August 7, 2026 • 47 mins
Max and Rob are live in Latrobe at St Vincent’s with the latest from Steelers Training Camp. Matt Spaeth joins the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is live coverage OLP dot twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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in part by Pennsylvania one Call Systems Dial eight, peint
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(00:22):
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Visit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org and buy Iron Workers Local Union
(00:43):
number three. We don't go to the office, We build it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well. Thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room here, Day nine of training camp in Latrobe,
Saint Vincent College under Grace guys under Doug Blugregg over Scott.
The four horsemen rode again, just two of us though Miller.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Of us there is four of the Yeah, we got
four horsemen that we can delegate, so makes it easy.
But yeah, you're right, absolutely, Grace guys over there, and
abundance of caution. That's why fans weren't allowed to come today, right,
I mean, I mean this.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Looks like lightning weather. I'm not even gonna lie to you,
and I'm not looking forward to driving west later. So yes,
which we'll get to in a minute. We're watching practice.
I don't know how much we can talk about what
we're watching here.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a team period with human beings and differing color
jerseys performing athletic feats of a football nature.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Okay, that pretty well describes what's happening here. Yeah, yeah
it is.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
This is a closed practice, so we can't tell you
if a guy has made a catch or a flag
has been thrown.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
None of that field too, that's true. We are Yeah,
we have middle.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Middle, middle field here at Saint Vincent, so a little
bit further view for us. Reasoning behind that, I can't tell.
The reasoning behind that is because of the weather. You
don't want to damage the main field, because this is
the appointment viewing fan friendly field.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The main thing is the main thing. The main thing
is the main thing.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Field two doesn't really get that much teamwork done. So
when you have questionable weather, whether the grass can be
prepared or not out for field two, and then when
an absolute desperation, go to the field three, which I
think I've done maybe a handful of times in my
career where we've had to utilize field three. And then
then also the turf field. Yeah, there's a turf for
turf field on the.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Far side is also available. Haven't seen them.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Go down there at all in training camp, but that
was some place we used to go all the time
if the field was kind of wet or questionable. Of course,
also you trudge down the hill and then you go
through all the sloggy stuff on the sidewink.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Is it still track it onto the field the turf field.
So it's pretty funny. We thought that the dun Lap
Center might get used today, that beautiful new facility here
on campus. And so, uh, the when I when I
came in this morning, fans are being turned away. They
had they had, uh you know, they'd ushered everybody out.
(03:20):
It was like gandalfstyle.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Was there, like somebody in the middle with like a
big staff saying you shall not.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yes, there was a little bit of that. And then
I rolled down my window and I said, I'm sorry,
but I have to pass, and they said, okay, yeah,
you can go through. But everybody was the exception to
the rule. I was the I was the salmon swimming
upstream as far as everybody leaving.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Like a golden ticket ticket pasted or it was like
Willy Wonka, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie and Chocolate Fact Charlie Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
What was the original? Was it Willie Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory. I think that was the original with Gene Wilder. Yes,
the bridge was called Charlie and the Choco Factor. The
movie was called Willy wonk Uh yeah, I I I
never did have the heart to watch the The other
one was who was in it? Really good young actor
Timothy Schallaman, Yeah, yeah, I think, yeah, Timothy Schallamy, He's tremendous.
(04:12):
But Gene Wilder, Man, there's just there, especially that role.
Oh perfect.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I mean like there's certain people who fit roles yes,
and you're just like, can it be redone that way?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Because like you know, it was.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It was Johnny Depp was coming off kind of kind
of creepy with the perfect teeth and everything's dead.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Was a dentist or whatever, and the whole story.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But I did I didn't feel connected, like when I
watched Willie Wonker like like I think Gene Wilder immediately, yes,
and it's like one of those where you're just like, yeah,
that was his role and everybody else is like second
fiddle to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That when you think about it. He had a few
roles like that. Yeah, the Blazing Saddles, which does not
endure as well over time as it as it once did.
But he his role is tremendous. My favorite movies. His
all is tremendous. And uh yeah that's right.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, that's exactly right, left it Yeah look good to me. Yeah, yeah,
there's there's anyway. I don't know how we got down
this this tangent.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
But because we're talking about people getting turned away. Oh yes,
we're rolling back down. So there are no fans here.
There are no fans here. So media is here, family
is here, but no fans are here. Do you get
used to it to a point where there's a little
less adrenaline? I mean, you you must feel the crowd
here and feel the cheering, but I mean all season
long when you practice, there's no fans, right, correct, yeah, facility, Yeah,
(05:41):
you sort of get used to that.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We get a couple of people peeking over from the building,
right that's right behind it kind of sits above the train.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So we do get random random peekerers over there, yes,
but but nothing audible.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
There's no cheering, so obviously they would give away their position, right,
So I would.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Think that the Dunlap Center it would be a much much,
much better place to have practice, you know, for for
anybody that played say high school football, and you can't
practice outside and you have to put on your sneakers,
uh maybe they even put your pads on or whatever,
and you have to practice it. It's it's always almost
(06:22):
almost it always felt like a waste of time to me,
like it'd have been better off just saying go home
and we'll see tomorrow. Guys, let's just watch the film
and then, right, exactly exactly did you feel that way
when you were a player and you think there was
some uncertainty? I mean, look, even in practice, you got
to get geared up a little bit, right, I mean
it's not a game, but you got to gear yourself
(06:43):
up physically and mentally for a practice.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
At this point of the year, absolutely, because there's a
calousing that comes with putting on the pads, taking off
the paths, right, the pad burn, you get on your shoulders,
right right, Yeah, you gotta get used to that because
you don't want it to be something that's new when
you get to the stadium. So these moments are it's
a part of the callousting process, and coming outside is
(07:05):
a good exercise. Like you said, there's plenty of options
for outside, right, they had field two, even field three
at the drainage wasn't great. On field two, you had
another option, there's a redundancy for redundancy, Okay, well, let's
just go to the turf outside just so we can
get the element.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You can still feel it.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And then the indoor facility now is now a fourth
option outside of field one. Because it used to be
if you couldn't practice on the fields, we were up
in the gym right above the locker room over in
the over in.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
The main athletic complex. I guess you could still call
it that, and you're right it was.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
It was sneakers and shoulder pads and the like, how
are we gonna hit somebody? Because now we're on hardwood.
So guess what. When the sweat hits the ground, it
doesn't absorb into the true So now after a couple minutes,
especially in the old line sex. You know, we've been
front and sweating and anything else. It's like a pool
of water over there. So now you had to like.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Really just step step get to a position like you
can't even like a dancing ten because you're.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Gonna slip because water on hardwood does not do well
with rubber souls.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No, no, it doesn't. So they're outside, they're able to practice,
they're able to get a good day's work in, and
that's a really good thing because you know, Mike McCarthy
has talked about this being hump week. He's mentioned at
the last couple of mornings, this is hump week. This
is the installs, as they say, for all the material
that they're they're working on the different drills. So can
(08:35):
you explain to people what the installs are and why
they're so important and why this would be hump week
unless that's a separate category, because probably hump week for
the for the coaching staff and hump week for the
players might be slightly different things.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That might be a slightly different thing. But I'd say
from a player's perspective, you know, hump week means it's
heavy dialogue, meaning there's new package names, there's new fours,
there's new personnel groupings, there's new things as keys, because
you're now getting into non traditional formations and defensive structures.
(09:11):
I say that dime comes in like, dime is not
a normal sub package, right, Your normal dime is what
we call nickel. So nickel is five defensive backs. Right,
Nickel one two, three, four five five DB's term as
nickel dime is the six DV quarter them become seven dbs.
Those are non traditional because the traditional structure is you're
(09:32):
gonna go three wides, right, that's the base personnel for
sub and also you know base operating personnel for a
lot of the league. Now, and when you get outside
of that nickel sub or base, which is your regular
we run a three four. Some teams running four to
three three down linemen versus four down linemen. So those
are your base structures four three, three four nickel. However,
(09:54):
you get to know nickel three three, nickel four two
whatever nickel is, you know it's five dbs in Those
are all base structures. Now you're getting the dime, nickel
and goal line big packages. Now you go, are you
a five to three defense or are you a six
to two defense? Right, six down linemen across the board
or five and you have three at the second level.
Just depends on the team's perview and what their nature is.
(10:16):
And so this is what they're getting this week and
today because they're getting ready for game on Thursday. You
have literally a week left, less than a week to
get ready for the game against the Green Bay Packers
on Thursday. Opportunities are now minimizing because obviously Wednesday is
gonna be a walk through kind of dress rehearsal type
of day to go through game day operations. So you've
(10:37):
got literally today, Tomorrow off, Sunday, Monday Tuesday, so then
you're on the field playing. So today and this week
is now about those situations. Mike McCarthy said in the
press conference, we're gonna we're gonna install red Zone Package two.
Didn't even know this red Zone Package one, but we're
at two already. And then also goal line is getting
(10:57):
installed today, so we're seeing some of that kind of
go in. So it's gonna be a little bit more
knowledge based and the individual drills kind of dictated going
through this so that you can operate live. And they
also talked about the scoreboard system that they're gonna utilize today,
was that they're gonna have a red zone line up
on the twenty five go in. I thought the red
(11:18):
zone was twenty but apparently last twenty five high red zone. Yeah,
high red zone. Once again, it just keeps expanding. Right,
we're just gonna say the plus side of the field
red area.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You know what I'm saying? Forty nine and in right, Well,
when you think about it, really, I mean the way
kickers have improved so much, I mean the scoring, the
scoring area has expanded. That is true, That is true.
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So so now we're seeing this where it's competitive. There's
gonna roll the plays out and then defense gets a
certain point based on something, offense gets a point based
on something. Sure, touchdowns will weigh heavier, and you'll get
the opportunity to try and score. So those are some
different things. Some competitive periods built into this practice and
will be probably built into the rest of the week.
