September 8, 2025 • 42 mins
Max and Rob rejoice as the Steelers are officially 1-0 to start the season, the duo share their takeaways.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And thank you very much for being with us inside
the locker room alongside Max Starks, well, not really alongside,
considering he's what two thousand miles away, maybe three thousand
miles away. Anyway, we are here, we're together, and we're
we're ready to go inside the locker room.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Max.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Where are you and you've had a whale of a
travel weekend?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, I am about I'm about twenty miles from the house,
fifteen fifteen miles from the house, so I am getting
closer to home, which is nice considering I started this
journey on Friday and it has it has taken me
to parts unknown at times.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
But uh, you know, this is what we do in season.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
This is this is the journey literally and the sacrifice
that you that you make, you know, to get to
where you're going.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
So by any means necessary.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Get the job done and it's been adventurous, it's been
of interest, to say the least, ginger.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know, I'm I'm reminded of the because Max is
a big fan of ancient history.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Actually, so my would kind of little bit of a
little bit of the.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Nerd streak going, but a little really kind of reminds
me of you know, Odysseus, right the Odyssey. You know,
you've been very close to where you need to get,
but you keep getting blown off course. So you know,
you were in Pittsburgh calling the pit game, trying to
(02:10):
get to where was our game yesterday? Oh gosh, New
York against the Jests New Jersey, New Jerseysey and had
to go planes, trains and automobiles and get there. What
the first thing in the morning.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Yeah, nine thirty am. I got to this. I got
the met Life Stadium. That's right, because I went the
most direct way possible I went. I went to Raleigh.
I went to Raleigh to get to New York, and.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Then from there I got diverted there because the bad weather.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
That was in like the whole entire Atlantic seaboard, it
felt like.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
So they were like, we're gonna divert you from going
to Charlotte, We're going to fly you into Raleigh and
you should get there earlier to then leave to only
sit in Raleigh for about three hours, and then they
canceled it to the next day or pushed it back,
delayed it till the next day. And by that point
(03:09):
I was like, I can't risk like not making it
there right. So so on the phone my boss BA
again and it was like, hey, you know the only
way to make this.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
To guarantee it. I was like, I know, I know
how long. I was like, all right, let me.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Go get a red book on how long was it?
Speaker 5 (03:30):
So the drive.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Itself was at about four hundred and sixty something miles
almost forty seven miles, so it was about seven and
a half hours straight. But doing that at ten thirty
pm after the day that I.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Had it, definitely it was definitely a little bit longer.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I mean, you stopped right, had you rented the car
in Pittsburgh get your own, you'd have been in New
Jersey vibe eleven o'clock at.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Night exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It would It would have made life a lot easier
and I wouldn't have had to drive through the storm
the entire way there. So but hey, we do that,
and then of course we have an exciting, thrilling game. Yes,
that goes a little bit longer than anticipated.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
And there's no way I was going to make my flight.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So I missed my flight out of Newark that would
have been a direct back home to Phoenix, to then be.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Redirected on a flight out of JFK.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Which got me to Indy, which then had to lay
over for six and a half hours, and then fly
from Indy to Phoenix, which is where I'm at now.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Wow. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Meanwhile I flew on the team charter there and back. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Yeah, yeah, just quick, little quick up and down. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
We actually sat in the you know, the weather was
bats We sat in the rundown and we sat on
the runway for a while, and then all of a
sudden they're like, all right, put your seatbelts on, we're
out of here. And arrived and it was it was
a wonderful weekend. Great to see, you know, just just
for fans out there.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So a lot of a lot of very.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Interesting things happen when you travel, Like you get a
police escort, so all the roads are stopped and and frankly,
I don't know if I'm ever really going to be happy.
I think I mentioned this on radio show. I don't
think I'm ever really going to be happy unless that's
all the time, right, Like, every time I get in
a car, just get a police escort to wherever I'm going.
It's pretty wonderful. Man, You're you're zooming around and then
(05:40):
so that's but then, you know, the two things that
I love about the road are and two of the
things that I love about the road Steelers Nation just
showing up everywhere. It took over a bar where we
did a show from on uh on Saturday night, had
Alan Fanic as a guest. That was phenomenal. Uh, he's
so good and you know, what a great player. I've
(06:00):
still mystified as to how he was not a first
ballot Hall of Famer. Why he had to wait one
second longer than need be to get in the Hall
of Fame is beyond me. But he's in the Hall
of Fame obviously, now, you know. And then you you
go to the lobby and you're driving through the crowd
at MetLife Stadium and there's like a huge percentage of
Steelers fans, and then of course, you know, there's always
(06:24):
the opposing fans uh signaling, and I guess this is
some some level of obeisance signaling sometimes with both hands
their their knowledge that the Steelers are number one as
the buses roll by now using the index finger, though
max is kind of unusual. That's not the finger they're
using when they're indicating that we're number one.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
But it's just it's it's Italian.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So you know, what, do we have eight or nine
away games last year, and so now I'm at ten
and you know, you know, and then the preseason game,
so I'm probably about fourteen or fifteen.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And it makes me laugh every time.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I hope I laugh for thex X amount of years
when I see the double digit salute to the to
the Steelers buzz going by, because it cracks me up,
and it's just, uh, it's just fans being fans.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
Man. Yeah, no, it's fans being fans. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I was saying that that's Italian sign language. French is
the pinky, Okay, we won't talk about the thumb under
the chin. There's there's a lot of different ways that
they like to communicate. I'm not well versed in in
all the sign language, you know, hand gestures, but I've got,
I've got, I've gotten, I've gotten that much so far,
(07:41):
you know, But I think you're right. I mean, it
is fun, you know because the the incensed nature.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
You can't spell fan, so you can't spell fanatic without
without using fan.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You yeah, so you so you you need that further,
You need that that type of following, you know, to
make the sport relevant and to make it the great
sport that it is to us.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And I love.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Fandom because that means they care, they follow, they want
to understand, they believe, and and what how else are
you going to get through things unless you have people
who believe in you. And you know, it's a process
with each team, and you know, you find reasons to
love or fall out of love with with with the player.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Or a team all the time.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
But I have just I've enjoyed this game from both
sides of it now being up in the booth and
getting a different perspective, you know, it's It's one of
the things I look at King Heer and and I'm
just I'm proud. I'm proud of the journey, and I'm
proud of the place that we're at with this because
(08:55):
it was it was a It was a fun day yesterday.
It was an awesome of there watching the Steelers team
do what they do. And this is not This is
not Steelers of the last couple of years. This is
Steelers of yesteryear. And I just hope they continue to
grow and continue to clean up things and continue to become,
(09:16):
you know, a team. They've only been a team for
ten days officially, you know, I've twelves, so you.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Know, they still have some going to do.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
They still have an opportunity and playing with the full
complement of guys, this is the first time you've.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Seen all quote unquote twenty five I'm using.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Starters that played together offense, defense, and your three main specialists.
This is all all that consortium of first line, front
line responders. This is the first opportunity and there's a
lot to work on.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
But there's a lot to be happy about to.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, and let's start with for me number one to
be happy about. You know, I think is as fans
looked at this team, you know, the questions and you
could understand them, you know. So I'll just go down
the ones that I that I think most fans had,
you know, probably at the bottom of the list is
(10:16):
you know, hey, you don't have Mincoa. Now, how's the
safety position going to look? Maybe Number two was you're
moving Broderc Jones to left tackle, you got Troy Foutino
at right tackle. How's the offensive line going to look?
Number two, I think on the worry list for a
lot of fans would be how's the defensive line going
to hold up against the run? Because the last thing
(10:38):
we saw Baltimore was running for two to seventy on them.
