June 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Matt and Dale are back as Dale is feeling better. The guys answer listener questions for the majority of today's show!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
At this He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the
Black and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale LOLLI he
is the Matt Williamson. And yes, I can talk. You
can talk, Yeah, not on way? Better you're doing the work.
I'm better when I just if I try to tell,
if I talk normally in a normal voice, it sounds better, okay.
(00:38):
If I try to have some exuberant in my voice,
you know, it gets a little dicey.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't know if you get this at home. I
don't think we've ever had this conversation. But sometimes my
wife will be like, you're giving me your radio voice
and I don't need it right now. And I don't
even know that there's a difference. I just get excited
when I'm doing this, and it's been a while, so
I'm rebbed up.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know, it's the same voice I you like. For
whatever reason, if I'm talking on my cell phone, I
still I get up into this higher voice, like I
get a shout for the people to hear me. I
don't know it's weird. I guess a lot of times
I'm talking while I'm driving and the phone's in my pocket,
I'm doing hands free, and so you end up talking
(01:18):
louder to make sure that they can hear.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I definitely talk louder on the air, but I don't
think I do, you know. But like my wife's like,
oh yeah, it's way different. You got your on air voice.
You can calm down now we're just sitting on the
porch having a drink or whatever. You know.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, you know that happens. But it's good to be
back on the air.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, it's good to actually be able to be heard.
You know, I'm not you know, even while like I
wasn't painful to talk, Yeah, because just to pull back
the curtains. What was happening was I had some fluid
build up and it was pressing on the nerve that
(01:59):
handles my vocal cords, and it paralyzed one half of
my vocal cords.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So I assume there's two. There's two okay, okay, And
they come to Okay to.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Help you form words and breathe and swallow things of
that nature.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They're important.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So one side wasn't closing, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I didn't quite understand that through your text and talking
to you. Yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I had to have a little procedure last week to
make sure that kind of speed things long here too.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
The procedure didn't sound fun.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
No, I got about uh well for an hour long
eight needles Ranney Adams.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Apple, I might just pass out on the air.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
They put some collagen in there to build up the
vocal cords in here. I am.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And it's a thousand times better than when you went
in for the procedure.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh yeah, I could still couldn't talk.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm sure like tomorrow will be better, Like you're better
today than you were yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It was supposed to last. He said it should hold
up for a year. Well, hopefully isn't paralyzed for a year?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, yeah, and hopefully I'll do that every year too.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I don't want to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Does not sound funny.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I don't want to do that ever again. That sounds
like last on the list of My wife was there
watching and she was like, oh, because I had to.
They had the camera down my nose the whole time
so they could see the vocal cords. So she's watching
that and then you can see the needle in there
poking around and they kept bending it, you know, because
(03:26):
you're trying to get in over the vocal with it.
Voistbox is tough.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
As if a needle in the neck isn't uncomfortable enough. Yeah,
they're just kind of squirming around and.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Moving around and trying to get the right spot.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Okay, if it's a short segment because I'm on the
ground passed out, but or the just it is. I
know he's a lightweight like me too.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I just know that they have they had to keep
air conditioning was on, but they had to keep mopping
my forehead because I was.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I can imagine. I can't imagine. That seems like I
put you under a kind of situation unrelated. But my
mom's a rock star too. I think every other month
it is, she gets a shot in the eyeball.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, that would not be pleasant.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I guess, she said. I a little more used to
it's been going on for years. But you're never like
you're not used to it. Yeah, you never get a
fully like, oh no, hey.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Let's go get good.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's eyeball shot day, Let's go. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I've had some interesting situations like that over the last year.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I say the last year or so, you've been in
some compromised positions to say the least.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's been a fun year hopefully.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But we're back at it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
We're back at it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This is what Dale does to get on the air
to talk to you guys. This you could have just
been like, I'm not talking for a couple of weeks.
Eighty four needles in my Adam's apple, right, But I
want to be here to do the show. I want
to be here to be able to talk to people.
I appreciate all the the outpouring that.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, any kind words you we we missed you know, right,
means a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That really showed up to me during COVID. Yeah, I
mean we joked now, but when we went in the
old studios, it was like Stan savergn Us and a
bunch of tumbleweeds. I mean there was nobody in the
whole building and you could get there in point four seconds.
There was no one on the roads, which I didn't
mind one bit. I mean, I'm like, I gotta work,
(05:22):
let's go.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, it's easy getting it out.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
But we got a million tweets during that time. Hey,
I'm stuck at home. I don't have anything to do.
You guys, going in the office is super appreciated, you know,
so the fans are good.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's why we're here. Yeah, that's why we're here. I
went to offer my condolences, our condolences to the family
of Arthur Smith. His father, Fred, who was the founder
of FedEx, died today at eighty.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
That was today, Yeah, I heard it was over the weekend.
I didn't know when it was.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
He founded fed X. It's amazing, right yeah. If you
want to see Fred Smith in action, turn on the
movie Castaway.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Oh yeah, okay, I didn't think about that one speach.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
At the end where Hanks comes into the the airport
hangar and they have the little party, and that's Fred Smith.
