HR1: Live from Training Camp

Matt and Wes take in practice and provide the live commentary from St. Vincent.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Iheartradios live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training camp.
He's presented by FedEx where Now meets Next, and also
brought to you by First National Bank, by Klucy Chevrolet
Iron Workers u In Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors,
by SNT Bank, we Max Select Realty, by Tom's Aplliances,

(00:27):
the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop, by Always Seat Flagging and
Traffic Control, and by us.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Steel Welcome to the Sunday Show Steelers Nation live from
Saint Vincent College. It's the Drive here on the Steelers
Audio Network. Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson with you for
the next three hours as we've got a practice just
getting underway in front of us. It is a padded practice,

(00:54):
many more hands on deck than yesterday.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Matt.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
It's another beautiful day here, and I think you and
I are ready to have some fun and anticipation of
what should be a fun intense practice before the guys
and we all get a day off tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, and justin playning the seat in my head has
me chuckling behind the scenes and trying to fight back
some laughs from a drive gone by.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
But we'reiscing reminiscing right before we come on air.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
It's an awesome day here. I mean like it was
actually a little chilly this morning, you know. I mean,
like I'm sure Tom lowind rather it's one hundred and ten.
But for the fans, for everybody, Crystal clear skies and
sunny right, everybody's practice and we know yesterday a lot
of dudes sat out after Friday night. Lights, pads are on.
I think you're gonna be in for the ultimate experience.

(01:43):
This might be the best practice of the of the year.
I really think I'm to or be attending to or
listening to.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
You know, I completely agree.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I really think that could be the case, because of
the weather, because of the pads, because of the intensity
I expect today with the day off tomorrow, everybody day
off tomorrow, and everybody knows it. And you know, this
is kind of the I mean, let's face it, this
is the final of six straight days of practice for
these guys. You know, this is the gauntlet week of camp.
You know, this is the the the longest stretch that

(02:10):
they have here, six days in a row that are
not broken.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
There's no preseason game, right, there's nothing different.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Get a little different they get a little bit thinner,
you know, the road starts to narrow a little bit
more when they when they get back. And so today
it's like we said, there are a couple of absences.
I mean, Pat Fryer Mouth looks like he's getting a
day off.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
See him.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
You see him in the end zone there right now,
kind of mimicking some defense. He's got the black the
black hoodie on with with no sleeves.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Kind of shine.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
And I'm wondering if that's maybe part of it. You know,
there were a handful of guys who had a veteran
day off yesterday.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Mouth wasn't one of them, and he had a great
day out here, so one of them, exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
But I don't see Joey Porter Junior. I don't see
Calvin Austin. We know Corey Trice is dealing with a
little something. Calvin and Anderson and Dante Kent as well too.
But other than that, Matt and in terms of the veterans,
you know, Aaron Rodgers is out there and participating. DK
Metcalf out there and participating. Looks like TJ and cam
or a go as well too now. But they'll do

(03:10):
in team period. All those things obviously to be determined.
We saw I was just gonna say, yeah, we saw
the offense doing some you know, some walk through type
stuff in front of us to get going here, and say,
Amalu and Roger Jones both in on the left side
of the line. So I'm excited for this one today, Matt.
I think we will have plenty to see here before
much longer.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
Yeah, I'll be shocked if we don't get backs on
backers and one on ones with the big guys. Although
you know, prefaces, it's really hard to see a field away.
I'm sure we'll get plenty of one on one pass
route stuff as well. Maybe Rogers will put on a
show for the audience too, And so yeah, I can't wait.
I'm pretty ribbed up. I'm also kind of rebbed up

(03:49):
to go home. So I got a little bit of
extra boost, you know, like, let's have a great show
here for the next three hours, go home, recharge a
little bit, see the fam, and get you up bringing on.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Back, no no doubt. I think that sounds great. And
today kind of family day here for the Steelers as
well too. I don't know if you noticed that little
couple extra bodies in the caffetine was a little bit
harder to find a seat for lunch today in the
cafeteria at rug.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Rats in there a lot of little.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Rugrats in there having fund which is always funny to see,
like the looks on their.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Face when TJ. Watt walks into the cafeteria, you know,
it's like the best day ever.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Some of them don't care at all because they're used
to it.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Some of the exactly right.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Some of them it's no big deal as there'll be
a lot of energy today, a lot of family on hand.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Max was joking about that this morning, like when your
family comes out the practice, you better have a good
practice because the last thing you want to do is
get embarrassed in front of your family in practice.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
What's funny is, you know we we do a line
shift with labs. Who was in here with Vince Williams
before us. I'm sure a lot of you guys were listening,
and he mentioned to Vince, He's like, you know, when
did you kind of feel like you arrived? And he's like,
it happened to be family day, you know. And I
don't know why I remember that, but it was family
day on my rookie year. And you know they called
Isaac Redmond the red zone specialists back then. I didn't

(04:58):
quite remember that, but I guess it worked and it
adds to the story. And he's like I stoned him
on his way into the end zone. I'm like, I'm
here to stay.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
You know.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
Pretty cool? You know that is remember it being family
day and the day you felt like, yeah, I belong
here as a mid round pick rookie and he was right.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
And and this is you know about that time. Those
guys have been out here for a week and a
half now.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah, yeah, it started to get the speed of things
and right things.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Are slowing down. You better be picking some stuff up.
You better not be making the same mistakes you were
making a week ago. You better be starting to make
some plays out here in this in this environment. And
that's what we've started to see and hopefully will continue
to see from It's been nice like we've had some
of those guys on each side of the football.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Starting to emerge this week.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah yeah, and hopefully today is another day, another opportunity
for somebody to uh, you know, to get their name
and in one of those headlines like Vince Williams did
a few many.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Moons ago exactly. And and while they're all teammates, this
will sound selfish. You start to look around your position group,
going how do I stack up against these guys? You know,
like if you're all.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Right, they're going to keep seven of us? Wh or seven?

