October 8, 2024 • 40 mins
The first Head Coaching change across the NFL happened to the Jets today. Max and Wolf talk about big changes in season and how teams can respond. They also talk about the status of Russell Wilson and what this week might look like for him.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
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
Wolfley and Max Stark's.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
All right, we are live and inside the power hour.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
A dog gone. Didn't pick me up again?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey bing Now it's just this time to be fair.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Wolf had his thumb out, like way late, like this.
The driver was already passed.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I was late.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Come up.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
He heard the ice cream truck coming down the street.
He ran outside with his dollar fifty, but it was
already the next BLOCKO.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I have been that kid crying. I missed the ice
cream truck.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I got my money, come back, come.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Back, come on, I just I just want to bomb pop.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Got it? Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well I can only get popsicles.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
We didn't have that much money, so you know, I
was like, you got your and it's a popsicle, all right?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
What what what flavor were you? Wolf? What flavor?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I always like grape? Grape was just you know.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It just grape is always a solid one.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
It's like it's I can tell the guys. You know,
I'm so old when I came to the NFL. There,
this is how old I am. There was only one
flavor of gatorade. Well now you've got a multitudinal amount
of different flavors, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And I love the.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
All a Corner Copia.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh man, the flavanoids and that is just like outrageous.
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah. Absolutely, But uh, some breaking news there he is, Okay,
what is it there? It is he's still typing.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You got to turn it up.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
From the Steelers Audio Network Breaking news desk, I'm west Euler, gentlemen,
the first coaching casualty of the twenty twenty four NFL
season is upon US Jets head coach, well, former head
coach now Robert Sala has been fired this morning by
the New York j e t s Jets Jets Jets
(02:28):
just moments ago, according to one Adam Schefter Max and Wolf,
I'm Wes Shuler at the Steelers Audio Network Breaking News desk.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But back up, wow, wow, here we are, what.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Five weeks in, five weeks into the season, five weeks
into the Aaron Rodgers era. Officially because a year ago,
right yeah, you only had four snaps. Now we're in here. Oh.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Coordinator jeff Olbrik will work as the interim head coach
the rest of the season. Also, in the twenty five
years that Woody Johnson has owned the Jets Jets, Jets Jets,
he has never fired a coach during the season. This
is the first time in twenty five years for that owner.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Wow, thank you Wesley coming in strong with that. Now
I gotta ask you.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Max, and a deep cut nugget too.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yeah, what are you gonna do the rest of the season?
I mean, you know, I know the you got a
defensive coordinator. Let's face it, you drop a head coach
in the in the first quarter of the season basically
or first third. I don't know, I get my fractions
and my arithmetic are all in mess, but quarter ish Yeah, okay,
good enough?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Right? So what now? Max?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What now? I mean we've seen this a number of
times where the interim coach comes in, Now can you
have it? Like Matt Ruhle, But so I have my
TV on what is it NFL Network? And oh my gosh,
(04:09):
Ron Vera is talking about this. How aproposed originally fired
head coach A two time fired head coach uh Ron
Rivera talking about that, but they showed an interesting clip
and this is what I think, I think leads to
some contention. Remember when Robert Salad tried to give Aaron
Rodgers a hug after a touchdown drive.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yes, yes, yes, and the two.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Hands on his chest looking away frostare, Yeah, it's just
a drive. We got more work to do. I think
that that is definitely one of those moments where you
look back and you wonder, could that have been it?
Could that have been the moment that it said, oh
(04:57):
my goodness, this is this is it? It? So so I'm
just wondering, if you know this is this was that
moment where Aaron Rodgers and Woody Johnson we're talking And
do I want to say it's a specific player that
causes these type of things, Well, it's You's tough to
(05:20):
refute it once is an accident, twice as a habit.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Right there, You go, okay, yeah, we're on the same page.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Now, yeah, two organizations and he's had to deal with
two sets, you know, two different head coaches in those organizations.
Mike McCarthy in Green Bay, which which which led to
a firing and a rehiring. And then now you're really
(05:49):
in your first year of the Aaron Rodgers era at
the Jets, because last year was all of four plays
and you couldn't really shake up anything else because all
that money that you spent on Aaron Rodgers went right
down the toilet four plays into the season. And now
you're sitting at well, we've now had him for five
(06:10):
games and we're two and three, and things look bleak,
to say the least with the team right now, and
you have to wonder if it's if it's the personnel
and not necessarily the coach in these types of moments.
And you know, I am, I am not ecstatic about
(06:31):
the way that this happened, but I'm not surprised because
when you look at the games that they've had Wolf
oh it is it has been well. You know, the
thirty two nineteen game was was week one, and Aaron
Rodgers looked just out of source to not look good.
You get the victory against the Titans, and the Titans are,
(06:53):
you know, going through their own change obviously brand new
head coach, brand new system, brand new personnel. They're a
team there trying to figure out who their quarterback is.
You beat the Patriots convincingly twenty four to three. Right,
I mean, the Patriots had a miracle win against Cincinnati,
but nobody expects the Patriots to be a good team
this year. And then that Broncos game where you can't
(07:17):
find the end zone. The defense for the Broncos is
just absolutely whipping you know, Aaron Rodgers around. And now
you get to a very tough loss against the Vikings,
and now is the moment. But now you're going into
the Bills next week with an interim head coach, and
(07:38):
then of course they come to US for Sunday night football.
There's a lot of primetime football for the Jets coming up.
They got a Monday nighter followed by the Sunday night
er against US in consecutive weeks. And you don't have
your full time head coach. You got the interim title
on your DC and I guess because defense is the
(08:00):
only thing that seems to be looking somewhat decent, even
though like you said, I mean, they've given up, they've
given up some points, you know, and the you know,
in the first couple of weeks and then kind of
have have rounded back into shape. But man, that I
I you know, I think about how bad our game
was Sunday night, but I am happy that on Tuesday.
(08:23):
Right now, as we as we're talking on these airways,
we are not having to deal with something like that,
something crazy in this moment.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
So wow, you know, here's the thing. And when you
boil it down to you got Mike McCarthy and Green Bay.
Aaron got him dislodged right now. It happens here in
New York. You got to figure Okay, like you said,
one okay, but two now something's going on. Now where
do you go? I mean, if you've handed over the
(08:54):
control of the team to a guy named Aaron Rodgers,
I don't know. I'm thinking you're You're not in a
good position. You know, I'd like to know. I wonder
what guys who played with him say about him. You know,
I don't know. I've not had any experience with him.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hasn't been much, Yeah, has been much?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah? I just see, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I mean, I hate to be critical of somebody that
I had, you know, I haven't met personally. I don't
know how he deals with people, you know what I mean,
And so I don't like to, you know, just kind
of superimpose my thoughts on something like that. But by golly,
I mean, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire, you know.
And I just look at that and I think, you know,
(09:36):
you're not in a good position when you've got a
quarterback who's making personnel decisions, basically.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Is what it sounds like.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I don't know, Yeah, yeah, I mean, listen, the mystique
is one thing, but I mean for Robert sal I mean,
this was something that I'm sure was eventually going to
happen if things did not turn around drastically. And I
don't think they like the direction because Robert Salad ends
his tenure with the Jets going twenty and thirty six,
(10:08):
so you know, sixteen games off the mark. You can
cut it in half and say eight games from being
five hundred in his time. But this is the NFL,
and this is one of the things that you know,
Robert Salad do I think he was the right guy
(10:30):
for the Jets job. I think in the beginning I
thought he was. But you know, it just goes to
show you this is a quarterback driven league, and then
the quarterback drives the bus. And when you don't have him,
or you believe you have him, he's not being used properly.
