August 12, 2025 • 46 mins
Max, Rob, and Wes share more thoughts on the Steeler victory on Saturday, camp overall, and the upcoming practice and game against the Buccaneers.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Iheartradios, Live Coveragel Not twenty twenty five Steelers Training Camp
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
Casino, Calciente Pizza and Drafthouse by Tons Appliances, South Hills Auto,
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Steelers Pro Shop and by Qus Steel.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And we welcome you back inside the locker room for
our number two. It's King and Starts presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store here on this Steel's Audio network.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
And so.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Max, we're talking about the preseason game because we got
sidetracked with this team ranking that again got our eyre
up a little bit. So we're gonna turn away from
the ire of that and into your analysis of what
you saw on Saturday night as we get a little
more in depth. One thing I wanted to add, and
I agree with everything you said. I thought I thought
(01:09):
first and foremost to me, this was a manifestation of
what we have been talking about throughout camp, that this
is a very deep roster, that this is a roster
that has a lot of good football players, some of
whom will not make this team, will not make the
active roster. Hopefully the Steelers can stash a good number
of them on the practice squad for.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
The sake of the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So I think that we felt like that was something
that you know, was was on display. One thing that
I thought sort of schematically that I liked and really
liked max was the attacking in the middle of the field.
(01:52):
Mason Rudolph through a lot of passes over the middle
of the field. Skyl Thompson threw passes over the middle
of the field. That was something that Russell Wilson didn't
feel comfortable with. And Russell Wilson could very well be
on his way to can So I'm not trying to
denigrate Russ and his abilities in the way he plays,
but I do think when you can throw the ball
(02:12):
over the middle of the field, when that becomes part
of what you can do, it just opens up a lot.
I think for the tight ends, they're going to love
the notion that the ball is going to be throwing
more over the middle of the field. That is generally
and frequently a place you know, in addition to the
flats the tight end's work. We saw Darnold Washington score
touchdown on a seam route up the left center of
(02:34):
the field, So I do think that that was a
positive and I do think that that's something that will
help this offense out.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
No, I definitely think it will be.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
And like I said, it's going to be a tough
round when the final cuts do happen, right, or the
one cut that you must make right, you know, you
have to be like a tailor measure twice, cut once.
Right when you're coming into this situation. Wait, say what, Yeah,
a tailor measure twice, cut once, measure twice.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I've never had anything tailor, so I don't know what
that means. But anyway, go ahead, I'm gonna take it.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
If you're wanting to measure it once, cut it, then
you get it on and then now all of a
sudden you got high waters, you know, or your sleeves
a little bit too short. That's when you measure twice
before you cut once. Okay, So that's the same thing
here with this process for the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
You want to see what the next game is going
to look like.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
The first game was the initial measure, the initial kind
of thoughts, posturing, pole positioning, however you want to say
it to get that first kind of sense of what
this team can do and what players can do. And
I thought, for the first appearance, right, the first introduction
of here's the twenty twenty five, twenty six Steelers variety,
(03:49):
show experience to get to a team, right, this is
the audition phase. A lot of guys put their best
foot forward in this contest, and a lot of guys
showed that they deserve more reps moving forward as we
inch towards this scrimmage on Thursday, as we get ready
for an actor sure debut on Saturday against the Tampa
(04:10):
Bay Buccaneers, Like, there's a great opportunity here for these
guys to continue to impress, because once again, you're not
just auditioning for the Steelers, you're auditioning for the.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
NFL as a whole in this process.
Speaker 6 (04:24):
So for a lot of young guys, a lot of
tweeener guys, you know, you kind of prefaced it in
the first hour about if you're that fifty third guy,
you're that seventh wide receiver, you're the seventh D lineman,
you're the ninth dB, all.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
In that range, you want to.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
You're posturing to climb up that ladder, and with a
lot of guys out, left a lot of opportunity for
young guys to really put their best foot forward, to
guys who ordinarily wouldn't have gotten that experience in this preseason.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
So what have I done to earn more opportunities? Because
we know there's a elect.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Few of guys that will probably not see the preseason,
Let's just be honest about that.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Right now, you know, the hopes.
Speaker 6 (05:07):
Of seeing a Aaron Rodgers, a Jalen Ramsey and Cam
Hayward and TJ. Watt highly unlikely, Okay, because they have
the resume, they have the cachet, they have the experience necessary.
So now that really means if you are Skyler Thompson,
if you are Logan Wood's side, right, Mason Rudolph not
(05:30):
so much. I think he's okay, I think we can
call it Mason okay, But he's got to play. He's
still gonna have to go out there and just get
the reps. So you're not putting all of that pressure
on two arms. You have to be ready for those
opportunities and you have to go out there and make
that lasting impression, and you know, just saying on the
offensive side, we had a lot of offensive players that
set out, which allowed for Roman Wilson to get the
(05:53):
lion's share of looks in the passing game, which allowed
for you know, Rock Taylor, Keishawn Williams to get those passes.
Max Hurleman right, to get these plays, to make these
oh wow moments in the game, so that they can
get some recognition. You can see what they can do,
(06:13):
you know, And I'll kind of stick there with the
wide receiver.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I thought the wide receiver group performed very well.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
I thought, considering the youth, the inexperience of that group,
I thought they played really well. There was very few
times where guys were out of position that they were
you know, missing balls and that were thrown right at him.
I thought that was at a low rate because that's
why we saw such a high completion percentage. That means
(06:39):
the guys are understanding the routes, understanding the concepts and
catching the.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Ball and getting up field.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
I mean, I think about that two minute drool Max
Hurlman alone, right, you know, he misses a wide open
catch with the come and and Skyler comes.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Right back to him. Like, no, no, no, no, no, you've
got some good stuff.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
Boom hits the steam rut that gets us inside the five,
and then boom, next play Goes Goes, goes on the
shallow out and catches a touchdown pass to in the half.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Right, those are the things you're looking for.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
And then Brandon Johnson had had a nice big grab
in the third quarter, and guys were making these plays
and I thought that was really that was a really
good sign. I enjoyed watching just from the wide receiver
perspective and quarterback, the the synergy that was going on
with those guys on Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, and I think Max, when you look at that
wide receiver group, and again we kind of laid out
the you know, the the Roman Wilson point, which was
to me, my my thinking was, you know, there's a
lot of expectations heaped on a guy who's the third
round pick last year. Oh, he's just gonna come in
because this shit has always do a great job of
drafting receivers, which they've done a great job of drafting
(07:46):
receivers in the middle and later rounds, and then they
they've gone from maybe being I thought a little you know,
some fans a little too presumptuous about what he could
accomplish too, sort of forgetting all about him this year,
you know, because even to year with injury. So he's
an exciting guy. And when you look at Metcalf, Calvin
Austin didn't play because of injury, and you look at
the depth of this team and we're kind of, you know,
(08:09):
combining the two, how did you perform what it's a
depth mean, you know Dk, Metcalf, Robert Woods, Calvin Austin,
Scottie Miller, Roman Wilson, Ben Scarnic. You know a guy
that's got some experience in Brandon Johnson. I mean, I've
just counted seven, right. I don't think they're gonna keep
seven receivers, Max.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
No, No, I think that's gonna be tough to see
because knowing what you have, and we talked about some
of the defensive capabilities. You know, we're looking at twenty
four guys. Right, If you take seven receivers, you're gonna
be short somewhere else on your roster. And you don't
want to you don't want to sacrifice that unless there's
(08:49):
like injuries, like you said, or this is initial posturing
for other free agents that are out there. You might
save a seventh slot for now, knowing that you were
going to try and get some byody else, drop the
seventh guy and go there. But I mean, as good
as that group is, you're still going to only keep
six maximum.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right, And then when we look at the offensive line,
you know Simala didn't play clearly Max the starting five again,
barring any kind of unforeseen injury situation, as we knock on,
what do is we like to do?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
You know, the uh, the the five is pretty well set, right.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
We know who that's going to be, and I think
we know that Spencer Anderson is going to be there.
Calvin Anderson was assigned to a two year deal. He's
working his way back from injury. Ryan McCollum at the
center position. And now you're talking about you know, the
veteran guard, Max Sharping, You're talking about Dylan Cook, you know,
guys that have some resume, and then you're talking about
(09:51):
maybe a Stephen Jones or a Gareth Warren or somebody like.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
That Jayden Williams.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Yeah, right, can.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
These guys emerge and you know, push one of those
guys aside or you know, maybe showing up that you
put on the hopefully you slip them onto the practice
squad and develop them for the coming years as a
guy who could be a potential quality backup, perhaps even
a starter. I don't know again, whether you felt like
(10:19):
anybody stood out to you in that group or you know, again,
the offensive line I thought did a pretty good job protecting.
There were a couple of sacks, at least one. I
think we kind of identified as a coverage sack at
a ball that needs to be thrown away. The running
game didn't really get going, but only ran the ball
twenty five times, So I don't know if you can
make any kind of assessment from the offensive line on
(10:41):
what you saw.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
Max, No, I mean, you know, for a first impression
and guys working together for the first time, trying to
change things up and move guys around. You know, you
just brought into andrews Pete as well, that's right, or
in tackle as well, So I mean you have that
to kind of throw in there, see if you kick
the tires on. But you know, as I look at it,
(11:02):
I mean it was a solid performance. I mean for
young guys working in there, I mean obviously sharping taking
the you know, essentially your third string center. He was
more of a second string guard and having to play center,
you know, for a majority of that game after Zach
Frasier came out because Ryan McCollum was.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
Unavailable, right.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
You know that that's tough to assess a guard playing center,
you know, And I think that's where you're kind of getting.
Gareth Warren is more naturally a left tackle. He played,
he played a good amount of right tackle.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But again, Max, isn't that And I agree with what
you're saying, but yeah, I mean, I think you've mentioned
this many times before and we've talked about this. You're
gonna be that fifth receiver. You better be able to
play special teams if you're gonna be that backup guy,
unless you're so talented and they're like, man, this guy's
a future starter.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Let's just keep grooming him, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
If you want to be on the team, and then
if you want to get you know that, then the
next step from making the you know, clinging to the
end of the roster and getting yourself a helmet on
game day is that ability to play garden center or
be a swing tackle who can play both sides or
have that sort of flexibility and versatility.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
No, absolutely, but I think you still have to get
a baseline for what that guy's number one skill set
is too. So so that's where I kind of I
look at it and say, well, can you put him
in his natural position to see how that goes, and
now throw him into the unnatural place. But like you said,
with injuries, with guys out, it flips that away. So
how well can you adapt to those type of things?