Speaker 4 (05:59):
And might I know I'm not beating that guy out.
I think I can beat these two out. And you
know where am I at here? And how good is
this group? And you gotta start thinking about yourself a
little bit too, Like it's kind of the old poker adage.
If you yea, you look around the table when you
can't find the soccer, Well you're the soccer.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
That's exactly right, right, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
You don't want to beat like it's a it's an
old touchline, right if you if you can't beat the stiffs, that.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Means you are a stiff? Because what was one of
the things that the yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Say all the time, so yeah, listen it is it is.
That's a that's the thing that they use in college football, right,
It's like separation Saturday, you know, like, yeah, that makes
sense when you get into November and all of a
sudden there's ten teams that are still vying for a
national championship.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
From the riff Raft fell off. That were good stories
and yeah, you know, punching above their weight a little bit.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Exactly right, And and and now it's like, Okay, you're
deep into conference season, you're playing ranked opponent's on the road.
It's separation Saturday time. Who's a real national title contender
who's not. It's kind of separation Sunday. Getting to that
point for these guys with you know, the first preseason
game less than a week away, and again, just your
opportunity to showcase yourself in these settings is starting to

(07:09):
dwindle down.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Like that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I'm gonna be off Tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then
they're on the road.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
So next week, I mean, you get three practices next week, and.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
That prove like you need playing time against the Jags exactly,
you know, right, because there's gonna be guys that really
have real real mop up duty and or might not
even get their jersey dirty, you know. Yeah, yeah, if
you're on the fringe, you got to get that opportunity
just to run down.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
To kicking, right, And you were talking about that yesterday,
like some of these guys won't even get pre season reps. Yes,
that's when, that's when you know it's starting to look grim.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Like Terrell Davis is a great running back from the Bronco. Yeah,
I think it was his Hall of Fame speech, but
he told the story of but he was a six
round pick out of Georgia and I'm pretty sure they
drafted a running back the same year ahead of them. Okay,
and I remember him going something along the lines on paraphrasing,
of course. But like first week of camp, I hardly
got any action. No one was paying attention to me.

(07:59):
Felt like I was hardly gonna play. We go to
our first preseason game and the whole first half goes by.
I'm not doing anything. I don't get any carries, and
they put me in on the kickoff team, which I'd
never done before, and blasts this kick return, you know,
just like had the perfect rep. It all lined up
for him, and then all of a sudden it's like, yeah,
give TD a carry, and then all of a sudden,

(08:20):
six yards eight yards ripping it off, and before you
know it, come opening Day, you got a guy, and
a couple of years later you got a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
You know, yeah, that's a that's a cool story, and
that's listen, that's how those things in Mark's works. For
guys like Antonio Brown, it started out here.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yeah, it's it's it's.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Not like we highlight and I think rightfully, so the
Jalen Warren types right right, right right, you know, the
Ramon Foster types, the ones who were undrafted and really
catch your eye. But even for you know, guys like
Vince Williams was a sixth rounder. Antonio Brown was a
sixth rounder, it starts in these settings. There's you know,
there are exceptions to everything, Matt, but there's not many

(08:58):
people that can be a dud in practic this and
then go out and perform on Sundays in the stadium
with seventy thousand people. Like there certainly are examples of that,
guys who just weren't great practice players, that were just gamers.
But typically it works the other way around. You've got
to be able to prove it out here and then
do it in stadium. And if you can't do it
out here, how are you going to do it with
seventy thousand people and all the bullets flying on Sundays.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah, that's a great point. And yeah, if you're a first, second,
third round pick, you could have bad practices and still
get your game reps, you know. But if you're Vince Williams,
Antonio Brown, seventh round picks, undrafted dudes, and you're not
showing it here, why are they going to waste your
time putting valuable reps in a preseason game? It makes
no sense.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Looks like a couple more updates for you of Ryan
McCollum back in uniform after I can't remember. I can't
remember if he was out for Friday Night Lights as
well too, but was not a participant yesterday, So that's good.
Steven Jones up with the twos at right tackle. We've
kind of highlighted right tackle a little bit. Yeah, it
looks like they've got him at right tackle down there
today according to some of the reporters on the scene

(09:57):
down there on the field. So the are those are
some of the guys, you know, some of these guys
that we've talked about, like a Stephen Jones, uh second
year guy out of Oregon, like a Devin Harbor, third
year guy out of Oklahoma State that have.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Started to make a little bit of the name for
themselves out.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
You know, they got the they got the Max Starks
of the world talking. They've got people that are that
are saying, hey, you know, keep an eye on this guy.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Today. Today is one of those days. Man.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
You come out here and perform, and then the coaches
you know, tomorrow are sitting there watching game film and
all that stuff on their day off and they're like, hey,
you know this, this seventy nine is really playing. Hey,
this forty is really playing. Hey, what do you what
do you want to see from him this week? How
are we going to get that guy involved in Jacksonville?

Speaker 4 (10:38):
Like this is and Jones is number seventy nine.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
I'm sure he is seventy nine. Yes, correct, He's six.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Five three forty so he has tackle length, size, et cetera.
But I thought he was kind of pigeonholed as a guard.
So if he has been back there, see.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Him down there standing on the goal line, he's a
massive day.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah, he is a private might be the biggest guy
out there.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, he might be the Vegas the birth line.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
But if he's actually playing right tackle, I'm really excited
to see that today.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, me as well too.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
I mean position versatility to go a long way for
somebody like him.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
One hundred percent, especially if they trust him to play
an interior role. In an exterior role, as we've talked about,
you know, you need people in that group to step up.
And that's before you know, Calvin Anderson picked up an injury,
and you know, say Lalu and Roger Jones were dealing
with some nagging things as well too. That's any position
group here, Matt, we'd be excited to see people emerge.

