October 14, 2025 • 44 mins
Max and Rob put a bow on the Steelers' victory against the Browns and begin to look forward to the Thursday night matchup against the Bengals.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
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 (00:30):
Well, thanks very much for being with us inside the
locker room and alongside Max Starks with Justin Miller's Controls
and our iHeart Studios. I'm Rob King. Thanks very much
for being with us. Very short week, This is kind
of like a Wednesday or a Thursday. We still have
a little bit of cleanup work to do in the
Cleveland Browns game, and you know, we talked a lot
(00:51):
about the offense and the offensive improvements and the way
things are going in the right direction. There were a
lot of stars on defense, and we're going to get
to that in a.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Little bit, uh Max.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Before we get to that, I want to ask you
a question that you and I have been pondering a
little bit, and I don't know as we have a
really good answer. And my my my question is who's
really good in the NFL?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right? I mean, yeah, the Lions.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Appeared to be that and they got pretty well worked
over by Kansas City on Sunday night. And then the
Bills appeared to be that team in the a f C,
and they got pretty well worked over by Atlanta last night.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
The Power rankings, I don't even know what these power
rankings are going to be like, because it's just going
to be like TBD, right, like you know, you know,
you know, you know, you know. Here's what I would say.
It's pretty good Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How about that? Yeah, yep? This week?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean this week, and now that we
say that they're good, that they're gonna.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Go on a two game losing streak like like like that,
like the Bills and the Eagles are currently talked about
the Eagles, right, Eagles two weeks in a row, Ye
got and got their teeth kicked in by the Giants.
So I mean, we look at who we thought was
supposed to be those top type of teams. I mean,
(02:15):
I mean, does Steelers finally make a jump in the
power rankings?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Get moved up?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I mean, I mean I feel like that's the only
next plausible thing, because you know, heck, we.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Got similar records, we got similar records.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I mean, I'm really trying to trying to scratch my
head here to figure out who is good because the
teams you thought were you know, took some unnecessarily liss.
I guess you uh l A Rams, No, no, l
A Rams.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That didn't sound good. Take that for a test drive.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of good teams. And again,
it just you know, this is a mostly serious exercise,
but there's some facetiousness in what we're doing because Max
and I think both have a very similar outlook, which is,
let's just win the games, right, Let's just win the
(03:11):
games and the power ranking stuff will take care of itself.
The more you win, the more you'll improve in those
But the power rankings don't matter. This isn't college. You're
not trying to get into the Fiesta Bowl. I guess
now there's the playoff. You are trying to just win
your division, win enough games to get into the playoffs.
(03:31):
Whatever your expectations are, improve as a team, take the
right step, the big step forward in the path to rebuilding.
If you're that kind of team, I will tell you
that according to the athletic rankings, and we will get
to those for everybody, so you don't have to get
to it. You don't scroll on your phone right now,
we'll get to it. The Steers have moved up a
(03:51):
little bit. Yay, yay, that'll be our around the NFL
outBut your neighborhood Ford story.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, we'll get to that and I will give my
full disdain later. Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, by disdain, that was semi disdain, and that's okay,
it's a little semi disdain.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That may have come with a bit of a sneer.
Did it come with a sneer? Yeah, okay, yes, sneer.
A little bit of a jeer as well, a little
bit of a jeer.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh, Max, Max, Max Max.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So I I did want to before we moved too
far along and turned our attention to Cincinnati, which we
will do today. There were a few guys, I mean,
you know again, I just think there are so many
guys playing well, and we really concentrated on the offense.
You know, Jalen Warren, you know, Aaron Rodgers, of course,
(04:49):
DK Metcalf. I think we're going bush sliding back to
DK there, Darnell Washington, the offensive line, you know, Gainwell
led you in receptions. Roman Wilson had a catch, Caleb
Johnson got a little more action once again. There were
just a lot of guys to like. On the offense,
A lot of guys gained that I don't know if
I mentioned game well he led led him in receptions.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, a lot to like. Now.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I want to talk about the defense because I think
if we took a step back to the beginning of
the season and decided what kind of team the Steelers
would be, I think it probably began with the defense
being the side of the ball that excelled first of all,
(05:38):
as a broad sort of you know, overarching statement. Would
you agree with that, Max that the defense of the
two units, the defense was going to be the one
that had a chance to really excel. And, by the way,
as it should, because it's the highest or one of
the highest paid defenses in the league, that should be
the unit follow the money, that should be the unit
that you that you think is going to be need
(06:00):
the top unit.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That exactly took the words right out of my mouth.
That is it? That was it.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
I was like, it's the number one, you know, expense
in the league at that group. So will you talk
about the amount of money that's doled out for that group. Yes,
I wanted to see them week one, and week one
we had we had to wait till week three. But
now that I've seen them, can't get enough of them,
(06:27):
can't get enough of them. And I mean, and then
having them healthy, it was a problem. It was a
problem for the other team. And you know, for Cleveland,
Cleveland was at an absolute just you know, at the
will of whatever the defense was going to run and
you hope that you can get a couple of good
plays going, and you can get a couple of drives going.
(06:50):
But once again held them out of the end zone. Yes,
they kicked three field goals in a game. You know
where points were at a premium early in this game.
But you know, for this defense, this defense, I completely agree.
I mean, this is the group that you want to see.
And listen, that's the action, right, tackles, interceptions, force fumbles,
(07:13):
you know, big play hits, change, sudden change of possession,
you know, the hair gripping moments, you know, is it
or isn't it? You know, all of that happens really
on the defense side of the ball. And you know,
for this defense, like you said, the expectation was so
high coming in and you wondered if they were going
(07:33):
to crack under that weight, but it was just injury
after injury in the first couple of weeks in the season.
Losing guys were not just you know, a series or
a quarter or half those guys for weeks at a time,
you know, Deshaun Elliott, we got maybe a quarter out
of DaShan, and then maybe a quarter and a half
(07:53):
out of Joey in week one, and then we you know,
luckily we got to shine back before Minnesota, but Joey
didn't come back till this past Sunday, and I have
to say welcome back mister Porter, because he did. He
had a really sawid game. But it was just great
to see the full compliment of guys that you anticipated
(08:17):
were going to be your guys at the start of
the season, at the end of training camp. It was
great to actually see all those guys because even when
they stepped up for that first play before Deshaun Elliott, considered,
before Joey Porter Junior gets injured, Derek Harmon wasn't even there.
Was your on the starter. Derek Harmon wasn't wasn't there either,
So you never played with the full eleven until this Sunday,
(08:41):
this past Sunday. So it was just it was great
to see what the anticipated lineup with its backups, what
it shook out to be, and happy to see the
way that it shook out.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So Max, you know, this is something I've never really
talked about with other people, but this is an NFL fan.
You know, you have your own kind of things, and
I think people are you know, people probably do the
same thing. Right, you don't have it. You don't have
a talk show which we get to have, or a
podcast which we get to have. So so you're categorizing
(09:14):
things in your mind about, uh, you know, certain things
that you would like or not like or what have
you about a football team. And I was just figured,
you know, if you're not gonna have unbelievable superstars on
both sides of the ball, there's just it's a salary
cap sport. It's just unlikely that that's gonna happen. Every
(09:35):
once in a while, you get that. You know, Kansas
City probably had a crossover where you know, the offense
was leading the way, then the defense got really good,
and there's probably one year in there in which they
were both really elite. But by and large, you know
your you're a unit is being led one way or
the other. And and and I think that you know
your Steelers teams Max had had I think pretty good
(09:58):
balance on offense and defense. Although I think that probably
that first one. If people were going to say what
led the way, they would probably point to the defense.
I don't know if you'd agree or disagree with that,
but to me, I think it's give me a and
this is the way I always felt.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I love great defense.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And if you if you told me what I would
have to choose and what how I would want, I
would want a defense that's playing the way this year
is is now disruptive, causing turnovers, punishing hits. There were
some big hits in that game.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
David joking definitely still feeling it a big He's getting
second and third and fourth opinion.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, And then give me give me an offense with character, right,
you know, just the character to put together a drive
when need be, pick up an extra first down to
give your your defensive break, be smart with the ball.
If if it's if it's ten to ten in the
fourth quarter, man, give me an offense. It's got the mock.