And I think a lot of fans are worried about
Aaron Rodgers right like is a quarterback play going to
be an upgrade? And my feeling all along, First of all,
we've talked a little bit about this. I'm just I
still remain mystified that pretty much nobody.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I saw has picked the Steelers to go to the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
A ten and seventeen year ago. Who went to the
playoffs and who I think is better? Pretty much across
the board. I guess you could probably throw no Nagy
in There is another concern, right so second receiver. I mean,
there's lots of little things that add up to concerns
for the fans. But if Aaron Rodgers was your number
one concern man. What he did on Sunday should alleviate
(11:21):
some of those concerns. You know, the opening drive touchdown
they had zero last year, zero, not one. They've had
ten in the last six years. That is by far
the fewest in the NFL over the last six years.
Aaron Rodgers comes in, first drive, touchdown, four touchdown, passes,
(11:42):
no interceptions. You know, he's got the lowest interception rate
in NFL history, So he still knows how to take
care of the ball. Showed he still knows how to
make plays. Drew the Jets off side. It didn't wind
up being as crucial as it could have been, but
just that ability to keep a drive alive or not.
He didn't draw him off so that he caught him
with twelve men in the field. I beg your pardon,
(12:04):
but just those veterans, savvy times that you bring to
the table, I mean, there's just max. I think your
number one cause for celebration has to be how good
Aaron Rodgers looked.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
I agree. I agree.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It was the first time since twenty twenty that we
had a quarterback through for four touchdowns in the game.
Ben Roethlisberger did at week eighteen, and I think no, sorry,
not Week eighteen, it was Week eight.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Sorry, was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
But it was nice to see the operation of the huddle,
of switching things up, of getting into the right place,
and then seeing them go through and look professional in
their approach. And I give a lot of credit to
Aaron for studying, being ready and doing all those things.
(13:01):
But I also got to give a tip of the
cap to Arthur Smith for creating a game plan that
also mirrored how you wanted to use your quarterback. It
was it was nice to see Aaron those on some
of those rollout plays and not just dropping straight back.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Some of the quick game that was there.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
A lot of things that were signaled in had been
working on or approved.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Along the way led to that success as well.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And I think Tim Hasselbeck did a breakdown that Aaron
threw three of his four touchdowns outside the pocket, like
on a rollout, and only one in the pocket. So
right there, that's a different that maybe we didn't have
a year ago, and no, definitely not two years ago.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
We didn't have that type of style.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
So just seeing that versatility and willingness I think is
also another reason to be excited about that. You have
OC and quarterback working together on this, and it is
truly an offense that is trying to highlight all the
skill sets of the team, not just one group.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, you know, I think that you know, Arthur Smith
had Derrick Henry in Tennessee and he didn't have a
quarterback in Atlanta, And so there is I think, you know,
sort of of a judgment of what kind of an
offensive coordinator is. He's his zone, you know, a zone
(14:36):
running attack kind of coordinator. But you know, I don't
I don't think he can be pigeonholed to your point, Max,
which is I think one of the points you were making. Look,
you know this judents went four and two with Justin
Fields as a starter last year. That's one kind of offense.
Then you have Russell Wilson come in. What does Russell
Wilson want to do?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Well?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
He doesn't love throwing them all over the middle of
the field, right, So he likes to go and use
the flats and the outside of the field, and he
loves to throw the deep ball. So what is what
does your offensive coordinator do?
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
He tailor's his approach to that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Now you have Aaron Rodgers come in, and you know,
Arthur Smith, who's filled with great quotes, is a is
a like quietly funny dude said, we did not bring
in DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers to run the wishbone.
So you know, I don't know if you know. They
want to be able to run the football. That is
(15:31):
their stated objective, and I'm sure they're going to try
to run the football more effectively than they did yesterday.
But he is tailoring. Arthur Smith is tailoring, you know,
his offenses to his team's strength. Sometimes that's the quarterback strength,
sometimes that's just general strengths of the team. That to
me is really outstanding coaching. And you know, look from
(15:54):
the moment that Arthur Smith took over last year, the
team looked more organized offensively or professional offensively. And you know,
just the subtlety of as you mentioned that might get
lost to some fans, the subtlety of his adjustments to
his talent.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I think we saw that yesterday.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I'm glad you brought that up because I think that
was certainly a part of the team's success.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Oh yeah, No, I think it's very important because how
that relationship goes is going to be as far as
this offense can evolve and can morph and can mold
itself into what it's personnel's truly best attributes are.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
And that's how you really want to see.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
And then I don't want to say that there's a
certain level of dysfunction when it doesn't work well or
you don't see that comparison. But there's a lot of
different tributing factors on who is to blame when things
don't go right. A lot of people want to blame
the coordinator. First goes to the quarterback, then it goes
(17:02):
to every arsenew member, and when it goes right, it's
because all of those things. Everybody has a mutual appreciation
respect for each other. Right, quarterback respects the coordinator. Coordinator
respects the quarterback. So now, and it's a symbiotic relationship
(17:24):
when things go right. And that's what you know. I've
learned over my years in Pittsburgh. I had three different coordinators.
I was in Pittsburgh and I went to I went
I went to San Diego. Technically that was one of
the same nators from my first three in Pittsburgh. And
Kid Wizenheim, right, but he had changed his philosophy from
(17:47):
his time in Arizona. So that was an adjustment to him.
And I went to Bruce arians offense down in Arizona. Uh,
you know, I went to the offense and say, with
the Rams, it's funny that I'm saying some of these
names because they're no longer in those cities. Then San
(18:10):
Diego Church, then Saintless Rams.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Uh. But I digress. And so I've seen a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
So when things do work, it's because all those things
are present. There's respect, there's a compromise, there's an ability
to communicate with everybody and find the best.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
When it doesn't work, ego is involved.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Ego from a coordinator saying you just need to run
what I say, Ego from.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
You know, other positions that are like this is a
tailor for me.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I don't like it. And that's when it doesn't quite
work as well. That's when you get the stalls. That's
when you get the steymying. And it doesn't happen often.
I mean, I think now in today's league, we've seen
where coaches are a lot more amenable to playing to
the skill set and the strengths of their players to
(19:07):
get the most out of them. But there's still a
couple of stuff ones that I have this square peg there.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
It can only go in this round hole. It's like
it does it fit?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Like this is not who we are getting a square
peg round hole, you know.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
It's like get in the round holes our peg.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
You know, it's like all these and and that's something
that I'm happy to see.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
And you don't see that. You see that.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You see that mutual respect, You see that compromise, you
see that ability to blend and mesh and Kurt they
over for the betterment of the entire team and their
skill sets.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Max Starks, I'm Rob King. Alvaro Martin uh is going
to be joining us the play by play for the
Steelers on the Spanish speaking broadcasts. We're going to continue
to break down and opening day victory for the Steelers
over the Jets when we continue inside the locker Room
here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
This is in the Locker.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Room with Kenyon Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by
your neighborhood Forward Store. The F one point fifty is
the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers
Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at the
Steelers pro shop at shop dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Com and welcome back inside the Locker Room with Max
starks On rob King Steelers winning in the opener thirty
four to thirty two against the New York Jets.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Supposed to be the lowest scoring game of the week
wind up being I think maybe the second highest after
the Sunday night game last night.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Which got a little crazy, got a little crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We'll get our AFC recap coming up in just a
little bit, Max, I wanted to talk about another unit,
and I wanted to tie that in with our Steelers
Drive of the game, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers, and that drive, to me was capped off
(21:17):
by the touchdown pass from eight eighteen yards from Rogers
to Austin.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I don't know whether that should be our drive of the.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Game or the opening drive should be the drive of
the game, the one that gave the Steelers a lead
thirty one to twenty six, or the opening drive of
the game because that didn't happen. What's your choice, Max.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think the opening drive is more significant, right because.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
At stop right there, stop right stop, truck stop right there.