(11:29):
But that offensive line is one that we've we've been
highlighting for the last week and a half.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah. Yeah, And there is another note that I overlooked.
I think from a couple of days ago. Is Lowry
is on the I'm not sure if it's the POPP
or I are which injured list he is. He's on
actually one of the lists, So we're not going to
see Lowry for a while. You also mentioned Kent yesterday.
I think he's going to be out an extended stretch

(11:54):
and maybe ends up on IR as well. So unfortunately,
some of those things that are not just dated nagging
things are starting to pop up here and there too.
But that's not uncommon.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
You know, no, it's not.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
And with the depth of the D line and the
depth of corner might work out for player and team
if you need the one ever sees a snap going
forward and just ends up on the list and comes
out next year.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Sometimes that's an easy way to almost take a red
shirt year. Yeah, to use it.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
They still sit in cornerback meetings and learn. And you
as a young.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Guy, okay, we really like you. We think you've got
some traits. We think you've got a chance to be
a contributor here. But right now we might not have
as many you know, chairs on the Titanic as we need.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah. Yeah, and you do have this injury.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
So if you've got this injury, we want to keep
you for a year.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
You'll be around, you'll be rehabbing, you'll be in meetings
and learning, and you know, then you'll be ready to
hit the ground running in your two Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Absolutely, So that works out. The player advantages a lot sometimes, No,
it certainly. And the team. You know, you don't really
best much except for meals and time and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Right, absolutely, As it looks like warm ups are going
to get underway here, Yes, I do see once again, Matt,
your your your favorite to intently watch. Aaron Rodgers is
gonna run warm up drill with the defensive lineman there. Yeah, yeah,
he likes to stretch, you warm up with the big
guys on the defensive line.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Us.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
He's maybe he's he's moving over now.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
It looks like he's still gonna hang with the big dog.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
He's hanging with Gold Jerseys, hanging with the big dogs
in the Gold Jerseys through stretches here as uh as.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
I like, I don't like to disclose a lot of
things like you see, like at the calf or walking around,
because that's their personal time.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
It is, and you and I are always like, how
much of this should we say?

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Yeah? Yeah, but I will say QB one walks past,
puts a hand on every dude's shoulder. I mean, like
he's he's not just by himself. I mean he is
very much a man of the people in his teammates.
In turns and you could just say, hey, you know,
fistbump here, a little tapping shoulder, Hey you doing you know,
just engaged. That's a word I've been saying since I've

(13:50):
seen him in the Steeler uniform. Engaged and very.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Where he's at Wherever he's at, he's he's he's engaged,
he's deliberate, he's talking, he's talking to somebody.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
People get this misconception that he did he's in this
dark retreat just doing whatever, all right, right right now,
He's very, very engaged.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
He is.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And I always remind people too, Like again, Aaron Rodgers is,
without a doubt, a polarizing guy, polarizing athlete. Sure, perhaps
maybe the most in the National Football League. Like I
think him and Lebron are probably the two most talked
about athletes in the country, really, you know what I mean,
just in general from a national sports perspective, necessarily for
their place, not necessarily for just what they're doing on

(14:31):
the field or on the court.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Exactly right.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
But if you go back and look the people who
have negative things to say about Aaron Rodgers, it's never
one of his teammates.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's never all of his teammates.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Always talk about how good of a teammate he is,
how engaged he is, how he's he's there all the time,
he's all in, he's involved. And you and I have
been pretty pretty privy to see that both on the
field here and around campus in other settings.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
And I'm not defend the guy. He's allowed to use.
He can say believe anything he wants, just like everybody
else here, just like me and you and everybody in
the stands. But I will tell people he's probably not
the only one in the locker room that sees things
differently than you. Just my hunch. You know, there's a
lot of different backgrounds there. And yeah, you say what
you want about him, sat down with everyone in there,

(15:18):
you probably wouldn't agree with everyone's stance on everything.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
No, absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
You have guys from all over the country, from other countries,
different all different backgrounds. Some guys are from the West coast,
some guys from the East coast, right west, the south.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
Some are from money, some are from nothing, from everywhere.
I mean, some of them are not even from this country,
you know, I mean, have a lot of different It's
a melting pot.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
It certainly is. And that's the beauty of the locker room.
That's the beauty of these team games, is that you've
got people from all different kinds of walks of life
who can come together for a common cause. It's the
beauty of you know, the seventy thousand people screaming and yelling.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
And waved terrible towels at Akroshur Stadium.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah, yah, And you know it's that the coaches,
especially Mike Tomlin's job to get them all to you know,
go in the same direction.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yep, exactly right, exactly right.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
But now, like he said, spoiler alert, he's not the
only one in the locker room who might think and
act differently than you.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
There's a chance, right, yeah, yeah, he might not be
the only There might be an odd bird or two
in there in your opinion, believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, And in fact, in fact, it'd be a little
weird if there wasn't, you know, because you got ninety
five guys together.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
Everybody can't be it. We can't all be cookie cutters
out here.