(11:00):
See in the character to go down and and score somehow.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Some way. I like that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's been my that's been my in my mind what
I just said, that's been in my mind for forty
years thinking about football teams. And then you know, they
opened it up and now it's an offensive league and
you're throwing the ball, and so now I don't know
if that's gonna work. And now we're kind of back
to We're back to I think that formula can work,
and I I kind of think that's what we're looking
(11:29):
at with this Steelers team right now. If they're if
they continue to trend in this direction, you have Aaron
Rodgers and you have you know, guys with you know,
he's at the controls, but you know, you have guys
that are going to play good, smart football on offense
and tough football on offense. And then you got a
(11:50):
defense that I think can be a dominating unit.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah. No, I completely agree. I know it was. I
was sorry about that, you know. Yeah, you know how
you get on when I say stuff.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You're like, man, it just opened the door for so
many other things. I'm like, okay, okay, I got like
three things. I'm like, okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Uh. First, first initial question. Yes, I I.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I would agree that the defense was my first Super
Bowl team, but I will say this, I think it
was complementary to the defense.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Our office because we ran the ball. We bludgeted, folks.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
We killed the time of possession game like, we absolutely
decimated I'm sorry type of possession. I believe at one
point our foreman in office at the end of games
could close it out with six minutes left. There's domination,
and we ran. I'll never forget. We used to run
(12:49):
the same exact play over and over again. Teams just
couldn't stop it. And you get it from my throat. Sorry,
And so I had to take that pause.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I was. I was like, but I've told this to people.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You guys bleue people out sixteen to six, you know
what I mean. I mean other teams were winning forty
to seventeen, sixteen to six, but never even a.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Game it was a blowout.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Oh you know, I mean, yeah, if we got ten
points on you, just kiss your butt goodbye, just kiss
your and our and our receivers were just like, well,
there goes my stats for the day.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yep, there it is. But sorry, shouldn't have scored so quick.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But I mean, yeah, we would just grind you down
to the ground and to the marrow meat.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
And that's the one thing that was just I enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
I know, I'm sure a lot of Steeler fans enjoyed
the wis they necessarily enjoy how they got to the win,
especially the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Oh I loved it, but loved it, but loved it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I mean yeah, we we absolutely just were.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
We prided ourselves in that Steel Curtain mentality, like we're
just gonna have a top notch defense that is just
going to cause terror. And we had we had the
perfect we had the perfect spooky characters to do it right.
I mean we had we had the hair and Troy Polamalo,
(14:13):
we had the abs and Joey Porter and definitely the mouth.
You know, he definitely backed up all of his talk.
And then you just and then you just had you
have Frankenstein for Aaron Smith. You know, you had, you had,
you had, you had the blob the most affectionate way
you could say the blob and and Casey Hampton because
you couldn't move it. Every time you tried to, you know,
(14:35):
do something, it would just consume you. And that's exactly
what he did. He just consumed double teams like it
was nobody's business. And you know, and like you said,
we had the other guys who played. I mean you
look at what Deshaye Townshend was back then Chris Hope,
you know, at the other safety opposite Troy. And then
you had a rotation between Ike Taylor and uh no, sorry,
(15:00):
it was just strictly Ike, and then b Mack was
Bmack was a rookie that also played.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So I mean you just you had.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
A great group with Larry Foot and James Ferrier at
the you know, as as the two inside backers that
led the way, and then Clark Hagen's on on the
opposite side. He was a perfect robin to Joey Porter's.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Batman in that.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
And then you had Chemo von Olhoffen, the old man
Brenda Cuss you know was was was Chemo and Kemo
was just he was at he was an old salty vetman.
The twelve thirteen years in had had grown man Dad's strength. Yeah,
you know he he did a hump move and could
literally displace you two positions over.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You know, it's such a okay, brother, I'm gonna go
out there, such a wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Okay, okay, brother, yeah, keemo wearing practice.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Please don't hit my left shoulder, my left shoulders bothering me?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Okay, brother, okay, brother.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Wam next play. I'm like, god, I just said it,
but I'm like he's too old. He forgot by the
time we got back to the huddle. Okay, I'm glad.
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
On game day, I don't have to I don't have
to deal with you.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You know, it was like that bear coming out of
the cave in March, like get.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Out, oh, no question, just just wooly, ornery, hungry, you know,
and just looking around, you know, kind of like a
hazy fog, like got crust in your eyes type of
looking just looking around like I can't see anything. Ah
h the water, you know, and and that and that
was our crew. And then of course, you know, and
think about who the guys I had reserves. Brett Kusel,
(16:36):
who wasn't starting yet on that line, you know, hokey bro,
Chris Hockey, uh, Chris hok, I should say you know, was.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Was another one.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And then James Harrison was our special teams core for
special teams guy. Wow, Like think about that, James Harrison
was was was it was was it was, was a.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Key backup for us.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
And then we had Clint Kreewall, a k A buddy
league can't bust them except for that one time in
training camp. Uh yeah, but uh you know, we had
we had these type of guys that were.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Contributing defensively.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I mean, it was a top five defense for a
majority of the time I was in the league. And
and that that crew just set the stage for the
office to go do what we do. They go get
the ball, give it back to us depressed teams and
allow us to grind on the on the opponent's defense.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It was.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It was a beautiful time back then. And man, we
we had some battles. We had some great teams. But
I mean, like you said, it's the mark of a
champion is you play who you're supposed to play. You
get your dance card. You don't complain about it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Just get in.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Just get in the playoffs by any means necessary. And
then after that, hope springs eternal. You could do whatever
you want. We took it as a sixth seed that year. Yeah,
because just some of the things we did offensively at
times and injuries, but I mean once we in the playoffs,
got in Cincinnati, it was like, Oh, this team is
(18:05):
for real. Then went to Indianapolish oh events that lost.
You know, thank you Ben, Thank you Ben for having
the most athletic fingertips of all time.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
He got he got the shoestring tappical on Nick Harper.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And then we and then we go take down Bad
Jake the Snake Plumber, the one seed Denver Broncos in
Mile High Stadium and then, like you said that, you
finish it off with seeing the Seahawks. But that team
was just a different animal. And I can see those
same characteristics. And I say characteristics because it's not yet,
(18:40):
but it's got the characteristics. It seems like sounds like
rhyme's like what that team was. And they're a very
they're a very punishing crew up front for this current
Steelers roster.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Just real quick, you know, uh, Ben Roethlisberger. I had
the opportunity to play some sim pickup games with him
basketball wise, and you know, he was talking about that
tackle when we were in Dublin doing an event, you know,
and he was like, I wasn't the best athlete, and
I was like, Okay, stop right there, man. You know,
(19:11):
well I let him finish. But he wasn't a fast guy.
He's a great athlete. I mean, you know, he's a
two yeth of golfer. He was excellent, No doubt he
would have been a Division one, you know, basketball player
at some level. And then Ike Taylor was telling the
story about how they was it ping pong or shuffle
board or something in which they were beat shuffleboard in
(19:35):
which they beat everybody, And then Ben said, so Ike
was sitting to his right, and you know, there was
Ben and Ben said, you know, we always told people
we could beat you twenty four to seven, because Ike,
we're twenty four and Ben wore seven. I'm like, that's
pretty good, man, that's pretty was a chuffleboard then that
(19:55):
they were.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
The kids of that tech.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Technically I was the king with been the first year
of Oh I did not know then.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Then then we had then we had a shuffling of
the of the teams.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah open seventy eight seven doesn't have the same ring
to it.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah no, yeah no, or we just beat you by
seven hundred and seventy eight seven seven hundred, sorry, seven
hundred and seventy eight to zero.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
That's that's how I felt. I mean, I definitely didn't
even want to give them seven, but it was it
was well, see sorry, you know it's like rough.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Hold the thought, let's get you, let's get a little
coffee down that gallan. I know it's a lot of
your earlier.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
I know it is early here. And like I said,
the daughter slept at the bed with me last night.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
So it was rough. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
But good days, man, good days. Not sick, not sick,
not sick, nope, nope, okay, no, all right, good days man,
good days. All right, We're gonna take a break. We
have lots to get to. We want to talk about
some of the heroes for this Browns defense. We will
get to those NFL Power rankings, the new ones put
out by the Athletic a short time ago. When we
continue in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford
(21:04):
Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford 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 (21:36):
And we thank you for being with us. Second segment
here of the Locker Room, and again a truncated week
because of the game on Thursday, So we are going
to be turning our attention to today's game in a
little bit. But Max, you know, again, we talked a
lot about the offense yesterday. We've kind of given an
overview of where we think the team stands, although we'll
get to the power rankings coming up a little bit
(21:58):
before we turn our attention to the Bengals. Uh, some
guys I thought really really stuck out. First of all,
as you mentioned, Uh, you know, look, you've got Deshaun
Elliott back the last couple of weeks. That's that's been fantastic.
Then Joey Porter Junior and Alex Highsmith joined the team
coming out of the buy and and you know they
(22:18):
announced twelve starters. I guess that is something there's a
matter of debate. I guess that's something that has been
done before. But you know, certainly sort of a badge
of honor for Nick Herbig to be that twelve starter,
but good to see that defense out there and healthy
before just as a general overview, before we kind of
break down some of the guys who really start again
(22:41):
in this game for.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Him, Yeah, there, there, there was. There was some great
moments by all those guys. I mean, everybody put their
hand on the pile in this game and they left
their impacts.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
But like you said, some.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Guys left left left a longer thumb print on the
on a smudge on the.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Mirror, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
No, you could see it, you could feel it, and
it was it was really great to see. I mean,
once again, uh Hawaii Hawaiian lt uh as I've now
effectually called Nick Herbig just continues to impress in key moments.
