January 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Art Rooney II had his end-of-season media session, and the locker room goes over his comments. They are joined by Mike Prisuta to get his thoughts on what Mr. Rooney had to say.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by bet MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wilfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Both of them see themselves as starters, and I don't
know that they want to share the same job again
next year. So you know, it sort of takes to
the tango, and so we'll see where it goes. I
think my preference would probably be to have something more
than a one year in the place, you know, next
time around.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
But we'll see what it takes.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
And of course that's Art Rooney on the quarterback room,
and as he went on for to say, we've got
a whole quarterback room to fill, so jobs are open.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Max.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Interesting, there's a lot of stuff coming up, and what
we're gonna do is we're going to open up. And
then as we move along, we got let's see a
ten forty, We got Mike Pursuda coming on in eleven twenty.
We got the great Bob Labriola, who is you know,
so nice to drop in on the on the locker
room here, and I'm excited to have him. So he's
(01:22):
going to break down some of the comments. We're gonna
break down the comments. We're going to talk about things,
and we get rolling right off the top of the
barrel here. When you talk about the fact that you've
got two quarterbacks that you went into the last season
with and you come out with different opinions of what's
going on, what say you, my friend.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
No, well, I mean I think this is kind of
what was to be expected, right when you get when
you bring in two quarterbacks on one year deals, you know,
and you have one of the cheapest quarterback rooms a
year ago, things are going to change. Especially with performance.
You know, you realize both of them had a hand
and getting to the playoff opportunity and getting us to
(02:04):
ten wins last season. It's natural to think that, hey,
I think I'm ready to be the man here, you know,
for whichever way that that falls. So you know, for me,
I'm like, just make a decision, because I think you
know what you know what the strengths and you know
what the shortcomings.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Are of each of these guys.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
So it's which one do you do you want to
work with, you know which one has the highest potential
of upside between the two. So for me, I look
at this as this was to be expected. This was
par for the course when you bring two guys in,
because you're bringing them in to make a decision on
who's going to be the guy moving forward in the future.
(02:50):
So you had your one year audition. Now it's time
to pony up. And you know, like you said, the
whole room is open for business. Or sorry, mister Rooney said,
the whole room's open for business because all those spots
need to be filled because nobody is under contract.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So you need to get guys under.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Contract before you go into the draft, before you go
into free agency, and have something in place just in
case at worst case scenario, in case something does not
work out in free agency or the draft, you need
to make sure you have a guy in place here,
especially a guy who's already spent a year here in
the system.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So a big decision to be made.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
I mean, I know where I.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Stand with it is that I'm happy to have either
one because I think, you know, both of them have
their merit. I like what Justin brings to the table.
As far as the youth, the legs, the explosiveness.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That he has.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
But realize there is a little bit of a shortcoming
with the touch balls and some of the and some
and some of the more intermediate throws. But with Russ
you have a great touch ball. Some of the decision
making in mobile ability is what you're going to be lacking.
So it's pick your poison on which one, you know,
(04:06):
which negative you.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
You you liked the most, so to speak exactly, you know,
I mean, just as a way of just getting a
little refresher here and Russell Wilson's first seven starts, he
completed sixty five percent of his passes, averaged eight point
four yards per attempt and two hundred and fifty five
yards per game.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
He also threw twelve TD passes and three i nts.
Over his last four games, he completed sixty two percent
we're just going to the end of the season of
his passes and he averaged five point seven yards per attempt.
His total passing yardage per game dropped to one seventy
five with four tds and two i in ts. And uh,
you know, it's interesting because the one thing that really
(04:47):
concerned me that was the attempted yards per yards per
attempt from eight point four down to what was it
five point seven?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Five point seven?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, I mean like, yeah, zooks man, that's a big drop.
That's shrinking the passing game down quite a bit. And
I'm wondering, you know, going from two fifty five to
one seventy five again, how you start to think about
what are the possibilities of what could have occurred besides
(05:19):
the normal you know, defensively, there was some problems and
you know, but I mean when you look at it
from that point, you like going was there a tiered arm?
Was was Russ not you know in the you know,
something was going on that we don't know about with Russ,
you know, or was it just you know, poor performances
going through that five stretch. And that's what they've got to,
(05:43):
you know, make sure that they investigate, understand, get the
metrics out. But everything that we've seen thus far really
kind of points to the fact that you're looking for
a younger, more mobile quarterback, and that of course would
be something that you'd get from Justin Fields.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Yeah, there would be something you get from Justin Uh
and the mobility, I know, the desire to be able
to run the ball is always great.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So you know, is is that the case?
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Is that what we're looking at, you know, is an
opportunity to continue to keep that mobility or is it
something where you know, you want the accuracy at the
passing game? And I think you know, you kind of
laid it out pretty cleanly that, Hey, you know, there
(06:33):
was a significant drop off the longer the season went on.
For whatever reason that may be. That's what they have
to determine. That's something that we're not privy to. You know,
like you said, was a performance of a player, an
entire offense, an injury, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And you know, neither one of us has that answer.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
And I think that that's where we'll kind of wait
to see how this does transpire. I think that will
determine how negotiations go, because you know, they're currently engaged
in contract talks with Russell and I imagine with Justin
as well, So you know which one is going to
be willing to take that bitter pill of truth and
(07:18):
let it correspond you know, financially as well. And are
they happy with that arrangement? You know, I think that's
the other thing, because you have to think also what
weapons are around, what the future is for those weapons.
Also playing those quarterbacks decisions whether they want to stay
or not and take the deals that are that are offered.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Well as well as the case for Rus, the case
for Justin is he started the first six games four
and two, completed sixty six percent on thousand, one hundred
and sixty yards, passing, five tds, one interception, four to
two record. We know all that if you you know,
play that out over season, it's about thirty three hundred yards,
if you know, just take it from the stats and
(07:57):
multiply it out and you've got fifteen tds in three interceptions.
Not exactly you know, Pro Bowl performance, but still, you know,
a considerable upgrade in the sense of the youth of
the man, his ability to run and things are like that,
which is something that you got to put into context.
(08:18):
We've been watching Lamar Jackson how many years now, you know,
and you look at that guy and you see what
he's capable of. You saw that he came in the
league is you know, just a great talent, but it
was a great athlete. Now he's a great quarterback with
great talent or great physical attributes. I should say, you know,
(08:39):
and he's using them in a very positive way and
doing a great job there. It makes you kind of wonder, like, h, well,
is that the blueprint for AFC North quarterbacking. You know,
it's a mobile quarterback that can you know, work the
deep ball, work the short ball, and be able to
just take off and run and be part of the
running game. So it's an interesting thing. And again, you know,
(09:03):
trying to trying to decide how to forge ahead is
going to be It's like last year when we talked
about when we showed up at training camp, right the
first thing that we were talking about was what the
center position. You got to get the center position nailed down,
because until you get that center position nailed down, the
rest of the line is not going to get it.
You know, it's not going to happen. Well, then you
(09:25):
got the Morgantown maler coming in and he took over
and boom, all right, so you got that and the
line starts to fall into place. And this line has
got great upside for the future. I look forward to it.
That's another decision area they had come with. But certainly,
you know, just coming back to this issue right here,
until you get the quarterback room lined up, it's going
(09:47):
to be difficult to move forward.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, and I think that that's what you know, has
to be determined. I imagine that'll also be conversation, right
is you know, what what are we looking like?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Protection wise? What what? What is the plan? That's why
I think.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
It's important to know what that plan is and have
that talk with them about what the vision is for
the future of this team, you know, and how do
you see it constructed? Because you know, like you said,
there will be questions on the offensive line, There'll be
questions in the backfield with running back position, and also
there there will be decisions and you know, pursuit about
(10:26):
how do you craft the the other skill positions at
wide receiver and tight end. You know, what is what
what is your future envision? What do you envision this
offense being Obviously I think they have a good idea
with Arthur Smith, but you know, there's always going to
be questions about you know, because as we look at
you know, things got a little predictable and things were
(10:49):
unsuccessful towards the end of the season where teams kind
of had a beat on them. What are you going
to do to stay up, fresh and original. Now that
they have one year's worth of tape on you, you know,
how do you reinvent yourself?
Speaker 6 (11:02):
That's going to be a big pivotal question.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I think that that's question is not only for the
quarterback position, but just across the board and all those
position groups like we just outlined.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
You know, I wonder what Russ is thinking, you know
what I mean. He's made clear that he would like
to come back to Pittsburgh, and I think that's you know, terrific.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And all else.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
But the fact is to come back and would there
be a real quarterback competition? I don't quite see it
that way, you know that. I think there's got to
be determination one way or the other. You know, right
from the get go, it's just kind of instinctively what
I feel. I think, you know, you've got to make
(11:44):
that decision on whether Russ is he's gonna be what
thirty seven? That's you know, that's that's an elder, a
locker room elder. Okay that is. But would he come
back as.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
A backup then?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And your boy cam, you know, the fact is, you know,
you look at it and go, well, what would he
would he accept a backup?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Role, and I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
I think Russ is still looking for that starter and
you know, the type of position like you had last year.