Speaker 4 (16:23):
A lot of them are multimillionaires and celebrities and don't
live a life like any of you you know, right,
or me or for that matter, you know.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Well, I mean you do live the Matt Williamson life,
as you know, as we saw today walking back from lunch,
that Williamson the smartest boys of those gonna have your autograph.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
There was a little bit of that. I mean that
only happens here. That doesn't happen home.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Behind like eight and ninety. I think Williamson might be
the third most popular guy. Okay, we'll hired number three
and then and then Williamson number number four in terms
of popularity here on campus. But yeah, anticipating what should
be a lot of fun here physical one high energy
practice before a.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Day off tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Pretty much other than the injured guys and maybe Pat
Freyermouth as well too. Looks like all hands on deck
here on this Sunday, So Matt and I are going
to take our first break, planning to get to as
we roll along here on the campus of Saint Vincent College,
ready for a Sunday show. It's all happening part of
our ongoing training camp coverage on Steelers Station Radio on

(17:20):
the Steelers Audio.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage up Dot twenty five Steelers Training Camp.
He's presented by Fadex where Now meets Next and also
brought to you by First National Bank, by Kalucy Chevrolet
iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors by

(17:45):
SMT Bank, we Max Select Realty, by Ton's Appliances, the
Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop, by Always Safe Flagging and traffic
Control and by us steel.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Back on campus.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Roll along here on the Drive special three hour edition
on this Sunday afternoon, final weekend training camp practice for
the Steelers. As we mentioned yesterday, it happens pretty quick.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Man.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
We're well passed halfway mark here.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
And it's one of those things, it's almost like every
other year kind of thing where the Steeler because and
again I'm sure most of our listeners know this, but
the way the preseason in the NFL is set up now,
one year you'll have two home games and one.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Road again, and then the next year you'll have number yeah,
you'll have two on the road, one at home and
then two would home.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
And it flip flops every year, and so years like
this one where it's two preseason games on the road
and you end up going on the road that first
weekend for the preseason, I mean it it takes out
a couple extra days of practice because you're getting a
day off on the front end and on the back
end for travel and h you know, with that, there's
only four weekend practices at this year's training camp, the

(18:54):
two last weekend and the two this weekend. And so
nice crowd on hand here again today for what should
be like. We've mentioned a I think a high energy,
high impact pads on. We kind of went through the
list of everybody. He was out, he was out, he
left Friday night lights to practice a little bit early.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
He was out yesterday. He is back out there again today,
which is good to see. Matt.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
A couple of notes that Friar moos just walk past Rogers.
You know, Friar Moose is not dressed today, and you
could tell Friar Mouse was kind of busting on or
Rogers was busting on them a little bit. He kind
of gave him one of these looks like, come on, man,
I need you today, you know, and then they hug
it out and you can just tell they're getting along
well and all that good stuff and that. Uh. That
preseason scheduling obviously correlates now with a seventeen game schedule

(19:38):
where AFC one year has nine home games, the next
year they have eight. You know, the next year they
have nine, next year they have eight, correct and in
this year and they do this to the teams all time,
is if you're the overseas team, yep, you lose when
you have the extra game, you know, so you still
end up with a home if you don't get the
year that you have truly nine, but you still have
your eight. So I mean, so be it. Let's take

(20:01):
a second here, because I think before long the schedule
will start. I think there's gonna be an eighteen game schedule. Yeah, yeah,
I think there'll be two by maybe less less. I
think they'll be I would say, yeah, yes, I think
people should prepare for two preseason games the season starting

(20:23):
Labor Day weekend as opposed to the weekend.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
As oh man, and you know that would hurt my
college football heart.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
I would get it. From the NFL standpoint, it.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
Would hurt my Yeah, it would deep creek.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, everybody who works at the NFL right now, Labor
Day weekend it's like, all right, the last It's like
your life is over for the next six months.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
So yeah, come on, don't take that.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
And a lot of people, I've heard a lot of
people say, oh, the NFL doesn't want to start Labor
Day weekend. Everyone's busy, Like, no one's gonna they play
on Christmas. Christmas, come on, everyone's gonna watch of course.
So I do think you're gonna get two preseason games.
I think you'll get Labor Day weekend, opening day, maybe
the Thursday before that'll be that you know, first home game,
opening night type of thing. Eighteen game schedule, nine home,

(21:07):
nine road, two buys, which I really think they need now,
you know, like I don't.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Think it's a terrible right.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
You should really never play a Thursday game, especially a
road game, not with a buye and you should be
able to prepare for that. And even just like look
at the Steelers, they're going to the Dublin and it's
such an early buy. If you could throw in a
week fourteen by on top of that, how much of
better it would be? And then the usual playoffs I
think will go. But that also bumps you back a

(21:33):
month or a week two where I think the super
Bowl would then be President's Day weekend, which then the
whole planet gets Monday off, which everyone's wanted after the
super Bowl. Anyways, that's a good point. Yeah, I think
that's the schedule people should get used to seeing coming
up here before long.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Okay, there's a lot that I like about that.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Weekend, and maybe can't would have to open a week
earlier too.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
We already lose a summer and all of our holidays,
give us labor day weekend.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
I hear it out loud. But the second would be
players and sort of for us, So it's not like
we stopped. You know, I'm sure do a drive five
days a week, you know, right.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
It'd be nice to have a and I know it's
a little different for you, but he nice to have
a weekend and not travel.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
And you know, yeah, yeah, all those you would get.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
That, all those different things. But yeah, I think you
are I don't think I know you are correct. I
know that that's coming down the line sooner.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Rather than later, and you might expand rosters a little
and even add more the salary cap spot right right,
right right, and more money in players pockets and.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
In an extra regular season game would absolutely boost the
salary cap.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
That's absolutely going to bost revenues.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Maybe add two or three more roster spots, you know,
those type of things. But I think that's what people
should get used to seeing sooner than later, and maybe
even before the next CBA whenever that's up. Yeah, which
I think was a ten year CBDA.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
It was that they signed what about three or four
years ago? Does that sound right? Like I thought?