He's just he's just he's he's he's he's he's taking
(23:22):
those next next necessary steps. He doesn't look like what
you expect him to be, but man, he is tough
to stop. You cannot donate enough resources because you're still
worried about that other beast on the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
T J. Watt.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
So you know, when you get those single man opportunities,
and then of course Alex Heighsmith being back healthy as well,
we had a lot of three, had a couple of
three outside linebacker. Looks they're tough to block. Man, just
really really impressed with what this defense?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Did you know? It is?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It is an interesting you know, look, no team is
ever gonna say, and Mike Tomin kind of alluded this
to this yesterday. No coach, no general manager is ever
gonna shake their hands and say, man, we are in trouble.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We just have too many good players.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
You know, that's just never You're never gonna hear somebody
utter that kind of complaint. So the you know, it's
easy to say you got to get into Kurbig out
in the field, got to but then you look around
that defense and say, at who's expense? You know, I mean,
(24:35):
I know he's got to get out there somewhere, but man,
oh man, you know I can't find the guy who's
not carrying his weight on defense. And you know, you
want to get your best eleven out there. Well, I think,
as we saw on Sunday with the introductions, you got
the best twelve you can put out there, and then
you got guys like you know, for example, Brandon Echols,
who say, well what about me? You know I should
(24:57):
be out there. It is a you know an and
again we talked about maxed injuries and the team being healthy.
Now this is a snapshot in time. We all know
that there are gonna be other injuries. There are gonna
be guys in this starting group that aren't gonna be
out there, so that depth is gonna be welcome. But
for right now, it is an interesting challenge to figure
out how to get all these guys out there and
(25:17):
give them to playing time they deserve.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
It is a matter of when and not if. It
is when it comes to that ye, and that's that's
what we always have to keep. So it's good that
we have this quote unquote logjam right now because I mean,
just think about this. A couple of weeks ago, we
were praying right for healthy guys, right we're praying for
guys not to get injured. And so it's, oh, how
(25:45):
the tables turn. But you're right starting right out the gates.
When all things are equal. Man, it's tough to sit
there and go, yeah, no, he's not pulling his weight.
Put this guy in, sit this guy, you know, it's
like no, it's like we got everybody, and it's like
it becomes situational, like Okay, what is this team going
to do in this situation? And guess what they don't
(26:10):
know what personnel grouping, we're gonna We're gonna roll out there,
right because you have no clue, you have no prayer.
And then when you get out there, it's like, oh, man,
I got to figure out how to block all these
guys and four point five seconds, ten seconds, you know,
at the most, because you know you're not sitting at
the line of scrimmers that long unless you're trying to bleed
out clock at the end of a game. But at
(26:30):
the beginning of the game, you're like, oh, oh, oh god, Okay,
what's the call?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Hey, Hey, what do we do here? Hey? Guy next
to me? What's my job? You know? Right?
Speaker 4 (26:39):
No, I don't want I don't want this one. I
don't want this one. Do you see who's over here?
Ninety's over here. He's supposed to be on your side.
Why is he on my side?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Right now? Okay? Oh god, fifty what this dude? Man?
I can't blye he's too wiry, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
And then it's like, oh Jesus, if you're the interior
as a guard, you just like, so glad I had
we this morning but I don't know if that's enough.
I mean, I think I have some water weight on me.
I guess I can stop this bull rush by Derek
Harmon or Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Nope, wrong, wrong again.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Oh and by the way, center, by the way, I
have to use my snaphand and still get to Keanum Bennon.
Come on, man, like this isn't fair, Like what are
you guys doing to me? Like I have a job
to do, and my job is to snap the ball?
Then block is number two on the list. No, I
mean it's it becomes a conundrum. It becomes a conundrum,
and that secondary gives you no relief either, because they
(27:29):
can all run with all those guys, you know what
I'm saying. So you know there's no like just oh,
we're just gonna We're just gonna throw the ball deep
and get a guy Burner. He's like, no, I got
Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Junior or Darius Slay and then oh,
by the way, make sure make sure my leg doesn't
get chopped off by jan Thornhill or Deshaun Elliott in
the process. Hello, David and Joku. You know, it's just
(27:52):
there's so many problems that get caused, and then goodness,
I mean sideline to sideline, a gap, a gap to
d gap on each side, you got Patrick Queen and
Peyton Wilson filling the gaps. And then, oh, by the way,
forgot to mention, remember that guy, the yam Kole Hulkom. Yeah,
he's pretty good too. He's healthy, he's back again, he's
in the rotation. So it's like, you get these waves
(28:13):
of defensive pressure at each level and it becomes just
a problem for the teams that we've played, and it's
going to be a problem for the team that we're
going to play on Thursday as they try to figure
it out because guess what, historically they haven't figured out
the offensive line position. So and they're down to their
third quarterback now and Joe Flacco. They traded for a
(28:35):
forty plus year old quarterback mid season, midweek and rolled
that guy out on Sunday because he was better than
the guy that had been there for the last two years.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah he actually sorry three years. Yeah, I thought he
actually looked pretty good. By the way, and we'll get
more to the Bengals in a moment, but I you know,
you brought up something there Max that I don't know,
as it's a little huffer to define probably for fans.
You know, you look at the offense and you see
the multiple ways that they're attacking. Hey, here comes Spencer
(29:09):
Anderson and then here comes a three tight end set.
We saw a four tight end set. Oh hey j
Aalen warrens in. Now gain Well is in. And you know,
we've talked about the offense and I think this is
what we're going to see all year long. I think
it's going to be a matchup specific offense and Mike
Tomlin I think kind of alluded to that. We've been
talking about it. Look, you want to come with a
(29:30):
light box. You want to have a speedy team, good,
we're gonna bludget you, all right. You want to have
a big, heavy guy, good, well, we'll run our guys
out there that can run and we can attack you
the way we want to attack you. Well, it's the
same as you know, as you're running through this, it's occurring.
It's the same thing on this defense. You got a
(29:50):
weakness at left guard. Guess what we're going to exploit
that in the past we might or maybe just in
general and thinking in terms of thinking of this as
a football you might think, okay, well Cam Hayward's going
to destroy their left guard, and that's that's true. That
still is true, but there's now there's different ways you
can attack. Guys say this left tackle is a little
(30:12):
light and you know, a little light in the pants,
not as big and strong and physical.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Well here comes Alex Highsmith.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Okay, well he's a big, physical guy, and you know,
well here comes Nick Herbick. You know, you can match
up on defense, you know, much like you try to
match up on offense. Now, some of that is dictated
by the offense. I understand that, but you can begin
to dictate a little bit too, which is really kind
of a cool position for a defense to be in.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Oh, it absolutely is.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And you know, one of the few t's that really
still plays at three to four base when you give
them the opportunity to. I mean, obviously a lot more
for down when you get into eleven personnel. But when
you can dicta it's like pick your poison? Do I
really do? I really want to take quote unquote Keanu
Benton out just for the sake of sub and getting
(31:00):
you know that that nickel which happens to be Jalen Ramsey. Uh,
you know what I'm saying. It was like and he
had two sacks last week. You know what I'm saying,
like like, oh yeah, we're gonna kill her with Nickel.
It's like, Jalen Ramsey had two sacks from the from
the slot position.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It's like, do you really want that problem?
Speaker 4 (31:16):
If you're really trying to get rid of the big
bass personnel, you know, it's like trade one headache for another.
I mean, I think that's a prime example of of
what you were saying is, you know, defense, we we
can match up with a lot of folks. We can
match up with them, and that's what that's what's gonna
continue to be the channels. Now, I will say this,
the team we're going up against, this is why you
(31:37):
built this defense, absolutely right, This is this is the
This is why you go and you trade for Jalen Ramsey.
This is why you went and got Darius Slay and
Brandon Eckles in free agency. It was for this moment
right here, this moment right here, Jamar Chase and the
T Higgins signing was the reason why you went and
you stocked up on defensive backs.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yep, absolutely, and one hundred percent to see it.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yeah, we're gonna see it on full display.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yep, one hundred percent correct. And you know that ability
to dictate devent defensively and it's a little different dictation
right you're you're trying to dictate. Okay, third and eight,
we're forcing you into a certain personnel grouping and this
Doer's defense has you know early on, Uh, look, you
know the the competition is not going to get any easier.
(32:27):
So you know, you know, we understand that there are
challenges ahead, but the ability to bring multiple players and
not only that, but you know, feel good about Okay,
so you know we we've got a little lighter group
out there, but you know, you want heavy personnel. Doesn't matter,
like you know, our speed will overcome that or our
(32:50):
guys up front of slow guys up enough. I just
think there's it's really an intriguing defense right now. And
again we'll see you know, critics, you're gonna point to
him and say, haven't played anybody and all that stuff.