(11:56):
I mean, tomorrow night we will have Saturday night lights
over at latrob Stadium, and then that'll be a different atmosphere,
that'll be a different dress rehearsal for the town and
some competitive periods and then and imagine you'll probably see
more of what you didn't get to see today as
a fan. You'll see it tomorrow at at the at
the stadium.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know, you brought up something that I think is
we've touched on a little bit, but it got specific
with a question of Mike McCarthy. Camera was yesterday or
today during his morning get together, and you know, he
was asked about you know, you talked about what's your
subpackage going to be? Goal on is going to be
six two, is going to be fifty three. Some of
that may be what are you playing? Who are you
playing as an opponent, but some of it is also
(12:36):
something Mike McCarthy was asked about with Peyton Wilson, like,
how is Peyton going? I love his intensity, love the thing,
and he said, Peyton. You know, somebody said, well, Peyton's
trying to be a three down linebacker and Mike McCarthy said,
that's great, but you're not just competing with other linebackers.
You're also competing against a defensive back. So you're trying
to prove that, you know, if you were and you know,
(12:58):
he was asked about, you know, defensive lineman and now
when you've got a when you have a four man front, well,
that's gonna be for sure, you know, and obvious passing downs.
I know it's sub packaged football, but obvious passing downs
that's definitely gonna be two outside linebackers, probably gonna be
two outside linebackers almost regardless. So you're competing with you know,
if you're a nose that's bumping out, well, you're competing
(13:19):
with other guys. But you're also trying to show that, hey,
I should be on the field and not maybe in
a rush situation that third outside linebacker who's coming in right.
So Peyton Wilson was that he was asked about him
in specific. Now Peyton is trying to show, hey, listen,
the nickel package with me in it is superior to
the dime package with me out of it, because I
(13:40):
can do this that the dime And then you know,
of course, it's not that easy, even even under the
best of circumstances, are sliding scales where we're gonna use
you forty percent or sixty percent.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
But you want to at least show that receiver out
of there by yeah, you want you want to, yeah,
but you want to show the coaches, Hey, listen, this
is a because they'll just don't just go away.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
From it if you don't prove you can play, if
you don't prove your sub package that you're part of,
yeah is good, which means the whole unit being good
as well obviously too.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, absolutely, And that's what it is. It's all about
how do you feel. You know, we've kind of talked
to this camp and Micha McCarthy made this this kind
of analogy to the offensive line, but it really applies
to the entire team.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What are the best combinations on the field?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And you know, for offensive line has been two and
three man combinations has been talking about, but really deepenses
and as you hit on, packages matter, Right, if I
got five d linemen and I got six defensive backs
or five defenders in six cover guys, what.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Does my best five look like? Right? That's right? What
is that best five combination that's good?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Like a Swiss army knife for any situation that a
team might throw because obviously you're going to get in
the four wide receiver sets, you're gonna have a lot
of mismatches. Sometimes you might even have a double running
back set, you know, and you know, maybe some guys
are better carrying guys out of the backfield than others,
and maybe when we adjust in the nickel, who that
second backer is might dictate that. So if you're Peyton Wilson,
(15:09):
I gotta show him I'm built for any situation, right.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Better be able to cover a running back coming into
the backfield. Better be able to cover a tight end.
Otherwise we got.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
A big receiver that comes over in motioning back alone.
There's a lot of things to indicate and work out, right,
And again it's raining.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Again by the way. Oh again, some of that is
who you're playing against in their personnel, but some of
that is what you've shown that you're capable of doing
as well, and how that looks to your coaching staff.
So again we talk about that as position battles, you know,
unit battles, roster battles. All these things come down not
just to necessarily your position group, but other people as well.
(15:46):
So we're going to take a break. Much more to come.
Max is going to a very very very special place.
Max has got a prestigious Max has got a golden ticket.
We're going to talk about that when we continue in
the locker room here on this year, there's audio network.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network presented by bud
like easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and brought to
you in part by Clearview Federal Credit Union. For every
touchdown the Black and Gold Score in twenty twenty six,
Clearview will donate five hundred dollars to the Light of
(16:23):
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(16:43):
the Steelers Pro Shot visit shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
And welcome back to Latrobe. And look they're milling around
a little bit there in field too. It looks like
that might be it that they called it. Call'd be
it for practice, But I think s fiend Sports are finished. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I'm getting ready for a Mexico trip next year. I'm
just willing it into you.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Are okay? All right? Going to Mexico City. Yeah, I
h the We love to talk. We love to see
our Spanish speaking broadcaster friends. Right, listen our truro and
Alvaro will be very excited that I just said that. Yeah,
so Alvaro told me about a and I just I
(17:32):
mentioned it because it just first of all, because you
spoke Spanish, and secondly because it came up yesterday. I
don't know why, but in nineteen seventy two, do yourself
a favor and check this out. I can't remember the
guy's name. He was an Italian singer. You can find
it easily on YouTube. And he impersonated an American singer
(17:54):
singing like a kind of a funky you like a
funk you know, sort of R and B kind of
rock and roll kind of song. And except none of
the words are are English, even though it clearly sounds English,
it sounds like he's speaking our language, Like clearly like
(18:15):
if somebody were you know, if somebody were to impersonate
a German, right and I'm half German, and they were like,
you know, un speeders and grub and auschina, you know
that sort of sounds German. I forgive my My sister's
a German teacher. She right now, I'd be in a
lot of trouble. I'd be in a lot of trouble,
you know. But it's like that, only it's it's English
(18:35):
and it's and it's clearly when you listen to it,
it's it's very funny because it sounds English to my ears,
even though there's no words, there's no words in the
English language of that. It's really funny. So do yourself
a favorite too. It told me about that, and Aravro
told me about that, and I went and checked it out.
So looking forward to seeing those guys do a phenomenal job.
By the way, not that I can understand the words,
(18:56):
but the excitement level of the energy. No, no, no, Friar,
move exactly exactly down. Yeah, that's right down. Good stuff.
He's a phenomenal player. Oh he's so good, so good.
I mean, just an absolute top notch broadcaster. Uh So,
(19:19):
A couple of running backs signed to big time deals yesterday,
so it was one right after the other, and you know,
and I think when the day ended, so we see
Jonathan Taylor get a new contract extension. Whoa, that's a
lot of money. And then all of a sudden, by
the by the time the day's over, that's not even
the biggest money deal. That belongs to Jamier Gibbs for
(19:39):
Detroit and frankly it's it's a part of it. And
then got it. Yeah, got a huge deal, right. I
think Gibbs is though. I think Gibbs has got the
I think you said it was the largest in NFL history,
but it might just be annual side. Maybe B John's
was longer. But you know what it it does my
(20:01):
heart good. I love the running back position and it
is part of the cycle that just keeps going, the
circle of life that is the NFL. Right you you
know we've we've talked about this before. It's you know,
it's the fun bunch, right. So okay, so we have
a bunch of we have a bunch of little corners.
You're a little receiver, so we better get a little
(20:22):
quick corners. Okay, well, good, you're gonna do that. Let's
come with some massive receivers. Good luck. And then you
have to you know, you have to adjust back and
the different you know, we're going with lighter personnel to
keep up with all the spread on defense, to keep
up with all the spread offenses. Well, guess what now
the age of the running back is back and those
little guys are gonna get run over. Right, So you
know it was not long ago that the running back
(20:44):
position seem to have been devalued. Now, some of that
comes with this sort of sabermetrics community and football saying, look,
you can find uh, these guys approximations of most guys late,
I don't think anybody well, I think some people would
even go so far as to say the special guys
aren't worth it. Well, I think we're finding out that
(21:06):
the NFL values those special players at that position. Whether
it is more than that's you know, quote unquote sabermetric community,
whether that community has come around to the NFL's way
of thinking, I'm not really sure, but it's clear that
these guys are really really valued.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh and they're elite because I mean the guys you name,
these are three down backs, you know, back in the
day when you could devalue them.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Well, he only runs the football.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And then there's a third down back that comes in,
and that's the receiving back. You know, he's not a
running back, he's the receiving running back. And you know,
we don't need you, you know, but for half the
half of what the offensive players will be because there'll
be more you know, of a workload and the sub
and the and the passing game, so we can devalue
(21:51):
you uh uh insert b John Robinson inserted Derek Henry.
Do you think Derek Henry, you think they really care
that Derek Henry doesn't catch as many.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Balls out of the back field.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Absolutely not, because he's gonna give you twelve hundred yards
a year right on the ground and you're not gonna
get in as many third down situations if you hand
it to him first and second down, especially late in
the game. So you're seeing that emphasis really kind of
shift back in that perspective. And like you said, Bijon Jamir,
I mean, yes, he's been a juggernaut for the Detroit
(22:21):
lines and count Taylor has just been that guy outside
of injury years, has been the guy that's really kept.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
The Colts afloat.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
And no matter who's been the quarterback, Jonathan Taylor's been
a constant.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
In that back you know. And as you look at
each of those three guys like Jonathan Taylor, I don't
know if there's anybody quite like him. It's interesting to
me because he doesn't look like, you know, physically, like
a power back, but one guy doesn't bring him down.
He doesn't look like the nifty footed guy, and yet
he makes guys miss. He doesn't look like the fastest guy,
(22:53):
and yet you don't see him caught very often. He's
a really interesting running back. I think, you know, there's
there's more to him than you might think at first
glance just watching him, way more to him than you
might think at first glance watching him play. No, he's
he's a ballplayer. He's a ballplayer.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
And I think for Jonathan Taylor especially, you know, he's
one of those guys. He has a great feel for
the game, and his speed is predicated on the situation,
Like he could turn it up and he could beat
you down the sidelines. But then also he can run
between the tackles. Right, But it wasn't a combination. You
had to either or type of situation. Willie Parker did
not run between the tackles. But guess what if he
(23:30):
got to that outside edge. Goodbye, Mama, that's right, right.
You gave him, You gave him a perfect opportunity. He's
going to take advantage. And then you have Jerome Bettis, right,
who could run between him.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
A douce.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Staley was kind of a little bit more of a hybrid,
but still there was a top end on him.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So now you're seeing guys.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That are more multifaceted in that approach where they are
becoming more of your do it all type of backs,
where it's like, you know, the bell cow phrase comes back.
