to breist Hall, you know,
you know, four times, you know, three times in a row,
and we're gonna be that. No, they're gonna use quarterback
design run game. They're good. They're they're gonna want to
keep this game as physical as possible because, like you said,
on the outside, you know who you're really targeting is
Garrett Wilson. Obviously you'll see what Arian Smith has to offer.
(43:32):
Alan Lazard is a vet. You know, he was a
holdover from the from the Aaron Rodgers regime there and
and you know, we're gonna see what young Mason Taylor
can do that that and Mason Taylor also that is
that is Jason Taylor's nephew. So sorry, Jason Taylor's son.
(43:53):
That's Jason Taylor's son. And uh, you know, and and also,
by the way, there's a guy that he calls uncle.
This you know, just happens to be a very Zach Thomas,
a very famous football player down in Miami as well.
Soason Taylor married that Yeah, Mason Taylor. Zach Thomas's sister
(44:15):
is his mom.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Zach Thomas's sister is his mom?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, okay, and Jason Jason Mary Zach's sister.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Aha, Wait a minute, but but that's not Wait are
you saying Mason's his dad or me? Or Jason's his uncle?
Speaker 3 (44:34):
Jason's his dad?
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Zak is I got.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
I was a little confused for a second because I
should have known I had l s U. I've seen
Mason play like five times. So yes, it's Jason Jason's son,
Mason Mason Jason makes sense, right.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Jason Taylor is a guy that obviously he's got the tea.
Pittsburgh Ties went to Woodland Hills High School, phenomenal, phenomenal player.
George Novak, the great coach at Woodland Hills, had him
as a player. So yes, that's one that we're going
to want to be keeping an eye on throughout the
course of the game. And he's the second round pick
for them, and they're expecting big things from him, certainly
(45:11):
in the passing game and also in the blocking game
as well for the New York Jets as a rookie
tight end.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
So that's just a brief, brief overview.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Lots to dig into here as we get you ready
for the Steelers and the Jets. When we continue on
the other side at the eleven o'clock hour inside the
locker Room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood
Forge Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
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