I understand all that stuff. We can only judge them
by who they've played, right and by and by who
they played.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
What's that I was just saying, like for the for
the pund It's like I hear your words, I would
say that, yeah, right, So we still have not touched
on the defensive heroes.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
We will and we're gonna get through the power rankings,
the new power rankings.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
That are out.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Uh, Steelers move up a little bit? Is it enough?
We'll let you know still more to come when we
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(33:46):
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Speaker 1 (34:12):
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
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Speaker 2 (34:33):
And thanks for being with us. A few more minutes
before we get to the top of the hour, and
we have got to dig into some of the defensive
stars of the game. You've mentioned a couple times. How
about two sacks for Jalen Ramsey And by the way,
by the way, another another big picture item. You know,
people were saying, how come the Steelers aren't plitzeymore and
(34:55):
the sack totals were down last year. You know, I'm
just guessing from the nobody. Nobody has told me this, nobody.
I'm just guessing that they didn't feel comfortable enough with
their personnel in the back end, largely the cornerback position,
because you had Mincoln, you had Elliott out there, you
had Joey Porter Junior on the other side. Didn't feel
comfortable enough to really bring the heat. You didn't have
(35:17):
those guys you could go play man coverage with. And
they did talk about this, but they didn't connect the
two dots that I'm connecting. They we're not gonna throw
anybody under the bus, but it feels like to me
that they trust now that they've got the back end handled.
For the most part, players are gonna happen. I understand that,
but they can blitz and there now all of a sudden,
they're blitzing at one of the highest percentages in the NFL,
(35:40):
and they're getting home. Deshaun Elliott's got a sack. Jalen
Ramsey had two sacks in this game, Max two sacks.
Patrick Queen is blitzing. He's got a sack. Peyton Wilson's
got a sack. We're back to because of the makeup
of this defense being seeing the Steelers be able to
be more aggressive because they're more comfortable with their personnel.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
I would completely agree, you know, and this is this
is what when you have guys who can hold up
on the backside, that's why you can be more aggressive
and dedicate more guys because now there's not as many
gaps or holes to cover, and you feel like guys
have the foot speed to catch up in those situations.
And I think that's what everybody. I think everybody on
(36:26):
the starting defense except Darius Slay and Joey Porter Junior
have a sack.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
That's incredible, I believe.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
And then like you said, then you talk about, you know,
your your key reserve guys, the second wave guys also
making a lot of plays as well. But yeah, everybody
but your two corners because you don't, we don't really
run corner fire like that to be to put them
in those situations.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
You know, we'd rather just keep you in man.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
I mean, there's too many good wide receivers to really
dedicate and say that, Okay, we can play zone cloud
against Justin Jefferson, Like now, now, please stay on Justin
Jefferson as much as you can.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, you know, and even for this.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Game, right, you know, we're gonna we're gonna see how
much they can blitz because there's a prime opportunity with
his offensive line and Joe Flacco back there. You want
to put pressure in his face. But like you said,
you have to make sure you cover the underneath checkdown stuff, right,
you got to be able to handle that curl flat
five to eight zone and really affect them so that
you can't allow for those guys to take place.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
But you know, as you look at it right now.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I mean, yeah, Jayalen Ramsey had two sacks in this game,
and he did it from the from nickel blitz and
it was a beautiful thing. I mean the first one,
he hit Dylan Gabriel so hard it's like he didn't
even see him, like he was still in stride and
he knocked the wind out of himself because he hit
him so flush, and Dylan Gabriel had no idea what
(37:55):
was coming. It came from his right side, the front
side of most offenses ends up being the back side
for left handed quarterback. And there was there was not
there was not a prayer that Dylan Gabriel was gonna
get out of that. And he just absolutely got leveled
on the first one and then the second one, beautiful
chase down pursuit, forcing him out of the pocket and
just being relentless and taking him down. But Jalen Ramsey,
(38:17):
I mean, everything you could have wanted and more and
giving up what seventh round pick, I think that's all
we gave up was a seventh and then there was
like a pick swap and we got two players for one.
They got Minka, we got we got Jalen and John
U Smith, Like, just think about what that Hall has done,
(38:39):
like a week before training camp.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
It's amazing, Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I mean, you know he was described in a preseason
get together by Andy Widel, assistant general manager, as a
future Hall of Famer, and you stop and you think, yeah,
that's what he is, you know. I mean, this guy's
he's just really really good man, really good. Good to
(39:07):
have him. I thought he played a terrific game. You
mentioned herbig. I mean, my goodness, gracious, he has just
been an absolutely dominating force on this when he's been
out there, you know, missed a game or too early, right,
and then it's just been he's just been incredible, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I mean every time you try and think of what
could possibly he could possibly do next, he does it.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
You're like, man, Okay, we know there's gonna be a
lull at some point because he's not a starter. He's
not the ideal size, he's not what you would picture.
He's not they all get off the bus, team, you know,
when you're looking like when a team gets off the bus, like,
oh god, that that like a squad. He's not the
guy you pick out right, But when he gets on
(40:05):
that field. I mean, I don't know what it is
about Polynesians and playing for the Steelers, right, it's just
a Gecko and Hyde mentality. But man, I mean because
I look at like you know, with Troy the same way,
just quiet, but will literally rip your head off and
then sit it next to you while he eats like
a bulleteerio you.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Like that's the mentality that Nick Herbert plays with. And
it's just relentless, like you don't get a chance to
come up for air and breathe unless he's dropping into coverage,
which they don't do that often News Slash right.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
But man, he just he presents such a problem. He
could rush from both sides. That's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Like that's now guys have gotten so specialized and like
you know, you know, TJ is like, hey, I rush
from the left end position, which is the offensive right side.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
That's what I do this when I specialize that.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
Now, obviously we've made a move more over the last
number of years just because versatility of team's just running
away from you.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
But he still primarily plays from that side.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Alex Highsmith right, he plays the right end position, sorry,
which is over the offensive left and that's his cup
of tea. That's what he does best and that's where
he's going to be.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Right. But it's a rare thing.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
When you got a guy who can rotate in and
play at those multiple positions. And then when they get
in the three outside linebacker, you know, you don't care
who goes in at the de tackle position because you
have so many other opportunities for success with some of
the twist games, guys there inside will get outside and
vice versa. And I think that's what creates such pressure
(41:45):
problems with Nick Herbt because you can't pinpoint where he's
going to be in those packages and you're just like, Okay,
I think he's going to come from here, but no, no, no,
he can come from there. Why is he looping all
the way around. That's the mark of a good defense. Well,
you can't predict where guys are going to be. Their
nut's stationary, and that's what causes an offensive lineman. I know,
especially for me, that would cause me a lot of
(42:07):
headaches and issues trying to figure out where do I
need to be or where's this call going to come from?
Because you know where I think I'm isoed on the side.
Now I've got to jump in the frame. Guess what,
Now another guy comes free off the edge. Like the defense,
the variability that Ta is calling these plays now and
the comfort that he has with all these pieces makes
(42:28):
for a lot of problems. You know, people were, oh,
try to get rid of Ta, and oh, I was like,
now that he's got the pieces, like it's it's honestly,
it's like playing on a chessboard.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
With three queens essentially, like come on, like, like kid,
you really you can't.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Win when you have three queens on the board, Like
like just kiss, kiss your butt goodbye, you know what
I'm saying, Like it's over with. And that's what it
feels like at times when he's dialing stuff up now.
Early in the season, obviously they gave up a lot
of pois, they gave up a lot of rushes and
and you know, it was it was tough sledding, but
that was getting the newness of everybody playing together.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Because remember in the preseason, a lot of those.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Guys sat like and then Jalen Rams was like pissed
he got one series all preseason he was he was
trying to get back in the Carolina game after he'd
already had like two out of the five plays of
that drive he made. He still wanted to get back
in there and play more like that's what you get,
and you're getting an NFL Top one hundred player. By
the way, in Jalen Ramsey, you're not kidding. And he
(43:28):
was like in the sixties, So it wasn't even like
he was like at the fringe.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
You know.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
This wasn't like the ninety seventh very subjective when you
get that last you know, kind of top ten, whether
they like you or not. No, he was firmly planted
in the middle of this, you know, top one hundred.
So to pair that type of guy with the Tanasi
and the skill of the other guys on this team,
oh sickening, sicketing for the opponent and joyous. If you're
(43:55):
if you're a Black and Gold fan, you know what
I'm saying, right, I know what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
For sure, we are scratching the surface on the guys
that have excelled. We need to get around the NFL.