You know, this is one of those things that can
be had, and you know it. Yeah, it's a frustrating thing.
(10:55):
It's a frustrating thing to see that. But you know what,
and the words of Mike Tom people people people are
people are glad you have the problems and not them, right,
you know, they rather rather be you than me. And uh,
you know, you can't sulk about it. You can't. You
can't sit there and and cry over spilled milk. You
gotta go get a napkin and clean it up at
(11:15):
the end of the day. And the Jets are gonna
have to go clean it up and hopefully they clean
it up in three weeks from now, because we'll see
them in two weeks. We'll if you see that. Figure
it out good, yeah, you know, I'll just figure it out,
you know, hey, listen, listen, week week seven is a
good time, you know, week eight, you know, aftermath, I
(11:37):
guess I should say week eight, not week seven. I
don't need you figuring it out. Week seven, week eight,
perfect time, perfect time to figure this out. But but yeah,
so things are going on west of us, and we're
not going to complain about it. We're just gonna we
acknowledge it, we see it for what it is, and
you know, from this point forward. Oh well, oh well, anyways,
(12:01):
back back back to our issues. Yes, and don't forget
that the Mike Tomlin Press conference will be coming live
after this broadcast. We'll have coach Tomlin live comments on
the game, and then of course turning the page and
moving forward to get ready to take on the Raiders,
(12:21):
the Raiders in Las Vegas. So you definitely wolf, don't leave,
don't seek comfort, don't go take a nap.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
You know, that's something I'm getting better at, you know,
understanding my role on Tuesdays, what I got to get done.
And by the way, and mentioning that one of the
things I'm gonna do is I'm gonna be at Riverstone
Books tonight Forbes Avenue up in squirrel Heel seven to
eight with Jim Wexel. Yeah, Wednesday. Wex is gonna be
(12:54):
Tuesday night at Riverstone Books. So come out and join us.
We're doing a he's doing a book signing. I'm there
to like, I think there's some like like cookies and stuff.
So I'm gonna like hang out, you know, because I'm
always attracted by some of the consumption of uh huh,
a little little footage. You know that we're gonna be
there and so, uh come on out. This is a
(13:14):
great book that WEX has got.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
It's about the timeline history of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So Illustrated History Illustrate.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yes, yes, is that? Yes, you got the title right.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The Illustrated History of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
There you go, Illustrated History of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So
tonight from seven to eight Riverstone books Forbes Avenue and
Squirrel Hill, WEX and I will be there, so come
out and join us. So there just throwing that out there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Look at that. Look at that little p s A
for WEX Wednesday, and you'll be able to give great
insight when it is WEX Wednesday tomorrow when we have
Jim wexlon, because you'll be able to WEX poetic about it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I did that was sweet?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Not oh my gosh. All right, Well, hey, we're gonna
step aside and we'll be back with more here inside
the locker room when we come back on the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
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 3 (14:55):
Oh yeah, you know going into last week. I think
it was. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
For the last week's game, nearly three hundred players in
the NFL were on reserve lists with injuries. Approximately one
hundred and thirty six were eligible to return after missing
four games from injured reserve or after start of training
camp or non football injury related. Thirty were on the pup,
one hundred and twelve on the IR or non football
(15:21):
injury that can't return, and eight on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Injured.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
A lot of injuries in the NFL, and as they
say that, the injury rate basically is one hundred percent,
meaning you will get injured at some point in time
if you played long enough. Now the problem is it's
it's gone to our edge rushers. We lose Alex Heismith,
we lose Nick Herbig, you know, then we lose to
Marvin Leale. You know where last year we had we
(15:47):
had a parent of spare and then we get a
run on the inside linebackers. It's now spread. The infection
has now spread to the outside linebackers.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Max kad zooks, what are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Entered tours? You know, wolf, that's kind of been the
theme here. And then also you know, ah, defensive side
is the running backs are the other victims. But what
we will we will tune into the outside backers. I mean,
you get Jeremiah Moon off the off, the off, the
(16:19):
short term, I are.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Jeremiah under a blood red moon.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, yes, Jeremiah under a blood red You and your
phrase is that that? So? Uh? Is it? So? You
would say you b r.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
M, b r M, what's that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Under? Yeah? I was out. I was trying. I was
trying to shorten it with an acronym as I was
like walking my way through it, trying to figure out.
So yeah, no, so we so we get him back
and then he's right into action, right. You know, normally
you get a little warm up into it and you
(17:05):
figure it out and there's like no, no, no time
better than now. Uh, let's just say dive in. Tinto's
in with this, and you know it's one of those things,
it's it's tough because you know, in those critical moments
you're talking about, the pass rush kind of went away
during the game. It was because we were losing guys
(17:26):
left and right at the outside backer position opposite TJ.
And so you know, once once Nick Herbig went down,
you're like, okay, now a little bit more attention goes
to TJ, at to Barbard Lee al I thought was
was was was filling in admirably, and because he's a
part timer that can flex positions, right then he goes
(17:48):
out with a stinger and then now you're left with
it's just Jeremiah Moon and so. And the way that
the Cowboys played our team, you know, the nickel packages
we had in there, you know, it essentially became TJ.
And then like Isaiah Louder Milk was in there the
other end on the outside type of guy.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Milk did some good work too.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah he did. I mean he grew up. Yeah, yeah,
he got in, got the got the big mid on
on on the air. I could I can. I could
appreciate that. As a fellow field goal blocker myself.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Uh hey, you know I was on the extra point
rush went or field goal rush at one time.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know that oh you did.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Yeah, except I was not given the luxury of going
after the ball. I was just supposed to blow up
the center.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Hey hey, hey, hey, that is a big role Wolf
because you're creating the hole for somebody. It's just like
it's just like a two track, except for you're not pulling.
You're just wedging the hole there.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
And was back in the day you could line up
and just let the center have it, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, you could line up, you could cover the center.
Can't do that now, because you know it's the Craig
Wolfly rule. They knew I was right, Yeah, exactly. They
knew you were really excellent, like really really good.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Hitting a defenseless center on.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Us exactly while his head still underneath between his legs,
he's looking trying to help him into the pretzel stretch.
That's all it was.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
He's from down Under. I mean, he's like Australia man.
And then you hit the defenseless center. Oh you're really
good at that. Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, exactly. Put that on your job qualification. I like
to hit defense of the people in my free time.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Like the defenseless people who have their head down below
their knees looking at the holder.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Oh yeah, it's like and preferably when they wear glasses,
it makes it even better.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Oh man, that's fun. Oh oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
But yeah, but but I mean, you know, that's just
kind of where we were. It was kind of that
recovery the next man up only can go so many
men up. You know, said before You're like, Okay, has
anybody played outsideline? Has anybody rushed before? You know, because
I'm like, I'm like, where where else were you going
to go with it? I would have thought that, you know,
(20:10):
the next viable option might have been Peyton Wilson off
the edge. That might have been your net. I think
that was the very last last resort because of you know,
Peyton Wilson when he when it was at NC State.
You know, he made his living as a as as
a will linebacker, and so he would he would have
he would always blitz and rush the edge. So that
(20:33):
was one of the things that made him really valuable
and lucrative was his ability to be able to blitz.
And so I think that probably would have been the
next logical step. If we were any more bodies on
the outside, you probably would have saw forty one slip
out to that side and provide some pass rush. But
I mean, yeah, it is a rash of injuries, and
(20:54):
now you're scouring to see who's available, what can who
can you get in there to help because he said
you don't know the status. Will hopefully get a clearer
update from Mike Tomlin during his press conference today, you know,
on the health of Nick Herbig. It did not look
good like that the weight he was he was not
(21:15):
really weight bearing at all. So that's kind of like
where we stand with that. And then you know, you
know how you know, where's Alex and his recovery journey
as well? But yeah, I mean where's Kyen Johnson was?
