Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly. He is
the Matt Williamson. And it was so cold in Pittsburgh
today it couldn't snow. What really, Yeah, once you get
to a certain line, I know that that's true, but
I didn't realize that was happening. It's like seven degrees
at my house this morning. I got up later than
you obviously, still very chilly. Yeah, you know. So it's
(00:41):
a Friday here in Pittsburgh. The Steelers playing the Baltimore
Ravens at eight o'clock Saturday night. The team will be
leaving twenty four hours away. Let's go team will be leaving.
It was has left already for Baltimore in the air,
probably in the air. And well there'll be taking on
Ravens tomorrow, but they'll do so knowing Matt that three
(01:03):
of their players earned All Pro status. Really, okay, what
was the goofy all pro thing that came out the
other day. It was like there's air Award or writers
n f l p A has one focus official This
is the official, the AP All Pro. This is the
one that matters when you start looking at Hall of
Fame stuff and things of that contract bonuses. This is
(01:26):
the one that counts. Okay, this is the AP. These
are the same voters that vote for m VP all
that stuff. Okay. And before we get into it, I
think that there's two teams. There's a first team a
second team. Right, Yes, there's not three, okay, yeah, break
the news, let's go. Okay, So Cam Hayward, Chris Boswell
(01:48):
first team All Pro. Good. I was a little worried
about Cam because I guess that other goofy won he
was second team. I'm like, come on, nuts, right and TJ.
Watt second Team Pro. I think that's all justified. I
think that's right where they should be. This is Cam
Hayward's fourth first team All Pro? Really yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And he was second team once, so he's got five
All Pro. I mean, think about that just for a second.
Like he's spent a great deal of his career with
Aaron Donald. Yeah so Scots, I mean probably nine out
of ten years, Aaron Donald got one of them. And
there's a lot of Chris Jones, oh yeah, another and
you got you know pick. I mean, there's tons of them.
There's there's always been some defensive tackles that are other,
(02:33):
you know, and guys have good years and all that stuff.
But the rest of the league was fighting for one
spot right with that guy, right, And so you know,
this is a big feather in Cam Hayward's cape in
terms of becoming Hall of Famer, right. I mean, I
think you look at it, really, if you look at
the last three hundred and sixty five days, Walter Bayton
(02:56):
Man of the Year carries a ton of weight, yeah,
and then another All Pro First Team I mean, and
a year or two ago, I did not consider Cam
a legit Hall of Fame type guy. I thought he
was a stealer ring of honor, all time great. But
he's playing better now than ever. So here, here's where
we're at with this now. So yeah, again, five All pros,
(03:16):
what's a lot that match his four first team All
Pro selections. That's as many as Joe greenhead. Now, I'm
not saying Cam Heyward's Joe Green, but that they both four.
They both have four. That's the same number that Warren
Sapp had. Okay, Warren Sapp was an All Pro four
first Team All Pro four times, the average NFL Hall
(03:38):
of Fame defensive tackle. I BET's less than that. First
Team All Pro made it four times, so he's right
on the number. Cortes Kennedy who went in a few
years ago. Yeah, three times. You mentioned five those you
have a second team er in there too. They well,
I'm looking here at the Hall of Fame monitor. Yeah, yeah,
that the Pro Football Reference does, which is great if
(03:59):
you want to check. Yeah, that is really good measuring
where guys are at, Like TJ. Watt's already in, you know,
especially Miles Garrett, those guys already in, so they've already
kind of started to factor this stuff in. What they
haven't factored in yet on the Hall of Fame monitor
is Cam's fourth first Team All Pro that hasn't factored
in yet because it just it just came out today.
(04:21):
So this is like as of yesterday. So some of
the other guys who have this is going to raise
his Hall of Fame monitor score significantly. Bryant Young, who's
going in, he just just got right. He made it once.
I say, there's no way he made four. Henry Borderline
as you get, Yeah, Alex Kris who's in the Hall
(04:41):
of Fame made it three times, you know, so this
is a huge thing for for Cam Big four's big.
Do you have a list of how many have five
or more so the guy's done. Aaron Donald has eight, exactly,
Bob Lilly, Randy White seven, Okay about up especially with
Lily Wow, Alan Page had four. H John Randall had six.
(05:06):
I mean these are all time great So Merlin Olsen
had five, Kevin Williams had five, and he's not in yet. Yeah,
there's this strong case for him then, yeah, he kind
of has gotten forgotten. Yeah, and his Hall of Fame
monitor scores really it's actually better than Quartees Kennedy. He's
already in. Yeah, he was a great player. But right now,
if you if you look at where Hayward is on
(05:26):
the Hall of Fame monitor, he is at sixty four
point four five. Now, this is going to raise his
score without this, that's without this new news. It probably
bumps him ahead without his Pro Bowl two right they No,
they've got they that's factored in. So he's made seven
Pro Bowls. This is going to bump him ahead of
(05:46):
guys like a Buck Buchanan, who's already in who's a
four time All Pro player. He's already had a Bryant
young as I said Steve McMichael, who went in this year,
but he was early borderline. He had two curly culp.