With a look at the latest power rankings, we still
have to look forward to the Cincinnati Bengals game coming
up on Thursday night. Quick turnaround, much much more still
to come in the Locker Room as we continue, and
of course we want to let you know that in
(44:21):
the Locker Room is presented by your neighborhood Forge Store
as well as the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
and it is a part of the Steelers Audio Network
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
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 (00:30):
Well, thanks very much for being with us inside the
locker room and alongside Max Starks with Justin Miller's Controls
and our iHeart Studios. I'm Rob King. Thanks very much
for being with us. Very short week, This is kind
of like a Wednesday or a Thursday. We still have
a little bit of cleanup work to do in the
Cleveland Browns game, and you know, we talked a lot
(00:51):
about the offense and the offensive improvements and the way
things are going in the right direction. There were a
lot of stars on defense, and we're going to get
to that in a.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Little bit, uh Max.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Before we get to that, I want to ask you
a question that you and I have been pondering a
little bit, and I don't know as we have a
really good answer. And my my my question is who's
really good in the NFL?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right? I mean, yeah, the Lions.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Appeared to be that and they got pretty well worked
over by Kansas City on Sunday night. And then the
Bills appeared to be that team in the a f C,
and they got pretty well worked over by Atlanta last night.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
The Power rankings, I don't even know what these power
rankings are going to be like, because it's just going
to be like TBD, right, like you know, you know,
you know, you know, you know. Here's what I would say.
It's pretty good Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How about that? Yeah, yep? This week?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean this week, and now that we
say that they're good, that they're gonna.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Go on a two game losing streak like like like that,
like the Bills and the Eagles are currently talked about
the Eagles, right, Eagles two weeks in a row, Ye
got and got their teeth kicked in by the Giants.
So I mean, we look at who we thought was
supposed to be those top type of teams. I mean,
(02:15):
I mean, does Steelers finally make a jump in the
power rankings?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Get moved up?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I mean, I mean I feel like that's the only
next plausible thing, because you know, heck, we.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Got similar records, we got similar records.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I mean, I'm really trying to trying to scratch my
head here to figure out who is good because the
teams you thought were you know, took some unnecessarily liss.
I guess you uh l A Rams, No, no, l
A Rams.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That didn't sound good. Take that for a test drive.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of good teams. And again,
it just you know, this is a mostly serious exercise,
but there's some facetiousness in what we're doing because Max
and I think both have a very similar outlook, which is,
let's just win the games, right, Let's just win the
(03:11):
games and the power ranking stuff will take care of itself.
The more you win, the more you'll improve in those
But the power rankings don't matter. This isn't college. You're
not trying to get into the Fiesta Bowl. I guess
now there's the playoff. You are trying to just win
your division, win enough games to get into the playoffs.
(03:31):
Whatever your expectations are, improve as a team, take the
right step, the big step forward in the path to rebuilding.
If you're that kind of team, I will tell you
that according to the athletic rankings, and we will get
to those for everybody, so you don't have to get
to it. You don't scroll on your phone right now,
we'll get to it. The Steers have moved up a
(03:51):
little bit. Yay, yay, that'll be our around the NFL
outBut your neighborhood Ford story.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, we'll get to that and I will give my
full disdain later. Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, by disdain, that was semi disdain, and that's okay,
it's a little semi disdain.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That may have come with a bit of a sneer.
Did it come with a sneer? Yeah, okay, yes, sneer.
A little bit of a jeer as well, a little
bit of a jeer.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh, Max, Max, Max Max.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So I I did want to before we moved too
far along and turned our attention to Cincinnati, which we
will do today. There were a few guys, I mean,
you know again, I just think there are so many
guys playing well, and we really concentrated on the offense.
You know, Jalen Warren, you know, Aaron Rodgers, of course,
(04:49):
DK Metcalf. I think we're going bush sliding back to
DK there, Darnell Washington, the offensive line, you know, Gainwell
led you in receptions. Roman Wilson had a catch, Caleb
Johnson got a little more action once again. There were
just a lot of guys to like. On the offense,
A lot of guys gained that I don't know if
I mentioned game well he led led him in receptions.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, a lot to like. Now.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I want to talk about the defense because I think
if we took a step back to the beginning of
the season and decided what kind of team the Steelers
would be, I think it probably began with the defense
being the side of the ball that excelled first of all,
(05:38):
as a broad sort of you know, overarching statement. Would
you agree with that, Max that the defense of the
two units, the defense was going to be the one
that had a chance to really excel. And, by the way,
as it should, because it's the highest or one of
the highest paid defenses in the league, that should be
the unit follow the money, that should be the unit
that you that you think is going to be need
(06:00):
the top unit.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
That exactly took the words right out of my mouth.
That is it? That was it.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
I was like, it's the number one, you know, expense
in the league at that group. So will you talk
about the amount of money that's doled out for that group. Yes,
I wanted to see them week one, and week one
we had we had to wait till week three. But
now that I've seen them, can't get enough of them,
(06:27):
can't get enough of them. And I mean, and then
having them healthy, it was a problem. It was a
problem for the other team. And you know, for Cleveland,
Cleveland was at an absolute just you know, at the
will of whatever the defense was going to run and
you hope that you can get a couple of good
plays going, and you can get a couple of drives going.
(06:50):
But once again held them out of the end zone. Yes,
they kicked three field goals in a game. You know
where points were at a premium early in this game.
But you know, for this defense, this defense, I completely agree.
I mean, this is the group that you want to see.
And listen, that's the action, right, tackles, interceptions, force fumbles,
(07:13):
you know, big play hits, change, sudden change of possession,
you know, the hair gripping moments, you know, is it
or isn't it? You know, all of that happens really
on the defense side of the ball. And you know,
for this defense, like you said, the expectation was so
high coming in and you wondered if they were going
(07:33):
to crack under that weight, but it was just injury
after injury in the first couple of weeks in the season.
Losing guys were not just you know, a series or
a quarter or half those guys for weeks at a time,
you know, Deshaun Elliott, we got maybe a quarter out
of DaShan, and then maybe a quarter and a half
(07:53):
out of Joey in week one, and then we you know,
luckily we got to shine back before Minnesota, but Joey
didn't come back till this past Sunday, and I have
to say welcome back mister Porter, because he did. He
had a really sawid game. But it was just great
to see the full compliment of guys that you anticipated
(08:17):
were going to be your guys at the start of
the season, at the end of training camp. It was
great to actually see all those guys because even when
they stepped up for that first play before Deshaun Elliott, considered,
before Joey Porter Junior gets injured, Derek Harmon wasn't even there.
Was your on the starter. Derek Harmon wasn't wasn't there either,
So you never played with the full eleven until this Sunday,
(08:41):
this past Sunday. So it was just it was great
to see what the anticipated lineup with its backups, what
it shook out to be, and happy to see the
way that it shook out.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So Max, you know, this is something I've never really
talked about with other people, but this is an NFL fan.
You know, you have your own kind of things, and
I think people are you know, people probably do the
same thing. Right, you don't have it. You don't have
a talk show which we get to have, or a
podcast which we get to have. So so you're categorizing
(09:14):
things in your mind about, uh, you know, certain things
that you would like or not like or what have
you about a football team. And I was just figured,
you know, if you're not gonna have unbelievable superstars on
both sides of the ball, there's just it's a salary
cap sport. It's just unlikely that that's gonna happen. Every
(09:35):
once in a while, you get that. You know, Kansas
City probably had a crossover where you know, the offense
was leading the way, then the defense got really good,
and there's probably one year in there in which they
were both really elite. But by and large, you know
your you're a unit is being led one way or
the other. And and and I think that you know
your Steelers teams Max had had I think pretty good
(09:58):
balance on offense and defense. Although I think that probably
that first one. If people were going to say what
led the way, they would probably point to the defense.
I don't know if you'd agree or disagree with that,
but to me, I think it's give me a and
this is the way I always felt.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I love great defense.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And if you if you told me what I would
have to choose and what how I would want, I
would want a defense that's playing the way this year
is is now disruptive, causing turnovers, punishing hits. There were
some big hits in that game.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
David joking definitely still feeling it a big He's getting
second and third and fourth opinion.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, And then give me give me an offense with character, right,
you know, just the character to put together a drive
when need be, pick up an extra first down to
give your your defensive break, be smart with the ball.
If if it's if it's ten to ten in the
fourth quarter, man, give me an offense. It's got the mock.