I mean that's probably the next logical question, where's Kyen Johnson? Ye,
(21:40):
so maybe you're gonna have to kick the tires there
and bring him back up. And yeah, and then of
course Julius Westchoff, you know, is still on i R.
So he I don't think we'll have his services available. Yeah,
now you're deep, you're digging deep into the bag here,
deep into the bag to get some healthy until we
can get out his heighsmith back.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, that would appear to be So hopefully Jeremiah
Moon has got a lot of reps in him.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
The guy looks good. I mean he you know, that's
a big.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Tall yeah, tall, he's lame a lot of range, you know.
But like you said, well you throw him in some
NFL live action, you know, after being on the couch,
so to speak, or you know, in the cooler. You know,
it was tough a couple of times. You know, he
kind of lost his footing trying to figure out his footing.
But like you said, once he gets into rhythm of
(22:34):
the game, I think he can he can be serviceable
and he can give us something because I mean, he
does some good things in the preseason off the edge,
pressuring quarterbacks and getting to him. Had a couple of
sacks in the preseason. So maybe he's a guy that
can kind of surprise and wow and like I said,
get you through this stretch until we get out of
(22:55):
his Heismith back.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
That's exactly so, you know, I mean, we're we're there
and we need you need bodies. And Jeremiah looked he
just looked good in the off season just watching him,
you know, move.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You just haven't had a chance to really see what
he can do.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
So I think he's going to have that opportunity here
as we wait for that, and also as you talked
about the running back room, that's got to be restocked
a little bit as well.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, uh restock. You know, Cordero Patterson and Jalen Warren
or are on ice right now. Neither went to the
i R, which is a good sign, right right. But
the problem is when you deal with muscular injuries, it's
just they're tough things because I mean, you know, for Jalen,
it kind of just went up compartmentally, right, I Mean
(23:43):
it went from the ankle, which was the start of
that to now you're in like the calf hamstring region
of it from you know, and and you know one
thing I you know you noticed is he's such a
hard cutter, which also makes him so good, right is
that for Jalen? I mean he's such a hard cutter.
(24:04):
That's just a lot of torque force on an injured joint,
you know what I'm saying, especially that ankle. So you know,
you want to make sure he makes a full recovery,
not necessarily a speedy recovery when he comes back, because
I think that's the big moment. You've got to make
sure that you're doing all this necessary in those moments.
(24:26):
So you know, Jonathan Ward, Aaron Shamplin, you've been called
up guys. I mean guys that we saw great flashes
and burst during the preseason from them, so we know
they had the skill set in them. But like you said,
does it translate into the regular season. Jonathan Ward had
a couple of good rushes when pressed into action on
Sunday night Monday morning, and you know, and Champlain gives
(24:50):
you special teams prowess as well as so he gives
you the core for special teams capability. And he's a
guy that he's a hard runner. So you know they're
gonna have to tow the line as well until we
get you know, eighty four and thirty back. We're gonna
be waiting for those two to come back because I
think they'll benefit greatly from the scheme that we're running
(25:11):
right now. But just you know, you got to put
your head down and trench forward, right.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Wolf, Yes, you do.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
There's no doubt about it, because look, there's no crying
in football, and there's no waiting on somebody riding in
from the east to save you. It's all about the
guys in the locker room. That that's who's got to
answer the bell, you know. I mean it again, it's
cleaning up the details, and you know the next man
up thing is you got to go with that mantra
simply because look, there's nowhere else to go, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
I mean, it's not like you can it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Like baseball where you trade for a guy you can
just put them in the lineup, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
You know, it's just it's not that way. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
It's a lot more difficult in the NFL, certainly when
you look at some of the edge rushers you go
around the league. If there's a good edge rusher out there,
he's already on somebody's squad, you know, the top fifty three.
It's not like it's that George Young, the old GM
of the New York Giants, who said used to say,
(26:11):
you know, it's the planet theory. There's only so many
people walking around on this planet that can do that.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You know. So that's a problem, no doubt about it.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
But it's something that you've got to you know, the
Steelers have had this in the past, and something you've
got to be able to overcome and get the job done.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I certainly. You know.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
The one thing about it, I was kind of a
fixed to that, the thing where nearly three hundred players
in the NFL were on these injured reserve lists. I
was thinking, kid zookes, that's a lot of bodies. That's
a lot of guys. Yeah, nicked up and stowed away, you.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, it is. I mean, and and here's the thing.
This is not unique to just the Steelers right right.
The irs across the league is chocked full of great
players that cannot return the season or that are on
the longer term. I are a couple on the short term,
(27:07):
and there are teams around this league waiting for their
guys to also get back healthy. So not a unique situation.
It's just funny, how you know. With the Steelers, you know,
it's been spread and one position we'd have not talked
about wolf the Steelers offensive line I are is getting
hefty too.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
That's right, You're right about that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Man, James Daniel, the newest edition, Troy Fatanu also on
that list already, Nick Nate Herbig. So, I mean, you know,
three guys we're expecting a lot from this season that
will not be available their services will not be available.
You know, wh when you're talking about the depth of
an offensive line to go eight deep like we did
(27:51):
going into the season, that depth has been tested. I mean,
you know, think about the addition of Max Sharping last
week from the Washington practice squad, Anderson the week before that,
right you know, and you still had Ryan McCollum. But
I mean, we're going into the depths of guys who
did not play in training camp with us that we're
having to call in and reinforce in those moments because
(28:15):
right now you're sitting at you know, really six guys
that you're using to cover everything in Spencer Anderson. You know,
people look at as a demotion, but I look at
it as you know, he's an insurance policy. He's a
safety blanket if any other position goes down, he's back
in there. I think it was important to get him
reps at the beginning as a starter, but as you
(28:38):
see Amalo's injury. But then, like you said, that's why
you brought in Mason McCormick to play an interior guard position.
That's why he's now in for James Daniels and Spencer.
You got the rest, Bud, You got the rest cover
every position from here on out. He is the first
guy off the bench. He's a jumbo tight end. So
(28:59):
you know there's a lot of responsibly is falling on
Spencer Anderson's shoulders to be ready from from week to week.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Absolutely, and you know what a young man's equal to it,
you know, watching him play wherever they put him, he
gets pretty good results. Got a lot of respect for
his game. And I'll tell you another young guy, Mason McCormick.
Oh man, you know we've talked about him since training
camp and so forth, and just watched what he did.
And I enjoy watching this young man play. Gives a
(29:25):
lot of effort. He's a snap to whistle guy, one
of those guys that really does a nice job of
making sure that you know he's going to agitate you
in every way possible if you're on the defense.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, I watch him, Zach Frasier, the old Morgan town Muller,
and I get a kick out of it. Man, It
just it takes me back to my youth in younger days.
You know when I went out when Tounch and I played,
and it was very similar and the agitation fact of that.
(29:59):
And he's watching these guys enjoy it. You know, only
offensive lineman probably enjoy watching other offensive linemen agitate and
and do the things that we do to get under
the skin of the defensive line, because you know, the
defensive linemen are in the same way looking to agitate back.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's it's a tremendous dichotomy that exists in the blood
sport that is the trenches.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Right, But wow, it's fun. And I salute these young guys.