Joe Cleco who's in recently had two. Wow, he's gonna go.
(06:07):
He's there's a good chance. I mean if you look
at the the guys ahead of him, and I can't
see him retiring after the year either. No, that's the
other thing. He's gonna he's gonna continue to add to this.
So the guys ahead of him who aren't in the
Hall of Fame, these are the only defensive tackles in
NFL history who are ahead of on the score by
their pro football Yeah, and this thing does really accurate.
(06:27):
Yeah yeah, this thing does come up in the in
the meetings, does it. I can tell you that because
it came up several times. I brought it up as
well when I was when I was the presenter. Donald
good for guard. Yeah, tackles. Donald has the highest score
of any defensive tackle all time, one point sixty eight.
We're not calling jj watta d tackle?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Right? No?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Okay, no neither nor do they. Uh you got then
you got Bob Lilly at one fifty nine points. Some
of these guys are off the charts good, Yeah, Yeah,
including you know Joe Green. Joe Green is fifth titles
help right, Yeah, they helped. Yeah, he's fifth on this
list with a score of one thirty seven point sixty five.
These are all no brain or first ballot guy. Yeah.
(07:09):
So the guys who are ahead of Cam who aren't
in Donald Kevin Williams as a one oh five point
zero three score time visit. Yeah, obviously Donald's going yeah,
and Dominic and Sue has an eighty four point five
eight score. I think it hurts some that he played
for so many teams. Yeah, but he was a really
(07:30):
good career and sometimes a lifetime achievement in longevity. Yeah.
Three times. He was a first team All Pro, five
time Pro Bowl player. He was a starter for twelve
of his seasons, which is where Hayward's at right now.
It'll be an interesting case though. Fletcher Cox is at
seventy eight point three eight. He made one. He was
(07:50):
All Pro, first team All Pro once him and Cam
came in like a year apart. His first Yeah, his
first season as a start from was twenty twelve to
twenty three, but he was a starter of the entire time. Yeah. Yeah,
he's gonna have a case too. So his his score
seventy eight point three eight. Uh, then you have Geno
Atkins seventy six point three to three, two times, two
(08:14):
time first Team All Pro, eight time Pro bowler. Interesting,
Tom c Stack who played from nineteen sixty two to
nineteen sixty eight, but he was Pro bowler every basically
every year and three time All Pro. Cam is going
to do with his latest news, with this latest All Pro,
He's going to pass a loading Nada. Load was a
(08:36):
hell of a player. He was a hell of a player. Yeah,
I'm sure he doesn't have SAX stats, but Cam started
rack up sacks stats the way. That's the thing. Not
I had thirty two and a half career sacks, Sue
had dominic and Sue had seventy one and a half.
That's where Fletcher Cox had seventy. That's where Cam is
(08:57):
starting to separate a little bit. Yeah, somebody's gone these
guys that are about his age, he's having a better run.
He's longer eighty eight and a half right now. Bryant Young.
That's one of the things that he couldet it's over. Yeah,
it's over. Bryan Young had eighty nine and a half.
So Cam's next regular season sack will tie him with
Hall of Famer Brian Young, which is a nice way
to present it. Yeah, you know, if you look at
(09:18):
these sack leaders on this list right now, Hayward so
Alan Alan Page is one hundred and forty eight and
a half. That's really Yeah, he played a long time.
Randall had one hundred and thirty seven and a half,
Donald had one hundred and eleven, Randy White one hundred
and eleven. And Pro Football Reference actually went back, did
damn say that before they didn't record, They weren't recorded,
(09:39):
But they actually went through all the tape of these
guys and recorded as sacks. I guess it wouldn't be
that hard to do. Yeah, anytime he tackled a quarterback.
Let's go back and look at the film. Alex Caris
had one hundred. So that's that's it for the guys
who had one hundred career sacks non officially of course,
because they weren't the official set until eighty two. But
I again that before I was watching football, it was
(10:01):
easier to get sacks then too, it's easier to get interceptions,
it was easier to get sacks like seventies sixties because
everything was long development, everything was deeper plays. Yeah yeah.
Jethrow Pew at Warren Sap at ninety six and a half.
Jethrow Pew, who's not anywhere close to the Hall of Fame,
had ninety six and a half. Bob Lilly ninety five
and a half. Steve McMichael, who's in the Hall of Fame,
(10:23):
ninety five. That's the feather that was in his case. Yeah, yeah,
Henry Thomas ninety three and a half. He's not in. No,
the average Hall of Famer had ninety two, and he's
at eighty nine. He's at eighty eight and a half.
Merlin Olsen ninety one, Trevor Price ninety one. I imagine
if he gets to one hundred, if he plays two
more years, he's probably gonna be in one hundred he
gets and he could possibly do it next year. Yeah.