(12:31):
But but I mean I thought it was I thought
it was solid. I mean, you look at you know,
a guy like a Stephen Jones. You know, I felt
like he made a name for himself to say, hey,
take a deeper look at me. Don't don't just don't
just cast the die on your top eight. Right, I'm
out here, I'm young, I'm doing it, you know, give
me an opportunity to flourish. I thought he earned another
opportunity come come Saturday night, or come scrimmage day on
(12:55):
Thursday against the Tampa Bay Bucks, to see what else
can he do because he's a guy that was a
guard tackle guy primarily played guard and has been playing
tackle in this camp. And I thought, bam putting him
out there at tackle, good job to show that you
have versatility. But I would like to see him at
guard at some point right right, because that is his
natural position, just like even for Broderick when we had him, Yes,
(13:16):
he still came in and played some left tackle before
we moved him over to right tackle. So you know,
in fact, his rookie year, you know, you're until Chucks
gets injured. You know, they were trying to put him
in its looted him in. He had a couple of
plays with Dan Moore, came out to see what he
could do, and then of course, you know, Chucks goes
down takes the right tackle position from there.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
But that's what I'm always looking for. I'm like, how
good are you at the natural position? And then what's
your follow up?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Almost like a pass rusher, right, I know you have
a really good initial bull rush, but what's your counter?
And that's where it comes for offensive line is what
else can you do? But I need to see that
you do the first thing first in my mind, So
that's where I'm looking for, you know, kind of what
in this second game between the scrimmage in the game,
a little bit of versatility, a little bit of musical
(14:02):
chairs on that offensive line.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
So he can really get the best.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
You know, eight you know out there and get the
best eight players and not just necessarily confine them to
just their positions, right, because that's what you're looking for.
You're looking for flexibility amongst everywhere, and especially when you're
talking about six through.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Eight, you know, and when we look at the tight
end position, no Friar, with no Smith, you only have
three tight ends on the roster. Darnell obviously caught a
touchdown pass. We saw a lot of Connor Heyward, you know,
just a good football player. And then the one guy
kind of you know, on the outside trying to make
a name for himself, trying to make a push, is
JJ Galbreck.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yeah. Yeah, then JJ did a good job.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Got injured in that game, sadly, which led to them
bringing him back Kevin Folish into the fold because you
need another tight end. But I thought, you know, JJ
acquitted himself. Well, he tried hard. I mean listen, when
you're t hundred thirty pounds you're trying to block twohundred
seventy pound d Lineman. That's Yeoman's work, right, That is right,
That is unsung hero. That that is like having to
(15:04):
go be a trash collector with that, with without without it,
without a dumpster truck following you.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
You know, that's a tough that's a tough hill to climb.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
But like you said, when you have the four out
there already and you have two of those guys sitting
out for the game, you know, it puts a lot
of stress, but you also get a lot of reps, right,
And that was the other thing.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
That you want to you want to down it. In fact,
at one point I didn't realize this.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
The referees didn't call it, but we had we had
we had jumbo action going in the game.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Did you know that I did not.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Dylan Cook came in as an extra tight end late
in the game.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Interesting because they had already sat down Darnell and you
had Connor and JJ going, and they wanted some thirteen stuff,
and then there was a couple of things where they said, okay,
let's let's get into.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Some twelve here, you know, and try and run with
two tight ends. So they actually brought.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Him in, but the referee never signaled an eligible receiver
in that game.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
We didn't get that.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
By the way, verse statility again, can you come in
and be that that jumbo guy by the way, and
you mentioned this. The roster moves, I believe came after
our show yesterday. Kevin Folsch had he was here earlier,
back on the roster at tight end. You know, I
don't know if they tell these guys, hey, keep your
phone handy just in case. But Kevin Fols back on
(16:20):
Mikey Victor, defensive back, Cam McCutchen, waved.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Injured, waved injured. Waved Yeah, because like I said, he
did a good job, almost had that interception right, but like.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
You said, he got injured, and you need able bodies
as we move into this next phase.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And then DJ Thomas Jones, a guy who's been nicked
up as well, trying to play that full back slash
tight end role, he's gone as well. So you're bringing
Victor for mccutch and you're bringing Folsch for Thomas Jones,
and then we'll see the availability of of JJ golbreath
as well real quick on the On the I think
(16:57):
we've mentioned the quarterback position. I think both of us
felt very strongly that both Howard and I have a
bigger part in Rudolph n Sky the Thompson both looked
very good for this Jeelers very sharp quarterback rankings in
the ratings in the one thirties.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
They did a fine job. No jail and Warren.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I was asked about Caleb Johnson on the DV Morning Show,
and you know, he had the one run that was
negative and it was just blown up penetration. I didn't
think there was anything you could do about that, very
very early snapshot, Max. But the one thing I thought
about him was that he got what was there.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
You know, I think a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Of times in offense, you know, if there's only a
two yard gain, we'll get me two yards. Don't don't
try to bounce it outside and lose two you know,
don't turn second and eight into second and twelve, because
that throws us, you know, as they like to say,
completely off schedule. I not only thought he got what
was there, and again this is just my impression, you're
(18:00):
you're the analyst, but I also thought he maybe got
a little more. I thought there was a couple of
times where I thought, Okay, this is gonna be second
and eight. Well hang on a second, now, it's it's
actually second and seven, or maybe even he got an
extra yard and a half. I felt like he kept
the legs moving and got what was there and maybe
got a little bit more. That was my only sense
(18:21):
of of Caleb Johnson in a game in which the
students didn't run the ball that effectively.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Yeah no, I mean I think there's still some vision
things that he has to work on from you know,
transferring college to pro. A couple of times he was
dancing a little bit too much in the hole, okay,
and it's.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Like you just got to hit it, and which goes
counter to what I just said. Okay, so good, No, No,
that's why. No, that's why you're the analyst.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
That's a little bit a little bit different. And I
also got the advantage I got to watch the film
as well afterwards. Okay, so you know.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I get too.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
I get two cuts at it and understanding what the
play was called and then what the design of the
play is and where should the eyes be for a
lot of those things. But you're right, a lot of
pure hustle when even when he made a bad mistake,
he was able to turn that into a positive play.
But you're right, I mean he did get you know
(19:12):
you need three give me four? Right, And we talked
about that during the broadcast and I thought he did that.
Lou Nichols did a really good job of.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Yeah, and you know he runs hard.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Lou Nichols runs. He's a battering ram. I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
I mean, there there's one guy that he reminds me
of that I that I gave him an affectionate nickname,
and that was Jalen Warren, right.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Always falling forward.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Ru Nichols was in the same school, you know, different,
you know different row in in in the in the schoolhouse,
but you know, similar school of thought. And I really
liked it, and I thought that was kind of a
differentiator once he got into the game late, trying to
ice the game and trying to chew up the time
of possession and tilted back in the Steelers' favor. But
for Caleb, I love I love the effort. Right, the
(19:52):
feet never stopped when he got stymied in the hole.
At the same time, I felt like eyes were a
little bad where he thought, okay, I could wretch. This
is an extra step because I see a little hole,
and he thought, okay, if I take this extra step,
I can get a bigger hole. And then the hole
closes immediately, and it's like that's what an NFL hole
looks like, Kayler, So when you see it, hit it,
(20:13):
don't hesitate or a couple of times where he did
want to bounce it and if he would.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Have just stayed on the track, it would have led
to an even bigger play.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
But he got nervous, and that's something that that's just youth,
that's just inexperience he has not that was his first
professional style game, so you have to be a little
more you know, aware of those things.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
And he was learning.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
So but like you said, I don't I don't disagree
with anything that you said. I just think that you know,
when we're talking about the nuance and trying to upgrade,
you know what he's doing.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
That's the critique on it.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah, and it is interesting because when young guys. First
of all, let me preface this, and this is not
to excuse, but I don't know what the play's called. Like,
there's a lot of tim Max. You and I have
had conversations Wolf and I would have these conversations too.
That well, that cornerback blew. That coverage, I don't know
what the coverage was, you know, I mean, how could
(21:07):
I definitively say the cornerback blew the coverage. I don't
know if the sainty is supposed to roll over the top,
I don't know. Maybe somebody missed an audible out there.
Maybe it is a cornerback's fault. Maybe it's a safety's fault.
Maybe it's somebody else's fault. You know, I don't know.
I'm not privy to the play call, so I will
say that, but I think your point is a good one.
Like the hole in college is different from the hole
(21:30):
in the pros. Open in college is frequently a guy
running wide open over the middle of the field with
nobody around it because maybe yead scheme somebody. But your
talent is just a lot better at Alabama, for example,
than it is at Alcorn State.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Not to pick on alcorn State. If you're playing a game.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So guy's wide open, Well, in the NFL, it might
be a guy's you know, dragging on somebody's hip and
that's considered open, you know, So you better be able
to learn how to throw that ball, you better be
able to find find that hole. To your point, So
that's very interesting that that that is something that we'll
look to see if if Caleb improves upon as these
(22:08):
uh these preseason games we're on.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
And also one thing I'll add to that is if
you want to be a three down back, what do
you have to be able to do?
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Block the blitz and catch the pass out of the backfield? Right?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
He did have one where it was wide open and
he was going to catch it, but he thought about
the cut before he had the catch.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
The old that's the one you gotta make sure.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I know they are c's, but they they can be
a lot different.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Make sure you secure the catch before you worry about
the cut.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
And I thought that was just one moment where you're like, man,
that could have been a moment for him, but that's
also a learning experience of getting of getting into this
NFL game.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, and I'm glad you pointed that out because that
that that had slipped my memory. You're exactly right, He
just you know, looked before he had the ball, what
am I going to do next? So now we have
kind of a of a baseline of what he did
in his first game. Uh from from Max starts you're
in the locker room. So so folks, that's something we're
going to keep an eye on, right, like all of us,
you know, all of us who aren't analysts and former players,
(23:08):
We're gonna be looking. Is Caleb'm gonna hit that hole
a little bit differently? Is he going to make sure
the next time he gets that little pass that he
secures it and moves forward. Definitely things for us to
be keeping an eye on. Our thanks to the great
Max Starks for giving those things to keep an eye on.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
We have plenty more to come.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We're going to continue to look at what the Steelers
did in the scrimmage, in the game. Look forward to
the scrimmage coming up on Thursday and the game against
Tampa Bay. When we continue inside the locker room with
King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Here on this steel there's audio.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Network, Iheartradios live coverage. I'm not twenty twenty five Steelers
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Speaker 3 (24:17):
Welcome back inside the locker room at King and starts,
but then by your neighborhood Ford Stour here on this too,
there's Audio Network Max. Before we get onto the defense,
I did not want to gloss over the starters on
the offensive line because we saw a lot of subs.