So I know if this is gonna be, it's a
tough decision. And the quarterback drafting h is not it's
not a great pool this year, is it.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well it's not. It's not a particularly deep pool.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Okay, you know, like you said, yeah, you know there's
Shudor Sanders, cam Ward, Dylan Gabriel. We kind of went
through him. There's a Kate Club, Nick ness Meyer, Garrett
ness Meyer, Jackson.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Dart, that's the guy I was thinking about.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
Yeah, yeah, I mean Will Howard. Okay, So there's enough
one that would be there, Quinn you Wards. So there's
there's a lot of guys. It's just what you want.
And when you talk about the upper echelon guys, there's
not as much depth to the upper echelon guys that
you would think like the first round draftable guys.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
But there's definitely.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Some significant, you know, mid round guys to consider.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And that would be I look at Justin and again
you look at the great thoroughbread that he is, what
he could bring in that area. It's an interesting thing.
That it's it's hard to put aside and say, well,
you know, this could be very similar to the Derrick
Henry and Lamar Jackson type thing. You know, you get
it back, and that's another that's an whole nother, a
(13:44):
whole nother thing issue.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
To bring out here. But again, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
The quarterbacking has got to be something that they've just
got to simply handle. And until they handle it, it's
it's just not going to be You're not going to
move forward at any great speed here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
The thing that's important is I'm glad to hear. It
seems like everything I hear is that Arthur Smith is back.
And I really believe in Arthur Smith. I believe that
he's he's got what you need. I think he's got
the ability also to open up besides just the jumbo
heavies and everything else that he comes with in the
sledgehammer stuff. I think that being able to ingratiate and
(14:24):
pull in Justin Fields into some of his quarterback and
stuff as he did earlier. But what that could have
been towards the end of the year would have been
very interesting to see because I don't think it would
have looked the same.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Yeah, I don't think it would have looked the same either,
you know, And I think that's also why, you know,
it's it's interesting to kind of note that you know,
you do have so you know there are some shortcomings,
(14:56):
but you know, what is the vision, what is the plan?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Is what you kind of have the lean on.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
It has that plan unwaivered from when you first got
hired for this job, or has a scope changed after
getting a year under your belt, after seeing what your personnel,
what your personnel strengths and weaknesses are, and where.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You kind of get better.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
So I think, you know, the biggest thing that this is,
this is a cumulative conversation, right, This isn't an isolated conversation, right,
because all these pieces fit into the puzzle. You know,
it's not just hey man, you know, quarterback is just
its own silo and that that's all we do.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
No quarterback has.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
To be in sync with that offensive coordinator, and the
play calls have to come to the quarterback that are
of strength and of comfort for him. So that conversation
has to be had. But there's only so much you
can do with the strengths of the quarterback. If you
don't have the personnel to back up those strengths.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So you see.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Everything fits together, everything's kind of leveraged off of each other.
So that's where guys have to be very you know,
very conscious about that, you know, And I think that's
why you know, having the end of the season conversations,
the exit meetings, so to speak, Like those conversations matter
on how you view yourself, how you envision this, how
(16:19):
how invigorated you are to come back, what's the excitement level?
And you know, what's the possibilities. And you know, none
of these guys are true rookie, so you can't. You know,
if you ask a rookie, hey, what do you think
we could do better? He has nothing to weigh it
off of, right, But you know, you you ask justin Fields,
he's he's got a previous organization, plus he's got four
(16:42):
years of experienced a way off of Russell Wilson, you know,
two other organizations and over a decade's worth of experience
to weigh off of.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
You know, when you talk to an Isaac Camalu, you
know he has two organized he has another organization, plus
almost a decade himself. So you have guys at stages.
But if you ask Roger Jones, he knows no different.
You know, you might know a little bit because of
the previous coordinator.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You can have some thoughts, but.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
All of these things, like you know, are all cumulative, quantifiable,
you know, data points that you need to have in
order to assess your team and make sure you know
what you're doing moving forward.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
You get an idea for.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
The personality, the appetite for what this guy wants to do,
and gauge it against where you envision yourself to be
at the end. So it's going to be a really
interesting process to look at because I think that's that
that's kind of the magic about creating these rosters and
putting teams together is figuring out what what that what
(17:45):
that right you know, linking piece is to keep everything
on the wheel attached so the wheel can keep on turning.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Well, you know, again looking at Justin, this is one
of the things that you know, it's kind of like
the hidden vigor that I overlooked it, you know, and
they just came up with it. But he was the
third leading rusher with the Steelers. He had two hundred
and ninety almost three hundred yards in six games that
would have been you know, nine hundred or so, just
under a thousand. You're talking about five tds that he
(18:15):
scored with his legs, so you know, on top of
the fifteen tds possible you know through the air, another
fifteen tds on the lef.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You know, that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Being able to make him, have him go more of
the lines of Lamar is something I think that would
be well, it would be great for us, you know,
if we can actually pull that off. But that's again
comes with a little, you know, a little diceiness. It's
kind of like, you know, you're not quite sure where
(18:47):
this would go, you know what I mean. It's it's
kind of and it's intriguing, you know, because you look
at the physical skills of this kid. They are something.
So I don't know, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
We're gonna have a lot of fun coming up because
we also, like I said before, we've got Mike Pursuda
coming up at ten forty and a eleven twenty. We
got Bob Labriolas. So it's all about making some decisions.
(19:11):
And I think I'm gonna decide to go to break
right now. That's the opening there you go, all right,
oh hey Madi, all right, we'll come back after this.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You're listening to the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by Bett MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wolfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Go back to the Ballimore game result aside, What was
your perception of the defense, how it was playing, the
engagement level, the flight in the defense of that game.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
Well, I mean, it wasn't it wasn't good enough. Let's
say that it wasn't good enough, you know. I you know,
I think that you know, we were a team that
was coming off, you know, for four losses in a row,
and you know, we may have had some confidence problems
going into that game.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Uh, I don't know for sure, but you know, it was,
you know, it was a not a great performance and
like I said, hard, hard to overcome that, but you know,
but we will.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Yeah, that was that was the head man, Art Rooney.
Another excerpt from his press conference yesterday, and of course
you heard Mike Consuda, who will be joining us next
so we can kind of expound upon his questions that
he had. But I thought this was a good direction.
I mean, you know, obviously a lot to be made
(21:06):
about the quarterback conversation and topic.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
But at the end of the day, Wolf, we both
know this is.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
A team game.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Complimentary football must be achieved, and so you know, that's
the other side of it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Right. As much as we give, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Credence to the offense and their performance or lack thereof,
defense also plays an important role, and defense wins championships.
So was it a championship caliber defense that we saw
on display and that wildcard round against the Ravens, and
more so, for the better lack of better terms, the
(21:44):
last month of the season, you'd have to say no, right,
I mean you have to. You'd have to give it
a no. As great as the players are and great
as the guys are, and the plays that were made,
they weren't strung together enough. They weren't consistent enough. And
let's face it, a team that can saccurate with the
(22:07):
best of them did not produce sacuration. Yes, huge, And
so that's and that's that's really a difference. You have
to in order to be a good defense, you must
affect the opposing offense.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
You must slow them.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
And you know, we saw one of the We saw
both of the teams that are going to be representing
their respective conferences in this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans.
And I'll be down there next week covering.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
That with live.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Live, live live from the New Orleans Convention Center. It'll
be me, are you going to get any jumbalayah while
you're down there? Well, that's so silly. That's that one
you just cleared the center field that exactly I know
(23:00):
you did. I mean, this is one where you asked.
It's like, it's like, don't ask. If I ask, when
and how much right I will consume?
Speaker 5 (23:09):
And also the dozens upon dozens of chargilled oysters that I.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Will be eating as well.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
I am a little sad because it you know, it
did freeze, so they kind of messed up crawfish seasons,
so I can't really do my f like like I
would nor say that.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
That crawfish thing. I got to tell you that it's.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Mini lobsters, mini lobsters.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I got to tell you the first time I went
down well that you know you I was sitting in
the restaurant and the one was it was eyeballing me.
I'm telling you, just giving me the side eye.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
All right, you got the craw does have eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, yes, and it's it's right in the soup.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
So you got the whole ball and the whole thing
is like it's it's kind of it was I think
a little little soggy.
