November 5, 2025 • 38 mins
The Drive highlights positive contributions to the Steelers from their special teams and defense. They also answer some Tweets to wrap the show.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Your two weeks about drive on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good evening, Steeler Nation, How we do it? Well, that's
good us too, our number two here on the drive
as we roll along on a Wednesday with plenty to
get to, Matt, what do you say we do a
little best of the West here too? Uh yeah, enough
to lead off our number two. And this is ah,
I mean it kind of relates to again, I'm trying
(01:14):
to find different things to bring into the Best of
the West here every single week as we roll along.
And I thought, with us going to Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, I forgot we were gonna do this week, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In honor of this weekend. My ten favorite stadiums arenas
parks that I've ever been to for a sporting event.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
It has to be a sporting event, though. Can't be
like Red Rocks.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it
has to be for a sporting event. Can't just be
a concert venue. Can't be Red Rocks out in Colorado, which,
funny enough, I've been there, but not for a concert.
I did friggin' Sunrise yoga there one time. With my wife.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Wow though it was great. Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
We were out there like three or four years ago
in Denver for a week and she was like, can
we do Sunrise Yoga, red Rocks. I was like, you said,
red Rocks? Sure, Sure, I got up early and you know.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
But the Sphere is not gonna be on this list.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The Sphere is not going to be on this list.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Although I tell you what to sign, I bet I
can get you started there.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Someone who's seen four shows at the Sphere I would
highly recommend. And also can't be Pittsburgh or WVU based.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Good good, No PNC Park familiar.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
No PNC Park, no WVU Coliseum. All right, so here,
so here we go.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I don't think I'm gona have many comments on these,
so take it away.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I I yeah, you might not.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, some honorable mentions here for you. First, funny Enough
Memorial Stadium. That's Nebraska's football stadium that I just talked
about talking about USC was there was there back in
my hockey broadcasting days because there was a team in
our league in Lincoln, Nebraska got to go there once.
It was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Has that been the same stadium since? Like the eighties.
They were awesome with Yeah, Tommy.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But I love I love old historic stadiums that have
been renovated.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Okay, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They still have the history and the tradition element, but
they're not complete dumps.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Okay, I love those. I'm not a car guy, but
if I had a bazillion dollars, I'd get an awesome
muscle car from the seventies. Yes, that has been That
is air conditioning again.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Right, yeah, So some honorable mentions. Memorial Stadium would be one.
Yankee Stadium would be one. I'm not a I'm not
a big baseball guy, but the history in there is
just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And then before Yankee.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Memorial Stadium, Nebraska Nebraska's football stadium. And then hinkelefield House,
which is the Butler University basketball arena. It's where they
filmed Hoosiers. Oh yeah, yeah, and it's like the oldest
Division one basketball arena. Uh in the country.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Did you go there when we were at the Commerce
Student and I did one time.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was awesome and I actually got.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
The Colts game.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Then.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I don't think Mike's ever gone there.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It was a game, You're right, it was the Steelers
played on Monday Night football against the Colts a couple
of years ago.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
That's what it was.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I actually got to go out on the court and
made a layup. How about that? I missed my first one,
but I made my second one. Told Pursuita he should
have taken a video of me, but I was on
the court and off the court very quickly. I might
also throw Croke Park onto my honorable mentions. I really
liked it pretty cool. I really liked it in double yeah, yeah, yeah,
all right. Number ten, we're gonna count down from ten
(04:16):
to one. Allegiance Stadium, the Las Vegas Stadium where the
Raiders play.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It's new and awesome, right, it's new.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It's awesome. It looks like the Death Star. I mean
it's very nice. It's very easy to get around. The
food in there is great. The atmosphere and the acoustics
are outstanding. Allegiant Stadium checks in at number ten.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Cool, okay, it looks cool on TV.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Very cool, very cool. Number nine The Big House in
an Orber, Michigan. Don't let Mike Pursuda hear me say this, right,
I went there for a Michigan Notre Dame game. One year.
It was really cool.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
The hit.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The atmosphere is not as crazy as you would expect
because Michigan. Michigan fans are a little bit of a
wine and cheese crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I've heard.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
They're not the They're not the down in Morgantown, you know,
bashed natty lights off your face and go into the
stadium and scream a bunch of four letter words. They're
a little more wine and cheese, and you know, we
pack up our RV and we take the family to
ann Arbor for the weekend. But the history of money,
the history of it and everything, and the whole campus
is just so beautiful there. Big House is really cool.
(05:17):
That's number nine.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
But that one I can contribute to a little. I
never visited them, but a couple of my best friends,
including one of my very best friends class of ninety
one from Libo people went to Michigan nice and coincidentally
that was actually they were freshmen with the Fab five,
which was pretty cool. It was pretty cool like Weber
was in his psych class. Yeah, that's awesome a lot,
but you know what happen sure, By the way, I
(05:39):
had a lot of Michigan buddies that are super into it.
And I guess when you go in the Big House,
so you end up like on the top floor and.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You walk in on the go down. It is pretty cool.
The history there is awesome. That's that, Matt. I was
at WU for four and a half years. I did
one extra semester, so five football seasons, thirty home games,
I missed one. I went to twenty nine of the
possible thirty w home when I was in school. The
one that I missed is because we were playing Norfolk State, okay,
and I had tickets to go see Notre Dame in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
At the Big House. Nice Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So that was a fun, fun road trip with some
of my buddies. That checks in at number nine, number eight, Matt,
I'll be surprised if you ever even heard of this one,
But if you heard of the Palestra, no, okay. It
is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a basketball arena. It is
a what's the capacity here?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Just under nine thousand people. Yes, And there's five Division
one basketball programs in Philly in the in the area, Villanova, Temple,
Saint Joe's, LaSalle, and Drexel gotcha, So they play there
a lot too. So it's big for high school like
state championships and stuff. It's big when like Villanova plays
Temple or Saint Joe's plays Temple whatever. It was built in.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Now there's some serious high school teams.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Big basketball in Philadelphia is a huge deal, right, huge deal.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Because like brokick story, like my son's one of his
best friends is now a freshman at Miami of Ohio Ride.
He was one of the best players in whip Fules
last year. Tyler Robbins. People might have known who he is.
Great kid, a great family, and USC he led USC
to you know, a championship. Basically nice. But it's like,
now we got to go play the Philly team that
(07:19):
was like Kobe's team, yes, correct, Yeah, like you're pretty
good for Eastern PA, not for Kobe's team. Yeah, Penn.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I think Penn plays their home games there as well too.
But it's matt It's from the outside it looks like
an old school college campus building. It's like brick and
beautiful and was built in the twenties old yeah, and
then inside it's like brand new and renovated.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Oh right up your alley then, and it's cool. It's
it's historic, but not crappy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Eight exactly right, eight thousand seats right on top of
the floor, and it just rocks like I saw. I
saw Saint Joe's play temple there when in the three
years that I lived out in Philly, and it was
unbelievable atmosphere, it was so cool. That's number eight for me.
Number seven. The camp. Now it's Barcelona's Stadia.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You said there's going to be some soccer, be some.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Soccer stuff on here. So Barcelona, of course, one of
the biggest soccer clubs in the world. The stadium holds
like ninety thousand people and I was there. It's it's
it's unbelievable. It's it's old and it's and it's historic
and they've done a bunch of renovations to it. But
it's just the way that it's designed. It's so vertical,
(08:28):
like there's not a bad seat in the house, if
that makes sense. It's not built out wide, it's built vertically.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It's like steep to get to your seat.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It's like down exactly right, exactly right, and there's like
this really cool like walkway bridge to get into it.
And you know, there's like Diego Maradona and Pele and
all these guys that played there. Yeah, right in the
middle of a neighborhood in Barcelona. Pretty cool. That's number seven,
number six down in Atlanta, the home of the Falcons,
(08:57):
Mercedes Benz Stadium. Really I love it, Okay, It's so cool.
It's very nice. It's easy to get around. The roof
opens and retracts and and all that stuff. The like
the the whole interior is red and black, which is
like the Falcons colors and Atlanta United, which is the
MLS team that plays there. I think I've said this
(09:18):
to you before, but I've worked three games there now
for the Steelers, two regular season games and a preseason game.