The Steelers drive of the game is presented by your
neighborhood Fords. So let me do this again. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and that drive, Max, I think, I think we would
both agree obviously, is the opening drive of the game.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yes, yes, Rob, it is.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
I don't know where your clairvoyants came from, but that
was amazing that you read my mind and that we
came to that together.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
That is awesome, and you know what it underscores to me.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, I really felt like and again, we've talked
about this right the ten and seventeen a year ago,
and where I think that the Steelers are better, and
I think it's in a lot of spaces, a lot
of places. One of them is a quarterback position. We
talked a little bit about Aaron Rodgers and we will
be discussing him, i'm sure throughout the course of the week.
But the other one was, you know, another one on
(22:38):
offense was the receiving corps. You know, what are we
going to do this? They need a number two receiver
and you know the Steelers were I think, you know,
there was so much reporting about about how they were
in the market for a receiver and reportedly you know,
and I'm Brandon Aiyuk and it made an offer and
other things that you know. There's so there was a
(23:00):
lot of smoke there, and so I'm sure there was
some fire there. I don't think that's the case this year.
I don't think they're actively looking. Look, they're actively looking
to upgrade any part of their roster. But when you
look at the receiving group, to me, okay, DK metcalf, Look, man,
I like George Pickens's talent, but that's an upgrade. You
(23:20):
got a two time pro bowler. That is an upgrade
as your number one receiver. Calvin Austin is a guy
who made a sizable step forward last year. Roman Wilson
is the guy who we did not see. He wasn't
targeted yesterday, but he's a guy that we, you know,
have not seen in the past. John new Smith he
had five receptions last year. Last yesterday and on they
(23:43):
went for fifteen yards. But you know he's going to
be a guy who's targeted a lot. Then you have
friar moves. We didn't see Darnell Washington targeted, and then
we saw Ben Scarnick get a touchdown. So you know,
look at the touchdown receptions. You know, you get John
Smith with a touchdown, you get Calvin Austin with a touchdown,
(24:03):
you get Jalen Warren on a touchdown, and the John
new Smith was was was a jet sweep that is
technically a touchdown pass. And on that opening drive you
get Ben skeronic on a touchdown. Uh, there are there
are a lot of players here that the Steelers are
are going to be maneuvering around, and probably a lot
of it's going to be matchup based. But that opening
(24:26):
drive brought to you by the Neighborhood Forts or the
F one fifties official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. By
the way, I think that that was underscore right. Who
had Ben Skeronick scoring the first touchdown of the season
for the Steelers? Probably not many?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Was that on my being go card I can tell
you that much. I know you've been. That was just
a beautiful drag thrown to him.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I mean I didn't even have John I didn't even
think John new Smith was sport touchdown the first game
of the season.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
So the fact that Aaron could.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Utilize all these different weapons and not feel awkward and
not feel forced in those situations.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
I thought it was phenomenal. And Dk Metcalf was as advertised.
He could take it.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
He could take a ten yard catch and turn it
into a twenty three yard game. And his ability to
maneuver to run, I mean when he starts, when he had,
when he bursts, after he comes out of a cut,
it's a thing of beauty to watch him go to
work and.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Watching all of the.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Receivers and the different personnel groupings that we had running
in and out of there, it was just was was fantastic. Nostily,
it was fantastic to watch. This was not your Steelers
of the last couple of years. This was an explosive team.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Now.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
The one thing that you know, I was all prized
about Kenneth Gainwell and Jalen Warre and how they worked
out of the backs well. I thought both of them
look the missing game, ching game. But you know, we'll
get to the run game. The run game is going
to come. That's a mession, a fit and the field
(26:20):
thing that you.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Have to work on.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
But as far as the variability and the ability to
switch out of bad plays and get to better plays
IQ of the quarterback position and his comfortability with a
lot of these different weapons was a breath of fresh
WatchGuard during this game.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
And you know, look, I'm going to run this down
briefly for fans. Just got an underscore what Max is saying.
So DK Metcalf, he had a thirty one yard reception,
but I believe that was a catch and run for
receptions eighty three yards twenty point eight yards per reception.
Calvin Austin Matt Williamson provides us to the stat packet.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
With his research every week. That's such a great job.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
You know, Calvin Austin was one of the better deep
threats in the NFL last year in terms of how
far the ball traveled in the air. You know they
ran deep patterns with him. Well, he has four catches
for seventy yards, a thirty yarder, a touchdown. So you
know there's a couple of guys on the outside. And
then you know your two running backs, as Max mentioned,
(27:30):
gain Well and Jalen Warren, they combine for five receptions. Right,
So are you going to tell me that the running
backs of the Steiers are gonna have eighty five receptions
between them at five a game over seventeen games. That's
not bad production. You look at Ben's kronik, he had
a reception. John new Smith he had five catches yesterday
out of the tight end spot. Pat Fryarmouth, who is
(27:53):
as consistent as they come, he had three, including a
couple of big ones to keep drives alive. So there
are a lot of different weapons that the studers can
utilize in the passing game. And I think that you
know when you talk about how teams are going to
be defended. So for example, as we look forward to
(28:14):
the Seattle game, right, everyone's talking about the run. Well, Seattle,
this is why you get. You didn't get your three
headed monster cornerback to go into Jets. Frankly, they have
Garrett Wilson, That's what they have. But next week, this
coming week, now you've got a couple of guys. You
have Jackson Smith and Jigbit and you have Cooper Cup. Right,
those are guys that you know you you want to
(28:36):
have your corners, and what you want to do as
a defensive team is not run out of good guys
that can cover their good guys. Basically, to simplify it,
and on offense. You want to have you want to
be able to have mismatches, and I don't think teams
are going to have Let's say you go against teams
that have two or three corners. Okay, so they're gonna
(28:59):
you know, they're going to try to take your receivers
out of it. Well, you're also going to have guys
that can run with your tight ends outside linebackers that
can cover your your running back coming out of the backfield.
Defenses aren't going to have everybody to cover everybody. And
I think that what we're going to see this is
just a guest. Early on, we are going to see
(29:19):
DK Metcalf get his share of targets every week. We
are going to see probably John new Smith get and
Pat Fryarmouth get. You know, maybe it's three to five
targets to set or three to five receptions every week.
They're going to be steady. The other guys I think
are going to be volatile. We're going to see based
on matchups. Max talked about how good Arthur Smith is
(29:40):
as a game planner, that we are going to see
matchups throughout the course of the year, and that's going
to dictate which guy for the Steelers is going to
emerge from that group of Calvin Austin and the running
backs and Roman Wilson, you know, Ben Scarnic, Scotty Miller
might have some games where he makes some catches. So
I think all those things are going to be you know,
(30:02):
we haven't seen we haven't seen the full breadth of
what's going to happen with that receiving group. But Frankly
and Max and I talked about this before the year.
I'm not concerned. I'm not worried about this number two
receivers that a lot of fan seemed to think the
Steelers need. I think this is a deeper and better
(30:23):
receiving core than it was a year ago.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
I'm with you.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I think the versatility of the variety gives us the
ability to package for each game and create what you
want to Yes, would it be love? Would it be
awesome to have just boom two statue esque six foot
(30:50):
five two and twenty.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Pounds receivers that can run and jump all over the place. Yes?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Absolutely. If there's a Randy Moss, there's if there is
Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald and.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
You know all these Tarrell Owens.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
You know, all these all these amazing guys or in
current day you know jmar Chase.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Justin Jefferson T. Higgins.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Yeah, if I could get two of those guys, absolutely right.
I'm not saying I would, But I'm also saying that
not a necessity to be successful having those type of guys.
And we're seeing that yesterday. As long as you have
good receivers mixed in with the great receiver, you can
(31:38):
do a lot of things. And we saw that yesterday.
I think they that yes was a prime ex amble.
Have it to me and the fact that when you
have that verse till guess what, you don't see a
team and that's hop heavy on one side of the ball.