Speaker 9 (23:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
It wasn't wasn't crunchy or anything like that. Was just
kind of a little and.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
That that's what That's what frozen crawfish tastes like. We
want fresh.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Fresh, you want the crisp little pop I mean, and
you're going for the tail mainly, right, you know what
I'm saying, Like that right.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
That's what.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
So so you always ask for fried crawfish tails or
you know, or you get the crawfish at tu Fe
where it's already de shelled so you don't have to
deal with that like sense of the chowder.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Or I just couldn't get over the thing with the
whiskers in the side eye.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
It was looking at me and I just.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I mean it would just be like somebody say, hey,
can I get the lobster bisk with a whole lobster
in it.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
You know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
That's yeah, yeah, that wasn't good anyhow.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
Yeah, they're they're intimidating looking.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, no, I get you, okay, Because that was the
first time we went to New Orleans, uh and and
we had heard from some other guys where to go
to a restaurant, so touch and eye, and usually we
didn't go out the night before game, but man, we
decided we heard how good it was. And then when
we got there and they brought this bowl out, but
again the mini lobster side iron and you know, whiskering
(24:58):
up there.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
No, I that's why you grab him by the show.
You twist the tail and you suck the tail out
and you discard the body.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Next time, if I ever do that, you know, I'll
have to go with you so that you can.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Yes, you have to go with the season professional myself.
Willie Cologne also a very seasoned crawfish eater. Even though
he's from the Bronx, his his his bride is from Mississippi,
so he he has been learned in the ways of
crawfish eating. Oh yes, yes, yeah, And they had. They
had a heck of a setup at their wedding too.
I mean Willie and I at the reception that the
(25:32):
or the like what's what's the what's the rehearsal dinner.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Rehearsal dinner. Yes, that's the night before the wedding.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Yeah, So so we were We're in Jackson, Mississippi, and
we're down there and like they had this cool setup
because you know, her family had like has like these
two historical buildings down there, and it's huge parking lot.
So they turned this whole parking lot into like a
just a big, a big like reception area. It had
(26:01):
it had tints, It had these crawfish stand up tables.
So the crawfish table is like this big tall barstools
that type table, but there's no barstools and there's a
hole in the middle with the trash bag and you
pour the crawfish boil all around on the table, which
has like lips on it, right, so it keeps it contained.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And you just you just walk up, grab what you.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Want, whether it's crawfish, shrimp, you know, potatoes, corn, whatever, sausage,
and you just boom. You just go to town discard
in the center and Willie and I were tearing it up,
and then a storm came through. Oh no, so a
storm came through and everybody cleared out. Everybody's you know,
inside the building. And I see Willie's still out there,
(26:47):
and he's like, man, no, I like these crawfish. So
you know what am I gonna do. I'm not gonna
leave my brother by himself. So I take my jacket off,
hang it to my hand, it to my wife. I
had a nice outfit on, nice suit, serious sucker.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
And Willie and I.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Continued to eat crawfish into the storm. In the rain,
me and him sitting at the table and uh and
we're just we're just going to town. We're both soaked,
but we're having a good time. You can tell we're
in a happy place. And uh so me and my
brother finished off the table before it just got completely soaked.
I mean, because the good thing is, you know, it's
a boil, right, so everything's already used to.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Being wet and has full of seasoning. So what's a
little rain drop, you know, what's a little rain drop
on that?
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Yeah, so we're both dedicated crawfishers, h crawfisher eaters.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
That's just I just couldn't eat anything that was giving
me the side eye.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I'm just telling you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
What about a cow? What if they brought you cow?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I'm not going to head.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
I'm not going to get a side eye from a cow,
all right, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
But but you might get that tongue out the side.
You know what I'm saying that.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
No, no, no, no no, Because when I go to
have a steak, the steak is there, baby, I mean,
it's right there, boom, That's all you need.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
But what about if it's in a steakhouse where they
have like the heads hanging up, you know what I'm saying,
in the place and like animals, Yeah, I was about
to say, what if that, you know, because there's a
there's like a buffalo head like just staring at you
and you're eating bison me, you know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Or a deer while you're eating venison, you know what
I mean, they're there. There's different ways of enacting it.
I mean, I mean the least likely one is that
I know he's cooked because he's red, you know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
So he so it's not like he's really looking at me.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
His soul has gone to crawfish heaven before it's gotten
to my bowl. You know what I'm saying, Like like
he's he's in whatever muddy river locale in the sky,
you know what I'm saying. So I'm just simply, you know,
appreciating the nourishment that that h that his sacrifice.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
Is giving me.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Got there we go?
Speaker 5 (28:54):
AnyWho, All right, we're gonna step aside. We were supposed
to talk defense and it got into a crawfish convert
But you know, welcome to you that conversation with the
guy who asked the question. When we come back here,
Mike Persuda will be with us live here inside the
locker room after these commercial breaks on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by Bett MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wolfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
We got to play the cream of the crop there.
You know, there's that three game stretch the Christmas Tournament.
If you will you know, we played the best teams
in the league, and obviously we could see we're not there.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Yes, indeed, of course that's Steel's owner Art Ruining the
second discussing in a press conference yesterday, and we're joined
right now. We're happy to have Mike pursued an in house,
actually in house, not on a phone, not in Phoenix,
but in the house right here. And so, Mikey, what
do you think when you hear what Art had to
(30:28):
say there? What goes through your mind?
Speaker 8 (30:31):
He's got the right context for what they're facing. I
can remember that very same press conference a year ago,
and they were coming off an end of a season
when they won three in a row, when they found
a guy in Mason Rudolph who seemingly proved to them
that yeah, you do have the right components on offense,
you just need the guy to activate it and you
can be competitive.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
And then they were.
Speaker 8 (30:53):
Coming off a playoff lost to Buffalo that was a
seven point game in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
And fast forward to the next year.
Speaker 8 (31:01):
You still don't know who your quarterback is going to
be as you did in a year ago, but you
know you lost five in a row and you got
flattened in the playoff game and didn't show up from
a competitive standpoint defensively, at least that's.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
My take on it. So, yeah, work to do.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah, you were absolutely right, And since you were, you know,
one of the chief question askers in there, Mike just
kind of what was the general mood I think, you
know in there outside of you know, the fact that
he's having this press conference a lot sooner than he
I'm sure he would have wanted to.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Yeah, I think understanding of where they are, or to
put it in Pittsburgh East where they are at, because
you know, you got to dangle a preposition if you're
from western Pennsylvania. There wasn't any a whole lot of sugarcoating,
I didn't think. Obviously, people wanted to know why he's
(32:01):
sticking with Mike Tomlin, and I thought he made good
points that you know, he thinks he has a good coach.
He thinks the coach is not the problem, but there
are a lot of other problems. And I'll go back
to that no show performance in Baltimore, particularly from the defense.
I thought it was interesting, guys that I asked Art
specifically about that and he said, well, maybe there was
(32:23):
a lack of confidence because we had lost four in
a row. Usually when Art says, well maybe or perhaps
he's not a Jerry Jones declarative statement, sound bite guy,
but he usually lets you know what he's thinking. And
I have been scratching my head since that game. I
understand they didn't win it, but I didn't see effort.
(32:43):
I didn't see competitiveness from the defense. I'm going way
beyond you know, the relative quality of the personnel or
the soundness of the scheme.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Didn't They didn't compete. You know.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
The interesting thing is, and this is the last coment
on with the three and eleven. You know, it was
just I know some other teams did it, but just
because another team is able to survive it doesn't mean
you're gonna survive it. You know, all it needs is
a nick here and an injury there, and you've got
problems and issues that three. I'm just believed that three.
(33:17):
I've played three games in fourteen days. And I did
that when I was twenty four years old, you know,
in September in December, when you've got some you know,
older guys too, like a cam right, I'm sitting there
going that's a brutal cheese, greater of a run there.
That's really hard to overcome. Now again because some other
teams did it. Okay, you think, well, we should be
(33:39):
able to do well. You would hope to, but not
everybody does. That's just the way the NFL. The life
cycle in the NFL is, you don't know the landscape
from weekend to week out. So just moving along and
playing that game. Hey, Baltimore was building towards it. They
hit that peak. Man, I'm telling you, they had that
running game down and they were doing a great job
(34:00):
of going out there and really using Lamar's legs, Derek's
legs and then whatever else he had to do to
get the job done. And the defense did not play well,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Any thoughts, Yeah, no, I think it's got to be
something like that.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
It's got to be something, you know, mysticals not the
right word, but something intangible. It wasn't just oh your
scheme was wrong for that opponent, or you don't have
good enough players. I think they have really good players
on defense.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
That result does not.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Compute with me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
So it's got to be Art said, lack of confidence,
you know, something between the years. Something was going on
that I think they need to identify. And perhaps it
is as simple as hey, that schedule was just a
horse that can't be road, you know, But they got
to identify why that happened, I think, because to me,
there that's an issue beyond whether you have TJ.
Speaker 6 (34:52):
Watt try to tackle a guy who doesn't have the.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Ball on purpose.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Yeah, well, aside from yeah, the schematics, you know, but
the point being is too an. I'll just jump jump
on this Max to say, again, it's not the three
and eleven days was not the reason. You know, it's
never one thing is not the reason for a five
zero to five collapse like that. But to place the
doubt or whatever, there's no doubt in my mind, no
(35:16):
doubt in my mind that you're going to be wounded.