(10:45):
I mean, he's a Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Things huge, it's huge, huge, and you know again, so
you start looking at him. Along with the other thing
that Hayward has are the tackle numbers, and I'm sure
the swat numbers are going. He has been over the
land last four or five years. If he doesn't lead
all defensive tackles. In tackles, he's number two, top two
(11:09):
or three. Yekay wow, I'm sure tackles for loss are
pretty good too. Yeah. I mean you start looking at
quarterback hits and things of that nature, tackles for loss,
he's got one hundred and thirty three. Now, they don't
have those numbers for all these guys, but if you
start looking at say a Warren Sap, he's a similar
he has ninety one. Wow. I always think too, just
kind of from a human nature thing, sticking with one
(11:30):
team or being with a team for the majority of
your career, that matters. I think it matters because like
I was thinking, like too, like who presents too. I mean,
I'm sure it's gonna be the Niners people. But he
didn't have a great relationship with them, you know, and
he went he was great and he should go. But
you know, like I think Hayward's going. I mean just
even like tackles of this generation, I'm putting them ahead
(11:52):
of Cox, I'm putting them ahead to Collais Campbell, not Donald,
Chris Jones is almost a different generation. But Jones is
certainly on Hall of Fame pace. Yeah, I mean, I'm
sure he'll end up going there. If you start looking
at Chris Jones Hall of Fame monitor, where's he at
on here? I mean, he's only been in a league,
what six years or something. He's thirty one years old.
He came in the same year as Tyreek. With them,
(12:16):
they consider him an end. Maybe no, maybe he's not
considered a detackle. I'm just strange. But yeah, he's got rings,
he's got All pros. I don't see him on the
defensive tackle list. You said this earlier, but Cam has
four First team All Pros. Does he have a second
team as well? Yeah? Okay, okay, yeah those count a
little bit. They don't. They don't count as high guy.
(12:39):
Look at the defensive nguer to see if christ. But anyways,
the thing that he's missing, the thing that TJ. Watt
is missing. Quite frankly, Chris Boswall's won. Hayward has won
some playoff games, been on teams at one playoff games,
been on teams that advanced to the to the to
the AFC Championship. But that's what dismissing on TJ. Wat's resume.
(13:01):
If any of either guys gets the ring, I mean,
playoff wins will go a long way. If you get
a ring, I mean that would go What doesn't matter.
I think Watt could not play again if he decided
I'm going to retire. On the plane ride to Baltimore
right now, I think he gets in. Yeah, I'm not
seeing Chris Jones on the defensive end list either. Haven't
had time to research is necessarily He's probably on a
(13:22):
defensive tackle this summer. I probably just missed him. But
what talked about that yesterday and said, look, I you
know this is that interview was tremendous. This is part
of my story last night, right, this is part of
my story, and you know I want to change this.
And you know, yeah, I'm sure you heard it, but
I mean he said something along the lines of when
(13:42):
former Steelers come back, they have rings, there's an aura
about them. And he was very cool by it. He said,
that doesn't discredit the others, because that's why A. Yeah,
I'm one of those guys. I'm one of those guys. Actually,
Chris Jones is at fifty eight point sixty five. He
was Rapelow Steve mc michael. So, okay, yeah, I bet
he goes and maybe it's a little more. He's been
(14:04):
a starter for nine years now, Wow, I would have
thought longer than you think. But yeah, I mean, you know,
And here's the thing with what his first playoff loss
came as a rookie against jackson that Jacksonville game. I
remember his rookie year. He was not he was he
was not a full time type player at that point.
(14:25):
He was not a Pro Bowl type guy. He had
like seven and a half. He's a good player, but
he wasn't what he is now. He didn't play in
last year's Steelers playoff game. Oh true. So really there's
two games there, you know, and the Kansas City game
and the in the game against Cleveland that he's really
(14:46):
played played in. Yeah, yeah, gets another opportunity now, he
gets another opportunity here against the team that he has
been very active against. Wins would help. But again, I
think his case is already made. Yeah, I think he's in. Yeah,
I won't. I won't have to get into now, but
I mean, I'm sure he's on the monitor pretty darn high. Yeah,
he is extremely high in terms of outside linebackers. You're
(15:07):
looking at TJ. Watt is now at seventy two point six. Oh,
he's actually ahead of where Hayward is at, which adds
with his with his career numbers. He is closing in.
This one probably moves him past a guy like puts
him in the range of Ricky Jackson. Okay, I would
have thought he's even ahead of that, But he's not done.
(15:29):
He's not done by a long slide. I mean he's
ahead of guys like Chuck Howley, Chris Hamburger, Andre Tippett,
Robert Brazil, Dave Wilcox. These are guys that are already
in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, those names don't sound
like all time greats like TJO. But he's closing in
on some guys like Khalil Mack Carell, Suggs. Yeah, Suggs
probably goes in this year. And again he's he's only
(15:53):
started eight years. How many All Pros does he have?
This would be he has fourteen, four first team All Pros.