We talked about Roman Wilson yesterday and we briefly touched
on him today and some of the young guys and
their opportunities. Four starters on the offensive line, no isaac ciamalo.
(24:41):
They stayed in there for a little bit. What did
you think of Broderck Jones at left tackle, Troy Futano
at right tackle, and then Zach Fraser and Mason McCormick
at at center and right guard respectively.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
So it's funny.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
I was actually having this conversation with lab during the
break and I would say they passed the sniff tests
week one.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, So I thought projerc The one thing I.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Really loved footwork, very active, the snap, the pop, shooting,
the hands, twist recognition, snapping a guy off and getting
back in position to where a guy's looping around, he
was ready to receive him, ready to go attack him,
and the run game fair amount of violent intent or
mal intent for you.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Know how well that guy was going to function the
next play.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
So I appreciated that from Broderick. I thought that was
a good first start for him. Troy very similar, Like
the knee is behind him mentally, which is what I
wanted to see. How well do you respond after an
injury competitive action? Do you trust it? Are you favoring it?
All those little things. I didn't see that at all.
Saw a solid base, good footwork, good attack prow Now
(25:50):
you have to worry about kind of tipping his the
upper body weight a little bit, getting his shoulders over
his knees too far, because that leads to the swim
moves at lee to a bullet a jerk press what
we call it, you know where a guy comes in jerks,
jerks the jersey in the opposite direction because you're trying
to over over over compensate in the upper body region.
(26:12):
Thought he did a solid job. Mason and zach Uh
solid work by them. Spencer, Spencer was cool. Spencer was good,
but you know he's the one that that covered sack
that you know, happened on him. So I'm gonna say
that wasn't necessarily him. But you know, because the time
ball has to get out, the red has to be there.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Reid wasn't there. You got to make a decision. You can't.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
You can't just pat the ball, pat the ball, you know,
and and run the feed and expect something to eventually happen.
You get two and a half to three seconds maximum
in this league before a guy is on yours on
your butt. Got to get rid of the football or
you got to make the decision to run roll out
however you want to do.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
No. Second unit I thought was really solid. Uh.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
Stephen Jones played a lot in that game. Uh, him
and Dylan Cook. There was the one sack where bad
footwork was taken, you know, and that was on the
old line. So one sack on the old line on
the second unit. But talk about executing a two minute
drill about as good as you could do it.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
I thought it looked really good. But I thought their
recognition was really good.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Jacksonville has an inferior interior line. Your top two guys
were injured, so Eric Armstead and Mason Smith not available
that would have given you something. We knew what Davon
Hamilton was, We knew what Jordan Jefferson was. Those are
straight line guys. They don't have a lot of wiggle,
so solid attempt this week's gonna be huge for the
interior because you got Vita Vea and Klijah Kansi and
(27:40):
those guys. Those guys have plenty of wiggle, plenty of moves,
and they are ferocious.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
So that's where I think.
Speaker 6 (27:46):
Whereas week one was more exterior talking about Trayvon Walker,
Josh Heines, Allen, Emmanuel Agba, for the Jacksonville Jaguars, their
edge is more elite, their secondary is more elite. This week,
everybody's elite, and especially that interior of the defensive line.
Their backers are excellent as well. So that's gonna be
(28:08):
a big center and guard matchup this week that I'm
gonna be really looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Okay, so let's switch to the defense, where we saw
more young guys, because that was the unit in which
I think we counted up nine starters did not play
in this game, very few starters, which meant lots of
time for the backups. Let's start in the interior of
the defensive line, which is gonna have a lot of
(28:33):
attention because not only did you go out and get
a quality and Odomewo and other guys that you know,
veteran guys that you brought in to compete, but you
also have you know, sort of your first look at
Logan Lee, who didn't get to see last year because
of injury, and of course the two guys you picked
Harmon and Black in the draft this year. What did
(28:54):
you think of the interior of the Steelers defensive line?
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Rubber baby but e bumpers. Okay, transit, I'm gonna translate that.
A lot of young guys that you put pads on,
you know to secure them and keep them, uh, you know,
safe and within the confines of easiness.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
That's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
You saw a lot of youth, but those guys were
bursting at the seams, you know. I think of Derek
Harmon getting the first crack with the starting unit along
with keanum Benton. A lot of eleven personnel. So we
saw a lot of two interior defensive line fronts, not
as many. Three now three got into the red zone area.
They got a little bit bigger. But for the majority
(29:38):
of that game. You know, they ran eleven. So our
our response is Nickel Nickel is four down linemen, two
outside backers and two inside backers.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
So that's what you saw.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
You saw a four to two front for a majority
of it. So Benton and uh and Harmon first two
up at it. Physical at the point, very physical. The
run game had a couple of moments because it's subpackaging,
but it wasn't due to the effort of the defensive line.
They were penetrating, they were in the backfield. They made
(30:09):
it tough. Trevor Lawrence had to get the ball out
really quickly, and you know he has a good group
of receivers. We think of Brian Thomas Junior, Deanmi Brown
and Travis Hunter who were featured out there at the
receiving position. But defensively on that line, a lot of violence,
a lot of aggression. The run game did not have
the holes that you'd expect in that opportunity. And you remember,
(30:32):
you they brought over Robert Hainsey from Tampa Bay to
play center for them in free agency, so trying.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
To bolster the interior.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
That Walker Little got a nice contract extension, bump and
I felt like those dudes played well. I wish they
would have gotten a little bit more regular, but I
also get why Jacksonville wouldn't want to do that because
that would have been an embarrassment on their part at home.
So stay in Nickel, stay and manageable only keep two
large bodies in there. Second unit, we saw Ya Black
(31:01):
and we saw Isaiah louder Milk, and then you saw
a Logan Lee rotate in and that second group Isaiah louder.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Milk a lot of penetration.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
I was really surprised could not finish it, but he
caused disruption in the backfield. And Ya Black, listen, if
we were actually playing man press instead of playing a
lot of the zone that we were playing on the backside,
I believe Ya Black would have had a bigger impact
than he already had in this game. He was in
the backfield, he was causing hell for the interior that
a gap does not want to see number seventy eight
(31:31):
in it.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
I can tell you that much. That's great. That is
great to hear.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And you know what, when those starting corners are playing,
you're gonna see a lot more man and you're gonna
see some of those guys getting home, I.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Think, yeah, no, absolutely, I'm a complete agreement. We played
zone almost exclusively because they were an eleven, and once
again playing basic because we don't say vanilla, that's playing
basic defense. Zone is the easiest thing to do. See
how guys communicate and pass things off. But what I
saw from that interior defensive line, I was happy, and
(32:02):
even daniel Aqualay and Logan Lee kind of working in
together as well.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
I was like, man, I was like to have those
kind of three waves of guys.
Speaker 6 (32:10):
Coming in there, You're like, oh, yeah, yeah, this is
this is gonna be nasty when we get in the
regular season, when that Derrick Henry moments, you know, come up,
or you got or you got some really good run
game nausea. When we go out to LA with Omarion Hampton,
I'm like, seventy eight nine to nine. Those are man
children out there and they don't know how strong they
(32:31):
are yet.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
And I'm kind of.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
Happy for that because what they what they don't know,
won't hurt them. What they don't know is actually helping
them glad.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
To hear it.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So the other thing, the other level that we saw,
you know a lot of young guys, was the linebacker
position slash special teams. I'm gonna lump those together secondary.
So you know, there there have been guys and I'm
not trying to exclude some of the other guys you're
(33:00):
trying to make this team. But you know, there's been
a lot of buzz about Sebastian Castro at the safety position.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
You know Jack Sawyer.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Can he come in and be sort of that next
guy who becomes a pass rushing outside linebacker for this year?
There's can Carson Brunner do enough on special teams? Is
a late draft choice to make you make him a
part of your roster. So again, I'm just throwing out
three names there, but maybe those three guys and others
(33:27):
you may have noticed Max during the scrimmage on Saturday. Sorry,
the game on Saturday. The scrimmage is coming up on Thursday.
The game on Saturday.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
All right, how about this.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I'm gonna do half of it now and then the
other half on the other side of it because i
know we're right at forty okay, don't want us to
get that shortened break. So I'm gonna take the outside
linebacker position on that one. So top three guys out
right right, Alex high Smith, TJ. Watt, and Nick herbick Boom.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Does that leave you with?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
That leaves you with Jack Sawyer, Demarvin Leal, Julius Welshoff Rightoa.
Those were the four that got all the lions share.
Jack was in the starting position opposite le Al. In
that moment, I thought there was some there was some
youngness that was that was shown on Jack's side. Youth,
so to speak, kind of overran a couple of them
(34:16):
where he should have redirected and kind of came to
the inside. But I love the aggression. I love the
thread of the edge because it forced flow to.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
The opposite side in the run game. Nice job of
knifing inside a couple of times. A couple of times
he got fooled on the.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Jump cut and went to the outside, allowed for allowed
for a cutback lane. For the most part, he performed
really well for a rookie, and I thought it was
solid to Marvin Leal elephant in big body Guy physical
at the point he definitely turned down a couple of
the counters. He did some really good work of just
absolutely eviscerating the hole and those guys having having to
(34:52):
like try and make a cutback and you know, you
couldn't run front side on him, which.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
I thought was great.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Pass rush got a little bit to to a enamored
or caught up with the with the offensive tackle. Got
blocked a couple of times in the pro, so the
rush wasn't all the way there as you'd like it,
but a solid performance I felt like, very consistent.