I want to just go to, like next summer when
the World Cup is here this coming summer. One of
my best friends lives in Atlanta too, so i'd have
a place to stay. I would really like to go
to a World Cup game at Mercedes Benz Stadium. I
want to go to a game there just as a
spectator and just be able to drink beer and walk around.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
And yet it's like a palace. It's so nice. So
we visited friends in Atlanta a couple summers ago and
just we were right next to it. We ate lunch
right next there, and it was We didn't go in,
but it was very impressive. It's really I'm a fashion
on them. But it'd be cool if they had better fans.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It'd be very cool if they had a better if
they had a better atmosphe that's number six. Number five.
You want to talk some history. These next couple are
very historic. Number five Lambeau Field. How can you know they?
Of course, especially since the renovations that they've done to it.
It's it is another one of those blend of history
and tradition with a lot of cool new modern amenities
(10:17):
and touch to it as well. I think I told
you this story, but I actually haven't gone to a
game there at Lambeau. But I got a tour of
the entire place, got to go out on the field
when I was with the hockey team the Youngstown Fantoms
that I worked for out of high school or out
of high school, out of a college part of me, the Packers,
long story short, were there in Green Bay. There's a
(10:38):
hockey team in Green Bay as well too, that has
an arena right by Lambeau. It's like the Saturday of
the game we're all walking around, you know, just checking
out Lambeau in that whole. It's almost like a campus there.
And the Packers equipment manager at the time, I don't
know if he still is. This would have been twenty fifteen,
twenty sixteen, about ten years ago, was from Canada and
so it was a big hockey fan. So he saw
(10:59):
the young us all wearing our Youngstown Fantoms jackets and
he's like, you guys with the phantoms. He's like, oh,
you know, I follow you guys. I love watching the league. Like, hey,
come in here, check out in the locker room. Took
us out on the field, walked us around the whole
like hrium, like Packers museum area.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It just so much history. It's it's it's fantastic. Like
if you are, if you're a football junkie, you should
get the Lambeau at some point.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Okay, oh yeah, no, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Number three on this list, Matt, and it is the
only one on this list that is no longer standing.
You can't go here. The Joe Lewis Arena.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
In Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
The Red the home of the Red Wings forever. They
just built little Caesars Arena a few years ago, where
now the Red Wings and the Pacers play. But the
Joe was a dump, and I mean that in the
best way possible. Yeah, it was a historic dump. I mean,
Gordy has, Steve Eiserman and all these great Red Wings legends.
I got to play there, and I got to go
(11:57):
to a Penguin's Red Wings Stanley Cup game there in
two thousand and eight. It's just it was one of
those incredibly intimate, incredibly tight, like it's a tight venue,
you know what I mean, Like they packed eighteen thousand
people in there like sardines. Wow. And just the history
of the place, the smell of the place, the the
(12:18):
atmosphere it was. It was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
It was.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
It was so cool, and I'm so glad that I
got to go to a game there, a big game,
a Stanley Cup game before they before they knocked it down.
Number three Death Valley in Baton, Laruge, Louisiana, Night game,
Night game, Wu lsu. I know I've told you that story. Yeah,
rented the rented the Rugby vans and you know, drove
like eighteen hours each way. It's another one of those.
(12:42):
It's got the you know, the same kind of bowl
that's been there for eighty years or whatever one hundred years,
but they've built it up a lot. The upper deck
is brand new. The entire area around the stadium is
so cool, like people just it's it's some of the
coolest tailgating you'll ever imagine. And the way I don't
know what it is what they did with the acoustics
somewhere they're matt but like the place just rocks, like
(13:05):
it vibrates. Yeah, and so again, tradition, atmosphere history. Night
game takes it up a level. I want to go
back there for another game. Is how how much fun
it was. That's number three Death Valley l s U,
number two Sofi Stadium where the Steelers will.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Be playing this weekend. That's why this has come up.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I've heard it's anbelievable.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It's a stadium that is covered, but it's also open
air like a pavilion. It's like it looks it looks
like a sting ray is floating above the stadium. The
best way for me to describe it. It's all open
air but it's still covered. It's so nice. The jumbo
Tron is like the entire length of the football field.
It's unbelievable. The weather's yeah, you get that nice light California, Matt,
(13:54):
it's really cool. It's it is.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Fountain and stuff too, and you know it's.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
All it's so cool. It's got all the amenities. It's
it's really well built. There's not a bad seat in
the house. I love Sofi Stadium, I do, and I'm
excited to get back there for just the second time
this weekend. And then number one met the Santiago Bernaboo,
which is the home of Real Madrid and Madrid Spain.
So I actually did both of these in the same
(14:22):
the same year in twenty eleven. When I did I
did ten days in Spain with my family and that
was like the two things that I wanted to do
was Barcelona soccer game, Real Madrid soccer game.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You're there during the season.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's like a cat Matt. It's it's unbelievable. It's like
a castle, holds one hundred thousand people and it's it's
one of the best. I mean everything that you would
think about, like a traditional like European soccer game atmosphere.
Everyone wears white like they've got the drums, they've got
the flags. It's out of control. And I and I
(14:53):
took it. I did a tour of it as well too,
so I got to go to a game there, and
I did the tour the day before. And it's just
walking around it. It's a like it's it's kind of
like a Lambeau Field, Like you can just walk around
it and be like, oh my goodness. Like the architecture
of it is unbelievable. Looks like a castle.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So cool.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The history there as well too, And I like these
it's much, you know, much like the Steelers. Like I
like how the Steelers Stadium is right downtown. You know,
it's not like that's the one thing about Sofi is
it's kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The one thing about Lambeau it's kind of in the
middle of nowhere. Some of these stadiums, like MetLife, you
know what I mean, New England in the middle of nowhere.
The Burnabout is right in the middle of Madrid. I
mean it's three blocks away from the heart of downtown Madrid.
So like, you know, you can go get lunch and
sangria and walk right to the game, you know, Like
(15:48):
it's just fantastic stuff. And it was the architecture of
it's so cool, the atmosphere of it's so cool. It's
open air, but they've got like these overhangs so that
you're protected from the rain and the weather elements and stuff.
It was awesome. I would I would love to go
back there against.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
That's the coolest.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So that's my best of the West coolest contribute.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I haven't been to a ton, but I was gonna
throw it a couple of little things at pitt When
we went to A and M was pretty awesome. It
was pretty awesome, and we beat them. It was like
Larry's coming out game. And they were like so nice
to you when they left, you know, like they're saluting
and clapping for you when you left. Like when we
beat WU that throw feces at us. Yeah, of course.
(16:30):
The other one as a pit visitor we did twice
at Notre Dame was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
That would be sweet.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And the thing that stood out to me was how
sweet it is and how cool it is. But like
the locker room is like as big as this is big,
it's ungodly terrible. I mean, like there's like a couple
of nails for the four kids that like hang their stuff.
I remember our coaching staff it was either one or
two of us could shower at a time. It's so small.
(16:59):
And then the eyes that are in the booth they
watch the game. For the booth, they call the game,
and then for halftime they get on an elevator. They
have to go outside the stadium, run like one hundred
and eighty degrees to the other side while people yell
at you, yeah, come in to coach their kids up
at halftime. By then it's already time for the second half.
(17:21):
Second right, I row line coach like seventy years old.
I mean, oh my god. It was like such a
terrible advantage. They're like, this way is horrible, but it's
kind of awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's kind of cool at the same time.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And I'll tell the story some other time. But I
also when I was at pitt, I was very fortunate
that the first six months or so, I gave many
many tours. Put your hard hat on, folks, this is
going to be heinz Field. That's awesome, you know, so
very cool, which was pretty cool. I'm like, oh, this
wasn't here last time I was. I tore there like
(17:51):
once a week. Sure, take recruits through their family. I'm like,
these are the beer lines, you know this, this is
where your your locker room is going to be, you know.
So that was really awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Every time you get to see what it's always something.
When you were with Pitt. Did you ever get a
chance to go to Cincinnati? Did you ever play at
Nippert Stadium. It's pretty cool. It's smaller. I think it
only holds like thirty eight thousand people, but it's like
smack dab intimate in the middle of their campus. It's
it's really cool. It's it's really like something like that.
(18:19):
I think if and I know there's no room in
Oakland and all that, but that would be like a
like an ideal like on campus type stadium for Pitt.
Nippert at Cincinnati is is really cool as well too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
I did.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I do kind of regret that I never went to
a WV game at Oklahoma or at Texas while while
we were I've been to Austin, Texas a couple of times.