That's not an actor, that's Arthur Smith's the father.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yes, okay, And I had known that. But like, I'm
real big into like the men who build America, the
brands that build America, the food to build America. There's
one all about UPS and fed X. There's a whole
hour about how he started this company and you know,
revolutionized things along with UPS as their big rival. Pretty amazing.
(06:36):
I mean, him and that company are helped found the nation,
right right, right, one.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Percent when you send something, I'm in a fed exit
like they're their own.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's like I'm in a xerox the right, right, Yeah,
exactly what a Q tip is not a cotton swab.
It's a Q tip, right, that type of thing, just
fed exit And uh that's unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Past yeah yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Probably an unusual upbringing for Arthur Smith too. That's not
the usual coaching way of getting into football, right, right,
But I take it two ways, Like he didn't have
to do this, I mean he must love it, you
know what I mean? Like I think there's wealth in
the Smith family.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Arthur Smith, if he never coached a football game ever, right,
would be just fine, would be just fine.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, as would his great great grandkids likely unless they
do something done with the money. But obviously there's generational
family wealth that he doesn't have to do this, you know.
I mean, he could just even coach a high school team.
On the side, he doesn't have to be there for
one hundred hours a week, you know, busting it, breaking
down defenses and stuff, unless he loved it, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, So again, our heartfelt condolences to the to the
Smith family. You know, just tough to lose your.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Parents yeah, and I'm not making light of it at all,
But I assume he's not quitting the offensive coordinator job
to go run FedEx. He's not good? Good? Okay? Or
stay there.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Also? Uh. Pennsylvania Governor Joshapiro I said over the weekend, Well,
he's well, he's in office. No state money for stadium
upgrades or new stadiums or anything like that in Pennsylvania
(08:28):
for the pro sports teams. Now, the Steelers haven't been
angling for anything.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That The Eagles, however, oh, I have been, okay, and
their stadium is actually newer I.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Thought, so, yeah, okay. I mean I remember touring recruits
through what was about to become Heinz Field. That was
two That was two thousands. It was about twenty five
years ago. We put the hard hats on. I'm like,
this is going to be your locker room, and you know,
that kind of thing was. It was actually a very
cool experience because I was down there at least once
a week during construction taking recruits down there. Now I
(09:04):
guess it was two thousand. Wow, I guess that adds up.
But I do think the Eagles have built there since then. Yeah,
they did, Okay, But I don't think the Steelers are
in any rush to change things. No, No, So like
for example, in Ohio, I know Cincinnati is doing something
and the Browns are doing something. Right states, it's a
state heavily involved in.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
The state is involved thoughts in some form or fashion.
So you know, we'll see how that goes. And again
I don't think, yeah this, the Steelers aren't in any
rush to get something done here anytime soon.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
But eventually, I mean there's going to be a day yeah,
I mean obviously, right, you know, and the thing is.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
To be able to compete. You know, when people talk
about the amenities at the stadium or wow, the Steelers
scored low on this or they scored low on that,
a lot of it comes back to the state. Yeah yeah,
Oh there's no family area in the stadium. Well there's
nowhere to put one.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Twenty five years ago that wasn't a concern.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So again, twenty five years ago, I was touring people
of that stadium as was being built. But it was
also year one, basically the second year of the facility
that they're now in, you know, the practice fields and
where they spend most of their time.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Which when they moved in there seems per you know, hey,
this is great.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Oh that's what I was gonna say. I mean, we
bragged about it a pit brand new facility. I mean,
this is one of the nicest college ones out there.
I mean it rivaled Bama and Ohio State and all
those guys. But it was twenty five years ago. And
I think that's also a huge thing. Just to pull
back the curtain of that facility. They've run out of room. Yeah,
you know what I mean, like there's just not enough space,
(10:48):
not because of they didn't account for not because players
got bigger or rosters got bigger, although they rosters did
get bigger. But I mean it's like things that maybe
we would have a radio station there. I know some
teams have that, or you know, there's just not enough
room to build.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Think about where we were at twenty five years ago
in terms of there was no such thing as Twitter.
Oh no, there was no such thing as a social
media department.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Right, Analytics teams hardly existed.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
If it's Steelers barely had a website. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
right right right, yeah, those things didn't exist.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Like the video crew we work with was probably two
people back then or whatever, and they did things here
and there, not every day all the time. You know,
different departments, coaching staffs have gotten bigger across the league.
I mean, like you said, some of these teams have
daycare facilities or whatever. And if you know where the
facility's at, there's a river on one side and there's
train tracks on the other, there's nowhere to go but up.
(11:46):
I mean, maybe you could build different layers on the
facility or kick pit out or That's why where it's
going with this is if in the next five years
they decide we're going to build a new facility anywhere.