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Then Wellshoff Julius had had some nice wiggle. You see.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
He's coming along really well coming back from injury. He's
one of our international exemption guys that I think could
easily be on the you know, be on the practice
squad or actually find a place for himself where he
can be an up and down guy for this team.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Echa liota.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
The things I saw in training camp, things I saw
great effort, NonStop, couple rundowns from the backside on the
run game. I thought he had a really solid game.
So it was really good to see those pieces do
it against others. The things we saw in the practice
field bring them back here and it actually actually looked
good against differing competition.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
What's the next step, what are you gonna do? What's
your follow up? Right?
Speaker 6 (35:55):
I love I love the appetizer but now we're getting
into the second course of this meal.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
What does that look like?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
It is?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
So it is so interesting because you look at this,
like you said to Marvin Lee out athletic, big guy,
trouble staying healthy, but you know you're intrigued there. Julius
Walshoff really really good athlete, you know from Germany. Probably
a little raw, but you see the athletic traits. Echul
Yoda has got, you know, some experience behind him and
some skill. Jack Sawyer first round draft choice. I mean,
(36:26):
you know, when you start to break down all of
these guys again, this is why we talk about the
depth of this roster. I mean there's intrigue for for
all these guys and what they could potentially add to
this team that makes you want to keep them all.
And they're not gonna be able to keep them all.
Uh and and so it's uh, it's fun to not
(36:46):
only look at what they've accomplished, but what they could accomplish.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
For the Steelers and and different uses for each guy.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
How do you know how do they you know that
that that's another fact, right, like how do you value
a guy in that maybe he brings something different to
the table, like a leal gonna be fascinating. We have
much more analysis coming up with Max Stark's about this
game on Saturday against Jacksonville the scrimmage coming up Thursday
(37:13):
against Tampa Bay, whom we continue inside the Locker Room
with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
On the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by FedEx where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
(37:41):
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SNT Bank, Remax Select Realty, by Tons Appliances, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro shot by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control,
and by us steel.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Welcome back inside the Locker Room with kingon Stars, presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store. Here in the Steelers Audio Network.
As the fans start gathering for the final open practice
at Latrobe Training Camp, ready to close up the Latrobe
five hundred gonna take place tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
As guys get into the car and head out. Media guys, players.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Coaches, front office staff, scouts, all that stuff boom they're
gonna be in the cars and out they go before
the rush and before we come back Thursday, because tomorrow,
with no practice open, there will be no show Thursday.
There we'll be getting you ready for the scrimmage coming
up against Tampa Bay. Some final thoughts as we kind
(38:42):
of you know again, I love this blend where you're
now we have a game to talk about, and it
helps us transition to the next game because of what
we're looking for, especially hear in the preseason trends with guys.
Your thoughts on what you saw from again, you talked
about the outside linebacker position, inside linebacker position, and a
(39:03):
little bit of the secondary. I think in particular, you know,
Carson Brunner's a name that probably interests a lot of
people as a draft choice, and of course the son
of Mark Bruner. And also you know Sebastian Castro, one
of those guys that got a little buzz because word
came out there was a draft grade on him. The
students were able to sign him as a free agent,
much like they got Beanie Bishops as a college free
(39:26):
agent last year, and he wound up playing a big role.
So your thoughts on the inside linebacker position and the
secondary as regards to young guys trying to make a
name for themselves.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
So all right, let's dissect this. Let's go inside linebacker group.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
First, right, we knew Patrick Queen was out, Peyton Wilson
getting the green dot upgrade to be the play caller
instead of Patrick Queen's availability. So now you move up
with Malik Harrison, who's arguably your third lot of experience,
a lot of playtime in this league, also a former Raven.
(40:02):
I thought, you know, Peyton calling it out, the aggressiveness,
the tenacity, yep, kudos.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Boom boom boom.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
Now Malik huge body dues two hundred and sixty pounds
inside backer.
Speaker 5 (40:15):
Not quite Levon Kirkland, but very close.
Speaker 6 (40:19):
He's a big dude that's very aggressive, great at the
point of attack. I thought did some really good things
in the ballgame. You know he's he's a plugger. Now
we move back to that next level, right, this is
the next way.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
This is this is the area where you're jockeying for position.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
By the way, congratulation to Cole hulkom real quick, yes, right.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
Yes, congratulations to him coming back. Gruesome, gruesome year and
a half rehab to get back to this moment, and
I thought that's where it was very apparent when he
came in with Mark Rob and then he had a
little bit of time with Peyton in there, but he
was that second.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Group type of dude, Cole Holkm and Mark Rob.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
Mark Rob is a physical guy at the point, he's
your thumper, he's your E Rob, so to speak, replacement.
I thought, you know, physical, he knows how to trigger
and destroy, and but this is also a guy you
think of in special teams. Cole Holcomb as well. Cole
was everywhere a lot of that stuff in the curl
(41:24):
flat zone, sideline to sideline. He was making plays and
he was the guy that we remember from two years
ago when it was when it was last man standing
in that linebacker room when everybody else got into it
was just E Rob and Cole HOKM. And then Cole
gets the injury that set him back for a year
and a half. It was so awesome to see him
(41:45):
out there, and like I said, I give him a
plus for the recovery coming back and also what he
gave out there.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
It was really cool to see.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
And then we still had more Mark, you know, Carson Brunner,
Mark Bruner's son out there running around him and Devin
Harper were that where that last duo to come in.
Devin Harper of course, got injured in that game, so
he's urs So he's nursing an injury right now as
we speak.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
But Carson, it.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
Wasn't He played solid in the run game, bounced a
little bit, not necessarily as tough in the middle, but
where he made his hay was in special teams totally.
And that's what we're gonna see. He was down, he
was in the mix early often and frequently. So that
was something that I really enjoyed to see. So they
and teyor linebacker group, Man, it's gonna be a it's
gonna be a dogfight because all those guys played really
(42:35):
well at each level. You had somebody that was that.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Was contributing and playing really well, now you know.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
And so I'll let you give your thoughts so that
we'll get into the secondary to round it out real quick.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
No, you keep going, man, I thought Carson, I thought that.
I thought that. I agree. I thought that's Reeksale was
on special teams.
Speaker 5 (42:54):
Yeah, and so now we get to the secondary.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
Obviously top three down right, you got you have Sleigh
Ramsey Porter out insert James Pierre to start the game
out as well as Brandon Eckles. Those are your two
starting corners in that situation. Nickel was Beanie Bishops. So
those are three DB's replacing the top three dbs. Uh,
you saw one. You saw wan Thornhill out there. You
(43:16):
saw Chuck Clark out there. That was what the secondary
looked like.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
Chuck trigger, physicality and just overall sportsmanship.
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Really good, really good, and that wan Thornhill had a
big hit coming down.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
He's gonna be more your center fielder.
Speaker 6 (43:33):
Chuck's probably more of a box guy in those situations,
especially in the in the Nickel format, because I think
Beanie definitely plays attached to the box, but shouldn't be
necessarily in the box a little bit smaller.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
Beanie flashed.
Speaker 6 (43:47):
Beanie, you know, had had some great skill plays where
he had some tight coverages on the slot. I thought
he got I thought he did really good with defending.
He almost had an interception to when I believe was
Nick Mallins tried to throw a low and an inside
to Parker Washington and he was on the coverage. He said,
and I asked him about I said, man, you, I said,
you almost continued your pick legacy. He's like, man, Max,
(44:09):
when I turned around, that ball was on me. He
was like, I couldn't even react to it, and I
had the soft cast on my thumbs, so it's like
I had no way of catching that.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
He's like, but I figured you would have noticed it.
I was like, yep, I saw it.
Speaker 6 (44:21):
But I was like, hey, Pbu's count just as much.
I was like, the guy did not get the ball right,
so you accomplished your job. So I thought he did
a really good job there, a little a little behind
trail and a couple of a couple of plays, but
I felt played played admirably and played in a position
where you're like, Okay, this guy gets it. He understands
the concepts and once again, at the end of the day,
don't let the ball get in the other guy's hands.
(44:43):
Job well done, Brandon Eckles, I thought played fantastic. I
was like, this is why you brought the guy in.
I was like, if this was if this was any
indication about what he could do, you know, defensively as
well as special teams got a really good guy there.
Count him in the slot immediately as an additional dB
James Pierre Special teams as he's probably our only gunner
true gunner on this roster.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
So played well.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
A couple of plays, has given up of course that
was kind of hism o over the last couple of years,
but does not give up, does not does not harbor
any type of long term memory issues and allowing it
to bleed the other plays gets up plays the next play.
Thought he did a solid job where we get into
the question is gonna be Sebastian Castro coming in? I
(45:27):
thought he splashed really well on special teams that had
one big tackle in the punt return game or a
punt coverage game.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (45:35):
I thought that was good.
Speaker 6 (45:36):
But once again, it's tough when you know that you
got a Jalen Ramsey, that there's a safety nickel combo,
corner combo, and you know Miles killer Brew another guy
we know he's a Special teams captain, multiple time Pro
bowler so and he's also a special teams A so
you know you already got those guys there, so it's
really tough to break in there. But I thought Sebastian
Castro made a name for himself in special teams. There's
(45:58):
gonna be something to monitor and watch as well.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
Well.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
Cam McCutcheon got injured, almost had that interception. Thought he
played silent. Kyler McMichael not so much. He had two
plays in a row where he turned down the tackle
on the edge where he was playing a bracket. I
thought he was going to make the play. He did
not turn into bigger plays. So that's one guy's gonna
have to have to make up for his first performance.
Didn't put his best foot forward. Is gonna need to
(46:23):
have a good bounce back this week against Tampa Bay.
Anybody else I'm missing Jamison really good.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
He was cool. And that's the end of the show.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
All right, good, wow, Okay, that's it. Well done.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Encapsulation quickly and thoroughly by Max Starks off tomorrow. We'll
be back Thursday to gets you ready for the scrimmage
against Tampa Bay and also the game against Tampa Bay
on Saturday when we come back inside the Locker Room.