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Short shortly after COVID.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
I think I think you're right if I'm if I'm
recalling correctly, if.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
You make it worth the player's time, and and you know,
that's that much more TV revenue too, I mean, yeah,
it's a lot. That's a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
It's a lot of money.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
And I don't think anybody would mind losing the preseason game.
You know, one of each is fine.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
No, I mean maybe the guys on the bottom of
the roster that are that are scrapping a clawing and
needs your opportunity.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
But and you probably more joint practices too.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
That's a result as you've kind of laid out thinking
that we're going to start seeing more and more of
that here as the years pulled away.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
And I think you are correct on that one.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
I don't know that we'll be broadcasting from it or
how that will work, but I'm sure I will be there.
I'm sure you will be there. That's gonna be as
fun as today's practice, if better, I mean to be
honest with you, it might be better in the preseason game.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
It might be our favorite thing of this uh this
late late July August time frame here before we get.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
To the Baker Mayfield and Vidaveah. I mean those guys
are all going to be like involved, you know, right.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
That's gonna be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, nd okay, let me ask you this too while
we're while we're on it in a little bit of a.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Bigger picture conversation here.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Uh, you think, well, we just saw what four years
ago now, I want to say five years ago, the
expansion of the playoff, the extra wild card team. Right now,
instead of six and six from the AFC and NFC,
it's seven and seven.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
You think we'll see eight and eight? I hope not.
I really do.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
I have respect for the NBA and NHL, but I
think it's too easy. Yeah, yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Regular season still matters in football. It's like the only
sport where you could still say that legitimately.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
And I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but
I would think with eight nobody would get a buye
you know, because one to play eight or you go
back two.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
You'd have to go back to two teams getting a
buy or.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
Two would And I kind of like that one gets
a bye. That's such an honor and such a privilege,
right right, right, So I kind of like how it
is now, and maybe it would change. I kind of
hope not. Though the schedule I laid out for preseason
regular season. You know, the calendar might not be best for
our social lives, but I think it's probably best for
the league.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yes, you know about absolutely. We're just speaking selfishly from
time to time, right.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
Right right, I already kind of vacation short. I think
I could probably not even attend at all anymore.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
I've just listened.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
I've just started to tell my family, like, if you
want to guarantee that we're going to vacation, like we
got to go in April or May, you know. And
I know that's tough because you can't really go to
the beach in April or May or something like that,
but we'll find something. And it's a good point. Yeah,
And this year's draft, I don't.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
Want to go to the beach in early July when
it's a bazillion degrees you know, right.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yes, correct, And I'm with you on that.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
But you also don't want to go like in early
June because then it'll probably rain half the days that.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
You're at the beach, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Uh, But yeah, obviously the draft is going to be
huge in April always.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
Change for me.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, it's in it's in Pittsburgh, and I'm sure we'll
be doing some fun stuff.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
We we got a little.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Uh, we got a little how do I want to
put it? We got some details, maybe I should say,
if some of the things that we'll be doing, uh
in Ireland and Dublin. Oh okay at the end of
the month, which will which will be fun? Be doing
some shows and all of that. Yeah, yeah, on location
and things like that, and I imagine we'll be doing
plenty of the same when the draft rolls through town
in April.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
It sounds though, I'm sure it'll be elevated.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
But it's gonna be a it's gonna be a big
year and uh, it's all going to uh all gonna start.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Well, it's already started, get started right right we are.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
We're getting really into it here now and that first
preseason game about six days away.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
As we've got the quarterbacks and the wide.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Receivers working on some route running in front of us
here Matt far side of the field. Defensive backs are
off to the right linebackers are on the third field
all the way down to the right in the corner.
Got some special team stuff going on in that middlefield
as well too, Defensive lineman back left, offensive lineman in
front of us here hitting the sleds, and.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
Quarterbacks and receivers just running go balls here too, And
it's funny to me they've Connor Hayward out there as well. Yeah,
like sometimes he will do receiver drills yep, as opposed
to the tight end stuff that's going on right now.
All these guys throat fine, but Rogers deep balls better
than all of them. I mean, just sitting he's kind
of doing it off one foot, leaning back like he's
getting pressure in his face, and he puts a nice

(27:05):
arc under it. And I mean he throws the best
deep ball while he's got and should shock nobody know.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
It's hilarious too, Like if you watch, I mean, like
Matt mentioned, they're just warming up, just throwing from forty
yards out, just the low balls into the end zone.
Just let's get the legs moving, let's get the blood pumping, yep.
And like Rogers throws one a DK metcalf and the
crowd goes wild.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
Yeah, good point.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
No defensive back on him, no pass rush though, nothing,
But that's just how I think.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Watch how he's doing it too. He's kind of leaning
back like he's getting pressure and he's only off one
leg and you could tell he's working on not perfect
conditions throwing the deep ball too. And I'm not picking
on Skyler Thompson, but like if you watch his it's
a lot flatter. It's a lot harder for the receiver
to get under. You know, it's hard to catch a
flat deep ball like a line drives. You do not