In the stadium there looks incredible. Oklahoma, the Palace on
the Prairie I've heard I've heard amazing things about but hey,
maybe we'll maybe we'll add those to add those to
the list one day, but that is the list, the
(18:55):
best of the West, coolest favorite stadiums, arenas parks that
I've ever been to. When we come back on the
other side, Matt, I did want to get into you
sent me us some interesting stuff on special teams and
turnovers and how they contribute to team's success. Let's do
that and talk about how the Steelers have been doing
(19:17):
very well in that department. We'll get back into some
Steelers conversation on the other side when we return West Schuler,
Matt Williamson, It's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on
the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Back on the Drive here on a Wednesday, I'm down
the home stretch Westuler and Matt Williamson with you, and Matt,
you sent me well. To be fair, you send me
a lot of interesting stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Here and there.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, it is funny. I always love it. I could
tell like how much work you were doing based on
how many emails you send me in a given night.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You can also check my Twitter account to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Thankful for it, though, I want to be very clear
on that, Like, I enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Wednesday night's a big one. This is Matt Stats gets
turned into night.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Oh, it's a big night.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So there's like three more spots I have to hit
after my night show tonight. That put the final touches
on it.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, I love it. I'm excited to get it. You
sent me kind of the the first draft yesterday and
I do. It's like I don't even have to go
searching for content anymore. You just spoon feed it right
into my inbox.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Special teams and turnover contributions this NFL season weeks one
through nine in the National Football League. So how many
total points you're gaining through turnovers? How many total points
you're gaining on special teams?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Matt?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
The Steelers are like in a stratosphere of their own.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah. I just cutting paces from Pro Football for Focus.
I mean they they're they're titles on there. I'm not
trying to I don't create graphs or anything like that,
but I cut and paste them as well as anybody else.
And our listeners can't see it. But it's actually on
my Twitter feed at Williamson NFL. If you just want
to see the graphic, because the graphic makes you go, whoa.
You know, you're like the best in the league in
(21:19):
both categories.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
They're like an extreme outlier in both categories.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, and I did an entire podcast on this today.
And to be honest about this time of the year,
every year they're right there. Like it's not Tomlin voodoo
or this magic. You know, it's like they really stress
these areas and they're great at it. And it turns
how do you have a winning record every year in
a row? And well, you're really good in the kicking game,
(21:43):
and you're really good on turnovers, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And you know who is kind of a nice to say.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Look at the other opposite end, the Chargers are like
the worst combination combination not a good company to keep.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
No, it's not. And this is you're absolutely right when
you look at the consecutive winning seasons, when you look
at the record and one score games.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, this when you're great on special teams.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Stuff like this. When you're great on special teams, when
you're great on points off of turnovers, that's how you
raise your floor.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, they're undefeated this year in games they won the
turnover battle four No.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And you know, they as long as they've had Chris Boswell,
except for that one year where he was injured, it's
felt like special teams has been a net positive. But
I also think it's a hunt every year. They always
say sometimes.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Give Danny Smith a lot of credit. Yeah, And I
also think organizationally they stress it at least as much
as anyone else. You know, like since I've been paying
attention to analytics in any form, football outsiders was like
way ahead of the curve. They've been around since like
the early eighties, and they would always do They pretty
much always said special teams every year is very random,
(22:51):
Like if you're good on special teams last year, who
knows if Shelby or not. But during like the there's
about a fifteen year stretch there when every year the
Ravens and Patriots are in the top five, they're the
only two. Belichick stressed it like crazy. Harbaugh's a form
or special teams coach. He had Tucker, the Patriots had
(23:11):
good kickers too, But now the Steelers are in that
category two where if you want to bet on who's
going to be DVOA top five special teams next year,
not even knowing who's on your roster. Steelers should be
your first bet. You just absolutely should. And I think
Dave Smith is un doing it really good kicker, which
(23:31):
is huge. But they also do things like bring up
two running backs off off the practice squad who aren't
ever going to touch the football just for one game
for special teams, right or keep kill a brew And
I know Hayward does more than that, But Pierre and Hayward,
I think they more than any team in the league,
(23:52):
or as much as these five spots on the roster
or for special teamers that can get us out of games.
But they're here for one you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
They value that.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
They value that.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You and I talk about it, Dale, We would talk
about this every training camp. How the Steelers devote more
time to those special teams periods than just about anybody
that's I.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Said that today on the on the other podcast I
did was I don't want to I don't watch other
teams practices. Of course I'm not at the Chargers practice
the Packers practice, but I know the Steelers dedicate a
lot of time to it too.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yes they do, and it's shown up and it's it's working.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That was They've used a lot of like seventh round
picks on pure special teamers too.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
They just did with Matt Before we go to break here,
we'll close down with a couple of tweets. On the
other side, I have to ask you one of our
weekly Wednesday questions. It's time to pick a player from
the Chargers roster to add to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now
there's a couple very obvious, Herbert, we're just taking quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Out of the too easy to easy and with him, maybe.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Are we going to I think it becomes more fun
if we kind of like consider health And.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
That's why this one's really interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Like, and I didn't worry that properly, But should we
do it as if Rashaun Slater and Joe Alt are healthy?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
No, you have to have exactly with them today?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, is it bad to say that I would probably
still take Joe allt and just I think I would too,
like I knew he wasn't gonna play for the rest
of this year.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I would love my team doctor to evaluate Slater and
Alt and be like, or either one of these a
total reject, because that's who I'm taking. Sure, if there's
two weeks ago, I'd say it's Alt for sure, because
he was healthy and awesome. McConkey would come into the
mix a little. It's an interesting he was much more
than just a slot folks. And he's cheap, he's honest,
you know, and he's healthy. He can help me win,
(25:40):
right now, No one on defense, not that their defense
is bad, but there's not someone there.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's like, you're not gonna pay Derwin James that much.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
I don't see one guy that would just like make
you so much better. I think it's still Alt.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I think it is too. Yeah, it's a premier position.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You'd still have him on his rookie contract for a
couple more years.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It'd be nice if I knew that he's ready for
training camp next year. Yes, that's all I really need.
Just check that box for me, and I'm ready to roll.
I am, and that's in. Sorry, Broderick, but I'll take
all over, you know, you know? Left that right, Matt.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
If it's a year or two from now and Joe
Alt is the like consensus best tackle in football, I
don't think that would surprise.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Any of us. No, no, right, I mean he's that
good absolutely, Like every draft class, I do this little
exercise in my head too to get in there. We're
a weird world of Matt Williamson, and like, who would
I pick out of this class?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That sounds like a fun off season of content weird
world of Matt Williamson once a week.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
And like when the draft comes out, though, I look
at me, like, who is the best chance in this
draft to be a Hall of Famer?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And I think all was. He was definitely one of
my finalists because guys like that play a long time,
and I mean, you get twelve years of that dude,
that's the Hall of Famer, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Left that I'm putting this in my notes on my
iPhone right now, weird World of Matt Williamson. I'll remember
what that what that means when the time, when the
time comes. Yeah, I I I just think even if
you were not going to have him for the rest
of this year, it's it's still and you won't relatively, yeah,
so be it right, still relatively a no brainer for
me that.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
You drop that guy out of the sky in the
off season and add them to your line. Oh, you
get the best line of the league, unbelievable, And assume
he does a long term and Slater wouldn't be bad. No,
Slater's a great left has Joel's still twenty two.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, he hasn't even turned twenty three yet. Wow, or
maybe it did. He maybe just turn twenty three.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
But regardless, pop right like the second season.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, but I mean most teams, So I'd be thrilled
to take Slater. Slater to me as a top five
left tackle when healthy too.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
One hundred percent. Yeah, I would take I would happily
take either. Ah, Joe all buddy, same birthday as me,
February twenty eighth. Nice, all the cool kids are born
in February. Joe Alt will not even turn twenty three
until February. Wow, good lord. Yeah that's the guy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Daddy was a tackle. He was like bred to be
a tackle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
You think Joe Alt wants to hang out on our birthday?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah? I ever tell you the Kenny Picket story? I
think So we're about June and six, are you? And
that was Mini Camp? Yeah? Yeah yeah yeah. Every year
during my we're always broadcasting right down there.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
We're always at the Combine for my birthday and always
at Mini Camp and OTAs for your birthday.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And I remember going in there, and there's this huge
birthday cake on June sixth, first for QBY at the time. Yeah,
and I kept joking on the air, I'm like, you
guys didn't have to do this for me, you know, right?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
All right, one more segment, that's funny. One more segment
to go on the other side. We'll close this thing
down with a couple of your tweets before we get
up out of here. West Jeweler, Matt Williamson, it's the
Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
The final segment here on a Wednesday, Matthew, what do
you say we close it down with some tweets?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
All right, I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Let's get after it. As always, you can tweet us
anytime of the day. If they're good, I'll book mark
them and we'll get to them. Or if we just
you know, need some content from time to time as
well too.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Yeah, they can fill a segment.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
At Wesley Yuler at Williamson, NFL is where you find
the duo of the Drive on Twitter. Steel Curtain tweets
us and says you guys were talking about Dak yesterday.