We thank you for joining us for this edition of
the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Iheartradios, Live Coveragel Not twenty twenty five Steelers Training Camp
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Speaker 3 (00:36):
And we welcome you back inside the locker room for
our number two. It's King and Starts presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store here on this Steel's Audio network.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
And so.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Max, we're talking about the preseason game because we got
sidetracked with this team ranking that again got our eyre
up a little bit. So we're gonna turn away from
the ire of that and into your analysis of what
you saw on Saturday night as we get a little
more in depth. One thing I wanted to add, and
I agree with everything you said. I thought I thought
(01:09):
first and foremost to me, this was a manifestation of
what we have been talking about throughout camp, that this
is a very deep roster, that this is a roster
that has a lot of good football players, some of
whom will not make this team, will not make the
active roster. Hopefully the Steelers can stash a good number
of them on the practice squad for.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
The sake of the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So I think that we felt like that was something
that you know, was was on display. One thing that
I thought sort of schematically that I liked and really
liked max was the attacking in the middle of the field.
(01:52):
Mason Rudolph through a lot of passes over the middle
of the field. Skyl Thompson threw passes over the middle
of the field. That was something that Russell Wilson didn't
feel comfortable with. And Russell Wilson could very well be
on his way to can So I'm not trying to
denigrate Russ and his abilities in the way he plays,
but I do think when you can throw the ball
(02:12):
over the middle of the field, when that becomes part
of what you can do, it just opens up a lot.
I think for the tight ends, they're going to love
the notion that the ball is going to be throwing
more over the middle of the field. That is generally
and frequently a place you know, in addition to the
flats the tight end's work. We saw Darnold Washington score
touchdown on a seam route up the left center of
(02:34):
the field, So I do think that that was a
positive and I do think that that's something that will
help this offense out.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
No, I definitely think it will be.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
And like I said, it's going to be a tough
round when the final cuts do happen, right, or the
one cut that you must make right, you know, you
have to be like a tailor measure twice, cut once.
Right when you're coming into this situation. Wait, say what, Yeah,
a tailor measure twice, cut once, measure twice.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I've never had anything tailor, so I don't know what
that means. But anyway, go ahead, I'm gonna take it.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
If you're wanting to measure it once, cut it, then
you get it on and then now all of a
sudden you got high waters, you know, or your sleeves
a little bit too short. That's when you measure twice
before you cut once. Okay, So that's the same thing
here with this process for the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
You want to see what the next game is going
to look like.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
The first game was the initial measure, the initial kind
of thoughts, posturing, pole positioning, however you want to say
it to get that first kind of sense of what
this team can do and what players can do. And
I thought, for the first appearance, right, the first introduction
of here's the twenty twenty five, twenty six Steelers variety,
(03:49):
show experience to get to a team, right, this is
the audition phase. A lot of guys put their best
foot forward in this contest, and a lot of guys
showed that they deserve more reps moving forward as we
inch towards this scrimmage on Thursday, as we get ready
for an actor sure debut on Saturday against the Tampa
(04:10):
Bay Buccaneers, Like, there's a great opportunity here for these
guys to continue to impress, because once again, you're not
just auditioning for the Steelers, you're auditioning for the.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
NFL as a whole in this process.
Speaker 6 (04:24):
So for a lot of young guys, a lot of
tweeener guys, you know, you kind of prefaced it in
the first hour about if you're that fifty third guy,
you're that seventh wide receiver, you're the seventh D lineman,
you're the ninth dB, all.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
In that range, you want to.
Speaker 6 (04:41):
You're posturing to climb up that ladder, and with a
lot of guys out, left a lot of opportunity for
young guys to really put their best foot forward, to
guys who ordinarily wouldn't have gotten that experience in this preseason.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
So what have I done to earn more opportunities? Because
we know there's a elect.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Few of guys that will probably not see the preseason,
Let's just be honest about that.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Right now, you know, the hopes.
Speaker 6 (05:07):
Of seeing a Aaron Rodgers, a Jalen Ramsey and Cam
Hayward and TJ. Watt highly unlikely, Okay, because they have
the resume, they have the cachet, they have the experience necessary.
So now that really means if you are Skyler Thompson,
if you are Logan Wood's side, right, Mason Rudolph not
(05:30):
so much. I think he's okay, I think we can
call it Mason okay, But he's got to play. He's
still gonna have to go out there and just get
the reps. So you're not putting all of that pressure
on two arms. You have to be ready for those
opportunities and you have to go out there and make
that lasting impression, and you know, just saying on the
offensive side, we had a lot of offensive players that
set out, which allowed for Roman Wilson to get the
(05:53):
lion's share of looks in the passing game, which allowed
for you know, Rock Taylor, Keishawn Williams to get those passes.
Max Hurleman right, to get these plays, to make these
oh wow moments in the game, so that they can
get some recognition. You can see what they can do,
(06:13):
you know, And I'll kind of stick there with the
wide receiver.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
I thought the wide receiver group performed very well.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
I thought, considering the youth, the inexperience of that group,
I thought they played really well. There was very few
times where guys were out of position that they were
you know, missing balls and that were thrown right at him.
I thought that was at a low rate because that's
why we saw such a high completion percentage. That means
(06:39):
the guys are understanding the routes, understanding the concepts and
catching the.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Ball and getting up field.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
I mean, I think about that two minute drool Max
Hurlman alone, right, you know, he misses a wide open
catch with the come and and Skyler comes.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Right back to him. Like, no, no, no, no, no, you've
got some good stuff.
Speaker 6 (06:56):
Boom hits the steam rut that gets us inside the five,
and then boom, next play Goes Goes, goes on the
shallow out and catches a touchdown pass to in the half.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Right, those are the things you're looking for.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
And then Brandon Johnson had had a nice big grab
in the third quarter, and guys were making these plays
and I thought that was really that was a really
good sign. I enjoyed watching just from the wide receiver
perspective and quarterback, the the synergy that was going on
with those guys on Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, and I think Max, when you look at that
wide receiver group, and again we kind of laid out
the you know, the the Roman Wilson point, which was
to me, my my thinking was, you know, there's a
lot of expectations heaped on a guy who's the third
round pick last year. Oh, he's just gonna come in
because this shit has always do a great job of
drafting receivers, which they've done a great job of drafting
(07:46):
receivers in the middle and later rounds, and then they
they've gone from maybe being I thought a little you know,
some fans a little too presumptuous about what he could
accomplish too, sort of forgetting all about him this year,
you know, because even to year with injury. So he's
an exciting guy. And when you look at Metcalf, Calvin
Austin didn't play because of injury, and you look at
the depth of this team and we're kind of, you know,
(08:09):
combining the two, how did you perform what it's a
depth mean, you know Dk, Metcalf, Robert Woods, Calvin Austin,
Scottie Miller, Roman Wilson, Ben Scarnic. You know a guy
that's got some experience in Brandon Johnson. I mean, I've
just counted seven, right. I don't think they're gonna keep
seven receivers, Max.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
No, No, I think that's gonna be tough to see
because knowing what you have, and we talked about some
of the defensive capabilities. You know, we're looking at twenty
four guys. Right, If you take seven receivers, you're gonna
be short somewhere else on your roster. And you don't
want to you don't want to sacrifice that unless there's
(08:49):
like injuries, like you said, or this is initial posturing
for other free agents that are out there. You might
save a seventh slot for now, knowing that you were
going to try and get some byody else, drop the
seventh guy and go there. But I mean, as good
as that group is, you're still going to only keep
six maximum.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right, And then when we look at the offensive line,
you know Simala didn't play clearly Max the starting five again,
barring any kind of unforeseen injury situation, as we knock on,
what do is we like to do?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
You know, the uh, the the five is pretty well set, right.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
We know who that's going to be, and I think
we know that Spencer Anderson is going to be there.
Calvin Anderson was assigned to a two year deal. He's
working his way back from injury. Ryan McCollum at the
center position. And now you're talking about you know, the
veteran guard, Max Sharping, You're talking about Dylan Cook, you know,
guys that have some resume, and then you're talking about
(09:51):
maybe a Stephen Jones or a Gareth Warren or somebody like.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
That Jayden Williams.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Yeah, right, can.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
These guys emerge and you know, push one of those
guys aside or you know, maybe showing up that you
put on the hopefully you slip them onto the practice
squad and develop them for the coming years as a
guy who could be a potential quality backup, perhaps even
a starter. I don't know again, whether you felt like
(10:19):
anybody stood out to you in that group or you know, again,
the offensive line I thought did a pretty good job protecting.
There were a couple of sacks, at least one. I
think we kind of identified as a coverage sack at
a ball that needs to be thrown away. The running
game didn't really get going, but only ran the ball
twenty five times, So I don't know if you can
make any kind of assessment from the offensive line on
(10:41):
what you saw.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
Max, No, I mean, you know, for a first impression
and guys working together for the first time, trying to
change things up and move guys around. You know, you
just brought into andrews Pete as well, that's right, or
in tackle as well, So I mean you have that
to kind of throw in there, see if you kick
the tires on. But you know, as I look at it,
(11:02):
I mean it was a solid performance. I mean for
young guys working in there, I mean obviously sharping taking
the you know, essentially your third string center. He was
more of a second string guard and having to play center,
you know, for a majority of that game after Zach
Frasier came out because Ryan McCollum was.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
Unavailable, right.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
You know that that's tough to assess a guard playing center,
you know, And I think that's where you're kind of getting.
Gareth Warren is more naturally a left tackle. He played,
he played a good amount of right tackle.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But again, Max, isn't that And I agree with what
you're saying, but yeah, I mean, I think you've mentioned
this many times before and we've talked about this. You're
gonna be that fifth receiver. You better be able to
play special teams if you're gonna be that backup guy,
unless you're so talented and they're like, man, this guy's
a future starter.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Let's just keep grooming him, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
If you want to be on the team, and then
if you want to get you know that, then the
next step from making the you know, clinging to the
end of the roster and getting yourself a helmet on
game day is that ability to play garden center or
be a swing tackle who can play both sides or
have that sort of flexibility and versatility.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
No, absolutely, but I think you still have to get
a baseline for what that guy's number one skill set
is too. So so that's where I kind of I
look at it and say, well, can you put him
in his natural position to see how that goes, and
now throw him into the unnatural place. But like you said,
with injuries, with guys out, it flips that away. So
how well can you adapt to those type of things?