You're gonna be doubting rather than you know, triggering forward.
You're gonna be having a little self doubt when when
the ball is snapped.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
What say you, Max, Well, I.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Think you're absolutely right, But I think also, you know,
you have to realize, you know, in the midst of
that three three game stretch in eleven days, two of
those teams we played are in the Super Bowl. True,
so you know what I'm saying, So listen the quality
of the opponent as well. I mean, we could talk
about Baltimore, but Baltimore the New York Giants is one
of their teams, and that and that span, right, you know,
(35:51):
not not all games are created equal. And I think
that's the other thing is we literally went through the
teeth of the NFL. We played three of the top
five teams the NFL, and that and that's time span.
As far as offensive production rushing, I mean, you could
talk about it. I mean that's what I think is
kind of overlooked a little bit. Is you know they're like, oh,
(36:13):
well you win on three, but it's like r and
three looks a lot different than another team's one and
two or two and one. Now have we gotten some
of the games like we got in the earlier season.
If we played the Broncos, the Falcons and the Giants
or the Cowboys at.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
That time frame, we would have went three and oh
as well.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's a very point.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
But I guess Max, what bothered me about that playoff
game was I look at the regular season game in Baltimore,
which was part of that three, and I think all right,
don't fumble inside the four yard line and don't throw
the pick six, and you're right there, maybe you win it.
I at no point did I think they were in
danger winning that playoff game.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Yeah no, And I think that that's a great point.
And you I wonder if the wind was already taken
out of the sail because of that game. Maybe, And
now you're pressing towards it, right, because that is in
the back of your mind. Man, we were so close.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Just don't make this mistake, and don't make that mistake.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Play a little bit tighter, right like we did in
the first half, because I thought in the second half
we started showing stuff. But I think the damn had
already broken at that point in the second half when
we actually started opening up the offense. I think we
came out that first half a little too timid, a
little too flat, and a little bit too shy because
we were thinking about that previous game because it was
so recent, which.
Speaker 8 (37:34):
Doesn't that like a Steelers Ravens game. I never thought
shy would enter into it.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
No, by me.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
You look at the first one an Actress shirt, they
win eighteen sixty. What happens, Nick Kurbban comes off on
early in the first series and takes down the raging
Buffalo Derrick Henry in fumbles, you know, and all of
a sudden you've got an inflamed defense coming out going
after it. There was a whole different feeling circumstance at
that point in time. The thing that always gets to
(38:02):
me is the guys that went ten and three are
the same guys that went zero and five, and that's
that's there's something there that they've got. Yeah, it does
not add up. Yeah, no, And I agree. I think
that's kind of where the crux is.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
But I think you hit you hit a point there,
Wolf where you know, you talk about Nick Herbert creating
doubt in their mind right early in that game, and
that led to a domino effect. I think the same
thing can be said about the Steelers. Doubt came into
their mind early and it and it resided longer than
we wanted to, and I think that played into us.
(38:39):
So that's where that mental you know, preparedness has to
come in. You know, this isn't this isn't the rivalry
of old so to speak. You know, back when I
played where it was just like, hey, listen, I'm out
for blood, and that's it. Nothing else matters. It's whoever
gets to one hundred yards rushing first, and whoever's going
(38:59):
to punched the other guy harder in the mouth is
going to be the winner. That's not what this game,
you know, is now. I hate to say that, but
it is morphinesse because you do have a Lamar Jackson
over there on the other side, and he's so elusive
and he's tough to catch, and you don't know how
to how to, how to how to treat him, and
(39:20):
then you get, like you said, the raging buffalo and
Derrick Henry in the backfield with him.
Speaker 6 (39:25):
You know, it's it's like, okay, pick your poison.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Now, I'm just gonna hit the guy that I think
I should hit versus the guy with the ball. And
that's what we did so early in that game, which
was you're right, Mike.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
It was confounding because they had.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Always handled those guys before. So the first time they
played Lamar with Derrick Henry, I don't know why they
overthought it the way they did it was it was
somebody everybody else tackle the guy with the ball.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Yeah, well, and make sure it's not the backside guy.
You know what I'm saying, because that's that's what the
quarterback keeper is job. Make sure it's the front side
guy hitting, hitting the running back, and the backside guy
has to look for the quarterback that might pull the
ball from underneath. That would And that was just my
end zone view as I was sitting there on the
field watching this, and I'm just.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Like, I see the guy with the ball. Why don't
you see the guy with the ball?
Speaker 5 (40:16):
And I'm like, well, technically i'm behind the line of scrimmage,
that's off sides.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
But and he was yelling that while he was eating
a bag of cheetos.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
It was not a bag of cheetos. It was an
uncrustable thank.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
You, thank you.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
The rapper sounds very very similar over radio airwaves or
something that's.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Not no no, no, are you kidding?
Speaker 6 (40:38):
Meeting with no crustering around.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
It's beautiful. The meat of the.
Speaker 6 (40:43):
Bread, you know's a soft part.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
But but I mean, but you're right, I mean there
is something that has and and that has to be
a mental preparedness thing.
Speaker 6 (40:51):
I mean, you know, I would probably.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
Look to the coaches to a degree, but I think
at the end of the day, it's about performance, right.
If you're a player of ILK and you're starting on
that defense, I think you should understand what the rules are.
You know, as far as how to attack the RPO
game right or the double option, you should already have
that down pat And like you said, it's an opponent
you see twice a year, every single year, and I
(41:15):
think that's that's what's really frustrating, because, like you said,
you know, at the end of the day, you've wasted
another year of Cam's career, right, another year gone, He's
another year older by the time it comes game time
next year, TJ another year as well. And I think
you also have to ask how did they minimize your
best weapon and asset on defense so well, because you
(41:38):
know it wasn't injury for TJ and he was trying
to tough through it, or was it a scheme thing
that you just couldn't figure out how to unlock him.
That's the other thing you have to ask, And I'm
gonna say this, make a decision on what type of
team you are defensively identity wise. Are you a three
to four team or are you a four to three
team or are you a four to two Nickel team.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
The indecision, I think.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
Also plays with it because they're two fundamentally different structures.
Speaker 6 (42:08):
And if I'm looking at it.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
One way, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, Wolf,
if I'm looking at this as a three to four
two gap defense, then I have to ask do I
have the right personnel for that? Or if I'm a
three to four defense masquerading to be a four to
three defense or a four to two nickel defense, do
I have the right personnel unless master the personnel to
(42:29):
whatever the philosophy is going to be. I think it's
too varied as well for a lot of the personnel
on the defensive.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Conceptually, my thought was that this was a four to
two groupe.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
I got the nickel.
Speaker 4 (42:41):
I want to play that as much as possible, create
the four guys up front that they can turn loose.
If you can get home with four, then you got
dropped seven. That's that's the way modern NFL defenses operate now.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Seems like a lot of them there exactly right now.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
The thing that you've got to understand and figure out
was how bad was TJ nicked up?
Speaker 3 (42:59):
You know? And was he able to not get off
his mark.
Speaker 6 (43:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (43:05):
He was hitting the hell out of Henry every time.
Jackson was running around the end for twelve yards.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
But I'm talking about the lack of sacks, you know.
And the other thing about it, too is if you
look at a lot of throwing times, there was a
lot of increased action as far as throwing times. Getting
it under two and a half seconds absolutely, I mean
you can't you literally. I have seen bus and let's
pick up where a guy rushes from the edge. I
saw Alex Heismith couldn't get to Lamar Jackson one time
(43:32):
when he blew right past Ronnie Stanley didn't even hardly
touch on it, you know.
Speaker 8 (43:37):
Which brings me my other great I don't know how
to explain this sort of count for this point, and
this was more obvious in the Kansas City game. But
when the ball is coming out quick, how do you
play nine ten eleven yard cushions on the outside. I
get not everybody can play press man, but you can't
give Patrick Mahomes a five yard out every time he
(43:58):
wants it.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
This is a great discussion.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Have the ball for ten minutes in the third chlore,
I gotcha, It's aggravations coming out quick. You gotta get
up in their face telling you he's not gonna beat you.
Speaker 6 (44:09):
Deep.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
We gotta end on that because we got to go
to break. This was a great we just got here.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
We got pasted them into the Who do we got next?