You know he's a bell coow. We can keep him
in all three downs. What Mike McCarthy wants out here
is a bell cow back, but he wants two of them, right.
(24:06):
He's like, listen, I don't, he said specifically, I do
not want to have to worry about who is in
on third down behind my quarterback or next to my quarterback.
I want to be able to play with the same guy,
go fast, be efficient, and they can do it all.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Same thing with his receivers. I need my receivers to
not only play X, they gotta play Z. They gotta
play why.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You got to be able to you have to know
all of the responsibilities at the wide receiver position. So
with that in mind and the spirit of that, this
is the payoff for the guys that do have those
skill sets. And that's where Jonathan Taylor fits in. He's
He's really good at anything you need him to be.
He's a chameleon there at the running back position. Same
with Jamir Gibbs, same with b Jehan Robinson, all the
(24:47):
guys that got those big extensions.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
For that for that group. Over the last couple of days,
Jamiir gives to me is like liquid Mercury. I mean
it just the way he runs. I mean he's just
he just explodes and the and the speed. He's a
really really fun guy to watch. Yeah, and we had
him last year in Detroit, and yes, he did a
great job on him.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
It was it was fun to watch him get stopped
because we had watched film yet a time. Not many
people have done that up to that point. So it
was nice to see that type and have our running
backs versus their running backs, right, you know, because like
you said, you have a guy like Junior Gibbs, you
wonder where's our team stack up. And Kenny Gainwell and
Jayalen Warren had had phenomenal games as well, so it's like, okay, yeah,
(25:28):
they got that one. And then Montgomery kind of fills in,
you know, as a as kind of a reliever guy,
but ours was, Yeah, both of our guys can go
and they can do whatever we need. And Kenny Gamewell
of course had like the catch.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Of the year the red zone. Oh my gosh, that
was a ridiculous catch.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
And then Jalen Warren broke off a couple of long,
long yardage runs as well, So it was just it
was nice to see the balance and like you said,
bottle up a guy who is that contagious? Also like
a Davon hh right, another guy who got paid as well.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
A little bit further back, but on a.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Chain was that guy When he came into us, We're like, dude,
he was on tear for like six weeks, right, like
one hundred and fifty plus two hundred total purpose yards.
So you're like, man, how are we gonna stop it?
And we stopped him.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, I think if him as a speedback, oh and
I think if I think if Gibbs is being a
little more there, then a little more thunder than h Yeah,
little I think. I mean again, I don't see a chain.
You know, Detroit on National TV a lot, so we
get we get an opportunity to see him play. And
you know, obviously we scattered him both last year before
the game, so we saw every game, every single game
(26:32):
they played up until that point. But you know, their
their Gibbs just seems to have sort of an it
factor with a lot of different things that that he
can do out in the field. And you know, the
other the other guy I'm thinking of is you know,
we were talking about his Bijon Robinson. When I think
of Bijon, he's one of those guys. This is hard
to quantify, but it seems to me like he runs
(26:54):
the ball and you're like, Okay, not bad, pretty good job.
Wait if he got six on that play. It just
he just has that quality. He was very deceptive. Yeah,
but I mean, and you know you're not. You know,
he's fast also, and he's elusive also, and he's strong also,
but just has that quality of like he got how
many yards on that? That's what That's just that's your
(27:14):
when I when I figure guys, and I'm trying to
think of how I describe him and what buckets and
categories I would put him into, even though they're obviously
all individual. That's one that that's one that he strikes
me is that you think you've done a good job
and you look up, but he's got one hundred and
twenty yards rushing in the receiving yards and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
Yeah, You're like man, Okay, we did a good he
did what right exactly what two thousand? Yeah, on the
season where and then you start watching it like, oh
yeah he did do that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Oh yeah he did do that. Oh wow he did
fall forward right. Oh, he hasn't had that many tackles
for loss. Yeah, he's just well it's.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Like the summation of but it's but it's deceptive how
it comes throughout the year because it because he makes
it look easy.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It looks it looks smooth. It is smooth. He is
really smart.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
It's not it's not dynamic. He's going to have those
type of plays, but he gotta gets mixed in with
everybody else and somebody will do something a little bit
more dynamic. But he did just as great a thing.
He just didn't have to break as many tackles because
they weren't able to catch.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, and we'll get We'll see him week one. Yeah,
we saw him. The first time I'd seen him in
person was the game we had a couple of years
ago when uh, I think just did this was that
the stud is open? I think it was down in
that was the Yeah, where Boswell kicked six field goals. Yeah,
it's good to have a boswall on your tea. It
really is. But no touchdowns, no problem. Yeah. So I
(28:33):
think when you think about like, you know, we started
to see receivers making these huge, huge dollars, and still
I don't believe any of the running backs are up
at the same average salary as the top receivers. I
could be wrong. I don't know, because they flowers just
got a monster. Yeah. So you know, when when there's
two ways to me to look at it. So on
(28:54):
the one hand, like it never made sense to me
because I looked at it in one way and the
white the way I looked at it was okay, So
do I want to pay the guy who's going to
touch the ball six times? Or do I want to
pay the guy who's going to touch the ball twenty
two times. That's one way of looking at it. Of course,
that's a simple way of looking at it. The other
way to look at it is, okay, the guy who's
(29:14):
getting the ball six yards or six times is getting
just as many yards as the guy who car got
it twenty two times, and then you have to account
for him, you have to defend him differently. And you know,
the interconnectedness of football is that if you have a
great receiver, that's going to alter your defense and maybe
make it a little easier for the running back. You know. Conversely,
(29:36):
if you have a great running back, that could make
things a little bit easier for the receiver. So I
guess at the end of the day, there's still those
those receivers there. I think that the feeling is there
are a less There are fewer elite receivers and difference
making receivers than there are elite running backs and difference
(29:57):
making running backs. And those running backs are easier, you know,
not the super elite ones, but the say, the really
good ones that next year down are easier to replace
than the really good receivers. That again, that's just a thumbnail.
I that's about as deep as I've thought about it.
But I think that the when you see what they're getting,
(30:18):
that's again follow the money. That's what I think the
league is telling us about those two positions.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Well, they are, but I think you are seeing more
of a value coming back absolute position, and I think
rightfully so, yes, because it is one of the two
elements in your offense. You know, you can only be
two dimensions right, running, passing, right at the end of
the day, it's still half of what's your team.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Now, whether you do it more or less and it.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Gets to sixty forty fifty five forty five, you know,
I don't think you know, some cases you might even
get down to a seventy thirty split. But I think
it is about where are you amassing the most amount
of yards? Is it in your ground game, is it
in your air game? The potential for higher air game
miles is going to yield for their wide receivers over
(31:05):
the running unless that running back is a receiving running
back and he could catch out of the back and
he's adding to that.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
So then he becomes more value. He bleeds into that
and becomes a bigger cross section of your team success.
And you think about Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah you have Drake London, Yeah you have Kyle Pitts,
but Bjohn Robinson's right there top three and catches every
year as well as your number one runner.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
On the team.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
So now his value kind of changes because he's having
a more more access to potential yards and he's giving.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You more yards on your score sheet from week to week. Yeah,
so he might touch it, say thirty times in a
game that top notch receiver might touch it six to
eight times in a game, but it still goes back
to that guy who's touching it every time in the game.
Who's gonna make the most money of course, and that,
of course is the quarterback unless you're running, unless you're
running the wildcat, I get it, But that guy's touching
(31:55):
him all every single time. Yeah, Or unless you're the
Miami Dolphins like that week.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Stress right where it's like, all I'm doing is touching
the ball, but I'm literally handing it off the day
by eyes.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That's right, That's exactly right. All right, stick around. Max
got a very special journey ahead of him that we
all want to share with him, and we will tell
you about that when we continue in the locker room.
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
This is live Covery Jump Dot twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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(32:43):
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(33:06):
and Draft House.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And welcome back to the trobe as we are continuing
on here in the locker room. And so Max, Uh,
you are going to Canton. Correct? What a what a
wonderful thing to be able to say. Now it's a
long time you got but you are going to Canton, Max,
(33:31):
How good is that?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
I'm excited? I mean, you know, we got a good
preview of it last night with the game is this?
Is this better? I got to lower it because the
other one was we got new headsets for everybody there.
And this new one kind of has like a snow
cone at the end of it, but you have to
talk directly to the snow cone, whereas the old one
was a bigger ball, so you just had to have
(33:54):
it in front of your mouth.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
But this one's a little bit different. So I was
just looking at the adjustment.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, yeah, so the adjustment, So I mean I literally
have to turn it kind of up here so I
can kind of catch it a little bit, catch in
your mustache, Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
That's when I shake my head a little bit. That's there.
But you know, people don't realize. I mean that some
of the difficulties of this job, like when the microphone,
when the fuzzy microphone kind of tickles against your face.
Tough to that, and then you gotta battle through because
some guys.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Actually like where the microphone is, like like you're like
you're about to inhale it.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, it's like right on their mouth. I can't stand that.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah, So I like it a little bit away, but
like you said, it's getting used to where the right
point is. So you guys can hear me loud enough,
so you're going to Yes, I'm going back to going
back to that. Yeah, going going in and we saw
it last night, great preseason game between the Panthers and
the Cardinals.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Of course, why do you have.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Those teams there because oh, by the way, there's two
guys going into the Hall of Fame that are gonna
have bus created by them that played for those teams.
One guy, I believe the Western PA Faithful and all
Hill Pitt would recognize Larry fitz Gerald going into the Hall.
Also Luke Keikley, a longtime linebacker with the Carolina Panthers,
(35:06):
going in along with Roger Craig, which I mean, let's
face it, in the eighties, I was a young kid
who didn't want to be Roger Craig. Right, thousand yards passing,
thousand yards receiving, rushing in the same scenes we're.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Talking about threat running backs. Yeah, he was the first.
He was. Yeah, I was gonna say he's one of
the first, but maybe he was.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
He was the first running back to ever get a
thousand thousand Yeah, so he is the prototype that everybody
now aspires to be.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Those high knees too, Oh yeah, exactly. He was going through.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
You weren't going to just you know, let tackle him.