This would be another second team All proformers made seven
Pro Bowls, so they both have four and one. Yeah,
Wat's got seven Pro Bowls and eight seasons as a starter. Wow,
just not his rookie year. Oh he was injured one year,
ten years. I think he was still voted that year though,
(16:13):
Buzzy maybe not. I don't know. Anyways, that's where they were. Yeah,
these guys, these are the guys you need to play
like all pros in this game. Absolutely. The Ravens have
their nine Pro Bowl players. That's great. You could argue
whether they deserve to have nine or not. Whatever did
you see if they had any All pros. I haven't
seen that part of the list. Year. One of the
(16:34):
top two, right, and I would think Henry's on the
top two. Yeah, but first team all you know, the
guys you need your stars to be stars players that
time of year. It is that time of year. Hamilton
might be in the mix too. Yeah, but I don't
know that they would have like I don't think Linderbaum
guys like that that made the Pro Bowl team. Maybe
he's the second team center. I still think probably the
(16:56):
guy in Detroit could be. I mean, that's the only
one even in That's the That's the thing about the
All Pro team when I hate when people mix up
All Pro and the Pro Bowl. There's a huge difference
because the thing, Yeah, it might be weak at one vision.
All pro is all encompassing. That's the whole entire it's
all thirty two teams. Yeah, and if you make one
of the top two teams in that one, I mean
(17:17):
your top four defensive tackle, your top four edge guy
you know, I mean in the whole league, yeah, you know,
or your top two kicker you know. Yeah. So anyways,
let's get to a break. They all deserve it. Yeah, absolutely,
let's get to a break. Here. We're gonna be joined
here by Missy Matthews in the next segment. Here we'll
talk about what she expects quick. I think you saw it.
But some of the metrics with TJ's run defense are bonkers, bonkers,
(17:40):
I mean easily his best season as a run stuff.
For people who are who are saying he had a
bad year, you might want to tap the breaks a
little bit on that. Yeah. Yeah, he didn't have the
sack numbers that you expect, but the run number his
run defense was the best in his career. Like broke
pro football focused run defense. Ye Like, yeah, it's crazy, unbelievable.
(18:01):
But we'll talk to Missy Matthews. Maybe we'll talk to
Missy about that the way. Yeah, he's not too bad. Yeah,
Alex Alex high Smith is pretty good too, So they're
gonna they're gonna need all that tomorrow. We'll talk to
Missy about that when we come back. Right after this.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Radio and we are back. I am Dale Lolly. He
is the Matt Williamson and this is the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network. And Missy, this is welcome in.
Missy Matthews. As I told you all in the h
the previous segment there at the end of it, of course,
the Steelers sideline reporter, and she gets an opportunity to
(18:49):
go back to Baltimore. And Missy, I gotta tell you
a while. Yeah, when when we were down in Baltimore
just a few weeks ago, I wasn't expecting to necessarily
go back to Baltimore and see this. And one of
the things that stood out to me about that last
game was I thought there were more Steeler fans in
that stadium that day than maybe I've ever seen in Baltimore.
(19:14):
And it wasn't it certainly wasn't over it wasn't like
Atlanta or anything, but I saw more black and gold
than I'm used to seeing down there. I don't know
that I'm gonna we're gonna see that and weather it
could be a factor in this game, and you know,
the excitement level of Steeler fans doesn't seem to be
where it normally is at this time of year. But
(19:35):
I I, you know, I expect it to be a
very hostile environment.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I think just the fact
it's a prime Like I understand they're all you could
call them prime time because they're all in their own window.
But nighttime, you just know Terrell Suggs is coming. They
have Flodinadas their captain of the game, I mean, or
even They're going to do everything they can to get
under the skin of Steeler stands really because I think,
(20:02):
you know, Plodi Nada, you say those names and people
like they're they start clinching their fists. Not too much
the current players, but I know Max Stark's not a
big fan of Sugs, so you know on the sideline,
yeah yeah, I mean, you know, maybe they want to
have a little chit chat before the game, get the
juices flowing. But no, I think it's going to be
(20:25):
an incredible environment. The last primetime game there was the
one with Kenny Pickett and Augie Harris at the end
to get that win, and I mean that was an
incredible atmosphere for a regular season primetime game. So I'm
sure they're they're going to pull out all the stops
for this one to make it as electric as possible.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So messy, that's no secret that Steelers aren't a losing
streak and it hasn't gone the plan of late. And
I'm sure there's been some sideline emotions and flare ups
and all those good things. But what have you seen
from QB one? I mean, has he been calm and
has he been emotional? How's he been doing all this?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
He is the very thing that you have seen and
hard knocks positive thinking all the time. The last one
was you know, talking to himself about how the best
in the world and you know, kind of pumping him.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
He does a lot of that. He does a lot
of self analysis and a lot of self a lot
of self Yeah, talk to himself a lot. And you
know people may look at that and say that's weird.
I can tell you, you know, I didn't play as an
athlete at that level obviously, or any anything close to
(21:39):
that level. But you always talk to your you may
it's your inner voice. Russ's Russ is just out loud.
And so that's the difference. I mean, you're always trying
to pump yourself up. You're always trying because it's the
visual visualization of things, and he just does it out loud,
(22:00):
and and that's it's actually kind of cool. I'm sure
a psychiatry you have it. Yeah, you know exactly what's
going through his head.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
He is like that about himself. He's like that about
the team. Uh, you know, before they take the field.