Speaker 6 (44:19):
No, we got labs that till eleven twenty.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
We got one more, we'll do another. We'll be back. Hey,
we're gonna go to break. We gotta come.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Back after this because things just got hot in the
locker room. They're heating up.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Baby. We got Mike Pursuda, Max Starks, and myself right
here with
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Wesley Euler and you're listening to in the locker room
on the Steelers Audio Network
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by bet MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wilfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Both of them see themselves as starters, and I don't
know that they want to share the same job again
next year. So you know, it sort of takes to
the tango, and so we'll see where it goes. I
think my preference would probably be to have something more
than a one year in the place, you know, next
time around.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
But we'll see what it takes.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
And of course that's Art Rooney on the quarterback room,
and as he went on for to say, we've got
a whole quarterback room to fill, so jobs are open.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Max.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Interesting, there's a lot of stuff coming up, and what
we're gonna do is we're going to open up. And
then as we move along, we got let's see a
ten forty, We got Mike Pursuda coming on in eleven twenty.
We got the great Bob Labriola, who is you know,
so nice to drop in on the on the locker
room here, and I'm excited to have him. So he's
(01:22):
going to break down some of the comments. We're gonna
break down the comments. We're going to talk about things,
and we get rolling right off the top of the
barrel here. When you talk about the fact that you've
got two quarterbacks that you went into the last season
with and you come out with different opinions of what's
going on, what say you, my friend.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
No, well, I mean I think this is kind of
what was to be expected, right when you get when
you bring in two quarterbacks on one year deals, you know,
and you have one of the cheapest quarterback rooms a
year ago, things are going to change. Especially with performance.
You know, you realize both of them had a hand
and getting to the playoff opportunity and getting us to
(02:04):
ten wins last season. It's natural to think that, hey,
I think I'm ready to be the man here, you know,
for whichever way that that falls. So you know, for me,
I'm like, just make a decision, because I think you
know what you know what the strengths and you know
what the shortcomings.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Are of each of these guys.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
So it's which one do you do you want to
work with, you know which one has the highest potential
of upside between the two. So for me, I look
at this as this was to be expected. This was
par for the course when you bring two guys in,
because you're bringing them in to make a decision on
who's going to be the guy moving forward in the future.
(02:50):
So you had your one year audition. Now it's time
to pony up. And you know, like you said, the
whole room is open for business. Or sorry, mister Rooney said,
the whole room's open for business because all those spots
need to be filled because nobody is under contract.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So you need to get guys under.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Contract before you go into the draft, before you go
into free agency, and have something in place just in
case at worst case scenario, in case something does not
work out in free agency or the draft, you need
to make sure you have a guy in place here,
especially a guy who's already spent a year here in
the system.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So a big decision to be made.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
I mean, I know where I.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Stand with it is that I'm happy to have either
one because I think, you know, both of them have
their merit. I like what Justin brings to the table.
As far as the youth, the legs, the explosiveness.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That he has.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
But realize there is a little bit of a shortcoming
with the touch balls and some of the and some
and some of the more intermediate throws. But with Russ
you have a great touch ball. Some of the decision
making in mobile ability is what you're going to be lacking.
So it's pick your poison on which one, you know,
(04:06):
which negative you.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
You you liked the most, so to speak exactly, you know,
I mean, just as a way of just getting a
little refresher here and Russell Wilson's first seven starts, he
completed sixty five percent of his passes, averaged eight point
four yards per attempt and two hundred and fifty five
yards per game.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
He also threw twelve TD passes and three i nts.
Over his last four games, he completed sixty two percent
we're just going to the end of the season of
his passes and he averaged five point seven yards per attempt.
His total passing yardage per game dropped to one seventy
five with four tds and two i in ts. And uh,
you know, it's interesting because the one thing that really
(04:47):
concerned me that was the attempted yards per yards per
attempt from eight point four down to what was it
five point seven?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Five point seven?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, I mean like, yeah, zooks man, that's a big drop.
That's shrinking the passing game down quite a bit. And
I'm wondering, you know, going from two fifty five to
one seventy five again, how you start to think about
what are the possibilities of what could have occurred besides
(05:19):
the normal you know, defensively, there was some problems and
you know, but I mean when you look at it
from that point, you like going was there a tiered arm?
Was was Russ not you know in the you know,
something was going on that we don't know about with Russ,
you know, or was it just you know, poor performances
going through that five stretch. And that's what they've got to,
(05:43):
you know, make sure that they investigate, understand, get the
metrics out. But everything that we've seen thus far really
kind of points to the fact that you're looking for
a younger, more mobile quarterback, and that of course would
be something that you'd get from Justin Fields.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Yeah, there would be something you get from Justin Uh
and the mobility, I know, the desire to be able
to run the ball is always great.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So you know, is is that the case?
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Is that what we're looking at, you know, is an
opportunity to continue to keep that mobility or is it
something where you know, you want the accuracy at the
passing game? And I think you know, you kind of
laid it out pretty cleanly that, Hey, you know, there
(06:33):
was a significant drop off the longer the season went on.
For whatever reason that may be. That's what they have
to determine. That's something that we're not privy to. You know,
like you said, was a performance of a player, an
entire offense, an injury, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And you know, neither one of us has that answer.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
And I think that that's where we'll kind of wait
to see how this does transpire. I think that will
determine how negotiations go, because you know, they're currently engaged
in contract talks with Russell and I imagine with Justin
as well, So you know which one is going to
be willing to take that bitter pill of truth and
(07:18):
let it correspond you know, financially as well. And are
they happy with that arrangement? You know, I think that's
the other thing, because you have to think also what
weapons are around, what the future is for those weapons.
Also playing those quarterbacks decisions whether they want to stay
or not and take the deals that are that are offered.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Well as well as the case for Rus, the case
for Justin is he started the first six games four
and two, completed sixty six percent on thousand, one hundred
and sixty yards, passing, five tds, one interception, four to
two record. We know all that if you you know,
play that out over season, it's about thirty three hundred yards,
if you know, just take it from the stats and
(07:57):
multiply it out and you've got fifteen tds in three interceptions.
Not exactly you know, Pro Bowl performance, but still, you know,
a considerable upgrade in the sense of the youth of
the man, his ability to run and things are like that,
which is something that you got to put into context.
(08:18):
We've been watching Lamar Jackson how many years now, you know,
and you look at that guy and you see what
he's capable of. You saw that he came in the
league is you know, just a great talent, but it
was a great athlete. Now he's a great quarterback with
great talent or great physical attributes. I should say, you know,
(08:39):
and he's using them in a very positive way and
doing a great job there. It makes you kind of wonder, like, h, well,
is that the blueprint for AFC North quarterbacking. You know,
it's a mobile quarterback that can you know, work the
deep ball, work the short ball, and be able to
just take off and run and be part of the
running game. So it's an interesting thing. And again, you know,
(09:03):
trying to trying to decide how to forge ahead is
going to be It's like last year when we talked
about when we showed up at training camp, right the
first thing that we were talking about was what the
center position. You got to get the center position nailed down,
because until you get that center position nailed down, the
rest of the line is not going to get it.
You know, it's not going to happen. Well, then you
(09:25):
got the Morgantown maler coming in and he took over
and boom, all right, so you got that and the
line starts to fall into place. And this line has
got great upside for the future. I look forward to it.
That's another decision area they had come with. But certainly,
you know, just coming back to this issue right here,
until you get the quarterback room lined up, it's going
(09:47):
to be difficult to move forward.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, and I think that that's what you know, has
to be determined. I imagine that'll also be conversation, right
is you know, what what are we looking like?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Protection wise? What what? What is the plan? That's why
I think.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
It's important to know what that plan is and have
that talk with them about what the vision is for
the future of this team, you know, and how do
you see it constructed? Because you know, like you said,
there will be questions on the offensive line, There'll be
questions in the backfield with running back position, and also
there there will be decisions and you know, pursuit about
(10:26):
how do you craft the the other skill positions at
wide receiver and tight end. You know, what is what
what is your future envision? What do you envision this
offense being Obviously I think they have a good idea
with Arthur Smith, but you know, there's always going to
be questions about you know, because as we look at
you know, things got a little predictable and things were
(10:49):
unsuccessful towards the end of the season where teams kind
of had a beat on them. What are you going
to do to stay up, fresh and original. Now that
they have one year's worth of tape on you, you know,
how do you reinvent yourself?
Speaker 6 (11:02):
That's going to be a big pivotal question.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I think that that's question is not only for the
quarterback position, but just across the board and all those
position groups like we just outlined.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
You know, I wonder what Russ is thinking, you know
what I mean. He's made clear that he would like
to come back to Pittsburgh, and I think that's you know, terrific.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And all else.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
But the fact is to come back and would there
be a real quarterback competition? I don't quite see it
that way, you know that. I think there's got to
be determination one way or the other. You know, right
from the get go, it's just kind of instinctively what
I feel. I think, you know, you've got to make
(11:44):
that decision on whether Russ is he's gonna be what
thirty seven? That's you know, that's that's an elder, a
locker room elder. Okay that is. But would he come
back as.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
A backup then?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And your boy cam, you know, the fact is, you know,
you look at it and go, well, what would he
would he accept a backup?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Role, and I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
I think Russ is still looking for that starter and
you know, the type of position like you had last year.