Would like to know what you think of him potentially
being a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I've linked him to Steelers for three years now.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You talk about this a lot last off season.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah, I love him. I think he's so good above
the neck and it's such a cerebral good player that's
playing great right now. But coincidentally, I do a show
Locked on Dynasty, just every Wednesday, and one of the
other co hosts is Marcus Mosher. He actually was on
with Dale and I like a year ago. I think
we forget why we had him on Dallas. He also
(30:06):
just locked on Cowboys, so he's he is a Dallas.
He lives in Erie, but he he covers the Cowboys
amongst many other things he does. Anyway, I was chatting
with him before we recorded this morning about the Quentyn
Williams trade and he said, what he thinks the Cowboys
are doing isn't trying to like it's on a win
now move. Quinn Williams is gonna make us win the
(30:28):
Super Bowl this year. It's for next year because there
they are. And I asked him, like, are they all
in on Dak or are they just gonna they just
want picks. He's like, no, they're all in on Dak
for next year. So I don't think he's going anywhere.
Lamb's under under contract, the whole lines under contract, Williams
and Clark, the two defensive.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Tas probably sign picks.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
They'll probably keep Pickens, and then they have all these picks.
The's gonna draft defense, youth, speed and take their shot
next year with Dak. So I don't think he'll be
in the I don't think he's going anywhere. But if you,
if you told me right now Rogers retires, Dallas says,
give us your first round pick for Dak. Yes, I
mean not even a first rounder. I mean at his age,
(31:10):
get three or four years out of him and draft
one in four years instead of then he'd be a
pretty good team. I love them.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I think if Aaron Rodgers retires and you're not able
to get one of these top two or three quarterbacks
out of college, I would be very interested.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'd be very interested. I just don't think he's going
to be on the block.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
The way you lined it out there, laid it out there,
makes sense. Brad tweeted us and said, hypothetical it's the
twenty twenty sixth draft. Okay, Yeah, omar CON's got all
these picks, but not enough to get up and nab
one of the top quarterbacks that he wants.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, what would you do?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Would you potentially trade up and try and grab a
stud at another position? Do you stay pat and just
follow your big board? Do you maybe trade any picks
from twenty six to try and get better capital in
twenty seven?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I would trobably do at least one of those moves.
And it might not be a colossal move where you
get future first or anything, but if you have an
extra third, if you could turn into a second next year,
I'm all years on that because it's the thing people
don't think about. It's like, it's great to have a
ton of picks, but sometimes you don't have a foster
space for it from all to make a team. Even so,
(32:16):
I wouldn't mind combining picks once or twice during the draft,
where you take two fifths and you move up to
the front of the fourth, or you take a fourth
and you turn into next year's third. So that would
be in the cards for me. Maybe I would take
a shot on the third round quarterback, but I don't
(32:38):
think I think I want to go bigger, goone the
next quarterback. Like when that just fell out of my mouth,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I want to buy it. I want to buy a
Rolls Royce or nothing exactly.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I am swinging for the fences, and if I miss,
I'm gonna swing the next year. You know, and I
already got Howard, you know, like, I don't need another
young guy just to have another young guy. But even
if Prodert Jones is awesome and you pick up his
fifth year option, I'm drafting at least one lineman, if
not too for depth, a tackle and an interior guy
(33:10):
because you have picks and that's a hard place to get.
And one of the things I said about the whole
court wide receiver trade deadline stuff is well, if you're
gonna need a receiver next year, why not get one
now ahead of the deal if they're under contract. So
maybe my first round pick would be a wide out.
(33:31):
Maybe also you build that nest ye.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Whoever your next quarterback.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Is man coverage corners another thing to look at, absolutely,
you know, I mean someone that can be three years
four years younger than Porter, that has first round traits,
so not killing anyone the organization. But these are facts.
It's been six or seven draft classes Porter aside, they
(33:57):
have not drafted a corner in the first six rounds.
Every corner they've drafted besides Porter is a seventh round
or it's Kent, it's.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Probably Cam Sutton was the last one before Joey Porter game.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah, And frankly, they weren't real successful at It was
like lane.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And that's the one thing that that would always because
people would always they can't develop corner steelers, can't draft corners.
The track record was not there, right, But they were
all in the fifth and sixth and seventh round. It's
not like they were whiffing on the twentieth overall pick
at corner exactly.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And frankly, that's one of the problems. That's why you
can't get tackles late. Either the good ones are gone as.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Or luxury position.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah you're you're not bad.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
It rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz and.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, you're not bad enough to take Sauce, Gardener and Stingley.
It's not like they wouldn't, You're just they don't last
till the twentieth pick. So they've had a lot of
call them retreads, veterans or whatever. That's what they've done
at Corner. And you know, it's not great. I mean
it's not terrible, but it's not great. I don't think
it's an organizational philosophy. But I wouldn't mind another high
(35:02):
pedigree draft pick Corner.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I concur and speaking of that, Christopher tweets us and says,
at what point does the around Campus segment start looking
at other draft allible positions, namely wide receivers or corners,
which is seeming more likely now Christopher, as soon as
the season ends, buddy.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, we'll throwing INXT week or whatever. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I kind of started the around campus with the college
you know, quarterbacks, one to bring some college football conversation.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Into the show, which I like. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Two, because of the direct parallel of when you have
a forty one year old quarterback, there's a really good chance, yeah,
to be drafted one And because there were so many
big names from big programs this year.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, but don't worry. We will.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
You know, we will do all of our position groups
and start really deep diving into all that stuff in January.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And I promise everyone, as I learn more about the draft,
I will tell you guys more about the draft. I
have a hard time studying. I know, like the top
fifty players, but I can't tell you the eighth best
guard in the draft right now, you know correct.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
I'll tell you this though. The best tackles in the
draft might be both of those guys from Utah. My goodness,
are they incredible.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
It looks like a what I have picked up on.
It's another good tackle draft if you happen to need one.
And if it's not gonna be the year you get
your quarterback and you decide not to pick up Roderick, you
might have to go back to that. Well. And a
lot of folks that I trust did not come in
this year particularly excited about the receiver class, and they
are changing their mind in a hurry.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I really like that kid from USC. Yeah, well we'll
talk some more.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Maybe maybe we'll Louisvel's got a guy. I mean, like,
there's there's more than your thought.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Maybe we'll maybe we will add some wide receivers to
the conversation here before the season ends. We'll see how
we can make that all work out. Last one, Matt,
let me get out on an optimistic note here from
Jeffrey he says, Let's remember the Steelers beat the current
one and two seeds in the AFC, lost to the
current number one in the power ranking Seattle Seahawks. It
(37:02):
would have been nice to add another wide receiver at
the deadline, but I think this team just needs to
play discipline football and they'll go out to LA and
beat the Chargers thirty to nineteen. And the early score
prediction from Jeffrey here this week.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
I do think it's noteworthy that the Patriots lost the
Seattle law or they didn't. They beat the Patriots, beat
the Patriots. Patriots when the Colts win and the Seahawks
loss look a lot better now than the day they happened. Well,
not the Colts, the co Colts was recent. Yep, losing
the Seattle is there's nothing to hang your head about.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Especially away from home, because all they do is win
on the road.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
They do. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Matt, good stuff today. I enjoyed it. We were kind
of a lot of touched on a lot of different
bases today and I enjoyed the variety of the Wednesday show.
But tomorrow it will be back to Charger stuff, back
to Chargers stuff. We'll deep dive into Matt's stats, we'll
catch up with Bob Labriola. We'll do all of our
early scouting, practice reports, injury reports, all that good stuff,
(37:59):
and all of our early scout out of course, two
of those Los Angele's chargers. But that'll do it for
us today. Big thanks to Chris Hallick for joining us,
and of course our video producer mister tv Tyler v
Form making sure we look handsome on YouTube for Matt
Williams and I'm Wes Heler. Take care, everybody, we'll talk
to you tomorrow. You've been listening to the Drive on
Steelers Nation Radio, your twenty four to seven home of
(38:20):
the Black and Gold, the Steelers Audio Network
Your two weeks about drive on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good evening, Steeler Nation, How we do it? Well, that's
good us too, our number two here on the drive
as we roll along on a Wednesday with plenty to
get to, Matt, what do you say we do a
little best of the West here too? Uh yeah, enough
to lead off our number two. And this is ah,
I mean it kind of relates to again, I'm trying
(01:14):
to find different things to bring into the Best of
the West here every single week as we roll along.