They're going they're working hard. All right, the results we're
gonna it's gonna improve, they're gonna get better, you know,
but they are, they're busting their humps to play.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I will say that, yeah exactly. I mean that's kind
of the thing that we're looking at is, you know,
you call somebody dirt bag, and it's an endearing phrase
for an offensive lineman, and you know what he's you know,
and I don't think he's necessarily a dirt bag. I
(30:55):
think he's more like a sand bag, because you know,
when sand gets gets like in your your in your
toes and your shoe, you know, it's just it's, yeah,
it agitates you. And he is a constant agitator. He
knows how to get under your skin. He wants to
get He wants the last shove, he wants the last push,
the last touch, and he and he wants to look
(31:16):
in your eyes the entire time while he's doing it.
I mean, it's it's he's he's he's on bully status.
He's a junior bully and and you love that for
your offensivene because that creates a tenacity and a certain
identity for your squad of toughness. And he's not going
to back down. And neither neither is Zach Frazier. You
know that. And the worst part is Mason talks a
(31:38):
little bit. Zach doesn't talk. No, that didn't talk. He's
a lot like Mike Webster in that area. He don't
talk a lot. He just stares at you. He stares
at you awkwardly.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
He stares at you, and it's like he's getting your
number and knowing, Okay, he's going to deliver a little
frontier justice at some point.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Exactly you have you have to that he was. He
was probably looking his chops like I'm gonna get Mozzie Smith.
I'm gonna get Mozzie Smith. I mean, listen, he listen.
He pissed linn Vall Joseph off early in the game,
and lin Vaal grabbed his face mask. Yeah, so that's
a sign of honor when you're frustrating the vet who's
quote unquote seen it all and he and he's having
(32:20):
reactions that cost his team unless you know you're doing
a good job. But you're doing a good job. Gold
Star can't can't knock it, can't knock it. So we
are gonna go. We take a break. Now, we got
the we got the bell lap coming up. I was
all like bobulated there. I got all excited thinking about.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
All the offensive line placed you know when Lynn Bell Jeff,
I forgot about that when when Linval grabs your face mask.
First of all, the amazing thing is I've just heard
from a number of people that have played against Linvall
how strong that man is.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
People don't realize, you know, they're strong, and there's just
really strong. Guys have told me this guy is like
really really strong, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
What I mean.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
And it's not a weightlifter strength only it's the fact
he's very powerful, just naturally, like you know that farmer's strength,
not that he's a farmer or nothing. But you know, naturally,
some guys are just stronger than others. And people tell me,
this guy here, when he snatches your face mask, just
make sure that he doesn't pull it off.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Just buckle the chin strap tough because
they're coming at it.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
But oh yeah, you might want to triple dip that
chin strap.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Man.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Make sure that all the duct tape, whatever you need
to hold it on, it's held on.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Okay, we're gonna take a break.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
When you come back, we've got Max wrapping up the
show here on the bell ap.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
All here in the Locker Room Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by akra Shure, 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 Stark's.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All right, we are in the bell Lap and yes
it is early lunch Morning system, and yes it gave
Wolf and I a particular foraging time. Yesterday, Wolf, we
had a blast at Caliente. Yesterday was with the with
the Wolf Clan yes, I did not realize how fast
(34:50):
food can go, you know when you put you and
I with also formidable foodies such as CJ. And of
course Hannah, Oh definitely yeah, she was, she was, she was,
she was locked in ready to go and esther. And
of course the good lady Faith. You know, we all
(35:11):
had a had a nice dining experience at Calientes, so
we appreciate the hospitality. Yeah, Porky's revenge on the on
the deep square pizza deep dish square style rectangular, I
guess not square rectangular style was delish. It went really quickly,
and then we tried and then we tried the Brooklyn
(35:33):
in your face? Was that what was called fai man? Yeah,
I mean it was, it was, it was. It was
truly a folder. It was a folder pizza. Uh you
know that's where you had to fold the slice. They
stretched the dough thin and you just kind of you
give you have to put you have to put that
index finger and bring your thumb and your middle finger
together and bow, you know, take a little take a little,
(35:56):
take a little side bite and uh delicious to win
went quick. We had that cool runnings wing. Oh that interesting.
I've not had cool run yet. So it was Jamaican
jerk rub with a ranch with like a ranch spice
in there, and it was it was glorious. I mean
those went quick.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
The only the only bummer about it was we had
to get back to tape the uh point after yesterday,
so we couldn't we couldn't expand to some other pizzas
eyeballing the Detroit Pizza right.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Oh yeah, Detroit Style. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
Oh, I wanted to have at that, or then the
legendary mem where you got the five day.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
You know crust. Yes, yes, see you're reading the menus
too exactly. Yeah, listen, I read them better than I
read an instruction, man, I can tell you that much.
Oh yeah, there was. I was diving it. I was like,
my first time here. I want to take full advantage
of all of this. This looks delicious. And then the
grand Pre pizza look good too, I mean Wowser's Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
Yeah, there's just a whole bunch of stuff and Grandma's.
I gotta try the Grandma Special because there's there's some
honey on that too, oh.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
The hot honey. Yeah. So here here's what it is, wolf.
I mean, we do have a couple of just a
couple more night games.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Yeah, you know, I think I think it's in our future, buddy, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, I mean we might be a reach pea because
you know we do. We still have to go to
sushi bomb again. True, true, but yeah that is true.
But you know, so much food, so a little time
we will get there. We're gonna get there. We're gonna
we're going to get there. But no, like you said, uh,
you know, we have the Mike Tomlin press conference, a
lot of questions to be answered. You have to imagine
(37:43):
that the quarterback question is going to come up, right,
just because I'm sure the fervor is getting a little
bit louder. So, you know, Mike Tomlin's decision on who
is going to prep or who's going to prepare as
though there are arder as Mike Tomlin would say, I
think it's a big question, you know, whether it is
(38:05):
Justin or whether it will be Russell. It's gonna be
a hot topic there along with the injury status situation
of players. People are gonna be listening intently for that
because like you said, you know, it's funny, you know,
the best of days going into week four and now
we're talking about the worst of days going into week
(38:27):
six if you look at all the headlines and still
nothing to see here, Because like I said, you win,
you maintain the lead in the division, and at the
end of the day, that's what it's about. That's what
puts you in the best position to be successful this season.
(38:49):
And you know, it's a week by week basis. It's
a rolling it's a it's a rolling finish line, you
know what I'm saying, Like if he's moving. The one
thing we do know the time gets shorter the further
we progress into the season. And that that's what I'm
sure Mike Tomlin has spent countless hours, you know, talking
about this, looking at the different angles, the opportunities, you know,
(39:12):
the shortcomings, and you know I trusted Mike Tomlin his
decision making in this process. But you know there are
always going to be questions when it doesn't look good,
it doesn't look as as rosy as they say. But
I go back to a phrase that Bill Cower said Wolf,
(39:33):
and you know this always sticks with me no matter
what adversity I'm facing. He says, You're never as good
as you think you are. You're never as bad as
they say.
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Right, there's no doubt about it, you know what I mean.
And so it's one of those colloquial never mind, I
was going to use a fancy word.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
But yeah, there you go. Ideaisms escape me there, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, it's all you're never is furthermore, sometimes almost never
hark ye.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Oh yeah lost indeed, that's it. But you know, the
big thing.
Speaker 5 (40:15):
Is all the answers, as Chuck Nole used to tell us,
all the answers to all the questions you guys have
are to be found within the four walls of the
locker room.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely words to live by, and we
are going to listen to some of those answers. We're
not going to ask for the sausage to be made,
but we are going to listen to the overview and
Mike Tonand will be up next here with with the
Steelers press conference. So make sure you listen in, stay
tuned here on SNR and Steelers Audio Network. He's Craig
(40:46):
wolf Ley on Max Stark's West Euler Ones and twos,
CJ Chief Gremlin Hunter and the Sinsey Brian Lamartine bring
us on the airwaves. Everybody, go make it a great day.