So I know if this is gonna be, it's a
tough decision. And the quarterback drafting h is not it's
not a great pool this year, is it.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well it's not. It's not a particularly deep pool.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Okay, you know, like you said, yeah, you know there's
Shudor Sanders, cam Ward, Dylan Gabriel. We kind of went
through him. There's a Kate Club, Nick ness Meyer, Garrett
ness Meyer, Jackson.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Dart, that's the guy I was thinking about.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
Yeah, yeah, I mean Will Howard. Okay, So there's enough
one that would be there, Quinn you Wards. So there's
there's a lot of guys. It's just what you want.
And when you talk about the upper echelon guys, there's
not as much depth to the upper echelon guys that
you would think like the first round draftable guys.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
But there's definitely.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Some significant, you know, mid round guys to consider.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And that would be I look at Justin and again
you look at the great thoroughbread that he is, what
he could bring in that area. It's an interesting thing.
That it's it's hard to put aside and say, well,
you know, this could be very similar to the Derrick
Henry and Lamar Jackson type thing. You know, you get
it back, and that's another that's an whole nother, a
(13:44):
whole nother thing issue.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
To bring out here. But again, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
The quarterbacking has got to be something that they've just
got to simply handle. And until they handle it, it's
it's just not going to be You're not going to
move forward at any great speed here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
The thing that's important is I'm glad to hear. It
seems like everything I hear is that Arthur Smith is back.
And I really believe in Arthur Smith. I believe that
he's he's got what you need. I think he's got
the ability also to open up besides just the jumbo
heavies and everything else that he comes with in the
sledgehammer stuff. I think that being able to ingratiate and
(14:24):
pull in Justin Fields into some of his quarterback and
stuff as he did earlier. But what that could have
been towards the end of the year would have been
very interesting to see because I don't think it would
have looked the same.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Yeah, I don't think it would have looked the same either,
you know, And I think that's also why, you know,
it's it's interesting to kind of note that you know,
you do have so you know there are some shortcomings,
(14:56):
but you know, what is the vision, what is the plan?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Is what you kind of have the lean on.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
It has that plan unwaivered from when you first got
hired for this job, or has a scope changed after
getting a year under your belt, after seeing what your personnel,
what your personnel strengths and weaknesses are, and where.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You kind of get better.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
So I think, you know, the biggest thing that this is,
this is a cumulative conversation, right, This isn't an isolated conversation, right,
because all these pieces fit into the puzzle. You know,
it's not just hey man, you know, quarterback is just
its own silo and that that's all we do.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
No quarterback has.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
To be in sync with that offensive coordinator, and the
play calls have to come to the quarterback that are
of strength and of comfort for him. So that conversation
has to be had. But there's only so much you
can do with the strengths of the quarterback. If you
don't have the personnel to back up those strengths.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So you see.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Everything fits together, everything's kind of leveraged off of each other.
So that's where guys have to be very you know,
very conscious about that, you know, And I think that's
why you know, having the end of the season conversations,
the exit meetings, so to speak, Like those conversations matter
on how you view yourself, how you envision this, how
(16:19):
how invigorated you are to come back, what's the excitement level?
And you know, what's the possibilities. And you know, none
of these guys are true rookie, so you can't. You know,
if you ask a rookie, hey, what do you think
we could do better? He has nothing to weigh it
off of, right, But you know, you you ask justin Fields,
he's he's got a previous organization, plus he's got four
(16:42):
years of experienced a way off of Russell Wilson, you know,
two other organizations and over a decade's worth of experience
to weigh off of.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
You know, when you talk to an Isaac Camalu, you
know he has two organized he has another organization, plus
almost a decade himself. So you have guys at stages.
But if you ask Roger Jones, he knows no different.
You know, you might know a little bit because of
the previous coordinator.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
You can have some thoughts, but.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
All of these things, like you know, are all cumulative, quantifiable,
you know, data points that you need to have in
order to assess your team and make sure you know
what you're doing moving forward.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
You get an idea for.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
The personality, the appetite for what this guy wants to do,
and gauge it against where you envision yourself to be
at the end. So it's going to be a really
interesting process to look at because I think that's that
that's kind of the magic about creating these rosters and
putting teams together is figuring out what what that what
(17:45):
that right you know, linking piece is to keep everything
on the wheel attached so the wheel can keep on turning.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Well, you know, again looking at Justin, this is one
of the things that you know, it's kind of like
the hidden vigor that I overlooked it, you know, and
they just came up with it. But he was the
third leading rusher with the Steelers. He had two hundred
and ninety almost three hundred yards in six games that
would have been you know, nine hundred or so, just
under a thousand. You're talking about five tds that he
(18:15):
scored with his legs, so you know, on top of
the fifteen tds possible you know through the air, another
fifteen tds on the lef.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You know, that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Being able to make him, have him go more of
the lines of Lamar is something I think that would
be well, it would be great for us, you know,
if we can actually pull that off. But that's again
comes with a little, you know, a little diceiness. It's
kind of like, you know, you're not quite sure where
(18:47):
this would go, you know what I mean. It's it's
kind of and it's intriguing, you know, because you look
at the physical skills of this kid. They are something.
So I don't know, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
We're gonna have a lot of fun coming up because
we also, like I said before, we've got Mike Pursuda
coming up at ten forty and a eleven twenty. We
got Bob Labriolas. So it's all about making some decisions.
(19:11):
And I think I'm gonna decide to go to break
right now. That's the opening there you go, all right,
oh hey Madi, all right, we'll come back after this.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You're listening to the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by Bett MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wolfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
Go back to the Ballimore game result aside, What was
your perception of the defense, how it was playing, the
engagement level, the flight in the defense of that game.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
Well, I mean, it wasn't it wasn't good enough. Let's
say that it wasn't good enough, you know. I you know,
I think that you know, we were a team that
was coming off, you know, for four losses in a row,
and you know, we may have had some confidence problems
going into that game.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Uh, I don't know for sure, but you know, it was,
you know, it was a not a great performance and
like I said, hard, hard to overcome that, but you know,
but we will.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Yeah, that was that was the head man, Art Rooney.
Another excerpt from his press conference yesterday, and of course
you heard Mike Consuda, who will be joining us next
so we can kind of expound upon his questions that
he had. But I thought this was a good direction.
I mean, you know, obviously a lot to be made
(21:06):
about the quarterback conversation and topic.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
But at the end of the day, Wolf, we both
know this is.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
A team game.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Complimentary football must be achieved, and so you know, that's
the other side of it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Right. As much as we give, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Credence to the offense and their performance or lack thereof,
defense also plays an important role, and defense wins championships.
So was it a championship caliber defense that we saw
on display and that wildcard round against the Ravens, and
more so, for the better lack of better terms, the
(21:44):
last month of the season, you'd have to say no, right,
I mean you have to. You'd have to give it
a no. As great as the players are and great
as the guys are, and the plays that were made,
they weren't strung together enough. They weren't consistent enough. And
let's face it, a team that can saccurate with the
(22:07):
best of them did not produce sacuration. Yes, huge, And
so that's and that's that's really a difference. You have
to in order to be a good defense, you must
affect the opposing offense.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
You must slow them.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
And you know, we saw one of the We saw
both of the teams that are going to be representing
their respective conferences in this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans.
And I'll be down there next week covering.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
That with live.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Live, live live from the New Orleans Convention Center. It'll
be me, are you going to get any jumbalayah while
you're down there? Well, that's so silly. That's that one
you just cleared the center field that exactly I know
(23:00):
you did. I mean, this is one where you asked.
It's like, it's like, don't ask. If I ask, when
and how much right I will consume?
Speaker 5 (23:09):
And also the dozens upon dozens of chargilled oysters that I.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Will be eating as well.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
I am a little sad because it you know, it
did freeze, so they kind of messed up crawfish seasons,
so I can't really do my f like like I
would nor say that.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
That crawfish thing. I got to tell you that it's.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Mini lobsters, mini lobsters.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I got to tell you the first time I went
down well that you know you I was sitting in
the restaurant and the one was it was eyeballing me.
I'm telling you, just giving me the side eye.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
All right, you got the craw does have eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, yes, and it's it's right in the soup.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
So you got the whole ball and the whole thing
is like it's it's kind of it was I think
a little little soggy.