(27:49):
want to throw a line drive. And Russell Wilson did
as well as anybody. Just that moon ball thing, yep,
and it kind of got, you know, got the life
of its own. But it's hard to defend when that
thing comes down straight, you know, like a like a
dropping a bomb out of a plane.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Yeah, like a perfect swish on a three pointer, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
If you're that defensive back, you could still be on
his shoulder and it's still right there.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
They could play on that ball. Yeah no, I mean you.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
See it just it just it flutters so perfectly to
dk Metcalf down the sideline there and uh yeah, it's
uh it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
And yeah, again, I mean people are like Connor Hayward
just made a little bit of a sprawl and catch
and a.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
People are going and you're right, I mean they're all
completing them. But the Rogers, the DK one gets a bigger,
you know, bigger applause than everybody else.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Like here we go Rogers to big Darnell Washington down
the side.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
Are tight ends out there.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Everyone's loving it. Everyone's having some fun.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Uh here on a beautiful day for it on the
campus of Saint Vincent College. I think just that thing
just hangs in the air. It's beautiful. It looks like
they're gonna run it back here. Going the opposite way
one more.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
Time allows the receiver to get a step and then
pin you know, kind of keep you on my back
and so I can slow down, adjust whatever, so that
thing can drop or only I can catch it.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh. Now, Aaron Rodgers throwing darts.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
He just signaled something to Roman Wilson there and was like, hey,
let's let's try this. And instead of a deep lofted ball,
he was throwing a dart to him, just a little
bit shoulder back shoulder stuff.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Yeah, as you're.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
Gonna see a lot more of that with Rogers as
the I've been saying this. Yeah, like I never heard.
I think the first time I ever heard the term
back shoulder throw.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Was like him and Jordan Nelson.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Yeah, like on Monday Night, you know, his fourth year
in the league or whatever. That was not common stuff.
And I'm not saying he invented it, but he perfected
it and was way ahead of his time on that.
And again, if I'm playing man covers you on your
inside shoulder and you throw a rocket to the sideline
where I'm the only one knows that's coming that way,
and I can shield my put my back to you

(29:50):
and you know, shield it off. It takes a lot
of reps. So these guys are bad at it right now.
I mean, if you watch this, yeah, it's not pretty. Now.
Rogers just threw in the metcalf, and like I'm sure
when they were in UCLA hanging out together, they start
working on that stuff. Like the guy, This takes a
long time to get good at. And some of these
quarterbacks have never thrown it to some of these receivers

(30:12):
and I don't have high expectations, but some of these
are ugly, you know. But I will say Rogers metcalf
is a good start where you're gonna see a fair
amount of it.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah, No, you absolutely.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Reps and reps and reps and trust like, if you're
not going to run that route perfectly, it's gonna get picked.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Exactly right, all right, Matt, let's take a break. Looks
like things are gonna pick up here soon.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
We'll bring you all the action on the other side
as we roll along on this special edition of the
Drive Well Schuler Matt Williamson, maybe some seven Shots when
we return on the other side, and we'll get things
really going here at practice. It's all happening on Steelers
Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Network Iheartradios live coverage. J i'b got twenty twenty five Steelers
Training calf He's presented by Edex where now meets Next
and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale, Roofing and
Siding Supply Center, by Tons Appliances, by Always Safety Flagging

(31:07):
and Traffic Control, by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, by
Schneider Downs, by Hasu's Stake in Seahouse, by your Neighborhood
Board Store, by Castle Rock, by Clearview Venue Credit Due,
and by us Deal.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Back on Campus where seven Shots is going on in
the end zone to the right. We're about to see
the first Will Howard rep here of this seven shots period.
Ben Skronick in motion from left or from right to
left now turns back right.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Ben Scironica himself in a little bit troubled.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
We'll talk about that in just a second.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
Here.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
This one just gonna be a handoff right up the
gut and the offense after a frustrating seven shots period,
I think that might have been their first score. Well,
it's been all defense here through seven shots. I think,
as Will Howard gonna get another rep here, it looks
like just the seventh one. I believe this is the
seventh one.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
They've done that once in a while where Howard gets too.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, there's been some times where they put Aaron Rodgers
the last one.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
I wonder or not.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
I think if it's like it's three to three, let's
put the ones back out there beside this. But this
one has been decided for a while, as it's not
been the offense's best seventh. I think they've gotten one
out of the sixth so far by my estimation as well. Too,
we'll see if they can at least end on a
high note here. As Howard is in the shotgun Hayward

(32:35):
moving from right to left. Now our guy Stephen Jones
at right tackle, and he's gonna loft one of the
end zone.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
That's gonna be too high and.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Out of pretty real sloppy and and you know for
for the first team, Aaron Rodgers first three reps there.
First one was just I don't think not the throw
that he wanted. It was a little low for John
Smith on the right side of the end zone. Uh,
second one some miscommunication between him and Ben Skronik that

(33:03):
Aaron Rodgers was not.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Happy shotting about it as we speak, shatt and he
gave him a palms up, you know, looking on that
one after like what are you doing? Then?

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Where Aaron thought he was going to go?

Speaker 4 (33:13):
And then Aaron went and found him as soon as
seven shots were over too it would be like, hey,
we clear on this. You know, hey, he is a perfectionist.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
He is a perfectionist.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
That's also why we're out here, you know, this is
this is the area that you better be working.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
On that when you work those things out, that's fine.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
No one is going to run every route or make
every throw in these settings, no doubt. But then on
the third rep.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
Said first like, at least blowed up, and then.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
The first two reps for the offense, the possib was hey,
I was like, hey, at least the offensive line is
not getting blown up. They've hold their own well on
these last two places.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Then the third rep and then boom, blown out. He
got blown up.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Aaron Rodgers had no chance even for anything to develop,
and it wasn't much.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Another good drill hair going on though. Yeah, the two
on two route stuff which.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Is going to be a lot of fun, So it'll be.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
It might also be backs on backers single too. They
mixed together sometimes.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Okay, I love it, so yeah, right now it's two
on two with a quarterback. As Aaron Rodgers finds, DK
Metcalf pretty well defended by being bishop there.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
But it was this is really tough on the defense.
But they'll, you know, they're like they'll almost have them
like bunch together, not quite a bunch like one behind
the other, but two receivers. And this is a great
drill for the defense, just communication, who am I taking?
Who got him? You got them? That type of thing
is it man is its own and the quarterbacks reading
it quick and it's a route combination of if I

(34:31):
can pick your guy or if I can, you know, yeah,
different route combinations from a somewhat bunched alignment.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Can the defense read it? Can the quarterback read it?