And I thought, with us going to Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, I forgot we were gonna do this week, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In honor of this weekend. My ten favorite stadiums arenas
parks that I've ever been to for a sporting event.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
It has to be a sporting event, though. Can't be
like Red Rocks.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it
has to be for a sporting event. Can't just be
a concert venue. Can't be Red Rocks out in Colorado, which,
funny enough, I've been there, but not for a concert.
I did friggin' Sunrise yoga there one time. With my wife.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Wow though it was great. Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
We were out there like three or four years ago
in Denver for a week and she was like, can
we do Sunrise Yoga, red Rocks. I was like, you said,
red Rocks? Sure, Sure, I got up early and you know.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
But the Sphere is not gonna be on this list.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The Sphere is not going to be on this list.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Although I tell you what to sign, I bet I
can get you started there.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Someone who's seen four shows at the Sphere I would
highly recommend. And also can't be Pittsburgh or WVU based.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Good good, No PNC Park familiar.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
No PNC Park, no WVU Coliseum. All right, so here,
so here we go.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I don't think I'm gona have many comments on these,
so take it away.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I I yeah, you might not.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, some honorable mentions here for you. First, funny Enough
Memorial Stadium. That's Nebraska's football stadium that I just talked
about talking about USC was there was there back in
my hockey broadcasting days because there was a team in
our league in Lincoln, Nebraska got to go there once.
It was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Has that been the same stadium since? Like the eighties.
They were awesome with Yeah, Tommy.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But I love I love old historic stadiums that have
been renovated.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Okay, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They still have the history and the tradition element, but
they're not complete dumps.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Okay, I love those. I'm not a car guy, but
if I had a bazillion dollars, I'd get an awesome
muscle car from the seventies. Yes, that has been That
is air conditioning again.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Right, yeah, So some honorable mentions. Memorial Stadium would be one.
Yankee Stadium would be one. I'm not a I'm not
a big baseball guy, but the history in there is
just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And then before Yankee.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Memorial Stadium, Nebraska Nebraska's football stadium. And then hinkelefield House,
which is the Butler University basketball arena. It's where they
filmed Hoosiers. Oh yeah, yeah, and it's like the oldest
Division one basketball arena. Uh in the country.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Did you go there when we were at the Commerce
Student and I did one time.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was awesome and I actually got.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
The Colts game.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Then.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I don't think Mike's ever gone there.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It was a game, You're right, it was the Steelers
played on Monday Night football against the Colts a couple
of years ago.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
That's what it was.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I actually got to go out on the court and
made a layup. How about that? I missed my first one,
but I made my second one. Told Pursuita he should
have taken a video of me, but I was on
the court and off the court very quickly. I might
also throw Croke Park onto my honorable mentions. I really
liked it pretty cool. I really liked it in double yeah, yeah, yeah,
all right. Number ten, we're gonna count down from ten
(04:16):
to one. Allegiance Stadium, the Las Vegas Stadium where the
Raiders play.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It's new and awesome, right, it's new.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
It's awesome. It looks like the Death Star. I mean
it's very nice. It's very easy to get around. The
food in there is great. The atmosphere and the acoustics
are outstanding. Allegiant Stadium checks in at number ten.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Cool, okay, it looks cool on TV.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Very cool, very cool. Number nine The Big House in
an Orber, Michigan. Don't let Mike Pursuda hear me say this, right,
I went there for a Michigan Notre Dame game. One year.
It was really cool.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
The hit.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The atmosphere is not as crazy as you would expect
because Michigan. Michigan fans are a little bit of a
wine and cheese crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I've heard.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
They're not the They're not the down in Morgantown, you know,
bashed natty lights off your face and go into the
stadium and scream a bunch of four letter words. They're
a little more wine and cheese, and you know, we
pack up our RV and we take the family to
ann Arbor for the weekend. But the history of money,
the history of it and everything, and the whole campus
is just so beautiful there. Big House is really cool.
(05:17):
That's number nine.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
But that one I can contribute to a little. I
never visited them, but a couple of my best friends,
including one of my very best friends class of ninety
one from Libo people went to Michigan nice and coincidentally
that was actually they were freshmen with the Fab five,
which was pretty cool. It was pretty cool like Weber
was in his psych class. Yeah, that's awesome a lot,
but you know what happen sure, By the way, I
(05:39):
had a lot of Michigan buddies that are super into it.
And I guess when you go in the Big House,
so you end up like on the top floor and.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You walk in on the go down. It is pretty cool.
The history there is awesome. That's that, Matt. I was
at WU for four and a half years. I did
one extra semester, so five football seasons, thirty home games,
I missed one. I went to twenty nine of the
possible thirty w home when I was in school. The
one that I missed is because we were playing Norfolk State, okay,
and I had tickets to go see Notre Dame in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
At the Big House. Nice Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So that was a fun, fun road trip with some
of my buddies. That checks in at number nine, number eight, Matt,
I'll be surprised if you ever even heard of this one,
But if you heard of the Palestra, no, okay. It
is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a basketball arena. It is
a what's the capacity here?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Just under nine thousand people. Yes, And there's five Division
one basketball programs in Philly in the in the area, Villanova, Temple,
Saint Joe's, LaSalle, and Drexel gotcha, So they play there
a lot too. So it's big for high school like
state championships and stuff. It's big when like Villanova plays
Temple or Saint Joe's plays Temple whatever. It was built in.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Now there's some serious high school teams.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Big basketball in Philadelphia is a huge deal, right, huge deal.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Because like brokick story, like my son's one of his
best friends is now a freshman at Miami of Ohio Ride.
He was one of the best players in whip Fules
last year. Tyler Robbins. People might have known who he is.
Great kid, a great family, and USC he led USC
to you know, a championship. Basically nice. But it's like,
now we got to go play the Philly team that
(07:19):
was like Kobe's team, yes, correct, Yeah, like you're pretty
good for Eastern PA, not for Kobe's team. Yeah, Penn.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I think Penn plays their home games there as well too.
But it's matt It's from the outside it looks like
an old school college campus building. It's like brick and
beautiful and was built in the twenties old yeah, and
then inside it's like brand new and renovated.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Oh right up your alley then, and it's cool. It's
it's historic, but not crappy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Eight exactly right, eight thousand seats right on top of
the floor, and it just rocks like I saw. I
saw Saint Joe's play temple there when in the three
years that I lived out in Philly, and it was
unbelievable atmosphere, it was so cool. That's number eight for me.
Number seven. The camp. Now it's Barcelona's Stadia.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You said there's going to be some soccer, be some.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Soccer stuff on here. So Barcelona, of course, one of
the biggest soccer clubs in the world. The stadium holds
like ninety thousand people and I was there. It's it's
it's unbelievable. It's it's old and it's and it's historic
and they've done a bunch of renovations to it. But
it's just the way that it's designed. It's so vertical,
(08:28):
like there's not a bad seat in the house, if
that makes sense. It's not built out wide, it's built vertically.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It's like steep to get to your seat.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It's like down exactly right, exactly right, and there's like
this really cool like walkway bridge to get into it.
And you know, there's like Diego Maradona and Pele and
all these guys that played there. Yeah, right in the
middle of a neighborhood in Barcelona. Pretty cool. That's number seven,
number six down in Atlanta, the home of the Falcons,
(08:57):
Mercedes Benz Stadium. Really I love it, Okay, It's so cool.
It's very nice. It's easy to get around. The roof
opens and retracts and and all that stuff. The like
the the whole interior is red and black, which is
like the Falcons colors and Atlanta United, which is the
MLS team that plays there. I think I've said this
(09:18):
to you before, but I've worked three games there now
for the Steelers, two regular season games and a preseason game.
I want to just go to, like next summer when
the World Cup is here this coming summer. One of
my best friends lives in Atlanta too, so i'd have
a place to stay. I would really like to go
to a World Cup game at Mercedes Benz Stadium. I
want to go to a game there just as a
spectator and just be able to drink beer and walk around.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
And yet it's like a palace. It's so nice. So
we visited friends in Atlanta a couple summers ago and
just we were right next to it. We ate lunch
right next there, and it was We didn't go in,
but it was very impressive. It's really I'm a fashion
on them. But it'd be cool if they had better fans.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It'd be very cool if they had a better if
they had a better atmosphe that's number six. Number five.