(12:31):
But but I mean I thought it was I thought
it was solid. I mean, you look at you know,
a guy like a Stephen Jones. You know, I felt
like he made a name for himself to say, hey,
take a deeper look at me. Don't don't just don't
just cast the die on your top eight. Right, I'm
out here, I'm young, I'm doing it, you know, give
me an opportunity to flourish. I thought he earned another
opportunity come come Saturday night, or come scrimmage day on
(12:55):
Thursday against the Tampa Bay Bucks, to see what else
can he do because he's a guy that was a
guard tackle guy primarily played guard and has been playing
tackle in this camp. And I thought, bam putting him
out there at tackle, good job to show that you
have versatility. But I would like to see him at
guard at some point right right, because that is his
natural position, just like even for Broderick when we had him, Yes,
(13:16):
he still came in and played some left tackle before
we moved him over to right tackle. So you know,
in fact, his rookie year, you know, you're until Chucks
gets injured. You know, they were trying to put him
in its looted him in. He had a couple of
plays with Dan Moore, came out to see what he
could do, and then of course, you know, Chucks goes
down takes the right tackle position from there.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
But that's what I'm always looking for. I'm like, how
good are you at the natural position? And then what's
your follow up?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Almost like a pass rusher, right, I know you have
a really good initial bull rush, but what's your counter?
And that's where it comes for offensive line is what
else can you do? But I need to see that
you do the first thing first in my mind, So
that's where I'm looking for, you know, kind of what
in this second game between the scrimmage in the game,
a little bit of versatility, a little bit of musical
(14:02):
chairs on that offensive line.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
So he can really get the best.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
You know, eight you know out there and get the
best eight players and not just necessarily confine them to
just their positions, right, because that's what you're looking for.
You're looking for flexibility amongst everywhere, and especially when you're
talking about six through.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Eight, you know, and when we look at the tight
end position, no Friar, with no Smith, you only have
three tight ends on the roster. Darnell obviously caught a
touchdown pass. We saw a lot of Connor Heyward, you know,
just a good football player. And then the one guy
kind of you know, on the outside trying to make
a name for himself, trying to make a push, is
JJ Galbreck.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yeah. Yeah, then JJ did a good job.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Got injured in that game, sadly, which led to them
bringing him back Kevin Folish into the fold because you
need another tight end. But I thought, you know, JJ
acquitted himself. Well, he tried hard. I mean listen, when
you're t hundred thirty pounds you're trying to block twohundred
seventy pound d Lineman. That's Yeoman's work, right, That is right,
That is unsung hero. That that is like having to
(15:04):
go be a trash collector with that, with without without it,
without a dumpster truck following you.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
You know, that's a tough that's a tough hill to climb.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
But like you said, when you have the four out
there already and you have two of those guys sitting
out for the game, you know, it puts a lot
of stress, but you also get a lot of reps, right,
And that was the other thing.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
That you want to you want to down it. In fact,
at one point I didn't realize this.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
The referees didn't call it, but we had we had
we had jumbo action going in the game.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Did you know that I did not.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Dylan Cook came in as an extra tight end late
in the game.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Interesting because they had already sat down Darnell and you
had Connor and JJ going, and they wanted some thirteen stuff,
and then there was a couple of things where they said, okay,
let's let's get into.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Some twelve here, you know, and try and run with
two tight ends. So they actually brought.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Him in, but the referee never signaled an eligible receiver
in that game.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
We didn't get that.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
By the way, verse statility again, can you come in
and be that that jumbo guy by the way, and
you mentioned this. The roster moves, I believe came after
our show yesterday. Kevin Folsch had he was here earlier,
back on the roster at tight end. You know, I
don't know if they tell these guys, hey, keep your
phone handy just in case. But Kevin Fols back on
(16:20):
Mikey Victor, defensive back, Cam McCutchen, waved.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Injured, waved injured. Waved Yeah, because like I said, he
did a good job, almost had that interception right, but like.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
You said, he got injured, and you need able bodies
as we move into this next phase.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And then DJ Thomas Jones, a guy who's been nicked
up as well, trying to play that full back slash
tight end role, he's gone as well. So you're bringing
Victor for mccutch and you're bringing Folsch for Thomas Jones,
and then we'll see the availability of of JJ golbreath
as well real quick on the On the I think
(16:57):
we've mentioned the quarterback position. I think both of us
felt very strongly that both Howard and I have a
bigger part in Rudolph n Sky the Thompson both looked
very good for this Jeelers very sharp quarterback rankings in
the ratings in the one thirties.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
They did a fine job. No jail and Warren.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I was asked about Caleb Johnson on the DV Morning Show,
and you know, he had the one run that was
negative and it was just blown up penetration. I didn't
think there was anything you could do about that, very
very early snapshot, Max. But the one thing I thought
about him was that he got what was there.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
You know, I think a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Of times in offense, you know, if there's only a
two yard gain, we'll get me two yards. Don't don't
try to bounce it outside and lose two you know,
don't turn second and eight into second and twelve, because
that throws us, you know, as they like to say,
completely off schedule. I not only thought he got what
was there, and again this is just my impression, you're
(18:00):
you're the analyst, but I also thought he maybe got
a little more. I thought there was a couple of
times where I thought, Okay, this is gonna be second
and eight. Well hang on a second, now, it's it's
actually second and seven, or maybe even he got an
extra yard and a half. I felt like he kept
the legs moving and got what was there and maybe
got a little bit more. That was my only sense
(18:21):
of of Caleb Johnson in a game in which the
students didn't run the ball that effectively.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Yeah no, I mean I think there's still some vision
things that he has to work on from you know,
transferring college to pro. A couple of times he was
dancing a little bit too much in the hole, okay,
and it's.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Like you just got to hit it, and which goes
counter to what I just said. Okay, so good, No, No,
that's why. No, that's why you're the analyst.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
That's a little bit a little bit different. And I
also got the advantage I got to watch the film
as well afterwards. Okay, so you know.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I get too.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
I get two cuts at it and understanding what the
play was called and then what the design of the
play is and where should the eyes be for a
lot of those things. But you're right, a lot of
pure hustle when even when he made a bad mistake,
he was able to turn that into a positive play.
But you're right, I mean he did get you know
(19:12):
you need three give me four? Right, And we talked
about that during the broadcast and I thought he did that.
Lou Nichols did a really good job of.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Yeah, and you know he runs hard.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Lou Nichols runs. He's a battering ram. I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
I mean, there there's one guy that he reminds me
of that I that I gave him an affectionate nickname,
and that was Jalen Warren, right.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Always falling forward.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Ru Nichols was in the same school, you know, different,
you know different row in in in the in the schoolhouse,
but you know, similar school of thought. And I really
liked it, and I thought that was kind of a
differentiator once he got into the game late, trying to
ice the game and trying to chew up the time
of possession and tilted back in the Steelers' favor. But
for Caleb, I love I love the effort. Right, the
(19:52):
feet never stopped when he got stymied in the hole.
At the same time, I felt like eyes were a
little bad where he thought, okay, I could wretch. This
is an extra step because I see a little hole,
and he thought, okay, if I take this extra step,
I can get a bigger hole. And then the hole
closes immediately, and it's like that's what an NFL hole
looks like, Kayler, So when you see it, hit it,
(20:13):
don't hesitate or a couple of times where he did
want to bounce it and if he would.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Have just stayed on the track, it would have led
to an even bigger play.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
But he got nervous, and that's something that that's just youth,
that's just inexperience he has not that was his first
professional style game, so you have to be a little
more you know, aware of those things.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
And he was learning.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
So but like you said, I don't I don't disagree
with anything that you said. I just think that you know,
when we're talking about the nuance and trying to upgrade,
you know what he's doing.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
That's the critique on it.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah, and it is interesting because when young guys. First
of all, let me preface this, and this is not
to excuse, but I don't know what the play's called. Like,
there's a lot of tim Max. You and I have
had conversations Wolf and I would have these conversations too.
That well, that cornerback blew. That coverage, I don't know
what the coverage was, you know, I mean, how could
(21:07):
I definitively say the cornerback blew the coverage. I don't
know if the sainty is supposed to roll over the top,
I don't know. Maybe somebody missed an audible out there.
Maybe it is a cornerback's fault. Maybe it's a safety's fault.
Maybe it's somebody else's fault. You know, I don't know.
I'm not privy to the play call, so I will
say that, but I think your point is a good one.
Like the hole in college is different from the hole
(21:30):
in the pros. Open in college is frequently a guy
running wide open over the middle of the field with
nobody around it because maybe yead scheme somebody. But your
talent is just a lot better at Alabama, for example,
than it is at Alcorn State.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Not to pick on alcorn State. If you're playing a game.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So guy's wide open, Well, in the NFL, it might
be a guy's you know, dragging on somebody's hip and
that's considered open, you know, So you better be able
to learn how to throw that ball, you better be
able to find find that hole. To your point, So
that's very interesting that that that is something that we'll
look to see if if Caleb improves upon as these
(22:08):
uh these preseason games we're on.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
And also one thing I'll add to that is if
you want to be a three down back, what do
you have to be able to do?
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Block the blitz and catch the pass out of the backfield? Right?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
He did have one where it was wide open and
he was going to catch it, but he thought about
the cut before he had the catch.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
The old that's the one you gotta make sure.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I know they are c's, but they they can be
a lot different.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Make sure you secure the catch before you worry about
the cut.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
And I thought that was just one moment where you're like, man,
that could have been a moment for him, but that's
also a learning experience of getting of getting into this
NFL game.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, and I'm glad you pointed that out because that
that that had slipped my memory. You're exactly right, He
just you know, looked before he had the ball, what
am I going to do next? So now we have
kind of a of a baseline of what he did
in his first game. Uh from from Max starts you're
in the locker room. So so folks, that's something we're
going to keep an eye on, right, like all of us,
you know, all of us who aren't analysts and former players,
(23:08):
We're gonna be looking. Is Caleb'm gonna hit that hole
a little bit differently? Is he going to make sure
the next time he gets that little pass that he
secures it and moves forward. Definitely things for us to
be keeping an eye on. Our thanks to the great
Max Starks for giving those things to keep an eye on.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
We have plenty more to come.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We're going to continue to look at what the Steelers
did in the scrimmage, in the game. Look forward to
the scrimmage coming up on Thursday and the game against
Tampa Bay. When we continue inside the locker room with
King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Here on this steel there's audio.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Network, Iheartradios live coverage. I'm not twenty twenty five Steelers
training camp. He's presented by FedEx where now meets next
and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale Roofing and
Siding Supply Center by Tons Appliances, by all A Safe
(24:00):
Blagging and traffic Control by Creator at Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
by Schneider Downs by Hossage Steak and Seahouse by your
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VI and ve Us Steel.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Welcome back inside the locker room at King and starts,
but then by your neighborhood Ford Stour here on this too,
there's Audio Network Max. Before we get onto the defense,
I did not want to gloss over the starters on
the offensive line because we saw a lot of subs.