You had to hit him up high. And so you know,
kind of thinking about like that, like like I thought
he'd already be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
But it isn't that amazing about the Football Hall of
Fame more than any other Hall of Fame. Yeah, you think,
wait a minute, he's not in the Hall of Fame
and they put in, you know, eight nine guys a
year it always shocks me who's not in the Hall
of Fame exactly and how long it takes some guys
to get into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah, because once you get out of like a certain
period of where you've been a semi finalist or a
finalist for a number of.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Years, then you get kicked to the senior kid. Because
he went in the senior category.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Incredible, And when you think about all the guys that
are still there, like you, and here's me here here,
here's kind of my personal thoughts probably why I'm not
a Hall of Fame voter. If you make an All
Decades team, yes, totally agree with you should totally be
in there because that means you were the best person
for whatever segment was of a ten year span, you
(36:36):
dominated a majority of it, right. So the fact that
he's an All Eighties Decade team member making it in
and also this kind of goes to my chagrin because.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
My uncle was also an All Eighties Decade team, but
that's a different story.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Roger Craig goes in Adam vini Eri, how did it
take this long for Adam Ventiy to get in when
he literally has the most points in NFL history. I
don't like literally the most points, so that that should
automatically be a shoe. I don't care if it was
a kicker or not. If you score the most points
in a game that's very tough to score points, and
(37:12):
you have the most of them and over one hundred
years of history, probably should go in a little bit
quicker in that process.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, so you know, so those are the main guys
going in. I'm going. I'm not going for any of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I am going because my agent, Dean Grossman, his dad,
Sandy Grossman, is getting the Pete Roselle Award, which is
kind of the broadcaster production side of things. Like Joe
buck Is in has gotten the Pete Roselle Awards for
just for into the purpose of a person that's prominent
that you might know.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
He went into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year too. Yeah,
see he went. He went to all of those.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So Sandy Grossman is one of the first directors I
think him and Fred Goodelli went in Who's a long
Time with NBC. But Sandy Grossman what he's famous for
or is he was the director for in You and
I talked about this the greatest duo in football broadcasting history.
(38:10):
And we could argue overall broadcasting history, yes, because that's
a different story. But John Madden and Pat Summer all phenomenal.
So the guy who was who was the man in
the chair for those guys, and how revolutionary he was.
So just to give you kind of a peeking insight
into what Sandy Grossman not only did for John Madden
and did for Pat summerl and that crew and they
(38:31):
were together for twenty one years, but he's the one
that also widened the angle of the of the lens
so you can see outside backers during a football game broadcast. Wow,
he was the first guy.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
To do that. I didn't I didn't think he was
about that.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
And he was also the first guy to introduce the
ISO camera in a game where you could zoom in
on a player because.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Everything was just far away, overarching stuff or just really tight.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
He actually did the individual ISO player cam, so we
used a guy on the field like Aaron Rodgers sitting
under center about to call a snap. That's the isocam.
He did that. He also did the off camera stuff,
so not necessarily just tracking the ball, but if there
was a key matchup like watching wide receivers like you know,
fight at the at the break point or or an
outside line, but like Lawrence Taylor, right, Lawrence Taylor going
(39:19):
against the tackle so that even though the play would
be there and then you could show.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
It on the replay.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
That's what That's what he revolutionized for the way we
watch football.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
So he also has the record. He's called the most
Super Bowls.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
He's called ten, he's called nineteen NBA Finals, he's called
six Stanley Cup playoff. Well directed, and then he's done
a number of Olympics, so he's been he's one of
the first super directors, and obviously that kind of gets overlooked.
He's like, who's the director. But that's what he brought
to the game, and that's why he's getting the awards.
(39:51):
So I'm going there on behalf of my agent. He's
gonna he's gonna present his dad and give the speech tonight,
so I'm going to support him.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
So I just want to quickly mentioned this.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
I took my son, UH and wife. We went to
the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and of course
I'm talking about in the locker room cub reporter Schaefer King.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We went to a junior reporter. Actually he was junior
at the time. He's not senior report.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
So there's a room in the Hall of Fame in
which you can see little videos of the players. So
my son is going to Troy Polamalo and players of
that he grew up, watch his area. I'm going to
players of my error or even later. So I'm giggling.
I'm giggling it like like Dick Knight trade lane, you know,
(40:40):
close lining guys. It was just it was just it
was it was legal to cross the middle of a guy,
just closed lining to the ground, you know. And uh
so we we refused. I said, you know, my so,
now my wife's out. She's like, okay, I'm I'm leaving.
I'm gonna go get I'm gonna go get the car
pulled around front and I was like, Shaeffer, we cannot
(41:01):
leave until somebody we see video of somebody getting absolutely trucked,
I mean trucked. Yeah. So we're dashing around hitting the
little thirty second videos. Dick bud Is, Dad, that's not
good enough, you know, Raid, that's not good enough. You know.
So finally we came to I came to Jerome Bettis
and I hit Jerome Bettas, I'm like, Shafer, get over here, man.
(41:23):
We got our we got our winner. It was it
was a low angle shot. I think they were playing
I'm almost positive they were playing Baltimore and some uh
some defensive back came up and I think I think
the dB may have even been nudged by a blocker,
so he was a little off pounced. It was phenomenal.
(41:45):
So if you ever get to the Hall of Fame
and you go into the room, check out Jerome bettters
and they still have the same video and then we're like,
all right, now we can leave. It was great. So
that was my that was my Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And he has so many, oh so many, so many videos,
but you know, low angle.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
It was low angle, so it was like you talk
about different angles. That's part of what made me think
about it. Like, so you're seeing the high angles and
the game appears to move slower at those high angles
when you see it down low, it is moving in
Jerome game times. It was. It was so much fun.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Now, the other one that I love that I see
I see, you know quite frequently the Erlacker play in Chicago.
Here in Pittsburgh, Yes, and in the in the O
five season. I mean when he absolutely trucked Brian Urlacker,
who at that time was the beasy He was the
linebackers linebacker, right, that's right, he's your favorite linebacker's favorite linebacker, yes,
(42:37):
and for and when you watched a low angle version
of that, like it's almost like a kind of a
cross diagonal field, like from the opposite sideline looking into
the play.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
That's what.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
So thank you Sandy Grossman for giving us the availability
to have those.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Type of shots shot live.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
And then like Steve Sables another one NFL films get
into the Hall of Fame, right, but he was another one.
When you talk about we think about the rights of Autumn,
we think about the classic appisode, the little pictures, like
he was a guy that was filming that secondary It
wasn't for the television broadcast, but for archival purposes that
you can go back and have those moments. He was
another guy that was an innovator in that world with
(43:12):
NFL films.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
So everybody, by the way, every play by play guy
in television owes something to Pat summerl who is a
kicker of renown played a little wide receiver too, but
a kicker of renown for the New York Giants, and
every color guy owes something to John Madden. They were
that revolutionary. Both wasn't one or the other, it was
both of them.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Yeah, the combination was the most golden combination of all time.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
So if you're listening to a game on the radio,
the play by a play person has to describe everything
that's going on, so you have to and is trying
to paint a picture in your mind of what's happening.
That's why he's describing a player going in motion, and
you know what's happening. Is the crowd on its feet?
What is the defense doing? Are they creeping up? All
these things? And when football on TV started, they grabbed
(44:05):
radio play by play guys and so these guys were
describing everything that you were seeing. Pat Summerow was the
first guy to really understand they can see it. And
if I say, you know, if I say Bradshaw swan touchdown,
that's enough. You saw Bradshaw take the snap and get
(44:26):
out of trouble and throw it down the field. You
don't have to explain that to somebody that you do
on radio. So that made him innovative. And then of course,
John Madden, the way he brought football to everybody, the
way he described it. There's not a single guy I
don't think, who has done color since the and there
isn't a single guy who does TV play by play
who shouldn't be influenced by both of those guys. Absolutely no,
(44:48):
I completely agree.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
And when you think about it like that, that's the
Mount Rushmore right of play by play and color analysts.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
If you're putting the top duos.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
On Mount Rushmore's first name, that has to come up
regardless of sport, regardless of sport, because you know when
you can endear and you, like you said, it's almost
like when when an artist in the musical genre crosses over.
I was just thinking, as that cross they had that
crossover appeal.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
You cross over them. Yes, and I think I think
they influenced people beyond their own sport. But I also
think when you're talking about that, it's funny because the
Beatles popped into my mind, like the Beatles were to
rock and roll with. These guys were announcing. Somebody may
have come along and did that, but they're the ones
who did it, and everything that comes after is informed
by what they.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Did exactly they they changed the course of how you
viewed that subject matter. And I mean the telestration. I
mean we could go on and on the telestrations, you know,
the on the field interviews, you know, the traducan I mean,
there's so many traditions and things that you must do
because of what for me, John Matten did to the game.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
What are you What are you doing on PlayStation exactly Madden?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Right, you're not You're not playing fl Football twenty twenty six,
You're playing Madden twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
I mean, it's so that's just that's but that's just good.
He had All Madden.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Team, All mad the man had his own Pro Pro
Bowl team that are all Pro team that he got
to pick. Yep, and my uncle won four of those.
So I have one of those. Nice, I'm blessed. I
mean I I I look at that, I'm like, I
have it All Madden Trophy. I would not it, but
my uncle was in the fact that somebody I know
was on that trophy, Uh is pretty special. So they'll
never be another John Madden. Nope, And they'll never be
(46:28):
another Pat Summer all and all of us can hope
to get the nod that John or Pat would approve
of what we did for sure.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That's the ultimate acknowledgement in our business. Max, safe travels,
my friend, Thanks Bud, I appreciate it, having a great time.
We'll be back tomorrow. We will be back tomorrow. I'm
still here. Max is on the road. Uh, safe travels Max.
Wes Euler peering around the corner and bench hitting. Now
now that's our that's our senior cup reporter around. That's right,
he's gonna he's gonna come around the corner there we
(46:58):
go to a little heartface. Yeah that's right. Yeah, So
Max say, travels, my friend, thank you, and wes Uler
will join me next and we continue in the locker
room here on the Steeler's Audio Network.