We'll be back tomorrow.
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
Wolfley and Max Stark's.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
All right, we are live and inside the power hour.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
A dog gone. Didn't pick me up again?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey bing Now it's just this time to be fair.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Wolf had his thumb out, like way late, like this.
The driver was already passed.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I was late.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Come up.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
He heard the ice cream truck coming down the street.
He ran outside with his dollar fifty, but it was
already the next BLOCKO.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I have been that kid crying. I missed the ice
cream truck.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I got my money, come back, come.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Back, come on, I just I just want to bomb pop.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Got it? Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well I can only get popsicles.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
We didn't have that much money, so you know, I
was like, you got your and it's a popsicle, all right?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
What what what flavor were you? Wolf? What flavor?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I always like grape? Grape was just you know.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It just grape is always a solid one.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
It's like it's I can tell the guys. You know,
I'm so old when I came to the NFL. There,
this is how old I am. There was only one
flavor of gatorade. Well now you've got a multitudinal amount
of different flavors, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And I love the.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
All a Corner Copia.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh man, the flavanoids and that is just like outrageous.
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah. Absolutely, But uh, some breaking news there he is, Okay,
what is it there? It is he's still typing.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You got to turn it up.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
From the Steelers Audio Network Breaking news desk, I'm west Euler, gentlemen,
the first coaching casualty of the twenty twenty four NFL
season is upon US Jets head coach, well, former head
coach now Robert Sala has been fired this morning by
the New York j e t s Jets Jets Jets
(02:28):
just moments ago, according to one Adam Schefter Max and Wolf,
I'm Wes Shuler at the Steelers Audio Network Breaking News desk.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But back up, wow, wow, here we are, what.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Five weeks in, five weeks into the season, five weeks
into the Aaron Rodgers era. Officially because a year ago,
right yeah, you only had four snaps. Now we're in here. Oh.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Coordinator jeff Olbrik will work as the interim head coach
the rest of the season. Also, in the twenty five
years that Woody Johnson has owned the Jets Jets, Jets Jets,
he has never fired a coach during the season. This
is the first time in twenty five years for that owner.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Wow, thank you Wesley coming in strong with that. Now
I gotta ask you.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Max, and a deep cut nugget too.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yeah, what are you gonna do the rest of the season?
I mean, you know, I know the you got a
defensive coordinator. Let's face it, you drop a head coach
in the in the first quarter of the season basically
or first third. I don't know, I get my fractions
and my arithmetic are all in mess, but quarter ish Yeah, okay,
good enough?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Right? So what now? Max?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What now? I mean we've seen this a number of
times where the interim coach comes in, Now can you
have it? Like Matt Ruhle, But so I have my
TV on what is it NFL Network? And oh my gosh,
(04:09):
Ron Vera is talking about this. How aproposed originally fired
head coach A two time fired head coach uh Ron
Rivera talking about that, but they showed an interesting clip
and this is what I think, I think leads to
some contention. Remember when Robert Salad tried to give Aaron
Rodgers a hug after a touchdown drive.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yes, yes, yes, and the two.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Hands on his chest looking away frostare, Yeah, it's just
a drive. We got more work to do. I think
that that is definitely one of those moments where you
look back and you wonder, could that have been it?
Could that have been the moment that it said, oh
(04:57):
my goodness, this is this is it? It? So so I'm
just wondering, if you know this is this was that
moment where Aaron Rodgers and Woody Johnson we're talking And
do I want to say it's a specific player that
causes these type of things, Well, it's You's tough to
(05:20):
refute it once is an accident, twice as a habit.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Right there, You go, okay, yeah, we're on the same page.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Now, yeah, two organizations and he's had to deal with
two sets, you know, two different head coaches in those organizations.
Mike McCarthy in Green Bay, which which which led to
a firing and a rehiring. And then now you're really
(05:49):
in your first year of the Aaron Rodgers era at
the Jets, because last year was all of four plays
and you couldn't really shake up anything else because all
that money that you spent on Aaron Rodgers went right
down the toilet four plays into the season. And now
you're sitting at well, we've now had him for five
(06:10):
games and we're two and three, and things look bleak,
to say the least with the team right now, and
you have to wonder if it's if it's the personnel
and not necessarily the coach in these types of moments.
And you know, I am, I am not ecstatic about
(06:31):
the way that this happened, but I'm not surprised because
when you look at the games that they've had Wolf
oh it is it has been well. You know, the
thirty two nineteen game was was week one, and Aaron
Rodgers looked just out of source to not look good.
You get the victory against the Titans, and the Titans are,
(06:53):
you know, going through their own change obviously brand new
head coach, brand new system, brand new personnel. They're a
team there trying to figure out who their quarterback is.
You beat the Patriots convincingly twenty four to three. Right,
I mean, the Patriots had a miracle win against Cincinnati,
but nobody expects the Patriots to be a good team
this year. And then that Broncos game where you can't
(07:17):
find the end zone. The defense for the Broncos is
just absolutely whipping you know, Aaron Rodgers around. And now
you get to a very tough loss against the Vikings,
and now is the moment. But now you're going into
the Bills next week with an interim head coach, and
(07:38):
then of course they come to US for Sunday night football.
There's a lot of primetime football for the Jets coming up.
They got a Monday nighter followed by the Sunday night
er against US in consecutive weeks. And you don't have
your full time head coach. You got the interim title
on your DC and I guess because defense is the
(08:00):
only thing that seems to be looking somewhat decent, even
though like you said, I mean, they've given up, they've
given up some points, you know, and the you know,
in the first couple of weeks and then kind of
have have rounded back into shape. But man, that I
I you know, I think about how bad our game
was Sunday night, but I am happy that on Tuesday.
(08:23):
Right now, as we as we're talking on these airways,
we are not having to deal with something like that,
something crazy in this moment.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
So wow, you know, here's the thing. And when you
boil it down to you got Mike McCarthy and Green Bay.
Aaron got him dislodged right now. It happens here in
New York. You got to figure Okay, like you said,
one okay, but two now something's going on. Now where
do you go? I mean, if you've handed over the
(08:54):
control of the team to a guy named Aaron Rodgers,
I don't know. I'm thinking you're You're not in a
good position. You know, I'd like to know. I wonder
what guys who played with him say about him. You know,
I don't know. I've not had any experience with him.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hasn't been much, Yeah, has been much?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah? I just see, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I mean, I hate to be critical of somebody that
I had, you know, I haven't met personally. I don't
know how he deals with people, you know what I mean,
And so I don't like to, you know, just kind
of superimpose my thoughts on something like that. But by golly,
I mean, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire, you know.
And I just look at that and I think, you know,
(09:36):
you're not in a good position when you've got a
quarterback who's making personnel decisions, basically.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Is what it sounds like.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I don't know, Yeah, yeah, I mean, listen, the mystique
is one thing, but I mean for Robert sal I mean,
this was something that I'm sure was eventually going to
happen if things did not turn around drastically. And I
don't think they like the direction because Robert Salad ends
his tenure with the Jets going twenty and thirty six,
(10:08):
so you know, sixteen games off the mark. You can
cut it in half and say eight games from being
five hundred in his time. But this is the NFL,
and this is one of the things that you know,
Robert Salad do I think he was the right guy
(10:30):
for the Jets job. I think in the beginning I
thought he was. But you know, it just goes to
show you this is a quarterback driven league, and then
the quarterback drives the bus. And when you don't have him,
or you believe you have him, he's not being used properly.
You know, this is one of those things that can
be had, and you know it. Yeah, it's a frustrating thing.