And then you can't go get other guys because imagine
(31:59):
if we went and paid a second receiver, guess what,
we wouldn't have Rob, we wouldn't have Jaalie Ramsey, right,
we wouldn't have.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
A John Smith right now?
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Right? Who I think is your number two receiver. I
think Johnny is your number two receiver. By the way, no,
I agree, Well, here's your thing.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I think the one the lone caveat I would say
about this, Max is and I think this was a
concern for last year too, when George Pickens did get
hurt and have to miss some time that that was
an issue. You know, as long as DK Metcalf can
stay healthy, now, I think they can get along better
(32:36):
than they could last year because I do think Johnny
Smith brings an element that they did not.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Have last year.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think Aaron Rodgers brings an element that they did
not have last year. So I do think they're better
equipped to deal with that. But frankly, you could say
that about most teams right most teams that don't have
both Jamar Chase and t Higgins, and a lot of
teams do not have two top flight receivers. If you
don't have two top flight receivers, you're going to be
(33:06):
It's going to be a problem when somebody gets hurt.
It's going to be a problem when somebody gets hurt
at the quarterback position. It's going to be a problem
when your number one corner goes down with an injury.
These are not issues that are unique to the Steelers,
so that that's the only caveat I would throw out there.
But I think a lot of other teams can say
the same thing.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
A lot of the teams can say it.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
And also just because you have Jamar Chas and Tz
doesn't mean you make the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
No, right, doesn't mean you beat the Browns. That was close.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Exactly, I mean that was worlds.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
The Cincinnati Bengals would have would have lost that game,
and the Cincinnti Bengals, you know, finally broke the curse
of losing like opening weekend games.
Speaker 5 (33:49):
Opening Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, they they they've they've last year. Yeah, they've needed to,
They've needed to, uh to break that trend. And again,
you know, fans are out there wanting style points. You
would rather be right now the Pittsburgh Steelers or the
Cincinnati Bengals or the Buffalo Bills than you would to
be the Baltimore Ravens or the Cleveland Browns or the
(34:13):
New York Jets.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Want to know is the most important part.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We have much more to get to here inside the
locker row ven AFC recap, AFC North recap that we're
going to get to you. Actually it's an AFC recap,
so we'll get to that. Alvaro Martin, the great play
by play man on the Steelers Spanish speaking broadcast, should
be joining us as well. When we continue inside the
locker Room with King and Starks, presented by our neighborhood
(34:38):
Ford Store.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
This is in the locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The
F one point fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
And by Steelers Pro Shot.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Well, we thank you very much for being with us
inside the locker room as we run through a very
entertaining game and Max, that was a super entertaining game.
Just a fun game for the opener. We'd be a
little less exuberant had this do. That's not pulled it out,
but a fun, fun opening day victory at MetLife Stadium.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We were treated to a lot of points, a lot
of intensity and focus and opportune plays.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
It wasn't perfect.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I don't think any team playing Week one is gonna
go like, yeah, man picked up right where we left off.
This was such an easy, breezy game. I mean, I
don't even know why we play anymore. Just go and
give us a super Bowl, right, I don't think anybody
said that, right. I mean, there's no finished product out there,
but the teams that can pull it together enough in
(36:02):
the right moments can succeed. And it was far from perfect.
It was far from everything that we wanted it to be.
And I will say this, the league has improved. There
was a lot of lot of good games to watch
yesterday ours, especially like you said, we went from lowest
(36:25):
scoring to second highest scoring thus far.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
And this weekend and the.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Known suspects with all these bells and whistles and all
this youthful exuberance and first round draft picks that are
starting and all this hoopla, and the Steelers just came out,
and the Steelers just came out and played.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
They played team ball.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
It wasn't great on the defensive side, but it was
opportune on the defensive side. When we needed the moments,
they gave them to us, and offense took advantage of
those special teams had as special.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Play as they normally do.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
And even though we saw these great kickoff returns and
great field position to start for the Jets, once again,
all it takes is one moment to change the entire
landscape of a game and we got that, So all
three phases kicked in and gave us memorable moments. That's
what you want in a football game, and we were
treated to that on the road in MetLife raining all
(37:28):
the way up until the game started and the sun
popped out at the end to say, hey, you know what,
God wants to check out this too. You don't have
to have a hole on the top of your stadium
to get called this team. Guy can always watch it.
All that kind of hoopla.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
All it takes is an opportunity and a belief. And
you saw the Steelers believe that they could win, and
they willed themselves to victory yesterday.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
You know, I think we talked about this last week.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I don't care if this Steelers went three to two, right,
it doesn't matter to me, especially early on in the season. Now, Look,
you want to be building something as the season goes
around comes around. But frankly, Max, you know, like just
in a sort of a global view, like I don't
really even care that much about that until you get
(38:17):
later in the season. You don't want to be the
best team in the league in Week eight. You want
to be the best team in the league heading into
the playoffs. That's when you want to be peaking. We
saw last year this Yelers were not peaking heading into
the playoffs. They looked a lot better when they were
ten and three than they did when they were ten
and seven. So building it the right way and building
(38:37):
throughout the course of the season, but that's all important,
and that's all stuff you want to do because you
want to be able to have the kind of game
that is going to give opponents difficulties and that matches
up well with other team strengths. But frankly, what you
want to do right now is stack wins and it
does not matter how you got them. And this Steelers
(38:57):
improved a one to no. I mean, we're going to
run down some of the pros and cons, but you
know that that's my take early on, Max, just win
the game and worry about the other stuff as you
certainly you practice and you try to get better, but
the biggest thing is just win games.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
Win games and style points don't matter here college football,
they matter, but in the NFL it doesn't. What matters
is brass tacks. Do you have more wins than you
do losses and did you did you? Did you beat
some teams that you knew you needed to beat, that
were in the field, that were in the in the
running of the race.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
That's what matters, and.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
The Steelers did that.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
I feel like this Jets team is going to surprise
a lot of people this year. I agree that group
over there is talented. And I said it yesterday right
after the broadcast, and I'll say it again. The Jets
did not lose that game. The Steelers simply won the game.
That was the difference. Don't mince words about it. That
was a talented team just and Fields put on a show.
(40:02):
They had a great game plan, they executed the game plan,
and they gave us everything that that that we could handle.
And the Wizard of Oz was magical once again.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
And that was the difference in this game. He who
holds the ball last has the best chance of winning.
And that's what happened.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
We saw it.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Heck, we saw that in a Sunday night game right right.
That was a one point victory there, and it came
down to who had the ball last, and so we
chewed up a lot of that time and and and
we had we made we made it count when it
needed to the most. And that's what this game is about.
And that's the beauty of any given Sunday. You don't
(40:43):
know who's going to win a game, and all the
favorites and everything else you can give these numbers and
all this kind of stuff. I get that that's for
that place out west that has a lot of lights
that never go off. But this is a human game,
and humans play it, and the human factor cannot be
quantified all the time.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
So it's a beautiful thing to watch those type of
things happen.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And it's so sweet to be coming on these airwaves
on a victory donut Monday. Justin is new to that,
so I'm sure there's no donuts in the studio right now,
but we will work on that as the season progresses
to make sure that we have it. But it's a
victory donut Monday. And our good colleague and dear and
(41:30):
dear friend, Craig Wolfley would be proud of the way
this team played and he would be so excited to
have seen them win the way that they did yesterday.
So I got to make sure that we talk about
the victory donut Monday.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yes Steve's win thirty four to thirty two. They improved
to want to know? He is Max Starks, I'm Rob King.
Plenty more to come, including a continued breakdown of yesterday's game.
I looked around the AFC as well and what else happened?