You want to talk some history. These next couple are
very historic. Number five Lambeau Field. How can you know they?
Of course, especially since the renovations that they've done to it.
It's it is another one of those blend of history
and tradition with a lot of cool new modern amenities
(10:17):
and touch to it as well. I think I told
you this story, but I actually haven't gone to a
game there at Lambeau. But I got a tour of
the entire place, got to go out on the field
when I was with the hockey team the Youngstown Fantoms
that I worked for out of high school or out
of high school, out of a college part of me, the Packers,
long story short, were there in Green Bay. There's a
(10:38):
hockey team in Green Bay as well too, that has
an arena right by Lambeau. It's like the Saturday of
the game we're all walking around, you know, just checking
out Lambeau in that whole. It's almost like a campus there.
And the Packers equipment manager at the time, I don't
know if he still is. This would have been twenty fifteen,
twenty sixteen, about ten years ago, was from Canada and
so it was a big hockey fan. So he saw
(10:59):
the young us all wearing our Youngstown Fantoms jackets and
he's like, you guys with the phantoms. He's like, oh,
you know, I follow you guys. I love watching the league. Like, hey,
come in here, check out in the locker room. Took
us out on the field, walked us around the whole
like hrium, like Packers museum area.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It just so much history. It's it's it's fantastic. Like
if you are, if you're a football junkie, you should
get the Lambeau at some point.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Okay, oh yeah, no, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Number three on this list, Matt, and it is the
only one on this list that is no longer standing.
You can't go here. The Joe Lewis Arena.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
In Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
The Red the home of the Red Wings forever. They
just built little Caesars Arena a few years ago, where
now the Red Wings and the Pacers play. But the
Joe was a dump, and I mean that in the
best way possible. Yeah, it was a historic dump. I mean,
Gordy has, Steve Eiserman and all these great Red Wings legends.
I got to play there, and I got to go
(11:57):
to a Penguin's Red Wings Stanley Cup game there in
two thousand and eight. It's just it was one of
those incredibly intimate, incredibly tight, like it's a tight venue,
you know what I mean, Like they packed eighteen thousand
people in there like sardines. Wow. And just the history
of the place, the smell of the place, the the
(12:18):
atmosphere it was. It was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
It was.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
It was so cool, and I'm so glad that I
got to go to a game there, a big game,
a Stanley Cup game before they before they knocked it down.
Number three Death Valley in Baton, Laruge, Louisiana, Night game,
Night game, Wu lsu. I know I've told you that story. Yeah,
rented the rented the Rugby vans and you know, drove
like eighteen hours each way. It's another one of those.
(12:42):
It's got the you know, the same kind of bowl
that's been there for eighty years or whatever one hundred years,
but they've built it up a lot. The upper deck
is brand new. The entire area around the stadium is
so cool, like people just it's it's some of the
coolest tailgating you'll ever imagine. And the way I don't
know what it is what they did with the acoustics
somewhere they're matt but like the place just rocks, like
(13:05):
it vibrates. Yeah, and so again, tradition, atmosphere history. Night
game takes it up a level. I want to go
back there for another game. Is how how much fun
it was. That's number three Death Valley l s U,
number two Sofi Stadium where the Steelers will.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Be playing this weekend. That's why this has come up.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I've heard it's anbelievable.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It's a stadium that is covered, but it's also open
air like a pavilion. It's like it looks it looks
like a sting ray is floating above the stadium. The
best way for me to describe it. It's all open
air but it's still covered. It's so nice. The jumbo
Tron is like the entire length of the football field.
It's unbelievable. The weather's yeah, you get that nice light California, Matt,
(13:54):
it's really cool. It's it is.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Fountain and stuff too, and you know it's.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
All it's so cool. It's got all the amenities. It's
it's really well built. There's not a bad seat in
the house. I love Sofi Stadium, I do, and I'm
excited to get back there for just the second time
this weekend. And then number one met the Santiago Bernaboo,
which is the home of Real Madrid and Madrid Spain.
So I actually did both of these in the same
(14:22):
the same year in twenty eleven. When I did I
did ten days in Spain with my family and that
was like the two things that I wanted to do
was Barcelona soccer game, Real Madrid soccer game.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You're there during the season.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's like a cat Matt. It's it's unbelievable. It's like
a castle, holds one hundred thousand people and it's it's
one of the best. I mean everything that you would
think about, like a traditional like European soccer game atmosphere.
Everyone wears white like they've got the drums, they've got
the flags. It's out of control. And I and I
(14:53):
took it. I did a tour of it as well too,
so I got to go to a game there, and
I did the tour the day before. And it's just
walking around it. It's a like it's it's kind of
like a Lambeau Field, Like you can just walk around
it and be like, oh my goodness. Like the architecture
of it is unbelievable. Looks like a castle.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So cool.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The history there as well too, And I like these
it's much, you know, much like the Steelers. Like I
like how the Steelers Stadium is right downtown. You know,
it's not like that's the one thing about Sofi is
it's kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The one thing about Lambeau it's kind of in the
middle of nowhere. Some of these stadiums, like MetLife, you
know what I mean, New England in the middle of nowhere.
The Burnabout is right in the middle of Madrid. I
mean it's three blocks away from the heart of downtown Madrid.
So like, you know, you can go get lunch and
sangria and walk right to the game, you know, Like
(15:48):
it's just fantastic stuff. And it was the architecture of
it's so cool, the atmosphere of it's so cool. It's
open air, but they've got like these overhangs so that
you're protected from the rain and the weather elements and stuff.
It was awesome. I would I would love to go
back there against.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
That's the coolest.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So that's my best of the West coolest contribute.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I haven't been to a ton, but I was gonna
throw it a couple of little things at pitt When
we went to A and M was pretty awesome. It
was pretty awesome, and we beat them. It was like
Larry's coming out game. And they were like so nice
to you when they left, you know, like they're saluting
and clapping for you when you left. Like when we
beat WU that throw feces at us. Yeah, of course.
(16:30):
The other one as a pit visitor we did twice
at Notre Dame was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
That would be sweet.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And the thing that stood out to me was how
sweet it is and how cool it is. But like
the locker room is like as big as this is big,
it's ungodly terrible. I mean, like there's like a couple
of nails for the four kids that like hang their stuff.
I remember our coaching staff it was either one or
two of us could shower at a time. It's so small.
(16:59):
And then the eyes that are in the booth they
watch the game. For the booth, they call the game,
and then for halftime they get on an elevator. They
have to go outside the stadium, run like one hundred
and eighty degrees to the other side while people yell
at you, yeah, come in to coach their kids up
at halftime. By then it's already time for the second half.
(17:21):
Second right, I row line coach like seventy years old.
I mean, oh my god. It was like such a
terrible advantage. They're like, this way is horrible, but it's
kind of awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's kind of cool at the same time.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And I'll tell the story some other time. But I
also when I was at pitt, I was very fortunate
that the first six months or so, I gave many
many tours. Put your hard hat on, folks, this is
going to be heinz Field. That's awesome, you know, so
very cool, which was pretty cool. I'm like, oh, this
wasn't here last time I was. I tore there like
(17:51):
once a week. Sure, take recruits through their family. I'm like,
these are the beer lines, you know this, this is
where your your locker room is going to be, you know.
So that was really awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Every time you get to see what it's always something.
When you were with Pitt. Did you ever get a
chance to go to Cincinnati? Did you ever play at
Nippert Stadium. It's pretty cool. It's smaller. I think it
only holds like thirty eight thousand people, but it's like
smack dab intimate in the middle of their campus. It's
it's really cool. It's it's really like something like that.
(18:19):
I think if and I know there's no room in
Oakland and all that, but that would be like a
like an ideal like on campus type stadium for Pitt.
Nippert at Cincinnati is is really cool as well too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
I did.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I do kind of regret that I never went to
a WV game at Oklahoma or at Texas while while
we were I've been to Austin, Texas a couple of times.