(10:55):
It's a frustrating thing to see that. But you know what,
and the words of Mike Tom people people people are
people are glad you have the problems and not them, right,
you know, they rather rather be you than me. And uh,
you know, you can't sulk about it. You can't. You
can't sit there and and cry over spilled milk. You
gotta go get a napkin and clean it up at
(11:15):
the end of the day. And the Jets are gonna
have to go clean it up and hopefully they clean
it up in three weeks from now, because we'll see
them in two weeks. We'll if you see that. Figure
it out good, yeah, you know, I'll just figure it out,
you know, hey, listen, listen, week week seven is a
good time, you know, week eight, you know, aftermath, I
(11:37):
guess I should say week eight, not week seven. I
don't need you figuring it out. Week seven, week eight,
perfect time, perfect time to figure this out. But but yeah,
so things are going on west of us, and we're
not going to complain about it. We're just gonna we
acknowledge it, we see it for what it is, and
you know, from this point forward. Oh well, oh well, anyways,
(12:01):
back back back to our issues. Yes, and don't forget
that the Mike Tomlin Press conference will be coming live
after this broadcast. We'll have coach Tomlin live comments on
the game, and then of course turning the page and
moving forward to get ready to take on the Raiders,
(12:21):
the Raiders in Las Vegas. So you definitely wolf, don't leave,
don't seek comfort, don't go take a nap.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
You know, that's something I'm getting better at, you know,
understanding my role on Tuesdays, what I got to get done.
And by the way, and mentioning that one of the
things I'm gonna do is I'm gonna be at Riverstone
Books tonight Forbes Avenue up in squirrel Heel seven to
eight with Jim Wexel. Yeah, Wednesday. Wex is gonna be
(12:54):
Tuesday night at Riverstone Books. So come out and join us.
We're doing a he's doing a book signing. I'm there
to like, I think there's some like like cookies and stuff.
So I'm gonna like hang out, you know, because I'm
always attracted by some of the consumption of uh huh,
a little little footage. You know that we're gonna be
there and so, uh come on out. This is a
(13:14):
great book that WEX has got.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
It's about the timeline history of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So Illustrated History Illustrate.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yes, yes, is that? Yes, you got the title right.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The Illustrated History of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
There you go, Illustrated History of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So
tonight from seven to eight Riverstone books Forbes Avenue and
Squirrel Hill, WEX and I will be there, so come
out and join us. So there just throwing that out there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Look at that. Look at that little p s A
for WEX Wednesday, and you'll be able to give great
insight when it is WEX Wednesday tomorrow when we have
Jim wexlon, because you'll be able to WEX poetic about it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I did that was sweet?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Not oh my gosh. All right, Well, hey, we're gonna
step aside and we'll be back with more here inside
the locker room when we come back on the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
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 3 (14:55):
Oh yeah, you know going into last week. I think
it was. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
For the last week's game, nearly three hundred players in
the NFL were on reserve lists with injuries. Approximately one
hundred and thirty six were eligible to return after missing
four games from injured reserve or after start of training
camp or non football injury related. Thirty were on the pup,
one hundred and twelve on the IR or non football
(15:21):
injury that can't return, and eight on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Injured.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
A lot of injuries in the NFL, and as they
say that, the injury rate basically is one hundred percent,
meaning you will get injured at some point in time
if you played long enough. Now the problem is it's
it's gone to our edge rushers. We lose Alex Heismith,
we lose Nick Herbig, you know, then we lose to
Marvin Leale. You know where last year we had we
(15:47):
had a parent of spare and then we get a
run on the inside linebackers. It's now spread. The infection
has now spread to the outside linebackers.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Max kad zooks, what are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Entered tours? You know, wolf, that's kind of been the
theme here. And then also you know, ah, defensive side
is the running backs are the other victims. But what
we will we will tune into the outside backers. I mean,
you get Jeremiah Moon off the off, the off, the
(16:19):
short term, I are.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Jeremiah under a blood red moon.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, yes, Jeremiah under a blood red You and your
phrase is that that? So? Uh? Is it? So? You
would say you b r.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
M, b r M, what's that.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Under? Yeah? I was out. I was trying. I was
trying to shorten it with an acronym as I was
like walking my way through it, trying to figure out.
So yeah, no, so we so we get him back
and then he's right into action, right. You know, normally
you get a little warm up into it and you
(17:05):
figure it out and there's like no, no, no time
better than now. Uh, let's just say dive in. Tinto's
in with this, and you know it's one of those things,
it's it's tough because you know, in those critical moments
you're talking about, the pass rush kind of went away
during the game. It was because we were losing guys
(17:26):
left and right at the outside backer position opposite TJ.
And so you know, once once Nick Herbig went down,
you're like, okay, now a little bit more attention goes
to TJ, at to Barbard Lee al I thought was
was was was filling in admirably, and because he's a
part timer that can flex positions, right then he goes
(17:48):
out with a stinger and then now you're left with
it's just Jeremiah Moon and so. And the way that
the Cowboys played our team, you know, the nickel packages
we had in there, you know, it essentially became TJ.
And then like Isaiah Louder Milk was in there the
other end on the outside type of guy.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Milk did some good work too.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah he did. I mean he grew up. Yeah, yeah,
he got in, got the got the big mid on
on on the air. I could I can. I could
appreciate that. As a fellow field goal blocker myself.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Uh hey, you know I was on the extra point
rush went or field goal rush at one time.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know that oh you did.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Yeah, except I was not given the luxury of going
after the ball. I was just supposed to blow up
the center.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Hey hey, hey, hey, that is a big role Wolf
because you're creating the hole for somebody. It's just like
it's just like a two track, except for you're not pulling.
You're just wedging the hole there.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
And was back in the day you could line up
and just let the center have it, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Yeah, you could line up, you could cover the center.
Can't do that now, because you know it's the Craig
Wolfly rule. They knew I was right, Yeah, exactly. They
knew you were really excellent, like really really good.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Hitting a defenseless center on.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Us exactly while his head still underneath between his legs,
he's looking trying to help him into the pretzel stretch.
That's all it was.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
He's from down Under. I mean, he's like Australia man.
And then you hit the defenseless center. Oh you're really
good at that. Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, exactly. Put that on your job qualification. I like
to hit defense of the people in my free time.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Like the defenseless people who have their head down below
their knees looking at the holder.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Oh yeah, it's like and preferably when they wear glasses,
it makes it even better.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Oh man, that's fun. Oh oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
But yeah, but but I mean, you know, that's just
kind of where we were. It was kind of that
recovery the next man up only can go so many
men up. You know, said before You're like, Okay, has
anybody played outsideline? Has anybody rushed before? You know, because
I'm like, I'm like, where where else were you going
to go with it? I would have thought that, you know,
(20:10):
the next viable option might have been Peyton Wilson off
the edge. That might have been your net. I think
that was the very last last resort because of you know,
Peyton Wilson when he when it was at NC State.
You know, he made his living as a as as
a will linebacker, and so he would he would have
he would always blitz and rush the edge. So that
(20:33):
was one of the things that made him really valuable
and lucrative was his ability to be able to blitz.
And so I think that probably would have been the
next logical step. If we were any more bodies on
the outside, you probably would have saw forty one slip
out to that side and provide some pass rush. But
I mean, yeah, it is a rash of injuries, and
(20:54):
now you're scouring to see who's available, what can who
can you get in there to help because he said
you don't know the status. Will hopefully get a clearer
update from Mike Tomlin during his press conference today, you know,
on the health of Nick Herbig. It did not look
good like that the weight he was he was not
(21:15):
really weight bearing at all. So that's kind of like
where we stand with that. And then you know, you
know how you know, where's Alex and his recovery journey
as well? But yeah, I mean where's Kyen Johnson was?