This is live coverage OLP dot twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and brought to you
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Visit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org and buy Iron Workers Local Union
(00:43):
number three. We don't go to the office, We build it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well. Thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room here, Day nine of training camp in Latrobe,
Saint Vincent College under Grace guys under Doug Blugregg over Scott.
The four horsemen rode again, just two of us though Miller.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Of us there is four of the Yeah, we got
four horsemen that we can delegate, so makes it easy.
But yeah, you're right, absolutely, Grace guys over there, and
abundance of caution. That's why fans weren't allowed to come today, right,
I mean, I mean this.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Looks like lightning weather. I'm not even gonna lie to you,
and I'm not looking forward to driving west later. So yes,
which we'll get to in a minute. We're watching practice.
I don't know how much we can talk about what
we're watching here.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a team period with human beings and differing color
jerseys performing athletic feats of a football nature.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Okay, that pretty well describes what's happening here. Yeah, yeah
it is.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
This is a closed practice, so we can't tell you
if a guy has made a catch or a flag
has been thrown.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
None of that field too, that's true. We are Yeah,
we have middle.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Middle, middle field here at Saint Vincent, so a little
bit further view for us. Reasoning behind that, I can't tell.
The reasoning behind that is because of the weather. You
don't want to damage the main field, because this is
the appointment viewing fan friendly field.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The main thing is the main thing. The main thing
is the main thing.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Field two doesn't really get that much teamwork done. So
when you have questionable weather, whether the grass can be
prepared or not out for field two, and then when
an absolute desperation, go to the field three, which I
think I've done maybe a handful of times in my
career where we've had to utilize field three. And then
then also the turf field. Yeah, there's a turf for
turf field on the.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Far side is also available. Haven't seen them.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Go down there at all in training camp, but that
was some place we used to go all the time
if the field was kind of wet or questionable. Of course,
also you trudge down the hill and then you go
through all the sloggy stuff on the sidewink.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Is it still track it onto the field the turf field.
So it's pretty funny. We thought that the dun Lap
Center might get used today, that beautiful new facility here
on campus. And so, uh, the when I when I
came in this morning, fans are being turned away. They
had they had, uh you know, they'd ushered everybody out.
(03:20):
It was like gandalfstyle.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Was there, like somebody in the middle with like a
big staff saying you shall not.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yes, there was a little bit of that. And then
I rolled down my window and I said, I'm sorry,
but I have to pass, and they said, okay, yeah,
you can go through. But everybody was the exception to
the rule. I was the I was the salmon swimming
upstream as far as everybody leaving.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Like a golden ticket ticket pasted or it was like
Willy Wonka, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie and Chocolate Fact Charlie Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
What was the original? Was it Willie Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory. I think that was the original with Gene Wilder. Yes,
the bridge was called Charlie and the Choco Factor. The
movie was called Willy wonk Uh yeah, I I I
never did have the heart to watch the The other
one was who was in it? Really good young actor
Timothy Schallaman, Yeah, yeah, I think, yeah, Timothy Schallamy, He's tremendous.
(04:12):
But Gene Wilder, Man, there's just there, especially that role.
Oh perfect.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I mean like there's certain people who fit roles yes,
and you're just like, can it be redone that way?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Because like you know, it was.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
It was Johnny Depp was coming off kind of kind
of creepy with the perfect teeth and everything's dead.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Was a dentist or whatever, and the whole story.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But I did I didn't feel connected, like when I
watched Willie Wonker like like I think Gene Wilder immediately, yes,
and it's like one of those where you're just like, yeah,
that was his role and everybody else is like second
fiddle to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That when you think about it. He had a few
roles like that. Yeah, the Blazing Saddles, which does not
endure as well over time as it as it once did.
But he his role is tremendous. My favorite movies. His
all is tremendous. And uh yeah that's right.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, that's exactly right, left it Yeah look good to me. Yeah, yeah,
there's there's anyway. I don't know how we got down
this this tangent.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
But because we're talking about people getting turned away. Oh yes,
we're rolling back down. So there are no fans here.
There are no fans here. So media is here, family
is here, but no fans are here. Do you get
used to it to a point where there's a little
less adrenaline? I mean, you you must feel the crowd
here and feel the cheering, but I mean all season
long when you practice, there's no fans, right, correct, yeah, facility, Yeah,
(05:41):
you sort of get used to that.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We get a couple of people peeking over from the building,
right that's right behind it kind of sits above the train.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So we do get random random peekerers over there, yes,
but but nothing audible.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
There's no cheering, so obviously they would give away their position, right,
So I would.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Think that the Dunlap Center it would be a much much,
much better place to have practice, you know, for for
anybody that played say high school football, and you can't
practice outside and you have to put on your sneakers,
uh maybe they even put your pads on or whatever,
and you have to practice it. It's it's always almost
(06:22):
almost it always felt like a waste of time to me,
like it'd have been better off just saying go home
and we'll see tomorrow. Guys, let's just watch the film
and then, right, exactly exactly did you feel that way
when you were a player and you think there was
some uncertainty? I mean, look, even in practice, you got
to get geared up a little bit, right, I mean
it's not a game, but you got to gear yourself
(06:43):
up physically and mentally for a practice.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
At this point of the year, absolutely, because there's a
calousing that comes with putting on the pads, taking off
the paths, right, the pad burn, you get on your shoulders,
right right, Yeah, you gotta get used to that because
you don't want it to be something that's new when
you get to the stadium. So these moments are it's
a part of the callousting process, and coming outside is
(07:05):
a good exercise. Like you said, there's plenty of options
for outside, right, they had field two, even field three
at the drainage wasn't great. On field two, you had
another option, there's a redundancy for redundancy, Okay, well, let's
just go to the turf outside just so we can
get the element.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You can still feel it.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And then the indoor facility now is now a fourth
option outside of field one. Because it used to be
if you couldn't practice on the fields, we were up
in the gym right above the locker room over in
the over in.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
The main athletic complex. I guess you could still call
it that, and you're right it was.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
It was sneakers and shoulder pads and the like, how
are we gonna hit somebody? Because now we're on hardwood.
So guess what. When the sweat hits the ground, it
doesn't absorb into the true So now after a couple minutes,
especially in the old line sex. You know, we've been
front and sweating and anything else. It's like a pool
of water over there. So now you had to like.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Really just step step get to a position like you
can't even like a dancing ten because you're.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Gonna slip because water on hardwood does not do well
with rubber souls.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No, no, it doesn't. So they're outside, they're able to practice,
they're able to get a good day's work in, and
that's a really good thing because you know, Mike McCarthy
has talked about this being hump week. He's mentioned at
the last couple of mornings, this is hump week. This
is the installs, as they say, for all the material
that they're they're working on the different drills. So can
(08:35):
you explain to people what the installs are and why
they're so important and why this would be hump week
unless that's a separate category, because probably hump week for
the for the coaching staff and hump week for the
players might be slightly different things.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That might be a slightly different thing. But I'd say
from a player's perspective, you know, hump week means it's
heavy dialogue, meaning there's new package names, there's new fours,
there's new personnel groupings, there's new things as keys, because
you're now getting into non traditional formations and defensive structures.
(09:11):
I say that dime comes in like, dime is not
a normal sub package, right, Your normal dime is what
we call nickel. So nickel is five defensive backs. Right,
Nickel one two, three, four five five DB's term as
nickel dime is the six DV quarter them become seven dbs.
Those are non traditional because the traditional structure is you're
(09:32):
gonna go three wides, right, that's the base personnel for
sub and also you know base operating personnel for a
lot of the league. Now, and when you get outside
of that nickel sub or base, which is your regular
we run a three four. Some teams running four to
three three down linemen versus four down linemen. So those
are your base structures four three, three four nickel. However,
(09:54):
you get to know nickel three three, nickel four two
whatever nickel is, you know it's five dbs in Those
are all base structures. Now you're getting the dime, nickel
and goal line big packages. Now you go, are you
a five to three defense or are you a six
to two defense? Right, six down linemen across the board
or five and you have three at the second level.
Just depends on the team's perview and what their nature is.
(10:16):
And so this is what they're getting this week and
today because they're getting ready for game on Thursday. You
have literally a week left, less than a week to
get ready for the game against the Green Bay Packers
on Thursday. Opportunities are now minimizing because obviously Wednesday is
gonna be a walk through kind of dress rehearsal type
of day to go through game day operations. So you've
(10:37):
got literally today, Tomorrow off, Sunday, Monday Tuesday, so then
you're on the field playing. So today and this week
is now about those situations. Mike McCarthy said in the
press conference, we're gonna we're gonna install red Zone Package two.
Didn't even know this red Zone Package one, but we're
at two already. And then also goal line is getting
(10:57):
installed today, so we're seeing some of that kind of
go in. So it's gonna be a little bit more
knowledge based and the individual drills kind of dictated going
through this so that you can operate live. And they
also talked about the scoreboard system that they're gonna utilize today,
was that they're gonna have a red zone line up
on the twenty five go in. I thought the red
(11:18):
zone was twenty but apparently last twenty five high red zone. Yeah,
high red zone. Once again, it just keeps expanding. Right,
we're just gonna say the plus side of the field
red area.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You know what I'm saying? Forty nine and in right, Well,
when you think about it, really, I mean the way
kickers have improved so much, I mean the scoring, the
scoring area has expanded. That is true, That is true.
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So so now we're seeing this where it's competitive. There's
gonna roll the plays out and then defense gets a
certain point based on something, offense gets a point based
on something. Sure, touchdowns will weigh heavier, and you'll get
the opportunity to try and score. So those are some
different things. Some competitive periods built into this practice and
will be probably built into the rest of the week.