We talked about Roman Wilson yesterday and we briefly touched
on him today and some of the young guys and
their opportunities. Four starters on the offensive line, no isaac ciamalo.
(24:41):
They stayed in there for a little bit. What did
you think of Broderck Jones at left tackle, Troy Futano
at right tackle, and then Zach Fraser and Mason McCormick
at at center and right guard respectively.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
So it's funny.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
I was actually having this conversation with lab during the
break and I would say they passed the sniff tests
week one.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, So I thought projerc The one thing I.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Really loved footwork, very active, the snap, the pop, shooting,
the hands, twist recognition, snapping a guy off and getting
back in position to where a guy's looping around, he
was ready to receive him, ready to go attack him,
and the run game fair amount of violent intent or
mal intent for you.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Know how well that guy was going to function the
next play.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
So I appreciated that from Broderick. I thought that was
a good first start for him. Troy very similar, Like
the knee is behind him mentally, which is what I
wanted to see. How well do you respond after an
injury competitive action? Do you trust it? Are you favoring it?
All those little things. I didn't see that at all.
Saw a solid base, good footwork, good attack prow Now
(25:50):
you have to worry about kind of tipping his the
upper body weight a little bit, getting his shoulders over
his knees too far, because that leads to the swim
moves at lee to a bullet a jerk press what
we call it, you know where a guy comes in jerks,
jerks the jersey in the opposite direction because you're trying
to over over over compensate in the upper body region.
(26:12):
Thought he did a solid job. Mason and zach Uh
solid work by them. Spencer, Spencer was cool. Spencer was good,
but you know he's the one that that covered sack
that you know, happened on him. So I'm gonna say
that wasn't necessarily him. But you know, because the time
ball has to get out, the red has to be there.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Reid wasn't there. You got to make a decision. You can't.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
You can't just pat the ball, pat the ball, you know,
and and run the feed and expect something to eventually happen.
You get two and a half to three seconds maximum
in this league before a guy is on yours on
your butt. Got to get rid of the football or
you got to make the decision to run roll out
however you want to do.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
No. Second unit I thought was really solid. Uh.
Speaker 6 (26:55):
Stephen Jones played a lot in that game. Uh, him
and Dylan Cook. There was the one sack where bad
footwork was taken, you know, and that was on the
old line. So one sack on the old line on
the second unit. But talk about executing a two minute
drill about as good as you could do it.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
I thought it looked really good. But I thought their
recognition was really good.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Jacksonville has an inferior interior line. Your top two guys
were injured, so Eric Armstead and Mason Smith not available
that would have given you something. We knew what Davon
Hamilton was, We knew what Jordan Jefferson was. Those are
straight line guys. They don't have a lot of wiggle,
so solid attempt this week's gonna be huge for the
interior because you got Vita Vea and Klijah Kansi and
(27:40):
those guys. Those guys have plenty of wiggle, plenty of moves,
and they are ferocious.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
So that's where I think.
Speaker 6 (27:46):
Whereas week one was more exterior talking about Trayvon Walker,
Josh Heines, Allen, Emmanuel Agba, for the Jacksonville Jaguars, their
edge is more elite, their secondary is more elite. This week,
everybody's elite, and especially that interior of the defensive line.
Their backers are excellent as well. So that's gonna be
(28:08):
a big center and guard matchup this week that I'm
gonna be really looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Okay, so let's switch to the defense, where we saw
more young guys, because that was the unit in which
I think we counted up nine starters did not play
in this game, very few starters, which meant lots of
time for the backups. Let's start in the interior of
the defensive line, which is gonna have a lot of
(28:33):
attention because not only did you go out and get
a quality and Odomewo and other guys that you know,
veteran guys that you brought in to compete, but you
also have you know, sort of your first look at
Logan Lee, who didn't get to see last year because
of injury, and of course the two guys you picked
Harmon and Black in the draft this year. What did
(28:54):
you think of the interior of the Steelers defensive line?
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Rubber baby but e bumpers. Okay, transit, I'm gonna translate that.
A lot of young guys that you put pads on,
you know to secure them and keep them, uh, you know,
safe and within the confines of easiness.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
That's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
You saw a lot of youth, but those guys were
bursting at the seams, you know. I think of Derek
Harmon getting the first crack with the starting unit along
with keanum Benton. A lot of eleven personnel. So we
saw a lot of two interior defensive line fronts, not
as many. Three now three got into the red zone area.
They got a little bit bigger. But for the majority
(29:38):
of that game. You know, they ran eleven. So our
our response is Nickel Nickel is four down linemen, two
outside backers and two inside backers.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
So that's what you saw.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
You saw a four to two front for a majority
of it. So Benton and uh and Harmon first two
up at it. Physical at the point, very physical. The
run game had a couple of moments because it's subpackaging,
but it wasn't due to the effort of the defensive line.
They were penetrating, they were in the backfield. They made
(30:09):
it tough. Trevor Lawrence had to get the ball out
really quickly, and you know he has a good group
of receivers. We think of Brian Thomas Junior, Deanmi Brown
and Travis Hunter who were featured out there at the
receiving position. But defensively on that line, a lot of violence,
a lot of aggression. The run game did not have
the holes that you'd expect in that opportunity. And you remember,
(30:32):
you they brought over Robert Hainsey from Tampa Bay to
play center for them in free agency, so trying.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
To bolster the interior.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
That Walker Little got a nice contract extension, bump and
I felt like those dudes played well. I wish they
would have gotten a little bit more regular, but I
also get why Jacksonville wouldn't want to do that because
that would have been an embarrassment on their part at home.
So stay in Nickel, stay and manageable only keep two
large bodies in there. Second unit, we saw Ya Black
(31:01):
and we saw Isaiah louder Milk, and then you saw
a Logan Lee rotate in and that second group Isaiah louder.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Milk a lot of penetration.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
I was really surprised could not finish it, but he
caused disruption in the backfield. And Ya Black, listen, if
we were actually playing man press instead of playing a
lot of the zone that we were playing on the backside,
I believe Ya Black would have had a bigger impact
than he already had in this game. He was in
the backfield, he was causing hell for the interior that
a gap does not want to see number seventy eight
(31:31):
in it.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
I can tell you that much. That's great. That is
great to hear.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And you know what, when those starting corners are playing,
you're gonna see a lot more man and you're gonna
see some of those guys getting home, I.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Think, yeah, no, absolutely, I'm a complete agreement. We played
zone almost exclusively because they were an eleven, and once
again playing basic because we don't say vanilla, that's playing
basic defense. Zone is the easiest thing to do. See
how guys communicate and pass things off. But what I
saw from that interior defensive line, I was happy, and
(32:02):
even daniel Aqualay and Logan Lee kind of working in
together as well.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
I was like, man, I was like to have those
kind of three waves of guys.
Speaker 6 (32:10):
Coming in there, You're like, oh, yeah, yeah, this is
this is gonna be nasty when we get in the
regular season, when that Derrick Henry moments, you know, come up,
or you got or you got some really good run
game nausea. When we go out to LA with Omarion Hampton,
I'm like, seventy eight nine to nine. Those are man
children out there and they don't know how strong they
(32:31):
are yet.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
And I'm kind of.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
Happy for that because what they what they don't know,
won't hurt them. What they don't know is actually helping
them glad.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
To hear it.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So the other thing, the other level that we saw,
you know a lot of young guys, was the linebacker
position slash special teams. I'm gonna lump those together secondary.
So you know, there there have been guys and I'm
not trying to exclude some of the other guys you're
(33:00):
trying to make this team. But you know, there's been
a lot of buzz about Sebastian Castro at the safety position.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
You know Jack Sawyer.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Can he come in and be sort of that next
guy who becomes a pass rushing outside linebacker for this year?
There's can Carson Brunner do enough on special teams? Is
a late draft choice to make you make him a
part of your roster. So again, I'm just throwing out
three names there, but maybe those three guys and others
(33:27):
you may have noticed Max during the scrimmage on Saturday. Sorry,
the game on Saturday. The scrimmage is coming up on Thursday.
The game on Saturday.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
All right, how about this.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I'm gonna do half of it now and then the
other half on the other side of it because i
know we're right at forty okay, don't want us to
get that shortened break. So I'm gonna take the outside
linebacker position on that one. So top three guys out
right right, Alex high Smith, TJ. Watt, and Nick herbick Boom.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Does that leave you with?
Speaker 6 (33:55):
That leaves you with Jack Sawyer, Demarvin Leal, Julius Welshoff Rightoa.
Those were the four that got all the lions share.
Jack was in the starting position opposite le Al. In
that moment, I thought there was some there was some
youngness that was that was shown on Jack's side. Youth,
so to speak, kind of overran a couple of them
(34:16):
where he should have redirected and kind of came to
the inside. But I love the aggression. I love the
thread of the edge because it forced flow to.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
The opposite side in the run game. Nice job of
knifing inside a couple of times. A couple of times
he got fooled on the.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Jump cut and went to the outside, allowed for allowed
for a cutback lane. For the most part, he performed
really well for a rookie, and I thought it was
solid to Marvin Leal elephant in big body Guy physical
at the point he definitely turned down a couple of
the counters. He did some really good work of just
absolutely eviscerating the hole and those guys having having to
(34:52):
like try and make a cutback and you know, you
couldn't run front side on him, which.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
I thought was great.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Pass rush got a little bit to to a enamored
or caught up with the with the offensive tackle. Got
blocked a couple of times in the pro, so the
rush wasn't all the way there as you'd like it,
but a solid performance I felt like, very consistent.