In the stadium there looks incredible. Oklahoma, the Palace on
the Prairie I've heard I've heard amazing things about but hey,
maybe we'll maybe we'll add those to add those to
the list one day, but that is the list, the
(18:55):
best of the West, coolest favorite stadiums, arenas parks that
I've ever been to. When we come back on the
other side, Matt, I did want to get into you
sent me us some interesting stuff on special teams and
turnovers and how they contribute to team's success. Let's do
that and talk about how the Steelers have been doing
(19:17):
very well in that department. We'll get back into some
Steelers conversation on the other side when we return West Schuler,
Matt Williamson, It's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on
the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Back on the Drive here on a Wednesday, I'm down
the home stretch Westuler and Matt Williamson with you, and Matt,
you sent me well. To be fair, you send me
a lot of interesting stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Here and there.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, it is funny. I always love it. I could
tell like how much work you were doing based on
how many emails you send me in a given night.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You can also check my Twitter account to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Thankful for it, though, I want to be very clear
on that, Like, I enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Wednesday night's a big one. This is Matt Stats gets
turned into night.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Oh, it's a big night.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So there's like three more spots I have to hit
after my night show tonight. That put the final touches
on it.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, I love it. I'm excited to get it. You
sent me kind of the the first draft yesterday and
I do. It's like I don't even have to go
searching for content anymore. You just spoon feed it right
into my inbox.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Special teams and turnover contributions this NFL season weeks one
through nine in the National Football League. So how many
total points you're gaining through turnovers? How many total points
you're gaining on special teams?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Matt?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
The Steelers are like in a stratosphere of their own.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah. I just cutting paces from Pro Football for Focus.
I mean they they're they're titles on there. I'm not
trying to I don't create graphs or anything like that,
but I cut and paste them as well as anybody else.
And our listeners can't see it. But it's actually on
my Twitter feed at Williamson NFL. If you just want
to see the graphic, because the graphic makes you go, whoa.
You know, you're like the best in the league in
(21:19):
both categories.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
They're like an extreme outlier in both categories.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, and I did an entire podcast on this today.
And to be honest about this time of the year,
every year they're right there. Like it's not Tomlin voodoo
or this magic. You know, it's like they really stress
these areas and they're great at it. And it turns
how do you have a winning record every year in
a row? And well, you're really good in the kicking game,
(21:43):
and you're really good on turnovers, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And you know who is kind of a nice to say.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Look at the other opposite end, the Chargers are like
the worst combination combination not a good company to keep.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
No, it's not. And this is you're absolutely right when
you look at the consecutive winning seasons, when you look
at the record and one score games.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, this when you're great on special teams.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Stuff like this. When you're great on special teams, when
you're great on points off of turnovers, that's how you
raise your floor.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, they're undefeated this year in games they won the
turnover battle four No.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And you know, they as long as they've had Chris Boswell,
except for that one year where he was injured, it's
felt like special teams has been a net positive. But
I also think it's a hunt every year. They always
say sometimes.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Give Danny Smith a lot of credit. Yeah, And I
also think organizationally they stress it at least as much
as anyone else. You know, like since I've been paying
attention to analytics in any form, football outsiders was like
way ahead of the curve. They've been around since like
the early eighties, and they would always do They pretty
much always said special teams every year is very random,
(22:51):
Like if you're good on special teams last year, who
knows if Shelby or not. But during like the there's
about a fifteen year stretch there when every year the
Ravens and Patriots are in the top five, they're the
only two. Belichick stressed it like crazy. Harbaugh's a form
or special teams coach. He had Tucker, the Patriots had
(23:11):
good kickers too, But now the Steelers are in that
category two where if you want to bet on who's
going to be DVOA top five special teams next year,
not even knowing who's on your roster. Steelers should be
your first bet. You just absolutely should. And I think
Dave Smith is un doing it really good kicker, which
(23:31):
is huge. But they also do things like bring up
two running backs off off the practice squad who aren't
ever going to touch the football just for one game
for special teams, right or keep kill a brew And
I know Hayward does more than that, But Pierre and Hayward,
I think they more than any team in the league,
(23:52):
or as much as these five spots on the roster
or for special teamers that can get us out of games.
But they're here for one you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
They value that.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
They value that.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
You and I talk about it, Dale, We would talk
about this every training camp. How the Steelers devote more
time to those special teams periods than just about anybody
that's I.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Said that today on the on the other podcast I
did was I don't want to I don't watch other
teams practices. Of course I'm not at the Chargers practice
the Packers practice, but I know the Steelers dedicate a
lot of time to it too.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yes they do, and it's shown up and it's it's working.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That was They've used a lot of like seventh round
picks on pure special teamers too.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
They just did with Matt Before we go to break here,
we'll close down with a couple of tweets. On the
other side, I have to ask you one of our
weekly Wednesday questions. It's time to pick a player from
the Chargers roster to add to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now
there's a couple very obvious, Herbert, we're just taking quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Out of the too easy to easy and with him, maybe.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Are we going to I think it becomes more fun
if we kind of like consider health And.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
That's why this one's really interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Like, and I didn't worry that properly, But should we
do it as if Rashaun Slater and Joe Alt are healthy?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
No, you have to have exactly with them today?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, is it bad to say that I would probably
still take Joe allt and just I think I would too,
like I knew he wasn't gonna play for the rest
of this year.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I would love my team doctor to evaluate Slater and
Alt and be like, or either one of these a
total reject, because that's who I'm taking. Sure, if there's
two weeks ago, I'd say it's Alt for sure, because
he was healthy and awesome. McConkey would come into the
mix a little. It's an interesting he was much more
than just a slot folks. And he's cheap, he's honest,
you know, and he's healthy. He can help me win,
(25:40):
right now, No one on defense, not that their defense
is bad, but there's not someone there.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's like, you're not gonna pay Derwin James that much.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
I don't see one guy that would just like make
you so much better. I think it's still Alt.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I think it is too. Yeah, it's a premier position.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You'd still have him on his rookie contract for a
couple more years.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It'd be nice if I knew that he's ready for
training camp next year. Yes, that's all I really need.
Just check that box for me, and I'm ready to roll.
I am, and that's in. Sorry, Broderick, but I'll take
all over, you know, you know? Left that right, Matt.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
If it's a year or two from now and Joe
Alt is the like consensus best tackle in football, I
don't think that would surprise.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Any of us. No, no, right, I mean he's that
good absolutely, Like every draft class, I do this little
exercise in my head too to get in there. We're
a weird world of Matt Williamson, and like, who would
I pick out of this class?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That sounds like a fun off season of content weird
world of Matt Williamson once a week.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
And like when the draft comes out, though, I look
at me, like, who is the best chance in this
draft to be a Hall of Famer?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And I think all was. He was definitely one of
my finalists because guys like that play a long time,
and I mean, you get twelve years of that dude,
that's the Hall of Famer, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Left that I'm putting this in my notes on my
iPhone right now, weird World of Matt Williamson. I'll remember
what that what that means when the time, when the
time comes. Yeah, I I I just think even if
you were not going to have him for the rest
of this year, it's it's still and you won't relatively, yeah,
so be it right, still relatively a no brainer for
me that.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
You drop that guy out of the sky in the
off season and add them to your line. Oh, you
get the best line of the league, unbelievable, And assume
he does a long term and Slater wouldn't be bad. No,
Slater's a great left has Joel's still twenty two.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, he hasn't even turned twenty three yet. Wow, or
maybe it did. He maybe just turn twenty three.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
But regardless, pop right like the second season.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, but I mean most teams, So I'd be thrilled
to take Slater. Slater to me as a top five
left tackle when healthy too.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
One hundred percent. Yeah, I would take I would happily
take either. Ah, Joe all buddy, same birthday as me,
February twenty eighth. Nice, all the cool kids are born
in February. Joe Alt will not even turn twenty three
until February. Wow, good lord. Yeah that's the guy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Daddy was a tackle. He was like bred to be
a tackle. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
You think Joe Alt wants to hang out on our birthday?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah? I ever tell you the Kenny Picket story? I
think So we're about June and six, are you? And
that was Mini Camp? Yeah? Yeah yeah yeah. Every year
during my we're always broadcasting right down there.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
We're always at the Combine for my birthday and always
at Mini Camp and OTAs for your birthday.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And I remember going in there, and there's this huge
birthday cake on June sixth, first for QBY at the time. Yeah,
and I kept joking on the air, I'm like, you
guys didn't have to do this for me, you know, right?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
All right, one more segment, that's funny. One more segment
to go on the other side. We'll close this thing
down with a couple of your tweets before we get
up out of here. West Jeweler, Matt Williamson, it's the
Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
The final segment here on a Wednesday, Matthew, what do
you say we close it down with some tweets?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
All right, I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Let's get after it. As always, you can tweet us
anytime of the day. If they're good, I'll book mark
them and we'll get to them. Or if we just
you know, need some content from time to time as
well too.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Yeah, they can fill a segment.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
At Wesley Yuler at Williamson, NFL is where you find
the duo of the Drive on Twitter. Steel Curtain tweets
us and says you guys were talking about Dak yesterday.