I mean that's probably the next logical question, where's Kyen Johnson? Ye,
(21:40):
so maybe you're gonna have to kick the tires there
and bring him back up. And yeah, and then of
course Julius Westchoff, you know, is still on i R.
So he I don't think we'll have his services available. Yeah,
now you're deep, you're digging deep into the bag here,
deep into the bag to get some healthy until we
can get out his heighsmith back.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, that would appear to be So hopefully Jeremiah
Moon has got a lot of reps in him.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
The guy looks good. I mean he you know, that's
a big.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Tall yeah, tall, he's lame a lot of range, you know.
But like you said, well you throw him in some
NFL live action, you know, after being on the couch,
so to speak, or you know, in the cooler. You know,
it was tough a couple of times. You know, he
kind of lost his footing trying to figure out his footing.
But like you said, once he gets into rhythm of
(22:34):
the game, I think he can he can be serviceable
and he can give us something because I mean, he
does some good things in the preseason off the edge,
pressuring quarterbacks and getting to him. Had a couple of
sacks in the preseason. So maybe he's a guy that
can kind of surprise and wow and like I said,
get you through this stretch until we get out of
(22:55):
his Heismith back.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
That's exactly so, you know, I mean, we're we're there
and we need you need bodies. And Jeremiah looked he
just looked good in the off season just watching him,
you know, move.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You just haven't had a chance to really see what
he can do.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
So I think he's going to have that opportunity here
as we wait for that, and also as you talked
about the running back room, that's got to be restocked
a little bit as well.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, uh restock. You know, Cordero Patterson and Jalen Warren
or are on ice right now. Neither went to the
i R, which is a good sign, right right. But
the problem is when you deal with muscular injuries, it's
just they're tough things because I mean, you know, for Jalen,
it kind of just went up compartmentally, right, I Mean
(23:43):
it went from the ankle, which was the start of
that to now you're in like the calf hamstring region
of it from you know, and and you know one
thing I you know you noticed is he's such a
hard cutter, which also makes him so good, right is
that for Jalen? I mean he's such a hard cutter.
(24:04):
That's just a lot of torque force on an injured joint,
you know what I'm saying, especially that ankle. So you know,
you want to make sure he makes a full recovery,
not necessarily a speedy recovery when he comes back, because
I think that's the big moment. You've got to make
sure that you're doing all this necessary in those moments.
(24:26):
So you know, Jonathan Ward, Aaron Shamplin, you've been called
up guys. I mean guys that we saw great flashes
and burst during the preseason from them, so we know
they had the skill set in them. But like you said,
does it translate into the regular season. Jonathan Ward had
a couple of good rushes when pressed into action on
Sunday night Monday morning, and you know, and Champlain gives
(24:50):
you special teams prowess as well as so he gives
you the core for special teams capability. And he's a
guy that he's a hard runner. So you know they're
gonna have to tow the line as well until we
get you know, eighty four and thirty back. We're gonna
be waiting for those two to come back because I
think they'll benefit greatly from the scheme that we're running
(25:11):
right now. But just you know, you got to put
your head down and trench forward, right.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Wolf, Yes, you do.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
There's no doubt about it, because look, there's no crying
in football, and there's no waiting on somebody riding in
from the east to save you. It's all about the
guys in the locker room. That that's who's got to
answer the bell, you know. I mean it again, it's
cleaning up the details, and you know the next man
up thing is you got to go with that mantra
simply because look, there's nowhere else to go, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
I mean, it's not like you can it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Like baseball where you trade for a guy you can
just put them in the lineup, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
You know, it's just it's not that way. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
It's a lot more difficult in the NFL, certainly when
you look at some of the edge rushers you go
around the league. If there's a good edge rusher out there,
he's already on somebody's squad, you know, the top fifty three.
It's not like it's that George Young, the old GM
of the New York Giants, who said used to say,
(26:11):
you know, it's the planet theory. There's only so many
people walking around on this planet that can do that.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You know. So that's a problem, no doubt about it.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
But it's something that you've got to you know, the
Steelers have had this in the past, and something you've
got to be able to overcome and get the job done.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I certainly. You know.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
The one thing about it, I was kind of a
fixed to that, the thing where nearly three hundred players
in the NFL were on these injured reserve lists. I
was thinking, kid zookes, that's a lot of bodies. That's
a lot of guys. Yeah, nicked up and stowed away, you.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, it is. I mean, and and here's the thing.
This is not unique to just the Steelers right right.
The irs across the league is chocked full of great
players that cannot return the season or that are on
the longer term. I are a couple on the short term,
(27:07):
and there are teams around this league waiting for their
guys to also get back healthy. So not a unique situation.
It's just funny, how you know. With the Steelers, you know,
it's been spread and one position we'd have not talked
about wolf the Steelers offensive line I are is getting
hefty too.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
That's right, You're right about that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Man, James Daniel, the newest edition, Troy Fatanu also on
that list already, Nick Nate Herbig. So, I mean, you know,
three guys we're expecting a lot from this season that
will not be available their services will not be available.
You know, wh when you're talking about the depth of
an offensive line to go eight deep like we did
(27:51):
going into the season, that depth has been tested. I mean,
you know, think about the addition of Max Sharping last
week from the Washington practice squad, Anderson the week before that,
right you know, and you still had Ryan McCollum. But
I mean, we're going into the depths of guys who
did not play in training camp with us that we're
having to call in and reinforce in those moments because
(28:15):
right now you're sitting at you know, really six guys
that you're using to cover everything in Spencer Anderson. You know,
people look at as a demotion, but I look at
it as you know, he's an insurance policy. He's a
safety blanket if any other position goes down, he's back
in there. I think it was important to get him
reps at the beginning as a starter, but as you
(28:38):
see Amalo's injury. But then, like you said, that's why
you brought in Mason McCormick to play an interior guard position.
That's why he's now in for James Daniels and Spencer.
You got the rest, Bud, You got the rest cover
every position from here on out. He is the first
guy off the bench. He's a jumbo tight end. So
(28:59):
you know there's a lot of responsibly is falling on
Spencer Anderson's shoulders to be ready from from week to week.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Absolutely, and you know what a young man's equal to it,
you know, watching him play wherever they put him, he
gets pretty good results. Got a lot of respect for
his game. And I'll tell you another young guy, Mason McCormick.
Oh man, you know we've talked about him since training
camp and so forth, and just watched what he did.
And I enjoy watching this young man play. Gives a
(29:25):
lot of effort. He's a snap to whistle guy, one
of those guys that really does a nice job of
making sure that you know he's going to agitate you
in every way possible if you're on the defense.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, I watch him, Zach Frasier, the old Morgan town Muller,
and I get a kick out of it. Man, It
just it takes me back to my youth in younger days.
You know when I went out when Tounch and I played,
and it was very similar and the agitation fact of that.
(29:59):
And he's watching these guys enjoy it. You know, only
offensive lineman probably enjoy watching other offensive linemen agitate and
and do the things that we do to get under
the skin of the defensive line, because you know, the
defensive linemen are in the same way looking to agitate back.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's it's a tremendous dichotomy that exists in the blood
sport that is the trenches.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Right, But wow, it's fun. And I salute these young guys.
They're going they're working hard. All right, the results we're
gonna it's gonna improve, they're gonna get better, you know,
but they are, they're busting their humps to play.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I will say that, yeah exactly. I mean that's kind
of the thing that we're looking at is, you know,
you call somebody dirt bag, and it's an endearing phrase
for an offensive lineman, and you know what he's you know,
and I don't think he's necessarily a dirt bag. I
(30:55):
think he's more like a sand bag, because you know,
when sand gets gets like in your your in your
toes and your shoe, you know, it's just it's, yeah,
it agitates you. And he is a constant agitator. He
knows how to get under your skin. He wants to
get He wants the last shove, he wants the last push,
the last touch, and he and he wants to look
(31:16):
in your eyes the entire time while he's doing it.