(11:00):
See in the character to go down and and score somehow.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Some way. I like that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's been my that's been my in my mind what
I just said, that's been in my mind for forty
years thinking about football teams. And then you know, they
opened it up and now it's an offensive league and
you're throwing the ball, and so now I don't know
if that's gonna work. And now we're kind of back
to We're back to I think that formula can work,
and I I kind of think that's what we're looking
(11:29):
at with this Steelers team right now. If they're if
they continue to trend in this direction, you have Aaron
Rodgers and you have you know, guys with you know,
he's at the controls, but you know, you have guys
that are going to play good, smart football on offense
and tough football on offense. And then you got a
(11:50):
defense that I think can be a dominating unit.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah. No, I completely agree. I know it was. I
was sorry about that, you know. Yeah, you know how
you get on when I say stuff.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You're like, man, it just opened the door for so
many other things. I'm like, okay, okay, I got like
three things. I'm like, okay, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Uh. First, first initial question. Yes, I I.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I would agree that the defense was my first Super
Bowl team, but I will say this, I think it
was complementary to the defense.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Our office because we ran the ball. We bludgeted, folks.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
We killed the time of possession game like, we absolutely
decimated I'm sorry type of possession. I believe at one
point our foreman in office at the end of games
could close it out with six minutes left. There's domination,
and we ran. I'll never forget. We used to run
(12:49):
the same exact play over and over again. Teams just
couldn't stop it. And you get it from my throat. Sorry,
And so I had to take that pause.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I was. I was like, but I've told this to people.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You guys bleue people out sixteen to six, you know
what I mean. I mean other teams were winning forty
to seventeen, sixteen to six, but never even a.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Game it was a blowout.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Oh you know, I mean, yeah, if we got ten
points on you, just kiss your butt goodbye, just kiss
your and our and our receivers were just like, well,
there goes my stats for the day.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yep, there it is. But sorry, shouldn't have scored so quick.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But I mean, yeah, we would just grind you down
to the ground and to the marrow meat.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
And that's the one thing that was just I enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
I know, I'm sure a lot of Steeler fans enjoyed
the wis they necessarily enjoy how they got to the win,
especially the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Oh I loved it, but loved it, but loved it.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I mean yeah, we we absolutely just were.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
We prided ourselves in that Steel Curtain mentality, like we're
just gonna have a top notch defense that is just
going to cause terror. And we had we had the
perfect we had the perfect spooky characters to do it right.
I mean we had we had the hair and Troy Polamalo,
(14:13):
we had the abs and Joey Porter and definitely the mouth.
You know, he definitely backed up all of his talk.
And then you just and then you just had you
have Frankenstein for Aaron Smith. You know, you had, you had,
you had, you had the blob the most affectionate way
you could say the blob and and Casey Hampton because
you couldn't move it. Every time you tried to, you know,
(14:35):
do something, it would just consume you. And that's exactly
what he did. He just consumed double teams like it
was nobody's business. And you know, and like you said,
we had the other guys who played. I mean you
look at what Deshaye Townshend was back then Chris Hope,
you know, at the other safety opposite Troy. And then
you had a rotation between Ike Taylor and uh no, sorry,
(15:00):
it was just strictly Ike, and then b Mack was
Bmack was a rookie that also played.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
So I mean you just you had.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
A great group with Larry Foot and James Ferrier at
the you know, as as the two inside backers that
led the way, and then Clark Hagen's on on the
opposite side. He was a perfect robin to Joey Porter's.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Batman in that.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
And then you had Chemo von Olhoffen, the old man
Brenda Cuss you know was was was Chemo and Kemo
was just he was at he was an old salty vetman.
The twelve thirteen years in had had grown man Dad's strength. Yeah,
you know he he did a hump move and could
literally displace you two positions over.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You know, it's such a okay, brother, I'm gonna go
out there, such a wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Okay, okay, brother, yeah, keemo wearing practice.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Please don't hit my left shoulder, my left shoulders bothering me?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Okay, brother, okay, brother.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Wam next play. I'm like, god, I just said it,
but I'm like he's too old. He forgot by the
time we got back to the huddle. Okay, I'm glad.
I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
On game day, I don't have to I don't have
to deal with you.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You know, it was like that bear coming out of
the cave in March, like get.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Out, oh, no question, just just wooly, ornery, hungry, you know,
and just looking around, you know, kind of like a
hazy fog, like got crust in your eyes type of
looking just looking around like I can't see anything. Ah
h the water, you know, and and that and that
was our crew. And then of course, you know, and
think about who the guys I had reserves. Brett Kusel,
(16:36):
who wasn't starting yet on that line, you know, hokey bro,
Chris Hockey, uh, Chris hok, I should say you know, was.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Was another one.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And then James Harrison was our special teams core for
special teams guy. Wow, Like think about that, James Harrison
was was was it was was it was, was a.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Key backup for us.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
And then we had Clint Kreewall, a k A buddy
league can't bust them except for that one time in
training camp. Uh yeah, but uh you know, we had
we had these type of guys that were.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Contributing defensively.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I mean, it was a top five defense for a
majority of the time I was in the league. And
and that that crew just set the stage for the
office to go do what we do. They go get
the ball, give it back to us depressed teams and
allow us to grind on the on the opponent's defense.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It was.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It was a beautiful time back then. And man, we
we had some battles. We had some great teams. But
I mean, like you said, it's the mark of a
champion is you play who you're supposed to play. You
get your dance card. You don't complain about it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Just get in.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Just get in the playoffs by any means necessary. And
then after that, hope springs eternal. You could do whatever
you want. We took it as a sixth seed that year. Yeah,
because just some of the things we did offensively at
times and injuries, but I mean once we in the playoffs,
got in Cincinnati, it was like, Oh, this team is
(18:05):
for real. Then went to Indianapolish oh events that lost.
You know, thank you Ben, Thank you Ben for having
the most athletic fingertips of all time.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
He got he got the shoestring tappical on Nick Harper.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And then we and then we go take down Bad
Jake the Snake Plumber, the one seed Denver Broncos in
Mile High Stadium and then, like you said that, you
finish it off with seeing the Seahawks. But that team
was just a different animal. And I can see those
same characteristics. And I say characteristics because it's not yet,
(18:40):
but it's got the characteristics. It seems like sounds like
rhyme's like what that team was. And they're a very
they're a very punishing crew up front for this current
Steelers roster.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Just real quick, you know, uh, Ben Roethlisberger. I had
the opportunity to play some sim pickup games with him
basketball wise, and you know, he was talking about that
tackle when we were in Dublin doing an event, you know,
and he was like, I wasn't the best athlete, and
I was like, Okay, stop right there, man. You know,
(19:11):
well I let him finish. But he wasn't a fast guy.
He's a great athlete. I mean, you know, he's a
two yeth of golfer. He was excellent, No doubt he
would have been a Division one, you know, basketball player
at some level. And then Ike Taylor was telling the
story about how they was it ping pong or shuffle
board or something in which they were beat shuffleboard in
(19:35):
which they beat everybody, And then Ben said, so Ike
was sitting to his right, and you know, there was
Ben and Ben said, you know, we always told people
we could beat you twenty four to seven, because Ike,
we're twenty four and Ben wore seven. I'm like, that's
pretty good, man, that's pretty was a chuffleboard then that
(19:55):
they were.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
The kids of that tech.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Technically I was the king with been the first year
of Oh I did not know then.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Then then we had then we had a shuffling of
the of the teams.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah open seventy eight seven doesn't have the same ring
to it.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah no, yeah no, or we just beat you by
seven hundred and seventy eight seven seven hundred, sorry, seven
hundred and seventy eight to zero.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
That's that's how I felt. I mean, I definitely didn't
even want to give them seven, but it was it
was well, see sorry, you know it's like rough.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Hold the thought, let's get you, let's get a little
coffee down that gallan. I know it's a lot of
your earlier.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
I know it is early here. And like I said,
the daughter slept at the bed with me last night.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
So it was rough. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
But good days, man, good days. Not sick, not sick,
not sick, nope, nope, okay, no, all right, good days man,
good days. All right, We're gonna take a break. We
have lots to get to. We want to talk about
some of the heroes for this Browns defense. We will
get to those NFL Power rankings, the new ones put
out by the Athletic a short time ago. When we
continue in the Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford
(21:04):
Store and the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Ford 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 (21:36):
And we thank you for being with us. Second segment
here of the Locker Room, and again a truncated week
because of the game on Thursday, So we are going
to be turning our attention to today's game in a
little bit. But Max, you know, again, we talked a
lot about the offense yesterday. We've kind of given an
overview of where we think the team stands, although we'll
get to the power rankings coming up a little bit
(21:58):
before we turn our attention to the Bengals. Uh, some
guys I thought really really stuck out. First of all,
as you mentioned, Uh, you know, look, you've got Deshaun
Elliott back the last couple of weeks. That's that's been fantastic.
Then Joey Porter Junior and Alex Highsmith joined the team
coming out of the buy and and you know they
(22:18):
announced twelve starters. I guess that is something there's a
matter of debate. I guess that's something that has been
done before. But you know, certainly sort of a badge
of honor for Nick Herbig to be that twelve starter,
but good to see that defense out there and healthy
before just as a general overview, before we kind of
break down some of the guys who really start again
(22:41):
in this game for.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Him, Yeah, there, there, there was. There was some great
moments by all those guys. I mean, everybody put their
hand on the pile in this game and they left
their impacts.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
But like you said, some.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Guys left left left a longer thumb print on the
on a smudge on the.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Mirror, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
No, you could see it, you could feel it, and
it was it was really great to see. I mean,
once again, uh Hawaii Hawaiian lt uh as I've now
effectually called Nick Herbig just continues to impress in key moments.