Speaker 9 (23:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
It wasn't wasn't crunchy or anything like that. Was just
kind of a little and.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
That that's what That's what frozen crawfish tastes like. We
want fresh.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Fresh, you want the crisp little pop I mean, and
you're going for the tail mainly, right, you know what
I'm saying, Like that right.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
That's what.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
So so you always ask for fried crawfish tails or
you know, or you get the crawfish at tu Fe
where it's already de shelled so you don't have to
deal with that like sense of the chowder.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Or I just couldn't get over the thing with the
whiskers in the side eye.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
It was looking at me and I just.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I mean it would just be like somebody say, hey,
can I get the lobster bisk with a whole lobster
in it.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
You know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
That's yeah, yeah, that wasn't good anyhow.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
Yeah, they're they're intimidating looking.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, no, I get you, okay, Because that was the
first time we went to New Orleans, uh and and
we had heard from some other guys where to go
to a restaurant, so touch and eye, and usually we
didn't go out the night before game, but man, we
decided we heard how good it was. And then when
we got there and they brought this bowl out, but
again the mini lobster side iron and you know, whiskering
(24:58):
up there.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
No, I that's why you grab him by the show.
You twist the tail and you suck the tail out
and you discard the body.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Next time, if I ever do that, you know, I'll
have to go with you so that you can.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Yes, you have to go with the season professional myself.
Willie Cologne also a very seasoned crawfish eater. Even though
he's from the Bronx, his his his bride is from Mississippi,
so he he has been learned in the ways of
crawfish eating. Oh yes, yes, yeah, And they had. They
had a heck of a setup at their wedding too.
I mean Willie and I at the reception that the
(25:32):
or the like what's what's the what's the rehearsal dinner.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Rehearsal dinner. Yes, that's the night before the wedding.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Yeah, So so we were We're in Jackson, Mississippi, and
we're down there and like they had this cool setup
because you know, her family had like has like these
two historical buildings down there, and it's huge parking lot.
So they turned this whole parking lot into like a
just a big, a big like reception area. It had
(26:01):
it had tints, It had these crawfish stand up tables.
So the crawfish table is like this big tall barstools
that type table, but there's no barstools and there's a
hole in the middle with the trash bag and you
pour the crawfish boil all around on the table, which
has like lips on it, right, so it keeps it contained.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And you just you just walk up, grab what you.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Want, whether it's crawfish, shrimp, you know, potatoes, corn, whatever, sausage,
and you just boom. You just go to town discard
in the center and Willie and I were tearing it up,
and then a storm came through. Oh no, so a
storm came through and everybody cleared out. Everybody's you know,
inside the building. And I see Willie's still out there,
(26:47):
and he's like, man, no, I like these crawfish. So
you know what am I gonna do. I'm not gonna
leave my brother by himself. So I take my jacket off,
hang it to my hand, it to my wife. I
had a nice outfit on, nice suit, serious sucker.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
And Willie and I.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Continued to eat crawfish into the storm. In the rain,
me and him sitting at the table and uh and
we're just we're just going to town. We're both soaked,
but we're having a good time. You can tell we're
in a happy place. And uh so me and my
brother finished off the table before it just got completely soaked.
I mean, because the good thing is, you know, it's
a boil, right, so everything's already used to.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Being wet and has full of seasoning. So what's a
little rain drop, you know, what's a little rain drop
on that?
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Yeah, so we're both dedicated crawfishers, h crawfisher eaters.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
That's just I just couldn't eat anything that was giving
me the side eye.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I'm just telling you.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
What about a cow? What if they brought you cow?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I'm not going to head.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
I'm not going to get a side eye from a cow,
all right, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
But but you might get that tongue out the side.
You know what I'm saying that.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
No, no, no, no no, Because when I go to
have a steak, the steak is there, baby, I mean,
it's right there, boom, That's all you need.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
But what about if it's in a steakhouse where they
have like the heads hanging up, you know what I'm saying,
in the place and like animals, Yeah, I was about
to say, what if that, you know, because there's a
there's like a buffalo head like just staring at you
and you're eating bison me, you know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Or a deer while you're eating venison, you know what
I mean, they're there. There's different ways of enacting it.
I mean, I mean the least likely one is that
I know he's cooked because he's red, you know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
So he so it's not like he's really looking at me.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
His soul has gone to crawfish heaven before it's gotten
to my bowl. You know what I'm saying, Like like
he's he's in whatever muddy river locale in the sky,
you know what I'm saying. So I'm just simply, you know,
appreciating the nourishment that that h that his sacrifice.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
Is giving me.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Got there we go?
Speaker 5 (28:54):
AnyWho, All right, we're gonna step aside. We were supposed
to talk defense and it got into a crawfish convert
But you know, welcome to you that conversation with the
guy who asked the question. When we come back here,
Mike Persuda will be with us live here inside the
locker room after these commercial breaks on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by acro Sure, the official insurance and
cybersecurity partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, by Bett MGM, Huntington Bank, PNC, PEPSI,
and by FedEx. Where now meets next? Now here's Craig
Wolfley and Max Starks.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
We got to play the cream of the crop there.
You know, there's that three game stretch the Christmas Tournament.
If you will you know, we played the best teams
in the league, and obviously we could see we're not there.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Yes, indeed, of course that's Steel's owner Art Ruining the
second discussing in a press conference yesterday, and we're joined
right now. We're happy to have Mike pursued an in house,
actually in house, not on a phone, not in Phoenix,
but in the house right here. And so, Mikey, what
do you think when you hear what Art had to
(30:28):
say there? What goes through your mind?
Speaker 8 (30:31):
He's got the right context for what they're facing. I
can remember that very same press conference a year ago,
and they were coming off an end of a season
when they won three in a row, when they found
a guy in Mason Rudolph who seemingly proved to them
that yeah, you do have the right components on offense,
you just need the guy to activate it and you
can be competitive.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
And then they were.
Speaker 8 (30:53):
Coming off a playoff lost to Buffalo that was a
seven point game in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
And fast forward to the next year.
Speaker 8 (31:01):
You still don't know who your quarterback is going to
be as you did in a year ago, but you
know you lost five in a row and you got
flattened in the playoff game and didn't show up from
a competitive standpoint defensively, at least that's.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
My take on it. So, yeah, work to do.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Yeah, you were absolutely right, And since you were, you know,
one of the chief question askers in there, Mike just
kind of what was the general mood I think, you
know in there outside of you know, the fact that
he's having this press conference a lot sooner than he
I'm sure he would have wanted to.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Yeah, I think understanding of where they are, or to
put it in Pittsburgh East where they are at, because
you know, you got to dangle a preposition if you're
from western Pennsylvania. There wasn't any a whole lot of sugarcoating,
I didn't think. Obviously, people wanted to know why he's
(32:01):
sticking with Mike Tomlin, and I thought he made good
points that you know, he thinks he has a good coach.
He thinks the coach is not the problem, but there
are a lot of other problems. And I'll go back
to that no show performance in Baltimore, particularly from the defense.
I thought it was interesting, guys that I asked Art
specifically about that and he said, well, maybe there was
(32:23):
a lack of confidence because we had lost four in
a row. Usually when Art says, well maybe or perhaps
he's not a Jerry Jones declarative statement, sound bite guy,
but he usually lets you know what he's thinking. And
I have been scratching my head since that game. I
understand they didn't win it, but I didn't see effort.
(32:43):
I didn't see competitiveness from the defense. I'm going way
beyond you know, the relative quality of the personnel or
the soundness of the scheme.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Didn't They didn't compete. You know.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
The interesting thing is, and this is the last coment
on with the three and eleven. You know, it was
just I know some other teams did it, but just
because another team is able to survive it doesn't mean
you're gonna survive it. You know, all it needs is
a nick here and an injury there, and you've got
problems and issues that three. I'm just believed that three.
(33:17):
I've played three games in fourteen days. And I did
that when I was twenty four years old, you know,
in September in December, when you've got some you know,
older guys too, like a cam right, I'm sitting there
going that's a brutal cheese, greater of a run there.
That's really hard to overcome. Now again because some other
teams did it. Okay, you think, well, we should be
(33:39):
able to do well. You would hope to, but not
everybody does. That's just the way the NFL. The life
cycle in the NFL is, you don't know the landscape
from weekend to week out. So just moving along and
playing that game. Hey, Baltimore was building towards it. They
hit that peak. Man, I'm telling you, they had that
running game down and they were doing a great job
(34:00):
of going out there and really using Lamar's legs, Derek's
legs and then whatever else he had to do to
get the job done. And the defense did not play well,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Any thoughts, Yeah, no, I think it's got to be
something like that.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
It's got to be something, you know, mysticals not the
right word, but something intangible. It wasn't just oh your
scheme was wrong for that opponent, or you don't have
good enough players. I think they have really good players
on defense.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
That result does not.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Compute with me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
So it's got to be Art said, lack of confidence,
you know, something between the years. Something was going on
that I think they need to identify. And perhaps it
is as simple as hey, that schedule was just a
horse that can't be road, you know, But they got
to identify why that happened, I think, because to me,
there that's an issue beyond whether you have TJ.
Speaker 6 (34:52):
Watt try to tackle a guy who doesn't have the.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Ball on purpose.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Yeah, well, aside from yeah, the schematics, you know, but
the point being is too an. I'll just jump jump
on this Max to say, again, it's not the three
and eleven days was not the reason. You know, it's
never one thing is not the reason for a five
zero to five collapse like that. But to place the
doubt or whatever, there's no doubt in my mind, no
(35:16):
doubt in my mind that you're going to be wounded.