I mean, it's it's he's he's he's on bully status.
He's a junior bully and and you love that for
your offensivene because that creates a tenacity and a certain
identity for your squad of toughness. And he's not going
to back down. And neither neither is Zach Frazier. You
know that. And the worst part is Mason talks a
(31:38):
little bit. Zach doesn't talk. No, that didn't talk. He's
a lot like Mike Webster in that area. He don't
talk a lot. He just stares at you. He stares
at you awkwardly.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
He stares at you, and it's like he's getting your
number and knowing, Okay, he's going to deliver a little
frontier justice at some point.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Exactly you have you have to that he was. He
was probably looking his chops like I'm gonna get Mozzie Smith.
I'm gonna get Mozzie Smith. I mean, listen, he listen.
He pissed linn Vall Joseph off early in the game,
and lin Vaal grabbed his face mask. Yeah, so that's
a sign of honor when you're frustrating the vet who's
quote unquote seen it all and he and he's having
(32:20):
reactions that cost his team unless you know you're doing
a good job. But you're doing a good job. Gold
Star can't can't knock it, can't knock it. So we
are gonna go. We take a break. Now, we got
the we got the bell lap coming up. I was
all like bobulated there. I got all excited thinking about.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
All the offensive line placed you know when Lynn Bell Jeff,
I forgot about that when when Linval grabs your face mask.
First of all, the amazing thing is I've just heard
from a number of people that have played against Linvall
how strong that man is.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Now.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
People don't realize, you know, they're strong, and there's just
really strong. Guys have told me this guy is like
really really strong, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
What I mean.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
And it's not a weightlifter strength only it's the fact
he's very powerful, just naturally, like you know that farmer's strength,
not that he's a farmer or nothing. But you know, naturally,
some guys are just stronger than others. And people tell me,
this guy here, when he snatches your face mask, just
make sure that he doesn't pull it off.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Just buckle the chin strap tough because
they're coming at it.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
But oh yeah, you might want to triple dip that
chin strap.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Man.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Make sure that all the duct tape, whatever you need
to hold it on, it's held on.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Okay, we're gonna take a break.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
When you come back, we've got Max wrapping up the
show here on the bell ap.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
All here in the Locker Room Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
This is in the Locker Room, presented by Ford and
brought to you by akra Shure, 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 Stark's.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All right, we are in the bell Lap and yes
it is early lunch Morning system, and yes it gave
Wolf and I a particular foraging time. Yesterday, Wolf, we
had a blast at Caliente. Yesterday was with the with
the Wolf Clan yes, I did not realize how fast
(34:50):
food can go, you know when you put you and
I with also formidable foodies such as CJ. And of
course Hannah, Oh definitely yeah, she was, she was, she was,
she was locked in ready to go and esther. And
of course the good lady Faith. You know, we all
(35:11):
had a had a nice dining experience at Calientes, so
we appreciate the hospitality. Yeah, Porky's revenge on the on
the deep square pizza deep dish square style rectangular, I
guess not square rectangular style was delish. It went really quickly,
and then we tried and then we tried the Brooklyn
(35:33):
in your face? Was that what was called fai man? Yeah,
I mean it was, it was, it was. It was
truly a folder. It was a folder pizza. Uh you
know that's where you had to fold the slice. They
stretched the dough thin and you just kind of you
give you have to put you have to put that
index finger and bring your thumb and your middle finger
together and bow, you know, take a little take a little,
(35:56):
take a little side bite and uh delicious to win
went quick. We had that cool runnings wing. Oh that interesting.
I've not had cool run yet. So it was Jamaican
jerk rub with a ranch with like a ranch spice
in there, and it was it was glorious. I mean
those went quick.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
The only the only bummer about it was we had
to get back to tape the uh point after yesterday,
so we couldn't we couldn't expand to some other pizzas
eyeballing the Detroit Pizza right.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Oh yeah, Detroit Style. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
Oh, I wanted to have at that, or then the
legendary mem where you got the five day.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
You know crust. Yes, yes, see you're reading the menus
too exactly. Yeah, listen, I read them better than I
read an instruction, man, I can tell you that much.
Oh yeah, there was. I was diving it. I was like,
my first time here. I want to take full advantage
of all of this. This looks delicious. And then the
grand Pre pizza look good too, I mean Wowser's Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
Yeah, there's just a whole bunch of stuff and Grandma's.
I gotta try the Grandma Special because there's there's some
honey on that too, oh.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
The hot honey. Yeah. So here here's what it is, wolf.
I mean, we do have a couple of just a
couple more night games.
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Yeah, you know, I think I think it's in our future, buddy, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, I mean we might be a reach pea because
you know we do. We still have to go to
sushi bomb again. True, true, but yeah that is true.
But you know, so much food, so a little time
we will get there. We're gonna get there. We're gonna
we're going to get there. But no, like you said, uh,
you know, we have the Mike Tomlin press conference, a
lot of questions to be answered. You have to imagine
(37:43):
that the quarterback question is going to come up, right,
just because I'm sure the fervor is getting a little
bit louder. So, you know, Mike Tomlin's decision on who
is going to prep or who's going to prepare as
though there are arder as Mike Tomlin would say, I
think it's a big question, you know, whether it is
(38:05):
Justin or whether it will be Russell. It's gonna be
a hot topic there along with the injury status situation
of players. People are gonna be listening intently for that
because like you said, you know, it's funny, you know,
the best of days going into week four and now
we're talking about the worst of days going into week
(38:27):
six if you look at all the headlines and still
nothing to see here, Because like I said, you win,
you maintain the lead in the division, and at the
end of the day, that's what it's about. That's what
puts you in the best position to be successful this season.
(38:49):
And you know, it's a week by week basis. It's
a rolling it's a it's a rolling finish line, you
know what I'm saying, Like if he's moving. The one
thing we do know the time gets shorter the further
we progress into the season. And that that's what I'm
sure Mike Tomlin has spent countless hours, you know, talking
about this, looking at the different angles, the opportunities, you know,
(39:12):
the shortcomings, and you know I trusted Mike Tomlin his
decision making in this process. But you know there are
always going to be questions when it doesn't look good,
it doesn't look as as rosy as they say. But
I go back to a phrase that Bill Cower said Wolf,
(39:33):
and you know this always sticks with me no matter
what adversity I'm facing. He says, You're never as good
as you think you are. You're never as bad as
they say.
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Right, there's no doubt about it, you know what I mean.
And so it's one of those colloquial never mind, I
was going to use a fancy word.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
But yeah, there you go. Ideaisms escape me there, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, it's all you're never is furthermore, sometimes almost never
hark ye.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Oh yeah lost indeed, that's it. But you know, the
big thing.
Speaker 5 (40:15):
Is all the answers, as Chuck Nole used to tell us,
all the answers to all the questions you guys have
are to be found within the four walls of the
locker room.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely words to live by, and we
are going to listen to some of those answers. We're
not going to ask for the sausage to be made,
but we are going to listen to the overview and
Mike Tonand will be up next here with with the
Steelers press conference. So make sure you listen in, stay
tuned here on SNR and Steelers Audio Network. He's Craig
(40:46):
wolf Ley on Max Stark's West Euler Ones and twos,
CJ Chief Gremlin Hunter and the Sinsey Brian Lamartine bring
us on the airwaves. Everybody, go make it a great day.
We'll be back tomorrow.
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