He's just he's just he's he's he's he's he's taking
(23:22):
those next next necessary steps. He doesn't look like what
you expect him to be, but man, he is tough
to stop. You cannot donate enough resources because you're still
worried about that other beast on the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
T J. Watt.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
So you know, when you get those single man opportunities,
and then of course Alex Heighsmith being back healthy as well,
we had a lot of three, had a couple of
three outside linebacker. Looks they're tough to block. Man, just
really really impressed with what this defense?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Did you know? It is?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It is an interesting you know, look, no team is
ever gonna say, and Mike Tomin kind of alluded this
to this yesterday. No coach, no general manager is ever
gonna shake their hands and say, man, we are in trouble.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We just have too many good players.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
You know, that's just never You're never gonna hear somebody
utter that kind of complaint. So the you know, it's
easy to say you got to get into Kurbig out
in the field, got to but then you look around
that defense and say, at who's expense? You know, I mean,
(24:35):
I know he's got to get out there somewhere, but man,
oh man, you know I can't find the guy who's
not carrying his weight on defense. And you know, you
want to get your best eleven out there. Well, I think,
as we saw on Sunday with the introductions, you got
the best twelve you can put out there, and then
you got guys like you know, for example, Brandon Echols,
who say, well what about me? You know I should
(24:57):
be out there. It is a you know an and
again we talked about maxed injuries and the team being healthy.
Now this is a snapshot in time. We all know
that there are gonna be other injuries. There are gonna
be guys in this starting group that aren't gonna be
out there, so that depth is gonna be welcome. But
for right now, it is an interesting challenge to figure
out how to get all these guys out there and
(25:17):
give them to playing time they deserve.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
It is a matter of when and not if. It
is when it comes to that ye, and that's that's
what we always have to keep. So it's good that
we have this quote unquote logjam right now because I mean,
just think about this. A couple of weeks ago, we
were praying right for healthy guys, right we're praying for
guys not to get injured. And so it's, oh, how
(25:45):
the tables turn. But you're right starting right out the gates.
When all things are equal. Man, it's tough to sit
there and go, yeah, no, he's not pulling his weight.
Put this guy in, sit this guy, you know, it's
like no, it's like we got everybody, and it's like
it becomes situational, like Okay, what is this team going
to do in this situation? And guess what they don't
(26:10):
know what personnel grouping, we're gonna We're gonna roll out there,
right because you have no clue, you have no prayer.
And then when you get out there, it's like, oh, man,
I got to figure out how to block all these
guys and four point five seconds, ten seconds, you know,
at the most, because you know you're not sitting at
the line of scrimmers that long unless you're trying to bleed
out clock at the end of a game. But at
(26:30):
the beginning of the game, you're like, oh, oh, oh god, Okay,
what's the call?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Hey, Hey, what do we do here? Hey? Guy next
to me? What's my job? You know? Right?
Speaker 4 (26:39):
No, I don't want I don't want this one. I
don't want this one. Do you see who's over here?
Ninety's over here. He's supposed to be on your side.
Why is he on my side?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Right now? Okay? Oh god, fifty what this dude? Man?
I can't blye he's too wiry, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
And then it's like, oh Jesus, if you're the interior
as a guard, you just like, so glad I had
we this morning but I don't know if that's enough.
I mean, I think I have some water weight on me.
I guess I can stop this bull rush by Derek
Harmon or Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Nope, wrong, wrong again.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Oh and by the way, center, by the way, I
have to use my snaphand and still get to Keanum Bennon.
Come on, man, like this isn't fair, Like what are
you guys doing to me? Like I have a job
to do, and my job is to snap the ball?
Then block is number two on the list. No, I
mean it's it becomes a conundrum. It becomes a conundrum,
and that secondary gives you no relief either, because they
(27:29):
can all run with all those guys, you know what
I'm saying. So you know there's no like just oh,
we're just gonna We're just gonna throw the ball deep
and get a guy Burner. He's like, no, I got
Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Junior or Darius Slay and then oh,
by the way, make sure make sure my leg doesn't
get chopped off by jan Thornhill or Deshaun Elliott in
the process. Hello, David and Joku. You know, it's just
(27:52):
there's so many problems that get caused, and then goodness,
I mean sideline to sideline, a gap, a gap to
d gap on each side, you got Patrick Queen and
Peyton Wilson filling the gaps. And then, oh, by the way,
forgot to mention, remember that guy, the yam Kole Hulkom. Yeah,
he's pretty good too. He's healthy, he's back again, he's
in the rotation. So it's like, you get these waves
(28:13):
of defensive pressure at each level and it becomes just
a problem for the teams that we've played, and it's
going to be a problem for the team that we're
going to play on Thursday as they try to figure
it out because guess what, historically they haven't figured out
the offensive line position. So and they're down to their
third quarterback now and Joe Flacco. They traded for a
(28:35):
forty plus year old quarterback mid season, midweek and rolled
that guy out on Sunday because he was better than
the guy that had been there for the last two years.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah he actually sorry three years. Yeah, I thought he
actually looked pretty good. By the way, and we'll get
more to the Bengals in a moment, but I you know,
you brought up something there Max that I don't know,
as it's a little huffer to define probably for fans.
You know, you look at the offense and you see
the multiple ways that they're attacking. Hey, here comes Spencer
(29:09):
Anderson and then here comes a three tight end set.
We saw a four tight end set. Oh hey j
Aalen warrens in. Now gain Well is in. And you know,
we've talked about the offense and I think this is
what we're going to see all year long. I think
it's going to be a matchup specific offense and Mike
Tomlin I think kind of alluded to that. We've been
talking about it. Look, you want to come with a
(29:30):
light box. You want to have a speedy team, good,
we're gonna bludget you, all right. You want to have
a big, heavy guy, good, well, we'll run our guys
out there that can run and we can attack you
the way we want to attack you. Well, it's the
same as you know, as you're running through this, it's occurring.
It's the same thing on this defense. You got a
(29:50):
weakness at left guard. Guess what we're going to exploit
that in the past we might or maybe just in
general and thinking in terms of thinking of this as
a football you might think, okay, well Cam Hayward's going
to destroy their left guard, and that's that's true. That
still is true, but there's now there's different ways you
can attack. Guys say this left tackle is a little
(30:12):
light and you know, a little light in the pants,
not as big and strong and physical.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Well here comes Alex Highsmith.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Okay, well he's a big, physical guy, and you know,
well here comes Nick Herbick. You know, you can match
up on defense, you know, much like you try to
match up on offense. Now, some of that is dictated
by the offense. I understand that, but you can begin
to dictate a little bit too, which is really kind
of a cool position for a defense to be in.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Oh, it absolutely is.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And you know, one of the few t's that really
still plays at three to four base when you give
them the opportunity to. I mean, obviously a lot more
for down when you get into eleven personnel. But when
you can dicta it's like pick your poison? Do I
really do? I really want to take quote unquote Keanu
Benton out just for the sake of sub and getting
(31:00):
you know that that nickel which happens to be Jalen Ramsey. Uh,
you know what I'm saying. It was like and he
had two sacks last week. You know what I'm saying,
like like, oh yeah, we're gonna kill her with Nickel.
It's like, Jalen Ramsey had two sacks from the from
the slot position.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It's like, do you really want that problem?
Speaker 4 (31:16):
If you're really trying to get rid of the big
bass personnel, you know, it's like trade one headache for another.
I mean, I think that's a prime example of of
what you were saying is, you know, defense, we we
can match up with a lot of folks. We can
match up with them, and that's what that's what's gonna
continue to be the channels. Now, I will say this,
the team we're going up against, this is why you
(31:37):
built this defense, absolutely right, This is this is the
This is why you go and you trade for Jalen Ramsey.
This is why you went and got Darius Slay and
Brandon Eckles in free agency. It was for this moment
right here, this moment right here, Jamar Chase and the
T Higgins signing was the reason why you went and
you stocked up on defensive backs.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yep, absolutely, and one hundred percent to see it.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yeah, we're gonna see it on full display.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yep, one hundred percent correct. And you know that ability
to dictate devent defensively and it's a little different dictation
right you're you're trying to dictate. Okay, third and eight,
we're forcing you into a certain personnel grouping and this
Doer's defense has you know early on, Uh, look, you
know the the competition is not going to get any easier.
(32:27):
So you know, you know, we understand that there are
challenges ahead, but the ability to bring multiple players and
not only that, but you know, feel good about Okay,
so you know we we've got a little lighter group
out there, but you know, you want heavy personnel. Doesn't matter,
like you know, our speed will overcome that or our
(32:50):
guys up front of slow guys up enough. I just
think there's it's really an intriguing defense right now. And
again we'll see you know, critics, you're gonna point to
him and say, haven't played anybody and all that stuff.