On the sidelines, he's always going up and down to
each position group. And it is weird that, you know.
I think some people are like, oh, like, that's what
you're saying to yourself before going out there. But then
I've also seen the George Kittle is a really big
self talk motivation type. I've seen a feature on.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It, and nobody says George. Nobody says he's weird.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
You know, Yeah, they like they're like, oh, that makes sense.
I think, you know, everybody is different. It's how Cooch
Summons is all the time, like he can motivate guys,
but it's all different. How you motivate TJ. Watt is
not the same way that you probably motivate Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's a little Stuart smalling, Yeah, I'm good enough and
you know, whatever enough and a dark gun at people
like that.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Right. Hey, yeah, I'm sure that after thirteen years he
has figured out what works for him. Yeah, you know,
at some point to be able to play that long
in the NFL, you have to come up with a system.
It's even how, you know, guys learn how to take
care of their bodies over time. What you do your
rookie year is probably not what you're doing year five.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I would have thought, Yeah, and you learn to take
care of your mind and emotions, right yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
He is that positive person even when maybe people are
not happy, He's still trying to uplift and bring everybody
up to his level of positivity as possible.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I think that should be commended, honestly. I mean you,
you you certainly don't want your team leaders out there
going oh man, we got no chance, we got no
shot now walking around everybody going hey, guys, we just
got to go, We got to go. Try, best of luck.
You know, there's a little bit of Yoda there. There's
no there's no try, there's only do and you know
things are that like, it's it's it's it's interesting to watch.
(24:03):
And again, different guys do different things, changing things up
here a little bit, Missy. We got the All Pro
team coming out today, Chris Boswell, Cam Hayward first Team
All Pro, TJ. Watt second Team All Pro. What a
season for first of all Boswell and and Hayward. Matt
(24:24):
and I were just talking at the end of the
final segment there. I don't know that people understand exactly
how good TJ. Watt has been stopping the run this year.
It's crazy, and you know, you hear people what he's
just not had as good as years. He's had the
best year of his career in terms of stopping the run,
(24:45):
best of his career, and he's been really good at
that before, but he's been he's taken it to another
level this year.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Okay, we're biased, obviously, but I don't understand that the TJ.
Watt hate And it's so funny, Becau because I saw
that rate before I jumped on with you guys and
was like, Oh, I hope this makes nineties so mad,
and this is you know, something that will help him
out tomorrow to get that coveted first playoff win. But
you know, I know Miles is you know he likes
(25:16):
to be in the public. Yeah, that's not TJ. He's
like the silent killer who puts on his headphones. Yeah,
and he he just you know, internalizes things. So yeah,
I was a bit surprised by that, As you said, like,
how could you not be happy for Bos and Cam
for what they've done for their career, especially the bounce
(25:37):
back by Cam from last season with the injuries, uh,
going through the whole thing with you know, waiting to
see if he was going to get a contract extension
or not. Just you know, kudos to those guys because
they that is well well deserved.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Speaking of Cam, were you from did you know that
he had the flu going into that game? I mean
I found out after and I'm like, wow, and that's
pretty amazing stuff. Was that public knowledge?
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I did not know before the game? I you know,
Cam is vocal on the sidelines. I don't think that's
a surprise. Is we're talking about, you know, how people
interact on the sideline The only thing I did notice
is his voice was a little you know, not CAM level,
but you know sometimes if you scream too much, you
starts to lose your voice a little bit. But no,
(26:24):
not until after the game. You could just tell, especially
when he spoke to the media that oh man, and
then I just think, you know, to how I feel
when I don't feel great or you know, God forbidden
something like the flu, and I'm like, how the heck
did he go play that football game? They played it
the way that he did, right right, Like, you know
(26:45):
that's the flu. You're like in bed with the chills
and the fetal position Cam not CAM. So I am
glad though that he did get to rest afterwards. I
know coach team some of those days, and let's be honest,
he would have got some bed days. Yeah, right, So
I think it's good that, you know, don't spread it around,
(27:05):
but also like replace your body and get it to
where it needs to be for the wildcard round.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Absolutely, in terms of of I don't know if you
heard what TJ had to say yesterday after practice, the
way that he opened up about how badly he wants
not just a playoff win, but a super Bowl just
(27:31):
the way because the way that he's he's been here
long enough that he's seen the way that the Super
Bowl guys, as he said, interact with each other about it.
It's just an aura about them. And he says, look,
you know, it's nothing against the guys who who haven't
done that. He said, I'm one of those guys right now.
I'm still one of these guys chasing that, he said,
But you see that, and you want that. The way
(27:52):
that those guys interact with each other when they come back,
the aura that surrounds them, the way that they're viewed
by the current players and even some of the older
players as well, you know, like you know, I mean,
we love in the fraternity, we love Wolf. Everybody loves Wolf. Yeah,
but he doesn't have that super Bowl title. He missed
it by he missed it by a year coming in
and he and you know that the eighties were not kind.