Speaker 4 (34:40):
Really good coverage there.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Really good coverage there by Chuck Clark, no part of me.
That's one thornhill. Okay, yeah, it was all over number
twenty two. I will say a lot of these defensive
backs they met, they got like the crop top thing going,
I know, which, Don't get me wrong, I would probably
do it too, because I'm sure when you're in shape
like these guys are, it looks pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (34:56):
Yeah, look better than me and a crop up.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
But it makes it a little bit more difficult here,
uh to to point out these numbers. Uh, but it
looks like James Pierre out there, I tell you what.
Today another big day for James Pierre, Beanie Bishop guy
guys like that, you know, No Corey Trice, no Joey
Porter Junior. There's some some some real opportunity, uh for
a lot of these these younger quarter cornerbacks. Part of

(35:19):
me kind of the the next group of guys after
the nailed on starters to continue to to assort their
pecking order as they passed there from Will Howard intended
for Ben Skronick a little low and unable to corral
that one. Yeah, we've got offensive line and defensive line
working on some stuff on the second field across the way.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
It looks like.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Tight ends and linebackers over to the right as well,
So we'll try and keep an eye on everything going
on here.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
But the old line, I mean, the O line, D
line stuff is live. I mean, they're they're they're they're
drilling it out like I mean, it's just it's double
teams and two on ones and moving to the next level.
But they're going full go. I mean in pads, they
sure are.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
And uh, it looks like we've got the first team.
No part of me catch a ball called back there.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
I was just about to bring up Rock Taylor and
there's some buzz about him at the bar last night,
and more and more people keep asking him. For a
while there, I was like, why someone asked me about
Rock Taylor every day before he ever joined the team.
I do think the team's kind of excited about him.
But that one hit him right in the numbers and
ended up on the grass.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, you you will have that a situation like this
as it looks like why a Black and Chroi Faltanu
going through some some good reps over there on the
far side of the football.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
I think that's a run only drill, but I haven't
paid as much attention to it.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yeah, yeah, I'm trying again.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
It's it's on the far side field, so it's a
good what Matt probably seventy.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Yards away from us.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, we sit up here, so it can sometimes
be tough to get all the details of that second field,
but we do want to focus on everything going on here.
As a Pat Fryermuth over with the tight ends, giving
some instruction to the guys as they get ready to
do some one on one stuff with some of the linebackers.
Looks like Connor Hayward there working on a blocking drill.

Speaker 4 (36:59):
With from what I've seen with the big guys, it's
half a line. It's it's a three on two drill
with center guard, tackle verse, two big defensive linemen, and
some of it's when I double one of them, how
long do I stay to go get the backs or
how well do I handle it?

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Zone concepts?

Speaker 4 (37:18):
Yeah, exactly exactly, And they're trying to hold the point
and fight through the blocks and it's a good drill.
I mean they blow it that two seconds in or
whatever that it's not like that, there's no ball carrier. Yeah,
as DK metcalf with a nice route and that one
and flipped his hips and got.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
A quick he turns real quick.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
Oh fall Star and the big fellows.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
And I'm not sure who that was was that Britton
Fioko might.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
Be, he might be just by his body type.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I think it was maybe Dominique Davis actually okay, but yeah,
a decisive six to one win for the defense and
seven shots.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Evan Hall on the touchdown run at the end.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
Was that him that got up?

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, the only the only sign of life.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Had a good career in Northwestern.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
He really did. He certainly did.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
And again, as we've talked about, that's another group where
you'd like to see a fourth option emerge.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
We've been in. Yeah, pressure is impressed with Kenneth Gainwell. Yeah,
you know, Jalen Warren and Caleb Johnson.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
We know we're going to be heavy in the mix,
but you could use certainly one more person to emerge.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Johnson still needs work in protection from what I.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Noticed you see down here near side sideline guy in
the blue polo that's kind of crouched down at the
twenty yard line.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
Yeah, he's kind of like a catcher stands Steve.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Smith, right, noted former Carolina Panther in Baltimore. Raven Is
practice today with the NFL Network.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
He was a just missed on the Hall of Fame
this past year. He gets going to.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Say, I think he's one of those guys who might
have a chance to to get in at some point.
But yeah, I was like, that guy looks familiar. And
then I saw like Tom Win go up to him
at one point and I was like, all right, what's
going on here? And he just turned around for a second.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
And I saw that that is Yeah, that's a big
time player.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
That's a big time player and part of us some
fun battles with the Steelers over the years.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Certainly nasty physical, He is a bulldog.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
I mean he was.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
You know, he's one I think the few guys that
maybe you could compare to like a Hines Ward.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Yes, yes, I love them.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
If you're gosh, it would be there would be Smith
senior jerseys all over the place.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
As Yeah, he's hanging out down there chatting with some
of the guys.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
And see that all the time. Though. Man, I remember
one time being on the sidelines and not paying attention.
I turned around real quick and with Danian Tomlinson was
there in the NFL network, was like, oh, sorry, you
know right right, you got this bunch of net bunch
up here with Rogers, Rogers, A little flick the wrist, boom.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Click one quick one to rock Taylor there as uh
you hah, a far side, man.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
They're continuing these offices.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
That's a battle.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
It's a linemen are battling over there, certainly, and they're
putting a lot of the like the two's and the
threes through the ringer.