Would like to know what you think of him potentially
being a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I've linked him to Steelers for three years now.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You talk about this a lot last off season.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah, I love him. I think he's so good above
the neck and it's such a cerebral good player that's
playing great right now. But coincidentally, I do a show
Locked on Dynasty, just every Wednesday, and one of the
other co hosts is Marcus Mosher. He actually was on
with Dale and I like a year ago. I think
we forget why we had him on Dallas. He also
(30:06):
just locked on Cowboys, so he's he is a Dallas.
He lives in Erie, but he he covers the Cowboys
amongst many other things he does. Anyway, I was chatting
with him before we recorded this morning about the Quentyn
Williams trade and he said, what he thinks the Cowboys
are doing isn't trying to like it's on a win
now move. Quinn Williams is gonna make us win the
(30:28):
Super Bowl this year. It's for next year because there
they are. And I asked him, like, are they all
in on Dak or are they just gonna they just
want picks. He's like, no, they're all in on Dak
for next year. So I don't think he's going anywhere.
Lamb's under under contract, the whole lines under contract, Williams
and Clark, the two defensive.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Tas probably sign picks.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
They'll probably keep Pickens, and then they have all these picks.
The's gonna draft defense, youth, speed and take their shot
next year with Dak. So I don't think he'll be
in the I don't think he's going anywhere. But if you,
if you told me right now Rogers retires, Dallas says,
give us your first round pick for Dak. Yes, I
mean not even a first rounder. I mean at his age,
(31:10):
get three or four years out of him and draft
one in four years instead of then he'd be a
pretty good team. I love them.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I think if Aaron Rodgers retires and you're not able
to get one of these top two or three quarterbacks
out of college, I would be very interested.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'd be very interested. I just don't think he's going
to be on the block.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
The way you lined it out there, laid it out there,
makes sense. Brad tweeted us and said, hypothetical it's the
twenty twenty sixth draft. Okay, Yeah, omar CON's got all
these picks, but not enough to get up and nab
one of the top quarterbacks that he wants.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, what would you do?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Would you potentially trade up and try and grab a
stud at another position? Do you stay pat and just
follow your big board? Do you maybe trade any picks
from twenty six to try and get better capital in
twenty seven?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I would trobably do at least one of those moves.
And it might not be a colossal move where you
get future first or anything, but if you have an
extra third, if you could turn into a second next year,
I'm all years on that because it's the thing people
don't think about. It's like, it's great to have a
ton of picks, but sometimes you don't have a foster
space for it from all to make a team. Even so,
(32:16):
I wouldn't mind combining picks once or twice during the draft,
where you take two fifths and you move up to
the front of the fourth, or you take a fourth
and you turn into next year's third. So that would
be in the cards for me. Maybe I would take
a shot on the third round quarterback, but I don't
(32:38):
think I think I want to go bigger, goone the
next quarterback. Like when that just fell out of my mouth,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I want to buy it. I want to buy a
Rolls Royce or nothing exactly.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I am swinging for the fences, and if I miss,
I'm gonna swing the next year. You know, and I
already got Howard, you know, like, I don't need another
young guy just to have another young guy. But even
if Prodert Jones is awesome and you pick up his
fifth year option, I'm drafting at least one lineman, if
not too for depth, a tackle and an interior guy
(33:10):
because you have picks and that's a hard place to get.
And one of the things I said about the whole
court wide receiver trade deadline stuff is well, if you're
gonna need a receiver next year, why not get one
now ahead of the deal if they're under contract. So
maybe my first round pick would be a wide out.
(33:31):
Maybe also you build that nest ye.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Whoever your next quarterback.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Is man coverage corners another thing to look at, absolutely,
you know, I mean someone that can be three years
four years younger than Porter, that has first round traits,
so not killing anyone the organization. But these are facts.
It's been six or seven draft classes Porter aside, they
(33:57):
have not drafted a corner in the first six rounds.
Every corner they've drafted besides Porter is a seventh round
or it's Kent, it's.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Probably Cam Sutton was the last one before Joey Porter game.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah, And frankly, they weren't real successful at It was
like lane.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And that's the one thing that that would always because
people would always they can't develop corner steelers, can't draft corners.
The track record was not there, right, But they were
all in the fifth and sixth and seventh round. It's
not like they were whiffing on the twentieth overall pick
at corner exactly.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And frankly, that's one of the problems. That's why you
can't get tackles late. Either the good ones are gone as.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Or luxury position.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah you're you're not bad.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
It rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz and.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yeah, you're not bad enough to take Sauce, Gardener and Stingley.
It's not like they wouldn't, You're just they don't last
till the twentieth pick. So they've had a lot of
call them retreads, veterans or whatever. That's what they've done
at Corner. And you know, it's not great. I mean
it's not terrible, but it's not great. I don't think
it's an organizational philosophy. But I wouldn't mind another high
(35:02):
pedigree draft pick Corner.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I concur and speaking of that, Christopher tweets us and says,
at what point does the around Campus segment start looking
at other draft allible positions, namely wide receivers or corners,
which is seeming more likely now Christopher, as soon as
the season ends, buddy.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, we'll throwing INXT week or whatever. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I kind of started the around campus with the college
you know, quarterbacks, one to bring some college football conversation.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Into the show, which I like. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Two, because of the direct parallel of when you have
a forty one year old quarterback, there's a really good chance, yeah,
to be drafted one And because there were so many
big names from big programs this year.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, but don't worry. We will.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
You know, we will do all of our position groups
and start really deep diving into all that stuff in January.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And I promise everyone, as I learn more about the draft,
I will tell you guys more about the draft. I
have a hard time studying. I know, like the top
fifty players, but I can't tell you the eighth best
guard in the draft right now, you know correct.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
I'll tell you this though. The best tackles in the
draft might be both of those guys from Utah. My goodness,
are they incredible.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
It looks like a what I have picked up on.
It's another good tackle draft if you happen to need one.
And if it's not gonna be the year you get
your quarterback and you decide not to pick up Roderick, you
might have to go back to that. Well. And a
lot of folks that I trust did not come in
this year particularly excited about the receiver class, and they
are changing their mind in a hurry.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I really like that kid from USC. Yeah, well we'll
talk some more.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Maybe maybe we'll Louisvel's got a guy. I mean, like,
there's there's more than your thought.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Maybe we'll maybe we will add some wide receivers to
the conversation here before the season ends. We'll see how
we can make that all work out. Last one, Matt,
let me get out on an optimistic note here from
Jeffrey he says, Let's remember the Steelers beat the current
one and two seeds in the AFC, lost to the
current number one in the power ranking Seattle Seahawks. It
(37:02):
would have been nice to add another wide receiver at
the deadline, but I think this team just needs to
play discipline football and they'll go out to LA and
beat the Chargers thirty to nineteen. And the early score
prediction from Jeffrey here this week.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
I do think it's noteworthy that the Patriots lost the
Seattle law or they didn't. They beat the Patriots, beat
the Patriots. Patriots when the Colts win and the Seahawks
loss look a lot better now than the day they happened. Well,
not the Colts, the co Colts was recent. Yep, losing
the Seattle is there's nothing to hang your head about.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Especially away from home, because all they do is win
on the road.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
They do. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Matt, good stuff today. I enjoyed it. We were kind
of a lot of touched on a lot of different
bases today and I enjoyed the variety of the Wednesday show.
But tomorrow it will be back to Charger stuff, back
to Chargers stuff. We'll deep dive into Matt's stats, we'll
catch up with Bob Labriola. We'll do all of our
early scouting, practice reports, injury reports, all that good stuff,
(37:59):
and all of our early scout out of course, two
of those Los Angele's chargers. But that'll do it for
us today. Big thanks to Chris Hallick for joining us,
and of course our video producer mister tv Tyler v
Form making sure we look handsome on YouTube for Matt
Williams and I'm Wes Heler. Take care, everybody, we'll talk
to you tomorrow. You've been listening to the Drive on
Steelers Nation Radio, your twenty four to seven home of
(38:20):
the Black and Gold, the Steelers Audio Network
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com