I understand all that stuff. We can only judge them
by who they've played, right and by and by who
they played.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
What's that I was just saying, like for the for
the pund It's like I hear your words, I would
say that, yeah, right, So we still have not touched
on the defensive heroes.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
We will and we're gonna get through the power rankings,
the new power rankings.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
That are out.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Uh, Steelers move up a little bit? Is it enough?
We'll let you know still more to come when we
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(33:46):
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Speaker 1 (34:12):
This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward store.
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Speaker 2 (34:33):
And thanks for being with us. A few more minutes
before we get to the top of the hour, and
we have got to dig into some of the defensive
stars of the game. You've mentioned a couple times. How
about two sacks for Jalen Ramsey And by the way,
by the way, another another big picture item. You know,
people were saying, how come the Steelers aren't plitzeymore and
(34:55):
the sack totals were down last year. You know, I'm
just guessing from the nobody. Nobody has told me this, nobody.
I'm just guessing that they didn't feel comfortable enough with
their personnel in the back end, largely the cornerback position,
because you had Mincoln, you had Elliott out there, you
had Joey Porter Junior on the other side. Didn't feel
comfortable enough to really bring the heat. You didn't have
(35:17):
those guys you could go play man coverage with. And
they did talk about this, but they didn't connect the
two dots that I'm connecting. They we're not gonna throw
anybody under the bus, but it feels like to me
that they trust now that they've got the back end handled.
For the most part, players are gonna happen. I understand that,
but they can blitz and there now all of a sudden,
they're blitzing at one of the highest percentages in the NFL,
(35:40):
and they're getting home. Deshaun Elliott's got a sack. Jalen
Ramsey had two sacks in this game, Max two sacks.
Patrick Queen is blitzing. He's got a sack. Peyton Wilson's
got a sack. We're back to because of the makeup
of this defense being seeing the Steelers be able to
be more aggressive because they're more comfortable with their personnel.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
I would completely agree, you know, and this is this
is what when you have guys who can hold up
on the backside, that's why you can be more aggressive
and dedicate more guys because now there's not as many
gaps or holes to cover, and you feel like guys
have the foot speed to catch up in those situations.
And I think that's what everybody. I think everybody on
(36:26):
the starting defense except Darius Slay and Joey Porter Junior
have a sack.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
That's incredible, I believe.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
And then like you said, then you talk about, you know,
your your key reserve guys, the second wave guys also
making a lot of plays as well. But yeah, everybody
but your two corners because you don't, we don't really
run corner fire like that to be to put them
in those situations.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
You know, we'd rather just keep you in man.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
I mean, there's too many good wide receivers to really
dedicate and say that, Okay, we can play zone cloud
against Justin Jefferson, Like now, now, please stay on Justin
Jefferson as much as you can.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, you know, and even for this.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Game, right, you know, we're gonna we're gonna see how
much they can blitz because there's a prime opportunity with
his offensive line and Joe Flacco back there. You want
to put pressure in his face. But like you said,
you have to make sure you cover the underneath checkdown stuff, right,
you got to be able to handle that curl flat
five to eight zone and really affect them so that
you can't allow for those guys to take place.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
But you know, as you look at it right now.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I mean, yeah, Jayalen Ramsey had two sacks in this game,
and he did it from the from nickel blitz and
it was a beautiful thing. I mean the first one,
he hit Dylan Gabriel so hard it's like he didn't
even see him, like he was still in stride and
he knocked the wind out of himself because he hit
him so flush, and Dylan Gabriel had no idea what
(37:55):
was coming. It came from his right side, the front
side of most offenses ends up being the back side
for left handed quarterback. And there was there was not
there was not a prayer that Dylan Gabriel was gonna
get out of that. And he just absolutely got leveled
on the first one and then the second one, beautiful
chase down pursuit, forcing him out of the pocket and
just being relentless and taking him down. But Jalen Ramsey,
(38:17):
I mean, everything you could have wanted and more and
giving up what seventh round pick, I think that's all
we gave up was a seventh and then there was
like a pick swap and we got two players for one.
They got Minka, we got we got Jalen and John
U Smith, Like, just think about what that Hall has done,
(38:39):
like a week before training camp.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
It's amazing, Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I mean, you know he was described in a preseason
get together by Andy Widel, assistant general manager, as a
future Hall of Famer, and you stop and you think, yeah,
that's what he is, you know. I mean, this guy's
he's just really really good man, really good. Good to
(39:07):
have him. I thought he played a terrific game. You
mentioned herbig. I mean, my goodness, gracious, he has just
been an absolutely dominating force on this when he's been
out there, you know, missed a game or too early, right,
and then it's just been he's just been incredible, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I mean every time you try and think of what
could possibly he could possibly do next, he does it.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Right.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
You're like, man, Okay, we know there's gonna be a
lull at some point because he's not a starter. He's
not the ideal size, he's not what you would picture.
He's not they all get off the bus, team, you know,
when you're looking like when a team gets off the bus, like,
oh god, that that like a squad. He's not the
guy you pick out right, But when he gets on
(40:05):
that field. I mean, I don't know what it is
about Polynesians and playing for the Steelers, right, it's just
a Gecko and Hyde mentality. But man, I mean because
I look at like you know, with Troy the same way,
just quiet, but will literally rip your head off and
then sit it next to you while he eats like
a bulleteerio you.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Like that's the mentality that Nick Herbert plays with. And
it's just relentless, like you don't get a chance to
come up for air and breathe unless he's dropping into coverage,
which they don't do that often News Slash right.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
But man, he just he presents such a problem. He
could rush from both sides. That's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Like that's now guys have gotten so specialized and like
you know, you know, TJ is like, hey, I rush
from the left end position, which is the offensive right side.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
That's what I do this when I specialize that.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
Now, obviously we've made a move more over the last
number of years just because versatility of team's just running
away from you.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
But he still primarily plays from that side.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Alex Highsmith right, he plays the right end position, sorry,
which is over the offensive left and that's his cup
of tea. That's what he does best and that's where
he's going to be.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Right. But it's a rare thing.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
When you got a guy who can rotate in and
play at those multiple positions. And then when they get
in the three outside linebacker, you know, you don't care
who goes in at the de tackle position because you
have so many other opportunities for success with some of
the twist games, guys there inside will get outside and
vice versa. And I think that's what creates such pressure
(41:45):
problems with Nick Herbt because you can't pinpoint where he's
going to be in those packages and you're just like, Okay,
I think he's going to come from here, but no, no, no,
he can come from there. Why is he looping all
the way around. That's the mark of a good defense. Well,
you can't predict where guys are going to be. Their
nut's stationary, and that's what causes an offensive lineman. I know,
especially for me, that would cause me a lot of
(42:07):
headaches and issues trying to figure out where do I
need to be or where's this call going to come from?
Because you know where I think I'm isoed on the side.
Now I've got to jump in the frame. Guess what,
Now another guy comes free off the edge. Like the defense,
the variability that Ta is calling these plays now and
the comfort that he has with all these pieces makes
(42:28):
for a lot of problems. You know, people were, oh,
try to get rid of Ta, and oh, I was like,
now that he's got the pieces, like it's it's honestly,
it's like playing on a chessboard.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
With three queens essentially, like come on, like, like kid,
you really you can't.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
Win when you have three queens on the board, Like
like just kiss, kiss your butt goodbye, you know what
I'm saying, Like it's over with. And that's what it
feels like at times when he's dialing stuff up now.
Early in the season, obviously they gave up a lot
of pois, they gave up a lot of rushes and
and you know, it was it was tough sledding, but
that was getting the newness of everybody playing together.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Because remember in the preseason, a lot of those.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Guys sat like and then Jalen Rams was like pissed
he got one series all preseason he was he was
trying to get back in the Carolina game after he'd
already had like two out of the five plays of
that drive he made. He still wanted to get back
in there and play more like that's what you get,
and you're getting an NFL Top one hundred player. By
the way, in Jalen Ramsey, you're not kidding. And he
(43:28):
was like in the sixties, So it wasn't even like
he was like at the fringe.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
You know.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
This wasn't like the ninety seventh very subjective when you
get that last you know, kind of top ten, whether
they like you or not. No, he was firmly planted
in the middle of this, you know, top one hundred.
So to pair that type of guy with the Tanasi
and the skill of the other guys on this team,
oh sickening, sicketing for the opponent and joyous. If you're
(43:55):
if you're a Black and Gold fan, you know what
I'm saying, right, I know what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
For sure, we are scratching the surface on the guys
that have excelled. We need to get around the NFL.
With a look at the latest power rankings, we still
have to look forward to the Cincinnati Bengals game coming
up on Thursday night. Quick turnaround, much much more still
to come in the Locker Room as we continue, and
of course we want to let you know that in
(44:21):
the Locker Room is presented by your neighborhood Forge Store
as well as the Steelers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio,
and it is a part of the Steelers Audio Network
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