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Here here the battle going and the backs and the linebackers.
Some physicality in the fore absolutely absolutely closest is fine.
I'd rather be watching a.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Little more, you know, exactly right exactly.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
You're blocking, tackling, get off blocks, all that kind of
stuff going on.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
There, and bring that, bring the physical Bring the physicality
over here for us, baby, Come on.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
And the running backs of the only is not doing anything.
There's over here doing their own position, drill over the
cond fields.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, working on some ball security stuff.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
Could be getting tackled in all these drills and that yet.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Not yet soon enough here but not yet as Aaron
Rodgers looking deep and drops it right in the bread basket.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Nicely there for Scotty Miller.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
It was nice also, no safety on the field, right
on the field.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yep, this is all tough cover. It's it's a tough
ask for the defensive back, it's no doubt.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
But it was a touchdown. It was well run. And yeah,
Miller's an interesting guy. I mean, he's easy to root for.
I don't know if there's a spot for him, you
know what I mean, especially if they were to add
another receiver, which I think is possible. It just kind
of his career path at this point, you know, trying
to latch on do anything possible, and he does that.
Anything they ask of him, he does. But it's going

(40:45):
to be tough to keep him.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah, I think so too.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
And he's one of those guys that, you know, if
they end up releasing him and he's not picked up
by somebody else, we could certainly see him back at
some point if there's some injuries.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
And maybe another team to be like, I know exactly
who he is. I'm We're not as good off and
we'll grab him or they have an injury or whatever.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Absolutely, absolutely, still similar drills going on here as we've
been describing to you.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
Looks like no, never mind.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I thought Johnny Smith was about to take a rep
in the in the tight end droom, but he hit
And maybe he's next up here. But somebody else is
in line far side on the defensive or on the
defensive offense stuff. Man, I tell you what, once again,
big seventy nine Stephen Jones is out there getting some work.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
He is.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
It might be one of those guys, you know, the
Warren or whoever, starts showing up and showing up and
getting promoted and getting promoted, and now he goes to tackle.
That's a compliment, man.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
That really is.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
And that means that they're seeing something. That means that
they've tried it. See if you can do it, See
if we can trust you out there on an island
by yourself, in an area where we would love to
have some depth and some options.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
They don't do that with people that they don't think
has any chance to make the team.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
I'm not going to waste my timeque exactly right, especially
letting you run with the twos, you know here when
we're really trying to figure out what that second units
can look like.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
So another thing people rarely think about is you have
the same linebackers coaches, o line coaches, whatever for your
final roster as you do for this roster. Yes, but
they got like double the amount of people they need
to coach, you know. Like I think it's just like
reps in preseason or quarterback reps, like when we talk
with the Browns or whatever. It's like, I'm not going
to ignore you. I'm a coach, but I think there's

(42:22):
so many hours in the day to coach.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
A quarterback coach. I can't spend all my time with all.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Five nineteen offensive linemen or whatever it is. So I
know they switched this rule, but I kind of think
position coaches would love if you had first cuts and
then as opposed to getting everybody cut at once, you
know it, it'd be nice to be like, man, the
five dudes I know aren't going to make this team
can get on with their life's work and I don't
have to bother with, you know, or they can latch
on somewhere else or who knows, or end up in

(42:49):
a different league or whatever. But and you know those
guys are like doing everything they possibly can to get
the coach's attention. But I think got so much time
for that.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. And that's a great point by you.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
And it's not like the old days where you used
to have cut down days to have this process like
now it's just it's the best waves gone fell swoop
all at once like a guillotine man quick.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
But they want those bottom of the roster guys around
for fourth quarters of the last preseason game. You don't
want to put somebody out there that can get him
in harm's way and ends up being a Ryan Watts
situation or whatever. This is a good drill here, Oh yeah,
open good tackle drill.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, tackling between the linebackers and the running backs is.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
I know we're up against it, but I've described us
in the past. They put some fun about halfway between
the numbers and sideline and they'll pitch the ball to
an offensive player. He's not allowed to go anywhere outside
the cones and it's basically a make you miss type
of deal, and the linebacker, defensive player, safety, whoever it is,
has to run, break down, get themselves in tackle position.

(43:48):
They're not taking them to the ground, but it happens.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
Maybe force them out of bounds and things like that.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
But I mean people, it's probably people in stands going man,
the offense is winning every drill, not really. You know,
there's not last in their teammates here, correct. You see
how they come to balance, you know, I mean you
can definitely see who the like. Minco was really good
at this, very good. He always stood out to me
last year because.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
He would like he'd punch the football out once.

Speaker 4 (44:12):
Yeah, it was instant to get there, he'd break down,
and he was also aggressive with trying to get the
ball out as opposed to just survive and get the
do on the ground.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Did you see the Menca highlight that was all over
social media? I heard you had some big pick and
goal line drill. He picked off to it and took
it back to the house for one hundred yard pick six.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
Good for him. I am to big Menca guy.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I don't think you'll find many and I think we
all agree we like what the trade means for the
defense and how they'll be able to deploy. But at
the same time, you won't find many people around here
with a bad thing to say about Mega Fitzpatrick.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
Believe it or not, people aren't gonna give you Jayson
Ramsey and Johnny Smith for nothing.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Really, but Matt on my Madden game, I got round.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, Now you got to give something up that you do.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
Uh, they gave up.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
They gave up.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
A good one. And yeah, we wish him, We wish
him all the well down in Miami up here at
linebacker exactly right.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
He's another type dude. Yeah, a little high, little high,
little high on.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
That for Devin Harper, third year out of Oklahoma State.
As uh, looks like we're kind of maybe coming to
the end of this period. Yeah, nice pitch and catch
there between Tristan Thompson and DK metcalf.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Hour of the show in the books. Two more hours
to go.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Another hour or so of practice that we'll describe for
you when we return on the other side. Plenty of
moving and shaking to get to on a busy day
on campus here West Shooler and Matt Williams. And it's
a special edition of The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio
on the Steelers Audio Network.