Hey never too late to take a peek around see
how the opponents are doing. That's all still the Come
(42:02):
Inside the Locker Room with kingon Starks, presented by our
neighborhood Ford Store here on 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 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 (00:32):
And thank you very much for being with us inside
the locker room alongside Max Starks, well, not really alongside,
considering he's what two thousand miles away, maybe three thousand
miles away. Anyway, we are here, we're together, and we're
we're ready to go inside the locker room.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Max.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Where are you and you've had a whale of a
travel weekend?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, I am about I'm about twenty miles from the house,
fifteen fifteen miles from the house, so I am getting
closer to home, which is nice considering I started this
journey on Friday and it has it has taken me
to parts unknown at times.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
But uh, you know, this is what we do in season.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
This is this is the journey literally and the sacrifice
that you that you make, you know, to get to
where you're going.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
So by any means necessary.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Get the job done and it's been adventurous, it's been
of interest, to say the least, ginger.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know, I'm I'm reminded of the because Max is
a big fan of ancient history.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Actually, so my would kind of little bit of a
little bit of the.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Nerd streak going, but a little really kind of reminds
me of you know, Odysseus, right the Odyssey. You know,
you've been very close to where you need to get,
but you keep getting blown off course. So you know,
you were in Pittsburgh calling the pit game, trying to
(02:10):
get to where was our game yesterday? Oh gosh, New
York against the Jests New Jersey, New Jerseysey and had
to go planes, trains and automobiles and get there. What
the first thing in the morning.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Yeah, nine thirty am. I got to this. I got
the met Life Stadium. That's right, because I went the
most direct way possible I went. I went to Raleigh.
I went to Raleigh to get to New York, and.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Then from there I got diverted there because the bad weather.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
That was in like the whole entire Atlantic seaboard, it
felt like.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
So they were like, we're gonna divert you from going
to Charlotte, We're going to fly you into Raleigh and
you should get there earlier to then leave to only
sit in Raleigh for about three hours, and then they
canceled it to the next day or pushed it back,
delayed it till the next day. And by that point
(03:09):
I was like, I can't risk like not making it
there right. So so on the phone my boss BA
again and it was like, hey, you know the only
way to make this.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
To guarantee it. I was like, I know, I know
how long. I was like, all right, let me.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Go get a red book on how long was it?
Speaker 5 (03:30):
So the drive.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Itself was at about four hundred and sixty something miles
almost forty seven miles, so it was about seven and
a half hours straight. But doing that at ten thirty
pm after the day that I.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Had it, definitely it was definitely a little bit longer.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I mean, you stopped right, had you rented the car
in Pittsburgh get your own, you'd have been in New
Jersey vibe eleven o'clock at.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Night exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It would It would have made life a lot easier
and I wouldn't have had to drive through the storm
the entire way there. So but hey, we do that,
and then of course we have an exciting, thrilling game. Yes,
that goes a little bit longer than anticipated.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
And there's no way I was going to make my flight.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So I missed my flight out of Newark that would
have been a direct back home to Phoenix, to then be.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
Redirected on a flight out of JFK.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Which got me to Indy, which then had to lay
over for six and a half hours, and then fly
from Indy to Phoenix, which is where I'm at now.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Wow. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Meanwhile I flew on the team charter there and back. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Yeah, yeah, just quick, little quick up and down. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
We actually sat in the you know, the weather was
bats We sat in the rundown and we sat on
the runway for a while, and then all of a
sudden they're like, all right, put your seatbelts on, we're
out of here. And arrived and it was it was
a wonderful weekend. Great to see, you know, just just
for fans out there.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So a lot of a lot of very.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Interesting things happen when you travel, Like you get a
police escort, so all the roads are stopped and and frankly,
I don't know if I'm ever really going to be happy.
I think I mentioned this on radio show. I don't
think I'm ever really going to be happy unless that's
all the time, right, Like, every time I get in
a car, just get a police escort to wherever I'm going.
It's pretty wonderful. Man, You're you're zooming around and then
(05:40):
so that's but then, you know, the two things that
I love about the road are and two of the
things that I love about the road Steelers Nation just
showing up everywhere. It took over a bar where we
did a show from on uh on Saturday night, had
Alan Fanic as a guest. That was phenomenal. Uh, he's
so good and you know, what a great player. I've
(06:00):
still mystified as to how he was not a first
ballot Hall of Famer. Why he had to wait one
second longer than need be to get in the Hall
of Fame is beyond me. But he's in the Hall
of Fame obviously, now, you know. And then you you
go to the lobby and you're driving through the crowd
at MetLife Stadium and there's like a huge percentage of
Steelers fans, and then of course, you know, there's always
(06:24):
the opposing fans uh signaling, and I guess this is
some some level of obeisance signaling sometimes with both hands
their their knowledge that the Steelers are number one as
the buses roll by now using the index finger, though
max is kind of unusual. That's not the finger they're
using when they're indicating that we're number one.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
But it's just it's it's Italian.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So you know, what, do we have eight or nine
away games last year, and so now I'm at ten
and you know, you know, and then the preseason game,
so I'm probably about fourteen or fifteen.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And it makes me laugh every time.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I hope I laugh for thex X amount of years
when I see the double digit salute to the to
the Steelers buzz going by, because it cracks me up,
and it's just, uh, it's just fans being fans.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
Man. Yeah, no, it's fans being fans. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I was saying that that's Italian sign language. French is
the pinky, Okay, we won't talk about the thumb under
the chin. There's there's a lot of different ways that
they like to communicate. I'm not well versed in in
all the sign language, you know, hand gestures, but I've got,
I've got, I've gotten, I've gotten that much so far,
(07:41):
you know, But I think you're right. I mean, it
is fun, you know because the the incensed nature.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
You can't spell fan, so you can't spell fanatic without
without using fan.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
You yeah, so you so you you need that further,
You need that that type of following, you know, to
make the sport relevant and to make it the great
sport that it is to us.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And I love.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Fandom because that means they care, they follow, they want
to understand, they believe, and and what how else are
you going to get through things unless you have people
who believe in you. And you know, it's a process
with each team, and you know, you find reasons to
love or fall out of love with with with the player.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Or a team all the time.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
But I have just I've enjoyed this game from both
sides of it now being up in the booth and
getting a different perspective, you know, it's It's one of
the things I look at King Heer and and I'm
just I'm proud. I'm proud of the journey, and I'm
proud of the place that we're at with this because
(08:55):
it was it was a It was a fun day yesterday.
It was an awesome of there watching the Steelers team
do what they do. And this is not This is
not Steelers of the last couple of years. This is
Steelers of yesteryear. And I just hope they continue to
grow and continue to clean up things and continue to become,
(09:16):
you know, a team. They've only been a team for
ten days officially, you know, I've twelves, so you.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Know, they still have some going to do.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
They still have an opportunity and playing with the full
complement of guys, this is the first time you've.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Seen all quote unquote twenty five I'm using.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Starters that played together offense, defense, and your three main specialists.
This is all all that consortium of first line, front
line responders. This is the first opportunity and there's a
lot to work on.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
But there's a lot to be happy about to.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, and let's start with for me number one to
be happy about. You know, I think is as fans
looked at this team, you know, the questions and you
could understand them, you know. So I'll just go down
the ones that I that I think most fans had,
you know, probably at the bottom of the list is
(10:16):
you know, hey, you don't have Mincoa. Now, how's the
safety position going to look? Maybe Number two was you're
moving Broderc Jones to left tackle, you got Troy Foutino
at right tackle. How's the offensive line going to look?
Number two, I think on the worry list for a
lot of fans would be how's the defensive line going
to hold up against the run? Because the last thing
(10:38):
we saw Baltimore was running for two to seventy on them.