(11:56):
I mean, tomorrow night we will have Saturday night lights
over at latrob Stadium, and then that'll be a different atmosphere,
that'll be a different dress rehearsal for the town and
some competitive periods and then and imagine you'll probably see
more of what you didn't get to see today as
a fan. You'll see it tomorrow at at the at
the stadium.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know, you brought up something that I think is
we've touched on a little bit, but it got specific
with a question of Mike McCarthy. Camera was yesterday or
today during his morning get together, and you know, he
was asked about you know, you talked about what's your
subpackage going to be? Goal on is going to be
six two, is going to be fifty three. Some of
that may be what are you playing? Who are you
playing as an opponent, but some of it is also
(12:36):
something Mike McCarthy was asked about with Peyton Wilson, like,
how is Peyton going? I love his intensity, love the thing,
and he said, Peyton. You know, somebody said, well, Peyton's
trying to be a three down linebacker and Mike McCarthy said,
that's great, but you're not just competing with other linebackers.
You're also competing against a defensive back. So you're trying
to prove that, you know, if you were and you know,
(12:58):
he was asked about, you know, defensive lineman and now
when you've got a when you have a four man front, well,
that's gonna be for sure, you know, and obvious passing downs.
I know it's sub packaged football, but obvious passing downs
that's definitely gonna be two outside linebackers, probably gonna be
two outside linebackers almost regardless. So you're competing with you know,
if you're a nose that's bumping out, well, you're competing
(13:19):
with other guys. But you're also trying to show that, hey,
I should be on the field and not maybe in
a rush situation that third outside linebacker who's coming in right.
So Peyton Wilson was that he was asked about him
in specific. Now Peyton is trying to show, hey, listen,
the nickel package with me in it is superior to
the dime package with me out of it, because I
(13:40):
can do this that the dime And then you know,
of course, it's not that easy, even even under the
best of circumstances, are sliding scales where we're gonna use
you forty percent or sixty percent.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
But you want to at least show that receiver out
of there by yeah, you want you want to, yeah,
but you want to show the coaches, Hey, listen, this
is a because they'll just don't just go away.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
From it if you don't prove you can play, if
you don't prove your sub package that you're part of,
yeah is good, which means the whole unit being good
as well obviously too.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, absolutely, And that's what it is. It's all about
how do you feel. You know, we've kind of talked
to this camp and Micha McCarthy made this this kind
of analogy to the offensive line, but it really applies
to the entire team.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What are the best combinations on the field?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And you know, for offensive line has been two and
three man combinations has been talking about, but really deepenses
and as you hit on, packages matter, Right, if I
got five d linemen and I got six defensive backs
or five defenders in six cover guys, what.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Does my best five look like? Right? That's right? What
is that best five combination that's good?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Like a Swiss army knife for any situation that a
team might throw because obviously you're going to get in
the four wide receiver sets, you're gonna have a lot
of mismatches. Sometimes you might even have a double running
back set, you know, and you know, maybe some guys
are better carrying guys out of the backfield than others,
and maybe when we adjust in the nickel, who that
second backer is might dictate that. So if you're Peyton Wilson,
(15:09):
I gotta show him I'm built for any situation, right.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Better be able to cover a running back coming into
the backfield. Better be able to cover a tight end.
Otherwise we got.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
A big receiver that comes over in motioning back alone.
There's a lot of things to indicate and work out, right,
And again it's raining.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Again by the way. Oh again, some of that is
who you're playing against in their personnel, but some of
that is what you've shown that you're capable of doing
as well, and how that looks to your coaching staff.
So again we talk about that as position battles, you know,
unit battles, roster battles. All these things come down not
just to necessarily your position group, but other people as well.
(15:46):
So we're going to take a break. Much more to come.
Max is going to a very very very special place.
Max has got a prestigious Max has got a golden ticket.
We're going to talk about that when we continue in
the locker room here on this year, there's audio network.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network presented by bud
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Speaker 2 (16:50):
And welcome back to Latrobe. And look they're milling around
a little bit there in field too. It looks like
that might be it that they called it. Call'd be
it for practice, But I think s fiend Sports are finished. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I'm getting ready for a Mexico trip next year. I'm
just willing it into you.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Are okay? All right? Going to Mexico City. Yeah, I
h the We love to talk. We love to see
our Spanish speaking broadcaster friends. Right, listen our truro and
Alvaro will be very excited that I just said that. Yeah,
so Alvaro told me about a and I just I
(17:32):
mentioned it because it just first of all, because you
spoke Spanish, and secondly because it came up yesterday. I
don't know why, but in nineteen seventy two, do yourself
a favor and check this out. I can't remember the
guy's name. He was an Italian singer. You can find
it easily on YouTube. And he impersonated an American singer
(17:54):
singing like a kind of a funky you like a
funk you know, sort of R and B kind of
rock and roll kind of song. And except none of
the words are are English, even though it clearly sounds English,
it sounds like he's speaking our language, Like clearly like
(18:15):
if somebody were you know, if somebody were to impersonate
a German, right and I'm half German, and they were like,
you know, un speeders and grub and auschina, you know
that sort of sounds German. I forgive my My sister's
a German teacher. She right now, I'd be in a
lot of trouble. I'd be in a lot of trouble,
you know. But it's like that, only it's it's English
(18:35):
and it's and it's clearly when you listen to it,
it's it's very funny because it sounds English to my ears,
even though there's no words, there's no words in the
English language of that. It's really funny. So do yourself
a favorite too. It told me about that, and Aravro
told me about that, and I went and checked it out.
So looking forward to seeing those guys do a phenomenal job.
By the way, not that I can understand the words,
(18:56):
but the excitement level of the energy. No, no, no, Friar,
move exactly exactly down. Yeah, that's right down. Good stuff.
He's a phenomenal player. Oh he's so good, so good.
I mean, just an absolute top notch broadcaster. Uh So,
(19:19):
A couple of running backs signed to big time deals yesterday,
so it was one right after the other, and you know,
and I think when the day ended, so we see
Jonathan Taylor get a new contract extension. Whoa, that's a
lot of money. And then all of a sudden, by
the by the time the day's over, that's not even
the biggest money deal. That belongs to Jamier Gibbs for
(19:39):
Detroit and frankly it's it's a part of it. And
then got it. Yeah, got a huge deal, right. I
think Gibbs is though. I think Gibbs has got the
I think you said it was the largest in NFL history,
but it might just be annual side. Maybe B John's
was longer. But you know what it it does my
(20:01):
heart good. I love the running back position and it
is part of the cycle that just keeps going, the
circle of life that is the NFL. Right you you
know we've we've talked about this before. It's you know,
it's the fun bunch, right. So okay, so we have
a bunch of we have a bunch of little corners.
You're a little receiver, so we better get a little
(20:22):
quick corners. Okay, well, good, you're gonna do that. Let's
come with some massive receivers. Good luck. And then you
have to you know, you have to adjust back and
the different you know, we're going with lighter personnel to
keep up with all the spread on defense, to keep
up with all the spread offenses. Well, guess what now
the age of the running back is back and those
little guys are gonna get run over. Right, So you
know it was not long ago that the running back
(20:44):
position seem to have been devalued. Now, some of that
comes with this sort of sabermetrics community and football saying, look,
you can find uh, these guys approximations of most guys late,
I don't think anybody well, I think some people would
even go so far as to say the special guys
aren't worth it. Well, I think we're finding out that
(21:06):
the NFL values those special players at that position. Whether
it is more than that's you know, quote unquote sabermetric community,
whether that community has come around to the NFL's way
of thinking, I'm not really sure, but it's clear that
these guys are really really valued.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh and they're elite because I mean the guys you name,
these are three down backs, you know, back in the
day when you could devalue them.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Well, he only runs the football.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And then there's a third down back that comes in,
and that's the receiving back. You know, he's not a
running back, he's the receiving running back. And you know,
we don't need you, you know, but for half the
half of what the offensive players will be because there'll
be more you know, of a workload and the sub
and the and the passing game, so we can devalue
(21:51):
you uh uh insert b John Robinson inserted Derek Henry.
Do you think Derek Henry, you think they really care
that Derek Henry doesn't catch as many.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Balls out of the back field.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Absolutely not, because he's gonna give you twelve hundred yards
a year right on the ground and you're not gonna
get in as many third down situations if you hand
it to him first and second down, especially late in
the game. So you're seeing that emphasis really kind of
shift back in that perspective. And like you said, Bijon Jamir,
I mean, yes, he's been a juggernaut for the Detroit
(22:21):
lines and count Taylor has just been that guy outside
of injury years, has been the guy that's really kept.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
The Colts afloat.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
And no matter who's been the quarterback, Jonathan Taylor's been
a constant.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
In that back you know. And as you look at
each of those three guys like Jonathan Taylor, I don't
know if there's anybody quite like him. It's interesting to
me because he doesn't look like, you know, physically, like
a power back, but one guy doesn't bring him down.
He doesn't look like the nifty footed guy, and yet
he makes guys miss. He doesn't look like the fastest guy,
(22:53):
and yet you don't see him caught very often. He's
a really interesting running back. I think, you know, there's
there's more to him than you might think at first
glance just watching him, way more to him than you
might think at first glance watching him play. No, he's
he's a ballplayer. He's a ballplayer.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
And I think for Jonathan Taylor especially, you know, he's
one of those guys. He has a great feel for
the game, and his speed is predicated on the situation,
Like he could turn it up and he could beat
you down the sidelines. But then also he can run
between the tackles. Right, But it wasn't a combination. You
had to either or type of situation. Willie Parker did
not run between the tackles. But guess what if he
(23:30):
got to that outside edge. Goodbye, Mama, that's right, right.
You gave him, You gave him a perfect opportunity. He's
going to take advantage. And then you have Jerome Bettis, right,
who could run between him.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
A douce.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Staley was kind of a little bit more of a hybrid,
but still there was a top end on him.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So now you're seeing guys.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
That are more multifaceted in that approach where they are
becoming more of your do it all type of backs,
where it's like, you know, the bell cow phrase comes back.
You know he's a bell coow. We can keep him
in all three downs. What Mike McCarthy wants out here
is a bell cow back, but he wants two of them, right.
(24:06):
He's like, listen, I don't, he said specifically, I do
not want to have to worry about who is in
on third down behind my quarterback or next to my quarterback.