(28:15):
You know, it's just a different feeling about that. And
TJ wants it, and I don't. I don't blame him,
Cam wants it, but TJ really vocalized that yesterday, which
isn't usually his style. No, yeah, no, but I.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Do remember him in training camp. You know, it's you know,
especially moving day, it's like, oh, what are the goals
for the season, you know, the typical, you know, whatever questions,
And like TJ is very adamant, like it's it's winning
a super Bowl. It's not just like winning a playoff game.
He he will mention that. But you know, I think
to you know, his brother never had that chance. And
(28:47):
I'm sure that JJ went back and forth about when
do I retire, When do I hang it up? Do
I give it another run? You know, there's so many
things that go into it. It's not like you just say, Okay,
well I think that Seam's gonna win next year, hopefully
they'll take you in free agency or whatever. And I
think that, you know, that probably is something that he witnessed, uh,
(29:07):
you know, being the third brother, being younger to kind
of you know, go through JJ's career with him. And
as you said, oh and five in the last playoff games,
he was here for all of them. Didn't play in
all of them, but you know he was here for four.
Chris Boswell, oh, that's right, you're right, and.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
And he missed the one last year. And I think
people forget that. It's just it's like the people aren't
talking about. They don't nobody's nobody's mentioning this week the
fact that the Steelers were down four starters in that
previous matchup with the with the Ravens. Nobody talks about.
I don't think it gets talked about enough. Some of
the players that the Steelers have been missing in some
(29:49):
of these playoff games. For example, Cam Hayward didn't play
in the AFC Championship in New England, and then Le'Veon
Bell got hurt. You're taking two major pieces of out
of your defense. If you remember that game as well,
Stefan Toott was on one leg, he had got nicked
up and he had been a monster. Listeners forgot what
was even missed one, you know, and it just seems
(30:11):
like Agian history, you know. Yeah, you just you just
don't think about those things. And to me, that's been
one of the you know, you can talk about Mike
Tomlin's failures in the postseason, he's been missing some pretty
important pieces in some of those many of those playoff games.
Now that that doesn't excuse them, that doesn't matter. It's
not an excuse, it's a fact. It's it's it's reality.
And it hasn't been in all of them. So I
(30:33):
understand some of the frustrations with losing to Cleveland, for example,
we're losing to Jacksonville here, But you know, this league
in the playoffs are war of attrition. You go into Denver,
for example, in the in the divisional round after you
just beat Cincinnati, and you don't have levy On Bell,
you don't have Antonio Brow, Ben Roethlisberger can't raise his
arm above his above his shoulder. It's kind of important,
(30:56):
kind of a big deal in the ham for Ben.
You don't the rematch with the Ravens the last time
these two teams met in the playoffs. It's it's very
similar in terms of you know, them not having Zay
Flowers for this game as what happened to the Steelers
going into that game because they were playing for the
division championship and the in the opportunity to host that game,
(31:18):
and Le'Veon Bell gets hurt and doesn't play in that
next in that game the next week, I mean, next thing,
next man's up. Great, These things are the next man yeah,
you know right, next man's up. Fine. If you're you know,
you're placing a guy for a game. Yeah, the steils
on to McCormick, the world will keep spinning. But yeah,
the next man up, when it's an All Pro player
(31:39):
is not quite the same. You're not going to get
All Pro level play out of out of a guy.
You're not going to get Pro Bowl level play out
of a guy.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
No. I mean, even like the book game in Baltimore
in the regular season this year, No to Shawn Elliott,
No Dante Jackson, Joey Porter Junior gets hurt. Oh, by
the way, TJ hurt his ankle.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Was out the game.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Yet No, just just on the defense. It was, you know,
a very substantial loss of the continuity and as you said,
some of them Pro Bowl players. So yeah, I think
you know, when we went back to Baltimore this year,
I was like, oh man, that game the previous season,
like it was like the rain slash, hail slash, leap splash,
(32:22):
like just disgusting weather, Like one of the worst weather
games probably that I've been a part of. And then
it was TJ got hurt, and that you knew you
were going to Buffalo and you were going to be
without him, and that he I just remember the week
before him trying to do everything he could possibly do
to be able to get himself ready, because I honestly
(32:48):
think that if they the medical staff would have been like,
we're going to leave it up to you. TJ would
have been like let's go, like wrap it up, We're like,
let's go. But unfortunately, you know, you didn't have them
for that one, and that was not great. And I,
you know, I think he gets it. He understands how
difficult it is to play in this league, how difficult
(33:11):
it is to play at a high level, and that
it's you know, it's single elimination from here on out.
So yes, you have to think about the four game
losing streak, learn from it, but you do kind of
have to turn the page and realize that the only
thing that's going to matter at this point is what
happens tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Absolutely well, we'll find out tomorrow night, missye, what exactly
happens here and if the Steelers are moving on or
if they are packing up their lockers and heading on
to next season. We'll see where this goes. But we
appreciate your time seeing a bit here, Missy. When we
head on down the Baltimore. But our guest has been
(33:50):
Missy Matthews Steelers sideline reporter does a great job with
us every Friday right here on the drive. He's Matt Williamson.