And I think a lot of fans are worried about
Aaron Rodgers right like is a quarterback play going to
be an upgrade? And my feeling all along, First of all,
we've talked a little bit about this. I'm just I
still remain mystified that pretty much nobody.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I saw has picked the Steelers to go to the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
A ten and seventeen year ago. Who went to the
playoffs and who I think is better? Pretty much across
the board. I guess you could probably throw no Nagy
in There is another concern, right so second receiver. I mean,
there's lots of little things that add up to concerns
for the fans. But if Aaron Rodgers was your number
one concern man. What he did on Sunday should alleviate
(11:21):
some of those concerns. You know, the opening drive touchdown
they had zero last year, zero, not one. They've had
ten in the last six years. That is by far
the fewest in the NFL over the last six years.
Aaron Rodgers comes in, first drive, touchdown, four touchdown, passes,
(11:42):
no interceptions. You know, he's got the lowest interception rate
in NFL history, So he still knows how to take
care of the ball. Showed he still knows how to
make plays. Drew the Jets off side. It didn't wind
up being as crucial as it could have been, but
just that ability to keep a drive alive or not.
He didn't draw him off so that he caught him
with twelve men in the field. I beg your pardon,
(12:04):
but just those veterans, savvy times that you bring to
the table, I mean, there's just max. I think your
number one cause for celebration has to be how good
Aaron Rodgers looked.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
I agree. I agree.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It was the first time since twenty twenty that we
had a quarterback through for four touchdowns in the game.
Ben Roethlisberger did at week eighteen, and I think no, sorry,
not Week eighteen, it was Week eight.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Sorry, was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
But it was nice to see the operation of the huddle,
of switching things up, of getting into the right place,
and then seeing them go through and look professional in
their approach. And I give a lot of credit to
Aaron for studying, being ready and doing all those things.
(13:01):
But I also got to give a tip of the
cap to Arthur Smith for creating a game plan that
also mirrored how you wanted to use your quarterback. It
was it was nice to see Aaron those on some
of those rollout plays and not just dropping straight back.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Some of the quick game that was there.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
A lot of things that were signaled in had been
working on or approved.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Along the way led to that success as well.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And I think Tim Hasselbeck did a breakdown that Aaron
threw three of his four touchdowns outside the pocket, like
on a rollout, and only one in the pocket. So
right there, that's a different that maybe we didn't have
a year ago, and no, definitely not two years ago.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
We didn't have that type of style.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
So just seeing that versatility and willingness I think is
also another reason to be excited about that. You have
OC and quarterback working together on this, and it is
truly an offense that is trying to highlight all the
skill sets of the team, not just one group.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, you know, I think that you know, Arthur Smith
had Derrick Henry in Tennessee and he didn't have a
quarterback in Atlanta, And so there is I think, you know,
sort of of a judgment of what kind of an
offensive coordinator is. He's his zone, you know, a zone
(14:36):
running attack kind of coordinator. But you know, I don't
I don't think he can be pigeonholed to your point, Max,
which is I think one of the points you were making. Look,
you know this judents went four and two with Justin
Fields as a starter last year. That's one kind of offense.
Then you have Russell Wilson come in. What does Russell
Wilson want to do?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Well?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
He doesn't love throwing them all over the middle of
the field, right, So he likes to go and use
the flats and the outside of the field, and he
loves to throw the deep ball. So what is what
does your offensive coordinator do?
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Well?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
He tailor's his approach to that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Now you have Aaron Rodgers come in, and you know,
Arthur Smith, who's filled with great quotes, is a is
a like quietly funny dude said, we did not bring
in DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers to run the wishbone.
So you know, I don't know if you know. They
want to be able to run the football. That is
(15:31):
their stated objective, and I'm sure they're going to try
to run the football more effectively than they did yesterday.
But he is tailoring. Arthur Smith is tailoring, you know,
his offenses to his team's strength. Sometimes that's the quarterback strength,
sometimes that's just general strengths of the team. That to
me is really outstanding coaching. And you know, look from
(15:54):
the moment that Arthur Smith took over last year, the
team looked more organized offensively or professional offensively. And you know,
just the subtlety of as you mentioned that might get
lost to some fans, the subtlety of his adjustments to
his talent.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I think we saw that yesterday.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I'm glad you brought that up because I think that
was certainly a part of the team's success.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Oh yeah, No, I think it's very important because how
that relationship goes is going to be as far as
this offense can evolve and can morph and can mold
itself into what it's personnel's truly best attributes are.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
And that's how you really want to see.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
And then I don't want to say that there's a
certain level of dysfunction when it doesn't work well or
you don't see that comparison. But there's a lot of
different tributing factors on who is to blame when things
don't go right. A lot of people want to blame
the coordinator. First goes to the quarterback, then it goes
(17:02):
to every arsenew member, and when it goes right, it's
because all of those things. Everybody has a mutual appreciation
respect for each other. Right, quarterback respects the coordinator. Coordinator
respects the quarterback. So now, and it's a symbiotic relationship
(17:24):
when things go right. And that's what you know. I've
learned over my years in Pittsburgh. I had three different coordinators.
I was in Pittsburgh and I went to I went
I went to San Diego. Technically that was one of
the same nators from my first three in Pittsburgh. And
Kid Wizenheim, right, but he had changed his philosophy from
(17:47):
his time in Arizona. So that was an adjustment to him.
And I went to Bruce arians offense down in Arizona. Uh,
you know, I went to the offense and say, with
the Rams, it's funny that I'm saying some of these
names because they're no longer in those cities. Then San
(18:10):
Diego Church, then Saintless Rams.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Uh. But I digress. And so I've seen a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
So when things do work, it's because all those things
are present. There's respect, there's a compromise, there's an ability
to communicate with everybody and find the best.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
When it doesn't work, ego is involved.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Ego from a coordinator saying you just need to run
what I say, Ego from.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
You know, other positions that are like this is a
tailor for me.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
I don't like it. And that's when it doesn't quite
work as well. That's when you get the stalls. That's
when you get the steymying. And it doesn't happen often.
I mean, I think now in today's league, we've seen
where coaches are a lot more amenable to playing to
the skill set and the strengths of their players to
(19:07):
get the most out of them. But there's still a
couple of stuff ones that I have this square peg there.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
It can only go in this round hole. It's like
it does it fit?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Like this is not who we are getting a square
peg round hole, you know.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
It's like get in the round holes our peg.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
You know, it's like all these and and that's something
that I'm happy to see.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
And you don't see that. You see that.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You see that mutual respect, You see that compromise, you
see that ability to blend and mesh and Kurt they
over for the betterment of the entire team and their
skill sets.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Max Starks, I'm Rob King. Alvaro Martin uh is going
to be joining us the play by play for the
Steelers on the Spanish speaking broadcasts. We're going to continue
to break down and opening day victory for the Steelers
over the Jets when we continue inside the locker Room
here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
This is in the Locker.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Room with Kenyon Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by
your neighborhood Forward Store. The F one point fifty is
the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers
Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at the
Steelers pro shop at shop dot Steelers dot.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Com and welcome back inside the Locker Room with Max
starks On rob King Steelers winning in the opener thirty
four to thirty two against the New York Jets.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Supposed to be the lowest scoring game of the week
wind up being I think maybe the second highest after
the Sunday night game last night.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Which got a little crazy, got a little crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We'll get our AFC recap coming up in just a
little bit, Max, I wanted to talk about another unit,
and I wanted to tie that in with our Steelers
Drive of the game, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers, and that drive, to me was capped off
(21:17):
by the touchdown pass from eight eighteen yards from Rogers
to Austin.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I don't know whether that should be our drive of the.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Game or the opening drive should be the drive of
the game, the one that gave the Steelers a lead
thirty one to twenty six, or the opening drive of
the game because that didn't happen. What's your choice, Max.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think the opening drive is more significant, right because.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
At stop right there, stop right stop, truck stop right there.