I want to be able to play with the same guy,
go fast, be efficient, and they can do it all.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Same thing with his receivers. I need my receivers to
not only play X, they gotta play Z. They gotta
play why.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You got to be able to you have to know
all of the responsibilities at the wide receiver position. So
with that in mind and the spirit of that, this
is the payoff for the guys that do have those
skill sets. And that's where Jonathan Taylor fits in. He's
He's really good at anything you need him to be.
He's a chameleon there at the running back position. Same
with Jamir Gibbs, same with b Jehan Robinson, all the
(24:47):
guys that got those big extensions.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
For that for that group. Over the last couple of days,
Jamiir gives to me is like liquid Mercury. I mean
it just the way he runs. I mean he's just
he just explodes and the and the speed. He's a
really really fun guy to watch. Yeah, and we had
him last year in Detroit, and yes, he did a
great job on him.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
It was it was fun to watch him get stopped
because we had watched film yet a time. Not many
people have done that up to that point. So it
was nice to see that type and have our running
backs versus their running backs, right, you know, because like
you said, you have a guy like Junior Gibbs, you
wonder where's our team stack up. And Kenny Gainwell and
Jayalen Warren had had phenomenal games as well, so it's like, okay, yeah,
(25:28):
they got that one. And then Montgomery kind of fills in,
you know, as a as kind of a reliever guy,
but ours was, Yeah, both of our guys can go
and they can do whatever we need. And Kenny Gamewell
of course had like the catch.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Of the year the red zone. Oh my gosh, that
was a ridiculous catch.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
And then Jalen Warren broke off a couple of long,
long yardage runs as well, So it was just it
was nice to see the balance and like you said,
bottle up a guy who is that contagious? Also like
a Davon hh right, another guy who got paid as well.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
A little bit further back, but on a.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Chain was that guy When he came into us, We're like, dude,
he was on tear for like six weeks, right, like
one hundred and fifty plus two hundred total purpose yards.
So you're like, man, how are we gonna stop it?
And we stopped him.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, I think if him as a speedback, oh and
I think if I think if Gibbs is being a
little more there, then a little more thunder than h Yeah,
little I think. I mean again, I don't see a chain.
You know, Detroit on National TV a lot, so we
get we get an opportunity to see him play. And
you know, obviously we scattered him both last year before
the game, so we saw every game, every single game
(26:32):
they played up until that point. But you know, their
their Gibbs just seems to have sort of an it
factor with a lot of different things that that he
can do out in the field. And you know, the
other the other guy I'm thinking of is you know,
we were talking about his Bijon Robinson. When I think
of Bijon, he's one of those guys. This is hard
to quantify, but it seems to me like he runs
(26:54):
the ball and you're like, Okay, not bad, pretty good job.
Wait if he got six on that play. It just
he just has that quality. He was very deceptive. Yeah,
but I mean, and you know you're not. You know,
he's fast also, and he's elusive also, and he's strong also,
but just has that quality of like he got how
many yards on that? That's what That's just that's your
(27:14):
when I when I figure guys, and I'm trying to
think of how I describe him and what buckets and
categories I would put him into, even though they're obviously
all individual. That's one that that's one that he strikes
me is that you think you've done a good job
and you look up, but he's got one hundred and
twenty yards rushing in the receiving yards and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
Yeah, You're like man, Okay, we did a good he
did what right exactly what two thousand? Yeah, on the
season where and then you start watching it like, oh
yeah he did do that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Oh yeah he did do that. Oh wow he did
fall forward right. Oh, he hasn't had that many tackles
for loss. Yeah, he's just well it's.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Like the summation of but it's but it's deceptive how
it comes throughout the year because it because he makes
it look easy.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It looks it looks smooth. It is smooth. He is
really smart.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
It's not it's not dynamic. He's going to have those
type of plays, but he gotta gets mixed in with
everybody else and somebody will do something a little bit
more dynamic. But he did just as great a thing.
He just didn't have to break as many tackles because
they weren't able to catch.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, and we'll get We'll see him week one. Yeah,
we saw him. The first time I'd seen him in
person was the game we had a couple of years
ago when uh, I think just did this was that
the stud is open? I think it was down in
that was the Yeah, where Boswell kicked six field goals. Yeah,
it's good to have a boswall on your tea. It
really is. But no touchdowns, no problem. Yeah. So I
(28:33):
think when you think about like, you know, we started
to see receivers making these huge, huge dollars, and still
I don't believe any of the running backs are up
at the same average salary as the top receivers. I
could be wrong. I don't know, because they flowers just
got a monster. Yeah. So you know, when when there's
two ways to me to look at it. So on
(28:54):
the one hand, like it never made sense to me
because I looked at it in one way and the
white the way I looked at it was okay, So
do I want to pay the guy who's going to
touch the ball six times? Or do I want to
pay the guy who's going to touch the ball twenty
two times. That's one way of looking at it. Of course,
that's a simple way of looking at it. The other
way to look at it is, okay, the guy who's
(29:14):
getting the ball six yards or six times is getting
just as many yards as the guy who car got
it twenty two times, and then you have to account
for him, you have to defend him differently. And you know,
the interconnectedness of football is that if you have a
great receiver, that's going to alter your defense and maybe
make it a little easier for the running back. You know. Conversely,
(29:36):
if you have a great running back, that could make
things a little bit easier for the receiver. So I
guess at the end of the day, there's still those
those receivers there. I think that the feeling is there
are a less There are fewer elite receivers and difference
making receivers than there are elite running backs and difference
(29:57):
making running backs. And those running backs are easier, you know,
not the super elite ones, but the say, the really
good ones that next year down are easier to replace
than the really good receivers. That again, that's just a thumbnail.
I that's about as deep as I've thought about it.
But I think that the when you see what they're getting,
(30:18):
that's again follow the money. That's what I think the
league is telling us about those two positions.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Well, they are, but I think you are seeing more
of a value coming back absolute position, and I think
rightfully so, yes, because it is one of the two
elements in your offense. You know, you can only be
two dimensions right, running, passing, right at the end of
the day, it's still half of what's your team.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Now, whether you do it more or less and it.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Gets to sixty forty fifty five forty five, you know,
I don't think you know, some cases you might even
get down to a seventy thirty split. But I think
it is about where are you amassing the most amount
of yards? Is it in your ground game, is it
in your air game? The potential for higher air game
miles is going to yield for their wide receivers over
(31:05):
the running unless that running back is a receiving running
back and he could catch out of the back and
he's adding to that.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
So then he becomes more value. He bleeds into that
and becomes a bigger cross section of your team success.
And you think about Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah you have Drake London, Yeah you have Kyle Pitts,
but Bjohn Robinson's right there top three and catches every
year as well as your number one runner.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
On the team.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
So now his value kind of changes because he's having
a more more access to potential yards and he's giving.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You more yards on your score sheet from week to week. Yeah,
so he might touch it, say thirty times in a
game that top notch receiver might touch it six to
eight times in a game, but it still goes back
to that guy who's touching it every time in the game.
Who's gonna make the most money of course, and that,
of course is the quarterback unless you're running, unless you're
running the wildcat, I get it, But that guy's touching
(31:55):
him all every single time. Yeah, Or unless you're the
Miami Dolphins like that week.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Stress right where it's like, all I'm doing is touching
the ball, but I'm literally handing it off the day
by eyes.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That's right, That's exactly right. All right, stick around. Max
got a very special journey ahead of him that we
all want to share with him, and we will tell
you about that when we continue in the locker room.
Here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
This is live Covery Jump Dot twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and brought to you
in part by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control making
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(32:43):
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Lisai Shop dot Steelers dot com and buy Condienda Pizza
(33:06):
and Draft House.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And welcome back to the trobe as we are continuing
on here in the locker room. And so Max, Uh,
you are going to Canton. Correct? What a what a
wonderful thing to be able to say. Now it's a
long time you got but you are going to Canton, Max,
(33:31):
How good is that?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
I'm excited? I mean, you know, we got a good
preview of it last night with the game is this?
Is this better? I got to lower it because the
other one was we got new headsets for everybody there.
And this new one kind of has like a snow
cone at the end of it, but you have to
talk directly to the snow cone, whereas the old one
was a bigger ball, so you just had to have
(33:54):
it in front of your mouth.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
But this one's a little bit different. So I was
just looking at the adjustment.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, yeah, so the adjustment, So I mean I literally
have to turn it kind of up here so I
can kind of catch it a little bit, catch in
your mustache, Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
That's when I shake my head a little bit. That's there.
But you know, people don't realize. I mean that some
of the difficulties of this job, like when the microphone,
when the fuzzy microphone kind of tickles against your face.
Tough to that, and then you gotta battle through because
some guys.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Actually like where the microphone is, like like you're like
you're about to inhale it.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, it's like right on their mouth. I can't stand that.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah, So I like it a little bit away, but
like you said, it's getting used to where the right
point is. So you guys can hear me loud enough,
so you're going to Yes, I'm going back to going
back to that. Yeah, going going in and we saw
it last night, great preseason game between the Panthers and
the Cardinals.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Of course, why do you have.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Those teams there because oh, by the way, there's two
guys going into the Hall of Fame that are gonna
have bus created by them that played for those teams.
One guy, I believe the Western PA Faithful and all
Hill Pitt would recognize Larry fitz Gerald going into the Hall.
Also Luke Keikley, a longtime linebacker with the Carolina Panthers,
(35:06):
going in along with Roger Craig, which I mean, let's
face it, in the eighties, I was a young kid
who didn't want to be Roger Craig. Right, thousand yards passing,
thousand yards receiving, rushing in the same scenes we're.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Talking about threat running backs. Yeah, he was the first.
He was. Yeah, I was gonna say he's one of
the first, but maybe he was.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
He was the first running back to ever get a
thousand thousand Yeah, so he is the prototype that everybody
now aspires to be.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Those high knees too, Oh yeah, exactly. He was going through.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
You weren't going to just you know, let tackle him.