You're gonna be doubting rather than you know, triggering forward.
You're gonna be having a little self doubt when when
the ball is snapped.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
What say you, Max, Well, I.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Think you're absolutely right, But I think also, you know,
you have to realize, you know, in the midst of
that three three game stretch in eleven days, two of
those teams we played are in the Super Bowl. True,
so you know what I'm saying, So listen the quality
of the opponent as well. I mean, we could talk
about Baltimore, but Baltimore the New York Giants is one
of their teams, and that and that span, right, you know,
(35:51):
not not all games are created equal. And I think
that's the other thing is we literally went through the
teeth of the NFL. We played three of the top
five teams the NFL, and that and that's time span.
As far as offensive production rushing, I mean, you could
talk about it. I mean that's what I think is
kind of overlooked a little bit. Is you know they're like, oh,
(36:13):
well you win on three, but it's like r and
three looks a lot different than another team's one and
two or two and one. Now have we gotten some
of the games like we got in the earlier season.
If we played the Broncos, the Falcons and the Giants
or the Cowboys at.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
That time frame, we would have went three and oh
as well.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's a very point.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
But I guess Max, what bothered me about that playoff
game was I look at the regular season game in Baltimore,
which was part of that three, and I think all right,
don't fumble inside the four yard line and don't throw
the pick six, and you're right there, maybe you win it.
I at no point did I think they were in
danger winning that playoff game.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Yeah no, And I think that that's a great point.
And you I wonder if the wind was already taken
out of the sail because of that game. Maybe, And
now you're pressing towards it, right, because that is in
the back of your mind. Man, we were so close.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Just don't make this mistake, and don't make that mistake.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Play a little bit tighter, right like we did in
the first half, because I thought in the second half
we started showing stuff. But I think the damn had
already broken at that point in the second half when
we actually started opening up the offense. I think we
came out that first half a little too timid, a
little too flat, and a little bit too shy because
we were thinking about that previous game because it was
so recent, which.
Speaker 8 (37:34):
Doesn't that like a Steelers Ravens game. I never thought
shy would enter into it.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
No, by me.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
You look at the first one an Actress shirt, they
win eighteen sixty. What happens, Nick Kurbban comes off on
early in the first series and takes down the raging
Buffalo Derrick Henry in fumbles, you know, and all of
a sudden you've got an inflamed defense coming out going
after it. There was a whole different feeling circumstance at
that point in time. The thing that always gets to
(38:02):
me is the guys that went ten and three are
the same guys that went zero and five, and that's
that's there's something there that they've got. Yeah, it does
not add up. Yeah, no, And I agree. I think
that's kind of where the crux is.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
But I think you hit you hit a point there,
Wolf where you know, you talk about Nick Herbert creating
doubt in their mind right early in that game, and
that led to a domino effect. I think the same
thing can be said about the Steelers. Doubt came into
their mind early and it and it resided longer than
we wanted to, and I think that played into us.
(38:39):
So that's where that mental you know, preparedness has to
come in. You know, this isn't this isn't the rivalry
of old so to speak. You know, back when I
played where it was just like, hey, listen, I'm out
for blood, and that's it. Nothing else matters. It's whoever
gets to one hundred yards rushing first, and whoever's going
(38:59):
to punched the other guy harder in the mouth is
going to be the winner. That's not what this game,
you know, is now. I hate to say that, but
it is morphinesse because you do have a Lamar Jackson
over there on the other side, and he's so elusive
and he's tough to catch, and you don't know how
to how to, how to how to treat him, and
(39:20):
then you get, like you said, the raging buffalo and
Derrick Henry in the backfield with him.
Speaker 6 (39:25):
You know, it's it's like, okay, pick your poison.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Now, I'm just gonna hit the guy that I think
I should hit versus the guy with the ball. And
that's what we did so early in that game, which
was you're right, Mike.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
It was confounding because they had.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Always handled those guys before. So the first time they
played Lamar with Derrick Henry, I don't know why they
overthought it the way they did it was it was
somebody everybody else tackle the guy with the ball.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Yeah, well, and make sure it's not the backside guy.
You know what I'm saying, because that's that's what the
quarterback keeper is job. Make sure it's the front side
guy hitting, hitting the running back, and the backside guy
has to look for the quarterback that might pull the
ball from underneath. That would And that was just my
end zone view as I was sitting there on the
field watching this, and I'm just.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Like, I see the guy with the ball. Why don't
you see the guy with the ball?
Speaker 5 (40:16):
And I'm like, well, technically i'm behind the line of scrimmage,
that's off sides.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
But and he was yelling that while he was eating
a bag of cheetos.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
It was not a bag of cheetos. It was an
uncrustable thank.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
You, thank you.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
The rapper sounds very very similar over radio airwaves or
something that's.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Not no no, no, are you kidding?
Speaker 6 (40:38):
Meeting with no crustering around.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
It's beautiful. The meat of the.
Speaker 6 (40:43):
Bread, you know's a soft part.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
But but I mean, but you're right, I mean there
is something that has and and that has to be
a mental preparedness thing.
Speaker 6 (40:51):
I mean, you know, I would probably.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
Look to the coaches to a degree, but I think
at the end of the day, it's about performance, right.
If you're a player of ILK and you're starting on
that defense, I think you should understand what the rules are.
You know, as far as how to attack the RPO
game right or the double option, you should already have
that down pat And like you said, it's an opponent
you see twice a year, every single year, and I
(41:15):
think that's that's what's really frustrating, because, like you said,
you know, at the end of the day, you've wasted
another year of Cam's career, right, another year gone, He's
another year older by the time it comes game time
next year, TJ another year as well. And I think
you also have to ask how did they minimize your
best weapon and asset on defense so well, because you
(41:38):
know it wasn't injury for TJ and he was trying
to tough through it, or was it a scheme thing
that you just couldn't figure out how to unlock him.
That's the other thing you have to ask, And I'm
gonna say this, make a decision on what type of
team you are defensively identity wise. Are you a three
to four team or are you a four to three
team or are you a four to two Nickel team.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
The indecision, I think.
Speaker 5 (42:02):
Also plays with it because they're two fundamentally different structures.
Speaker 6 (42:08):
And if I'm looking at it.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
One way, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, Wolf,
if I'm looking at this as a three to four
two gap defense, then I have to ask do I
have the right personnel for that? Or if I'm a
three to four defense masquerading to be a four to
three defense or a four to two nickel defense, do
I have the right personnel unless master the personnel to
(42:29):
whatever the philosophy is going to be. I think it's
too varied as well for a lot of the personnel
on the defensive.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Conceptually, my thought was that this was a four to
two groupe.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
I got the nickel.
Speaker 4 (42:41):
I want to play that as much as possible, create
the four guys up front that they can turn loose.
If you can get home with four, then you got
dropped seven. That's that's the way modern NFL defenses operate now.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Seems like a lot of them there exactly right now.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
The thing that you've got to understand and figure out
was how bad was TJ nicked up?
Speaker 3 (42:59):
You know? And was he able to not get off
his mark.
Speaker 6 (43:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (43:05):
He was hitting the hell out of Henry every time.
Jackson was running around the end for twelve yards.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
But I'm talking about the lack of sacks, you know.
And the other thing about it, too is if you
look at a lot of throwing times, there was a
lot of increased action as far as throwing times. Getting
it under two and a half seconds absolutely, I mean
you can't you literally. I have seen bus and let's
pick up where a guy rushes from the edge. I
saw Alex Heismith couldn't get to Lamar Jackson one time
(43:32):
when he blew right past Ronnie Stanley didn't even hardly
touch on it, you know.
Speaker 8 (43:37):
Which brings me my other great I don't know how
to explain this sort of count for this point, and
this was more obvious in the Kansas City game. But
when the ball is coming out quick, how do you
play nine ten eleven yard cushions on the outside. I
get not everybody can play press man, but you can't
give Patrick Mahomes a five yard out every time he
(43:58):
wants it.
Speaker 3 (43:58):
This is a great discussion.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Have the ball for ten minutes in the third chlore,
I gotcha, It's aggravations coming out quick. You gotta get
up in their face telling you he's not gonna beat you.
Speaker 6 (44:09):
Deep.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
We gotta end on that because we got to go
to break. This was a great we just got here.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
We got pasted them into the Who do we got next?
Speaker 6 (44:19):
No, we got labs that till eleven twenty.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
We got one more, we'll do another. We'll be back. Hey,
we're gonna go to break. We gotta come.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Back after this because things just got hot in the
locker room. They're heating up.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Baby. We got Mike Pursuda, Max Starks, and myself right
here with
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Wesley Euler and you're listening to in the locker room
on the Steelers Audio Network
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