The Steelers drive of the game is presented by your
neighborhood Fords. So let me do this again. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and that drive, Max, I think, I think we would
both agree obviously, is the opening drive of the game.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yes, yes, Rob, it is.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
I don't know where your clairvoyants came from, but that
was amazing that you read my mind and that we
came to that together.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
That is awesome, and you know what it underscores to me.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, I really felt like and again, we've talked
about this right the ten and seventeen a year ago,
and where I think that the Steelers are better, and
I think it's in a lot of spaces, a lot
of places. One of them is a quarterback position. We
talked a little bit about Aaron Rodgers and we will
be discussing him, i'm sure throughout the course of the week.
But the other one was, you know, another one on
(22:38):
offense was the receiving corps. You know, what are we
going to do this? They need a number two receiver
and you know the Steelers were I think, you know,
there was so much reporting about about how they were
in the market for a receiver and reportedly you know,
and I'm Brandon Aiyuk and it made an offer and
other things that you know. There's so there was a
(23:00):
lot of smoke there, and so I'm sure there was
some fire there. I don't think that's the case this year.
I don't think they're actively looking. Look, they're actively looking
to upgrade any part of their roster. But when you
look at the receiving group, to me, okay, DK metcalf, Look, man,
I like George Pickens's talent, but that's an upgrade. You
(23:20):
got a two time pro bowler. That is an upgrade
as your number one receiver. Calvin Austin is a guy
who made a sizable step forward last year. Roman Wilson
is the guy who we did not see. He wasn't
targeted yesterday, but he's a guy that we, you know,
have not seen in the past. John new Smith he
had five receptions last year. Last yesterday and on they
(23:43):
went for fifteen yards. But you know he's going to
be a guy who's targeted a lot. Then you have
friar moves. We didn't see Darnell Washington targeted, and then
we saw Ben Scarnick get a touchdown. So you know,
look at the touchdown receptions. You know, you get John
Smith with a touchdown, you get Calvin Austin with a touchdown,
(24:03):
you get Jalen Warren on a touchdown, and the John
new Smith was was was a jet sweep that is
technically a touchdown pass. And on that opening drive you
get Ben skeronic on a touchdown. Uh, there are there
are a lot of players here that the Steelers are
are going to be maneuvering around, and probably a lot
of it's going to be matchup based. But that opening
(24:26):
drive brought to you by the Neighborhood Forts or the
F one fifties official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. By
the way, I think that that was underscore right. Who
had Ben Skeronick scoring the first touchdown of the season
for the Steelers? Probably not many?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Was that on my being go card I can tell
you that much. I know you've been. That was just
a beautiful drag thrown to him.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I mean I didn't even have John I didn't even
think John new Smith was sport touchdown the first game
of the season.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
So the fact that Aaron could.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Utilize all these different weapons and not feel awkward and
not feel forced in those situations.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
I thought it was phenomenal. And Dk Metcalf was as advertised.
He could take it.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
He could take a ten yard catch and turn it
into a twenty three yard game. And his ability to
maneuver to run, I mean when he starts, when he had,
when he bursts, after he comes out of a cut,
it's a thing of beauty to watch him go to
work and.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Watching all of the.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Receivers and the different personnel groupings that we had running
in and out of there, it was just was was fantastic. Nostily,
it was fantastic to watch. This was not your Steelers
of the last couple of years. This was an explosive team.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Now.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
The one thing that you know, I was all prized
about Kenneth Gainwell and Jalen Warre and how they worked
out of the backs well. I thought both of them
look the missing game, ching game. But you know, we'll
get to the run game. The run game is going
to come. That's a mession, a fit and the field
(26:20):
thing that you.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Have to work on.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
But as far as the variability and the ability to
switch out of bad plays and get to better plays
IQ of the quarterback position and his comfortability with a
lot of these different weapons was a breath of fresh
WatchGuard during this game.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
And you know, look, I'm going to run this down
briefly for fans. Just got an underscore what Max is saying.
So DK Metcalf, he had a thirty one yard reception,
but I believe that was a catch and run for
receptions eighty three yards twenty point eight yards per reception.
Calvin Austin Matt Williamson provides us to the stat packet.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
With his research every week. That's such a great job.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
You know, Calvin Austin was one of the better deep
threats in the NFL last year in terms of how
far the ball traveled in the air. You know they
ran deep patterns with him. Well, he has four catches
for seventy yards, a thirty yarder, a touchdown. So you
know there's a couple of guys on the outside. And
then you know your two running backs, as Max mentioned,
(27:30):
gain Well and Jalen Warren, they combine for five receptions. Right,
So are you going to tell me that the running
backs of the Steiers are gonna have eighty five receptions
between them at five a game over seventeen games. That's
not bad production. You look at Ben's kronik, he had
a reception. John new Smith he had five catches yesterday
out of the tight end spot. Pat Fryarmouth, who is
(27:53):
as consistent as they come, he had three, including a
couple of big ones to keep drives alive. So there
are a lot of different weapons that the studers can
utilize in the passing game. And I think that you
know when you talk about how teams are going to
be defended. So for example, as we look forward to
(28:14):
the Seattle game, right, everyone's talking about the run. Well, Seattle,
this is why you get. You didn't get your three
headed monster cornerback to go into Jets. Frankly, they have
Garrett Wilson, That's what they have. But next week, this
coming week, now you've got a couple of guys. You
have Jackson Smith and Jigbit and you have Cooper Cup. Right,
those are guys that you know you you want to
(28:36):
have your corners, and what you want to do as
a defensive team is not run out of good guys
that can cover their good guys. Basically, to simplify it,
and on offense. You want to have you want to
be able to have mismatches, and I don't think teams
are going to have Let's say you go against teams
that have two or three corners. Okay, so they're gonna
(28:59):
you know, they're going to try to take your receivers
out of it. Well, you're also going to have guys
that can run with your tight ends outside linebackers that
can cover your your running back coming out of the backfield.
Defenses aren't going to have everybody to cover everybody. And
I think that what we're going to see this is
just a guest. Early on, we are going to see
(29:19):
DK Metcalf get his share of targets every week. We
are going to see probably John new Smith get and
Pat Fryarmouth get. You know, maybe it's three to five
targets to set or three to five receptions every week.
They're going to be steady. The other guys I think
are going to be volatile. We're going to see based
on matchups. Max talked about how good Arthur Smith is
(29:40):
as a game planner, that we are going to see
matchups throughout the course of the year, and that's going
to dictate which guy for the Steelers is going to
emerge from that group of Calvin Austin and the running
backs and Roman Wilson, you know, Ben Scarnic, Scotty Miller
might have some games where he makes some catches. So
I think all those things are going to be you know,
(30:02):
we haven't seen we haven't seen the full breadth of
what's going to happen with that receiving group. But Frankly
and Max and I talked about this before the year.
I'm not concerned. I'm not worried about this number two
receivers that a lot of fan seemed to think the
Steelers need. I think this is a deeper and better
(30:23):
receiving core than it was a year ago.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
I'm with you.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I think the versatility of the variety gives us the
ability to package for each game and create what you
want to Yes, would it be love? Would it be
awesome to have just boom two statue esque six foot
(30:50):
five two and twenty.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Pounds receivers that can run and jump all over the place. Yes?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Absolutely. If there's a Randy Moss, there's if there is
Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald and.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
You know all these Tarrell Owens.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
You know, all these all these amazing guys or in
current day you know jmar Chase.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Justin Jefferson T. Higgins.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Yeah, if I could get two of those guys, absolutely right.
I'm not saying I would, But I'm also saying that
not a necessity to be successful having those type of guys.
And we're seeing that yesterday. As long as you have
good receivers mixed in with the great receiver, you can
(31:38):
do a lot of things. And we saw that yesterday.
I think they that yes was a prime ex amble.
Have it to me and the fact that when you
have that verse till guess what, you don't see a
team and that's hop heavy on one side of the ball.