You had to hit him up high. And so you know,
kind of thinking about like that, like like I thought
he'd already be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
But it isn't that amazing about the Football Hall of
Fame more than any other Hall of Fame. Yeah, you think,
wait a minute, he's not in the Hall of Fame
and they put in, you know, eight nine guys a
year it always shocks me who's not in the Hall
of Fame exactly and how long it takes some guys
to get into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah, because once you get out of like a certain
period of where you've been a semi finalist or a
finalist for a number of.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Years, then you get kicked to the senior kid. Because
he went in the senior category.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Incredible, And when you think about all the guys that
are still there, like you, and here's me here here,
here's kind of my personal thoughts probably why I'm not
a Hall of Fame voter. If you make an All
Decades team, yes, totally agree with you should totally be
in there because that means you were the best person
for whatever segment was of a ten year span, you
(36:36):
dominated a majority of it, right. So the fact that
he's an All Eighties Decade team member making it in
and also this kind of goes to my chagrin because.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
My uncle was also an All Eighties Decade team, but
that's a different story.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Roger Craig goes in Adam vini Eri, how did it
take this long for Adam Ventiy to get in when
he literally has the most points in NFL history. I
don't like literally the most points, so that that should
automatically be a shoe. I don't care if it was
a kicker or not. If you score the most points
in a game that's very tough to score points, and
(37:12):
you have the most of them and over one hundred
years of history, probably should go in a little bit
quicker in that process.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, so you know, so those are the main guys
going in. I'm going. I'm not going for any of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I am going because my agent, Dean Grossman, his dad,
Sandy Grossman, is getting the Pete Roselle Award, which is
kind of the broadcaster production side of things. Like Joe
buck Is in has gotten the Pete Roselle Awards for
just for into the purpose of a person that's prominent
that you might know.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
He went into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year too. Yeah,
see he went. He went to all of those.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
So Sandy Grossman is one of the first directors I
think him and Fred Goodelli went in Who's a long
Time with NBC. But Sandy Grossman what he's famous for
or is he was the director for in You and
I talked about this the greatest duo in football broadcasting history.
(38:10):
And we could argue overall broadcasting history, yes, because that's
a different story. But John Madden and Pat Summer all phenomenal.
So the guy who was who was the man in
the chair for those guys, and how revolutionary he was.
So just to give you kind of a peeking insight
into what Sandy Grossman not only did for John Madden
and did for Pat summerl and that crew and they
(38:31):
were together for twenty one years, but he's the one
that also widened the angle of the of the lens
so you can see outside backers during a football game broadcast. Wow,
he was the first guy.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
To do that. I didn't I didn't think he was
about that.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
And he was also the first guy to introduce the
ISO camera in a game where you could zoom in
on a player because.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Everything was just far away, overarching stuff or just really tight.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
He actually did the individual ISO player cam, so we
used a guy on the field like Aaron Rodgers sitting
under center about to call a snap. That's the isocam.
He did that. He also did the off camera stuff,
so not necessarily just tracking the ball, but if there
was a key matchup like watching wide receivers like you know,
fight at the at the break point or or an
outside line, but like Lawrence Taylor, right, Lawrence Taylor going
(39:19):
against the tackle so that even though the play would
be there and then you could show.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
It on the replay.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
That's what That's what he revolutionized for the way we
watch football.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
So he also has the record. He's called the most
Super Bowls.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
He's called ten, he's called nineteen NBA Finals, he's called
six Stanley Cup playoff. Well directed, and then he's done
a number of Olympics, so he's been he's one of
the first super directors, and obviously that kind of gets overlooked.
He's like, who's the director. But that's what he brought
to the game, and that's why he's getting the awards.
(39:51):
So I'm going there on behalf of my agent. He's
gonna he's gonna present his dad and give the speech tonight,
so I'm going to support him.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
So I just want to quickly mentioned this.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
I took my son, UH and wife. We went to
the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and of course
I'm talking about in the locker room cub reporter Schaefer King.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We went to a junior reporter. Actually he was junior
at the time. He's not senior report.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
So there's a room in the Hall of Fame in
which you can see little videos of the players. So
my son is going to Troy Polamalo and players of
that he grew up, watch his area. I'm going to
players of my error or even later. So I'm giggling.
I'm giggling it like like Dick Knight trade lane, you know,
(40:40):
close lining guys. It was just it was just it
was it was legal to cross the middle of a guy,
just closed lining to the ground, you know. And uh
so we we refused. I said, you know, my so,
now my wife's out. She's like, okay, I'm I'm leaving.
I'm gonna go get I'm gonna go get the car
pulled around front and I was like, Shaeffer, we cannot
(41:01):
leave until somebody we see video of somebody getting absolutely trucked,
I mean trucked. Yeah. So we're dashing around hitting the
little thirty second videos. Dick bud Is, Dad, that's not
good enough, you know, Raid, that's not good enough. You know.
So finally we came to I came to Jerome Bettis
and I hit Jerome Bettas, I'm like, Shafer, get over here, man.
(41:23):
We got our we got our winner. It was it
was a low angle shot. I think they were playing
I'm almost positive they were playing Baltimore and some uh
some defensive back came up and I think I think
the dB may have even been nudged by a blocker,
so he was a little off pounced. It was phenomenal.
(41:45):
So if you ever get to the Hall of Fame
and you go into the room, check out Jerome bettters
and they still have the same video and then we're like,
all right, now we can leave. It was great. So
that was my that was my Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And he has so many, oh so many, so many videos,
but you know, low angle.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
It was low angle, so it was like you talk
about different angles. That's part of what made me think
about it. Like, so you're seeing the high angles and
the game appears to move slower at those high angles
when you see it down low, it is moving in
Jerome game times. It was. It was so much fun.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Now, the other one that I love that I see
I see, you know quite frequently the Erlacker play in Chicago.
Here in Pittsburgh, Yes, and in the in the O
five season. I mean when he absolutely trucked Brian Urlacker,
who at that time was the beasy He was the
linebackers linebacker, right, that's right, he's your favorite linebacker's favorite linebacker, yes,
(42:37):
and for and when you watched a low angle version
of that, like it's almost like a kind of a
cross diagonal field, like from the opposite sideline looking into
the play.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
That's what.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
So thank you Sandy Grossman for giving us the availability
to have those.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Type of shots shot live.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
And then like Steve Sables another one NFL films get
into the Hall of Fame, right, but he was another one.
When you talk about we think about the rights of Autumn,
we think about the classic appisode, the little pictures, like
he was a guy that was filming that secondary It
wasn't for the television broadcast, but for archival purposes that
you can go back and have those moments. He was
another guy that was an innovator in that world with
(43:12):
NFL films.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
So everybody, by the way, every play by play guy
in television owes something to Pat summerl who is a
kicker of renown played a little wide receiver too, but
a kicker of renown for the New York Giants, and
every color guy owes something to John Madden. They were
that revolutionary. Both wasn't one or the other, it was
both of them.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Yeah, the combination was the most golden combination of all time.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
So if you're listening to a game on the radio,
the play by a play person has to describe everything
that's going on, so you have to and is trying
to paint a picture in your mind of what's happening.
That's why he's describing a player going in motion, and
you know what's happening. Is the crowd on its feet?
What is the defense doing? Are they creeping up? All
these things? And when football on TV started, they grabbed
(44:05):
radio play by play guys and so these guys were
describing everything that you were seeing. Pat Summerow was the
first guy to really understand they can see it. And
if I say, you know, if I say Bradshaw swan touchdown,
that's enough. You saw Bradshaw take the snap and get
(44:26):
out of trouble and throw it down the field. You
don't have to explain that to somebody that you do
on radio. So that made him innovative. And then of course,
John Madden, the way he brought football to everybody, the
way he described it. There's not a single guy I
don't think, who has done color since the and there
isn't a single guy who does TV play by play
who shouldn't be influenced by both of those guys. Absolutely no,
(44:48):
I completely agree.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
And when you think about it like that, that's the
Mount Rushmore right of play by play and color analysts.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
If you're putting the top duos.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
On Mount Rushmore's first name, that has to come up
regardless of sport, regardless of sport, because you know when
you can endear and you, like you said, it's almost
like when when an artist in the musical genre crosses over.
I was just thinking, as that cross they had that
crossover appeal.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
You cross over them. Yes, and I think I think
they influenced people beyond their own sport. But I also
think when you're talking about that, it's funny because the
Beatles popped into my mind, like the Beatles were to
rock and roll with. These guys were announcing. Somebody may
have come along and did that, but they're the ones
who did it, and everything that comes after is informed
by what they.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Did exactly they they changed the course of how you
viewed that subject matter. And I mean the telestration. I
mean we could go on and on the telestrations, you know,
the on the field interviews, you know, the traducan I mean,
there's so many traditions and things that you must do
because of what for me, John Matten did to the game.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
What are you What are you doing on PlayStation exactly Madden?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Right, you're not You're not playing fl Football twenty twenty six,
You're playing Madden twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
I mean, it's so that's just that's but that's just good.
He had All Madden.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Team, All mad the man had his own Pro Pro
Bowl team that are all Pro team that he got
to pick. Yep, and my uncle won four of those.
So I have one of those. Nice, I'm blessed. I
mean I I I look at that, I'm like, I
have it All Madden Trophy. I would not it, but
my uncle was in the fact that somebody I know
was on that trophy, Uh is pretty special. So they'll
never be another John Madden. Nope, And they'll never be
(46:28):
another Pat Summer all and all of us can hope
to get the nod that John or Pat would approve
of what we did for sure.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That's the ultimate acknowledgement in our business. Max, safe travels,
my friend, Thanks Bud, I appreciate it, having a great time.
We'll be back tomorrow. We will be back tomorrow. I'm
still here. Max is on the road. Uh, safe travels Max.
Wes Euler peering around the corner and bench hitting. Now
now that's our that's our senior cup reporter around. That's right,
he's gonna he's gonna come around the corner there we
(46:58):
go to a little heartface. Yeah that's right. Yeah, So
Max say, travels, my friend, thank you, and wes Uler
will join me next and we continue in the locker
room here on the Steeler's Audio Network.
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