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Then Wellshoff Julius had had some nice wiggle. You see.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
He's coming along really well coming back from injury. He's
one of our international exemption guys that I think could
easily be on the you know, be on the practice
squad or actually find a place for himself where he
can be an up and down guy for this team.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Echa liota.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
The things I saw in training camp, things I saw
great effort, NonStop, couple rundowns from the backside on the
run game. I thought he had a really solid game.
So it was really good to see those pieces do
it against others. The things we saw in the practice
field bring them back here and it actually actually looked
good against differing competition.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
What's the next step, what are you gonna do? What's
your follow up? Right?
Speaker 6 (35:55):
I love I love the appetizer but now we're getting
into the second course of this meal.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
What does that look like?
Speaker 4 (36:01):
It is?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
So it is so interesting because you look at this,
like you said to Marvin Lee out athletic, big guy,
trouble staying healthy, but you know you're intrigued there. Julius
Walshoff really really good athlete, you know from Germany. Probably
a little raw, but you see the athletic traits. Echul
Yoda has got, you know, some experience behind him and
some skill. Jack Sawyer first round draft choice. I mean,
(36:26):
you know, when you start to break down all of
these guys again, this is why we talk about the
depth of this roster. I mean there's intrigue for for
all these guys and what they could potentially add to
this team that makes you want to keep them all.
And they're not gonna be able to keep them all.
Uh and and so it's uh, it's fun to not
(36:46):
only look at what they've accomplished, but what they could accomplish.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
For the Steelers and and different uses for each guy.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
How do you know how do they you know that
that that's another fact, right, like how do you value
a guy in that maybe he brings something different to
the table, like a leal gonna be fascinating. We have
much more analysis coming up with Max Stark's about this
game on Saturday against Jacksonville the scrimmage coming up Thursday
(37:13):
against Tampa Bay, whom we continue inside the Locker Room
with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
On the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by FedEx where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
(37:41):
Kalucy Chevrolet, iron Workers Union Number.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Three, by Easy Home Exteriors by.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
SNT Bank, Remax Select Realty, by Tons Appliances, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro shot by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control,
and by us steel.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Welcome back inside the Locker Room with kingon Stars, presented
by your neighborhood Ford Store. Here in the Steelers Audio Network.
As the fans start gathering for the final open practice
at Latrobe Training Camp, ready to close up the Latrobe
five hundred gonna take place tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
As guys get into the car and head out. Media guys, players.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Coaches, front office staff, scouts, all that stuff boom they're
gonna be in the cars and out they go before
the rush and before we come back Thursday, because tomorrow,
with no practice open, there will be no show Thursday.
There we'll be getting you ready for the scrimmage coming
up against Tampa Bay. Some final thoughts as we kind
(38:42):
of you know again, I love this blend where you're
now we have a game to talk about, and it
helps us transition to the next game because of what
we're looking for, especially hear in the preseason trends with guys.
Your thoughts on what you saw from again, you talked
about the outside linebacker position, inside linebacker position, and a
(39:03):
little bit of the secondary. I think in particular, you know,
Carson Brunner's a name that probably interests a lot of
people as a draft choice, and of course the son
of Mark Bruner. And also you know Sebastian Castro, one
of those guys that got a little buzz because word
came out there was a draft grade on him. The
students were able to sign him as a free agent,
much like they got Beanie Bishops as a college free
(39:26):
agent last year, and he wound up playing a big role.
So your thoughts on the inside linebacker position and the
secondary as regards to young guys trying to make a
name for themselves.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
So all right, let's dissect this. Let's go inside linebacker group.
Speaker 6 (39:40):
First, right, we knew Patrick Queen was out, Peyton Wilson
getting the green dot upgrade to be the play caller
instead of Patrick Queen's availability. So now you move up
with Malik Harrison, who's arguably your third lot of experience,
a lot of playtime in this league, also a former Raven.
(40:02):
I thought, you know, Peyton calling it out, the aggressiveness,
the tenacity, yep, kudos.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Boom boom boom.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
Now Malik huge body dues two hundred and sixty pounds
inside backer.
Speaker 5 (40:15):
Not quite Levon Kirkland, but very close.
Speaker 6 (40:19):
He's a big dude that's very aggressive, great at the
point of attack. I thought did some really good things
in the ballgame. You know he's he's a plugger. Now
we move back to that next level, right, this is
the next way.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
This is this is the area where you're jockeying for position.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
By the way, congratulation to Cole hulkom real quick, yes, right.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
Yes, congratulations to him coming back. Gruesome, gruesome year and
a half rehab to get back to this moment, and
I thought that's where it was very apparent when he
came in with Mark Rob and then he had a
little bit of time with Peyton in there, but he
was that second.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Group type of dude, Cole Holkm and Mark Rob.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
Mark Rob is a physical guy at the point, he's
your thumper, he's your E Rob, so to speak, replacement.
I thought, you know, physical, he knows how to trigger
and destroy, and but this is also a guy you
think of in special teams. Cole Holcomb as well. Cole
was everywhere a lot of that stuff in the curl
(41:24):
flat zone, sideline to sideline. He was making plays and
he was the guy that we remember from two years
ago when it was when it was last man standing
in that linebacker room when everybody else got into it
was just E Rob and Cole HOKM. And then Cole
gets the injury that set him back for a year
and a half. It was so awesome to see him
(41:45):
out there, and like I said, I give him a
plus for the recovery coming back and also what he
gave out there.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
It was really cool to see.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
And then we still had more Mark, you know, Carson Brunner,
Mark Bruner's son out there running around him and Devin
Harper were that where that last duo to come in.
Devin Harper of course, got injured in that game, so
he's urs So he's nursing an injury right now as
we speak.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
But Carson, it.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
Wasn't He played solid in the run game, bounced a
little bit, not necessarily as tough in the middle, but
where he made his hay was in special teams totally.
And that's what we're gonna see. He was down, he
was in the mix early often and frequently. So that
was something that I really enjoyed to see. So they
and teyor linebacker group, Man, it's gonna be a it's
gonna be a dogfight because all those guys played really
(42:35):
well at each level. You had somebody that was that.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Was contributing and playing really well, now you know.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
And so I'll let you give your thoughts so that
we'll get into the secondary to round it out real quick.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
No, you keep going, man, I thought Carson, I thought that.
I thought that. I agree. I thought that's Reeksale was
on special teams.
Speaker 5 (42:54):
Yeah, and so now we get to the secondary.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
Obviously top three down right, you got you have Sleigh
Ramsey Porter out insert James Pierre to start the game
out as well as Brandon Eckles. Those are your two
starting corners in that situation. Nickel was Beanie Bishops. So
those are three DB's replacing the top three dbs. Uh,
you saw one. You saw wan Thornhill out there. You
(43:16):
saw Chuck Clark out there. That was what the secondary
looked like.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
Chuck trigger, physicality and just overall sportsmanship.
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Really good, really good, and that wan Thornhill had a
big hit coming down.
Speaker 5 (43:31):
He's gonna be more your center fielder.
Speaker 6 (43:33):
Chuck's probably more of a box guy in those situations,
especially in the in the Nickel format, because I think
Beanie definitely plays attached to the box, but shouldn't be
necessarily in the box a little bit smaller.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
Beanie flashed.
Speaker 6 (43:47):
Beanie, you know, had had some great skill plays where
he had some tight coverages on the slot. I thought
he got I thought he did really good with defending.
He almost had an interception to when I believe was
Nick Mallins tried to throw a low and an inside
to Parker Washington and he was on the coverage. He said,
and I asked him about I said, man, you, I said,
you almost continued your pick legacy. He's like, man, Max,
(44:09):
when I turned around, that ball was on me. He
was like, I couldn't even react to it, and I
had the soft cast on my thumbs, so it's like
I had no way of catching that.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
He's like, but I figured you would have noticed it.
I was like, yep, I saw it.
Speaker 6 (44:21):
But I was like, hey, Pbu's count just as much.
I was like, the guy did not get the ball right,
so you accomplished your job. So I thought he did
a really good job there, a little a little behind
trail and a couple of a couple of plays, but
I felt played played admirably and played in a position
where you're like, Okay, this guy gets it. He understands
the concepts and once again, at the end of the day,
don't let the ball get in the other guy's hands.
(44:43):
Job well done, Brandon Eckles, I thought played fantastic. I
was like, this is why you brought the guy in.
I was like, if this was if this was any
indication about what he could do, you know, defensively as
well as special teams got a really good guy there.
Count him in the slot immediately as an additional dB
James Pierre Special teams as he's probably our only gunner
true gunner on this roster.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
So played well.
Speaker 6 (45:06):
A couple of plays, has given up of course that
was kind of hism o over the last couple of years,
but does not give up, does not does not harbor
any type of long term memory issues and allowing it
to bleed the other plays gets up plays the next play.
Thought he did a solid job where we get into
the question is gonna be Sebastian Castro coming in? I
(45:27):
thought he splashed really well on special teams that had
one big tackle in the punt return game or a
punt coverage game.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (45:35):
I thought that was good.
Speaker 6 (45:36):
But once again, it's tough when you know that you
got a Jalen Ramsey, that there's a safety nickel combo,
corner combo, and you know Miles killer Brew another guy
we know he's a Special teams captain, multiple time Pro
bowler so and he's also a special teams A so
you know you already got those guys there, so it's
really tough to break in there. But I thought Sebastian
Castro made a name for himself in special teams. There's
(45:58):
gonna be something to monitor and watch as well.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
Well.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
Cam McCutcheon got injured, almost had that interception. Thought he
played silent. Kyler McMichael not so much. He had two
plays in a row where he turned down the tackle
on the edge where he was playing a bracket. I
thought he was going to make the play. He did
not turn into bigger plays. So that's one guy's gonna
have to have to make up for his first performance.
Didn't put his best foot forward. Is gonna need to
(46:23):
have a good bounce back this week against Tampa Bay.
Anybody else I'm missing Jamison really good.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
He was cool. And that's the end of the show.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
All right, good, wow, Okay, that's it. Well done.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Encapsulation quickly and thoroughly by Max Starks off tomorrow. We'll
be back Thursday to gets you ready for the scrimmage
against Tampa Bay and also the game against Tampa Bay
on Saturday when we come back inside the Locker Room.
We thank you for joining us for this edition of
the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.
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