I am Dale Lolly. We'll be back with more right
after this.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolly. He is the
Matt Williamson and I do have the overall voting for
the all program. Really interested some several Steelers getting votes.
And the way this works is you vote. They vote.
Because there's two teams, they do a first team vote
and a second team vote. So if you were a voter,
(34:37):
would you vote for four defensive tackles, two on the
first team, two on the second team. Okay, and if
you get a first place vote, that's where three points
a second place vote is worth one. Gotcha big discrepancy? Okay? Okay.
So Lamar Jackson was the quarterback quarterback, beating out Josh Allen.
He got thirty first place votes. Allen got eighteen. Again,
you only vote for one there, Joe Burrow got two.
(35:00):
He ends up with two votes, two first place votes,
two Okay, I'm only going to mention the first place
votes unless it's a Steeler. Looking here at the Steelers
players who got votes. No votes for George Pickens. I
get that a receiver's crowded. Here's the thing, though, Some
of the guys who got votes on this list included
(35:22):
Jerry Judy got five votes. I don't get the Judy love,
but that's going back to Pro Bowl. T Higgins got one,
Jackson Smith and Jigba got one. Courtland Sutton got one,
Jamison Williams got one. I mean, he's on the same
level with all those guys, but he did miss time.
I get it. But yeah, I wonder when the votes
(35:42):
are cast there at the end of the year. It's
been within the last two weeks, as soon as the
season's over. Okay, so one for zero doesn't help. Doesn't
say it didn't happen before. We gave yea at center.
I bet he can vote. We talked about this. Humphrey
first team, Frank Ragnell second team, Linderbaum was third team.
(36:04):
He got one first place vote. Humphrey got forty four,
Ragnew got four. Yeah, I bet Humphrey Cam Jurgen's got
a first place vote great line. Graham Barton got one vote.
Tyler Biadis got one vote. Zach Fraser got one vote.
I bet that will be the lowest he has in
five years. Yeah, nobody. Daniel File got three three votes
(36:27):
at guard and he got a first somebody voted Daniel File.
They gave him a first team All Pro vote. They
should have their vote taken away. Yeah that's really bad. Yeah,
they're going to replace him in the offseason. Like, come on,
I'm just curious. Who are the guards? Quinn Minors good,
Chris Linstrom. I was unhappy that Minors was not first
(36:47):
Team Pro Bowl. Trey Smith and Kevin Zeitler were the
second team. Got Sam Sam Cosby was a good good
He's coming along and strong. He got a first place vote.
Daniel File got a first place. You should lose your vote.
Ravens seem to get a little more votes than they shouldn't. Yeah,
you think right tackle was p a seol By a
landslide actually over Lane Johnson. Yeah, he got thirty Sewell
(37:10):
got thirty five votes. Lane Johnson got fifteen edge rushers.
It was Miles Garrett Henderson. Watt got fourteen first place votes.
Who else? Benito maybe Benito got two, Van Ginkell got two,
Parsons got one, Jonathan Greener got one, and that is
(37:30):
it for the Parsons and were maybe the best two
they just did one of them played first six games
when played plastic games. And this is the difference. Like
so when when you look at the Hall of Fame
voting monitor, they don't say edge rusher. I know. So
those guys are defensive ends and Watson outside linebacker. I
wonder because there is time there are a lot he
drops in the coverage more than those other guys. He does,
(37:51):
he does, But that's defense in general is great. Like
what and Benito are outside linebackers? Yeah, but they're not
Jack haam No, but they do. Like there were times
last week I'm watching the game against Cincinnati where what
was dropping into coverage? It wasn't that times too? Yeah,
they drop into coverage. Yeah, they don't just rush the
passer less so than the Lebau days. Yeah yeah, yeah,
(38:15):
maybe it's five percent, but it's still five percent of
the time that you're not rushing the passer. Cam Hayward
led all defensive tackles. He was number one, He was
number one ninety eight overall points and twenty nine first
place votes. Chris Jones was second with ninety three and
twenty six. Zach Allen had sixty four and sixteen. Jyalen
Carter forty eight and twelve. Leonard Williams got forty one
(38:38):
and eight. There was a lot of competition this year.
I know Zach Allen doesn't sound like much. He's had
an had a great year. Leonard Williams had the best
year of his career by far. Dexter Lawrence had twenty
four and five. Vidavea thirteen and three. Jeffrey Simmons got
eight and one. Matte Bouquet four votes, Zach Siler from
Miami four votes, Kobe Turner with the Rams three votes.
(38:58):
He's a good player. Yuh. At linebacker was Zach Bond
and Fred Warner. Nice. I'm glad Bond got recognized. He
was the number one by a runaway. These These are
so much better than the Pro Bowl votes. Yeah, whoever's
doing it just knows football better other than voting for lately. Yeah,
(39:19):
but still the right guard Rokewan Smith was third, Frankie
Luvu fourth, Bobby Wagner fifth. Is that you're Franklin. A
lot of those I mean, the linebackers really weak right now.