And then you can't go get other guys because imagine
(31:59):
if we went and paid a second receiver, guess what,
we wouldn't have Rob, we wouldn't have Jaalie Ramsey, right,
we wouldn't have.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
A John Smith right now?
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Right? Who I think is your number two receiver. I
think Johnny is your number two receiver. By the way, no,
I agree, Well, here's your thing.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I think the one the lone caveat I would say
about this, Max is and I think this was a
concern for last year too, when George Pickens did get
hurt and have to miss some time that that was
an issue. You know, as long as DK Metcalf can
stay healthy, now, I think they can get along better
(32:36):
than they could last year because I do think Johnny
Smith brings an element that they did not.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Have last year.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think Aaron Rodgers brings an element that they did
not have last year. So I do think they're better
equipped to deal with that. But frankly, you could say
that about most teams right most teams that don't have
both Jamar Chase and t Higgins, and a lot of
teams do not have two top flight receivers. If you
don't have two top flight receivers, you're going to be
(33:06):
It's going to be a problem when somebody gets hurt.
It's going to be a problem when somebody gets hurt
at the quarterback position. It's going to be a problem
when your number one corner goes down with an injury.
These are not issues that are unique to the Steelers,
so that that's the only caveat I would throw out there.
But I think a lot of other teams can say
the same thing.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
A lot of the teams can say it.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
And also just because you have Jamar Chas and Tz
doesn't mean you make the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
No, right, doesn't mean you beat the Browns. That was close.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Exactly, I mean that was worlds.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
The Cincinnati Bengals would have would have lost that game,
and the Cincinnti Bengals, you know, finally broke the curse
of losing like opening weekend games.
Speaker 5 (33:49):
Opening Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, they they they've they've last year. Yeah, they've needed to,
They've needed to, uh to break that trend. And again,
you know, fans are out there wanting style points. You
would rather be right now the Pittsburgh Steelers or the
Cincinnati Bengals or the Buffalo Bills than you would to
be the Baltimore Ravens or the Cleveland Browns or the
(34:13):
New York Jets.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Want to know is the most important part.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We have much more to get to here inside the
locker row ven AFC recap, AFC North recap that we're
going to get to you. Actually it's an AFC recap,
so we'll get to that. Alvaro Martin, the great play
by play man on the Steelers Spanish speaking broadcast, should
be joining us as well. When we continue inside the
locker Room with King and Starks, presented by our neighborhood
(34:38):
Ford Store.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
This is in the locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The
F one point fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
And by Steelers Pro Shot.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Well, we thank you very much for being with us
inside the locker room as we run through a very
entertaining game and Max, that was a super entertaining game.
Just a fun game for the opener. We'd be a
little less exuberant had this do. That's not pulled it out,
but a fun, fun opening day victory at MetLife Stadium.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We were treated to a lot of points, a lot
of intensity and focus and opportune plays.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
It wasn't perfect.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I don't think any team playing Week one is gonna
go like, yeah, man picked up right where we left off.
This was such an easy, breezy game. I mean, I
don't even know why we play anymore. Just go and
give us a super Bowl, right, I don't think anybody
said that, right. I mean, there's no finished product out there,
but the teams that can pull it together enough in
(36:02):
the right moments can succeed. And it was far from perfect.
It was far from everything that we wanted it to be.
And I will say this, the league has improved. There
was a lot of lot of good games to watch
yesterday ours, especially like you said, we went from lowest
(36:25):
scoring to second highest scoring thus far.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
And this weekend and the.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Known suspects with all these bells and whistles and all
this youthful exuberance and first round draft picks that are
starting and all this hoopla, and the Steelers just came out,
and the Steelers just came out and played.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
They played team ball.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
It wasn't great on the defensive side, but it was
opportune on the defensive side. When we needed the moments,
they gave them to us, and offense took advantage of
those special teams had as special.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Play as they normally do.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
And even though we saw these great kickoff returns and
great field position to start for the Jets, once again,
all it takes is one moment to change the entire
landscape of a game and we got that, So all
three phases kicked in and gave us memorable moments. That's
what you want in a football game, and we were
treated to that on the road in MetLife raining all
(37:28):
the way up until the game started and the sun
popped out at the end to say, hey, you know what,
God wants to check out this too. You don't have
to have a hole on the top of your stadium
to get called this team. Guy can always watch it.
All that kind of hoopla.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
All it takes is an opportunity and a belief. And
you saw the Steelers believe that they could win, and
they willed themselves to victory yesterday.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
You know, I think we talked about this last week.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I don't care if this Steelers went three to two, right,
it doesn't matter to me, especially early on in the season. Now, Look,
you want to be building something as the season goes
around comes around. But frankly, Max, you know, like just
in a sort of a global view, like I don't
really even care that much about that until you get
(38:17):
later in the season. You don't want to be the
best team in the league in Week eight. You want
to be the best team in the league heading into
the playoffs. That's when you want to be peaking. We
saw last year this Yelers were not peaking heading into
the playoffs. They looked a lot better when they were
ten and three than they did when they were ten
and seven. So building it the right way and building
(38:37):
throughout the course of the season, but that's all important,
and that's all stuff you want to do because you
want to be able to have the kind of game
that is going to give opponents difficulties and that matches
up well with other team strengths. But frankly, what you
want to do right now is stack wins and it
does not matter how you got them. And this Steelers
(38:57):
improved a one to no. I mean, we're going to
run down some of the pros and cons, but you
know that that's my take early on, Max, just win
the game and worry about the other stuff as you
certainly you practice and you try to get better, but
the biggest thing is just win games.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
Win games and style points don't matter here college football,
they matter, but in the NFL it doesn't. What matters
is brass tacks. Do you have more wins than you
do losses and did you did you? Did you beat
some teams that you knew you needed to beat, that
were in the field, that were in the in the
running of the race.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
That's what matters, and.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
The Steelers did that.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
I feel like this Jets team is going to surprise
a lot of people this year. I agree that group
over there is talented. And I said it yesterday right
after the broadcast, and I'll say it again. The Jets
did not lose that game. The Steelers simply won the game.
That was the difference. Don't mince words about it. That
was a talented team just and Fields put on a show.
(40:02):
They had a great game plan, they executed the game plan,
and they gave us everything that that that we could handle.
And the Wizard of Oz was magical once again.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
And that was the difference in this game. He who
holds the ball last has the best chance of winning.
And that's what happened.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
We saw it.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Heck, we saw that in a Sunday night game right right.
That was a one point victory there, and it came
down to who had the ball last, and so we
chewed up a lot of that time and and and
we had we made we made it count when it
needed to the most. And that's what this game is about.
And that's the beauty of any given Sunday. You don't
(40:43):
know who's going to win a game, and all the
favorites and everything else you can give these numbers and
all this kind of stuff. I get that that's for
that place out west that has a lot of lights
that never go off. But this is a human game,
and humans play it, and the human factor cannot be
quantified all the time.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
So it's a beautiful thing to watch those type of
things happen.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And it's so sweet to be coming on these airwaves
on a victory donut Monday. Justin is new to that,
so I'm sure there's no donuts in the studio right now,
but we will work on that as the season progresses
to make sure that we have it. But it's a
victory donut Monday. And our good colleague and dear and
(41:30):
dear friend, Craig Wolfley would be proud of the way
this team played and he would be so excited to
have seen them win the way that they did yesterday.
So I got to make sure that we talk about
the victory donut Monday.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yes Steve's win thirty four to thirty two. They improved
to want to know? He is Max Starks, I'm Rob King.
Plenty more to come, including a continued breakdown of yesterday's game.
I looked around the AFC as well and what else happened?
Hey never too late to take a peek around see
how the opponents are doing. That's all still the Come
(42:02):
Inside the Locker Room with kingon Starks, presented by our
neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network
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