He got there. He got eight first place votes. That
was almost all of his Yeah, because he got a
lot of tackles. Big. Patrick Queen finished with three first
place votes. Yeah. Robert Splaine got five votes. He's productive. Again,
(39:45):
don't just look at the tackle numbers, Come on, people, Uh.
Cornerback Joey Porter Junior ended with three second second team
votes was certained. The top was certain his Stingley, with
Trent McDuff third, Christian Zalees fourth, the best four right
now and Denzel Ward, Brian Murphy, Byron Murphy. I should
say Christian Benford, Jalen Johnson, Joey Porter Junior, Quinya Mitchell,
(40:09):
Sauce Gardner, j C. Horn, Keyshawn Nixon, Jalen Ramsey. That's
a pretty strong group, yeah, for Porter to be considered
in that group, right. People who are saying Joey Porter
Junior had a bad season, he missed a little bit
of time to just looking at the penalty numbers. I
guarantee if you went through and looked at the penalty
numbers on the other guys who are on this list,
they're high. Yeah, because they're asked to do more than
(40:31):
your Joe Joe blow corner who can't play press man coverage.
You play press man coverage, you're going to get more penalties. Yeah. Uh,
slot cornerbacks, it was Marlon Humphrey over Derwin James Darwin
James slot corner. That's cheating. Cooper j Jeans is a
slot cornerback. Devin Witherspoon got. Yeah, James is all over
(40:53):
the place. I mean he's like Hamilton used, but ye,
same defensive scheme. The safeties were Kirby Joseph and Xavier McKinney.
I have no problem with that, but I bet Maker
got votes. He did, Kyle Hamilton got and Buddha Baker
were the second team guys. Making Fitzpatrick finished with seven
overall points, got one first first team vote. Okay, I
don't think that's great. And there's nobody in Pittsburgh who
(41:13):
has a vote on this, by the way, Oh you
did say that, like nobody in Pittsburgh. There's a they're
kind of happens in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
Boswell. Boswell doubled up Brandon Aubrey for the kicker. So
Boswall thirty nine first place votes. Aubrey got ten. Wow.
Good Dicker the kicker had six points, and somebody gave
Chase McLaughlin a first team All Pro vote. Missus McLaughlin. Yeah,
apparently punters okay, kick returners. Nobody from the Steelers made it.
(41:46):
Dere Cavante Turpin ran away with that one. He got
all No, there was one. Emir Smith Marcette got a
vote over Turpin. Yeah, verse fifty votes, got forty nine
of the face chose one. Who's that one? Yeah? Calvin
Austin got two votes as the punt returner. Okay, who
was the winner, Marvin Mims, He came on pretty strong.
(42:08):
Yeah too. On offense your special teamers Miles Killerbrew got
two votes there. James Pierre got two votes there. Who's
the winner? Not that I would even know. Brendan Schooler
from the Patriots with sixty points or sixty points overall
sixteen first place votes.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
J T.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Gray from the the Saints had fifteen first place votes.
Jeremy Reeves from Washington at eleven Cadaryl Hodge from Atlanta
six Ashton Doolan got one first place vote. Tavier or
Thomas from Tampa Bay got one first place vote. That's
a tough one' and then the long snappers, Christian Kons
(42:46):
finishing with three first place votes. Good, he's getting recognized. Yeah,
those guys just just be consistent, you know, right. Andrew
Depaula from Minnesota the first the first place vote winner there.
He got sixteen votes, beating out Ross Mattistic from Jacksonville,
who got fifteen, and that was the difference. Who are
the first team receivers. I'm sure Jamar Chase is one.
(43:09):
I wonder if it's Jefferson Chase, Jefferson a Mon Rossaint Brown,
Terry McLaurin. They're the four. They're the four, Okay. I
can make a case for like a Puka, but I
mean that's he's up there. He got a good number
of votes. Ceedee lamb A. J. Brown, Brian Thomas. Brian
Thomas got more love here than he get did for
the Pro Bowl team. Uh, Brock Bowers, Yeah, Kittle was second,
(43:33):
Try mcbright third. Those three should be ahead everybody, absolutely,
But that's where they're at. She was represented pretty well.
Steelers doing there's some Ravens on there too. Yeah. Absolutely,
But we're gonna get one of the only first teamer Yeah. No,
they get Patrick Ricard, oh full back. Yeah, it's kind
of cheating, right, there's like four of in the league.
(43:55):
He's probably the only first teamer though. Yeah, I'm just
looking here. Yeah, Rokee one didn't make it more Marlin Humphrey,
it's a slot. Okay, they got a fullback of slot. Yeah,
so not quite. Henry was two. Yeah, and no votes
for at place Kicker none right, right, not so anyways,
let's get to a break. That's going to do it
(44:16):
for our number one of the Drive here on the
Steelers Audio Network, we're going to dig in more to
these playoff games. We're going to pick our DFS lineup
right after this, and then we'll give you our pick
on the Steeler game. All that in our number two.
Don't you go anywhere. You're listening to the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network.