Is that also a state thing or is that just
on the team.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think that would be because.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
That influence this Shapiro thing potentially.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, I think there would be the possibility of the
state giving them some form of either tax being or
something like that. He's saying no, so.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Okay, so that could be on the hurt. To me,
that's a more likely change than the stadium. The practice
facility moved or upgraded or whatever. Is more likely to
happen than why the stadium isn't getting it done anymore.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, yeah, but it's just interesting.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There's been a while for both they're both about twenty
five years old, right, yeah, which is a long time
in these.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Without a doubt. Think about Yeah, three of her stadium
was built what seventy okay, and it lasted until two thousands,
so thirty.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Years for two teams too. I mean there's also baseball too, right,
all right, Okay, that's just that's but sounds like it
effects the Eagles more than the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
No, but you know, the problem becomes people as well.
They should just build them themselves. Okay, in theory, that's yeah, correct,
But we're talking about to build a stadium or even
a practice facility billions of dollars.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Oh yeah, I don't know how do's Some NFL teams
own their stadium. I don't know much about this subject,
to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
There's a couple I know, Washington did, okay, but they're
building a new stadium.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So hypothetically, Washington owns their stadium. If Springsteen comes to town,
they make money on that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
They get all the money.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Okay, Okay, they don't share it with the community.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The stadium authority or anything.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like that, or you know, the city or a state
or anything.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But the majority of them are publicly publicly owned or
at least there's a consortium of whatever that runs the
stadium part of it. Yeah yeah, okay, and then they
can hold the concerts and things of that nature and
make the money off.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah yeah. But still, I mean for a football stadium
compared to like the Igloo or a baseball stadium, there's
still gonna be way. I mean, there may only be
twenty thirty events in the year, including concerts.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean, there's a lot of bigger crowds, but they're
huge crowds, right, all right, it's not like basketball every
night or hockey every night, and then there's concerts and
college but you.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Think about that, the concerts that you see at a
stadium as opposed to.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
They're the big ones.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah yeah, yeah, there are sixty thousand people.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, so you'll be a huge band to go to
a stadium tour, right yeah, huh okay. It sounds like
the Eagles are in worse shape with this new legislation.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I mean I can remember that stadium opening and being
there not only the first year, I think in the preseason,
and I'm like, oh, this is this is nice? Yeah yeah,
you know, and then all their stadiums are right next
to each other.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Are they there's like a fil I assume the Flyers
and Sixers share one.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
No, I don't think they do. I think they bring
on their own now Justin was shaking his head.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
They do that, I don't know. But they're all near
each other. Yeah, like you can.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think the Sixers are getting their own downtown m
okay currently okay.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But but maybe they're pushing for one.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but it's it's a I get it. I mean
I skipped both sides. Just when people say public money
shouldn't fund these things, at the same time, this is
generating a lot of revenue.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, and what people might not live in Pittsburgh without
a football team or might choose to go elsewhere, or
think about when.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We were talking with Max at the at the Combine
and he talked about the taxes that he paid.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Those are one of the more insane things I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
When he was when he was on the franchise tag.
And you get paid every week, Yeah, every week depending
on where you pay or played at. You paid a
bigger chunk depending on where that game was at.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So probably people are not understanding what you're talking about there,
because every football get player gets paid every week, but
on the franchise tag, you don't get a signing bonus.
You get one sixteenth at that time, or seventeenth or
eighteenth whatever of your entire yearly income on Monday or
(16:29):
whatever day you get paid for the franchise tag. It's
not like Josh Allen gets a ton of money up front.
So his weekly check is real small, relatively bigger than mine.
But you know, relatively speaking, where Max would have loved
to gotten a big check instead of the franchise tag because,
(16:50):
as he explained it, which I thought was insane and
as an accounting nightmare, every city they play in they
have to pay a tax on Like if they play
in Vegas, that they're playing nevad attacks. If they play
in New York, you know, they're playing New York tax.
So that's for every football player. So it's just one
more thing getting ripped out of your check as opposed
(17:11):
to getting it all up front.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, if you if you get it up front, yeah,
excuse me, you will need.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You pay a one time deal. I'm sure right, you
pay that tax. Yeah, but you don't pay it in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
No, the cities don't hit you.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean you're paying a one
time deal on it, so you can see little things
like that like huge, I mean state taxes in Florida,
you know, things along that nature too are huge for
these guys income, you know, especially if you're in the
league five six years. Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, excuse me that I little coughin fit there. Yeah,
but yeah, so interesting. We'll keep an eye on that
and see where that goes. Again. I don't think the
Steelers are angling for anything at this point, but Nick
change quick, who knows right, right, let's get through a break.
He is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lollie. You're
listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network,
(18:10):
Matt and I'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
At least.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
He's 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 (18:30):
And we are back. I am Dale Lollie. He is
the Matt Williamson and Matt earlier today, since we hadn't
done a show yeah together. Well, we did a show
last week, but it wasn't ideal. But we haven't done
a little any yet Twitter questions.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Now, it's been quite a while of late. I don't
think we did any from any of the mini cams.
It's been over a month.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, so I put out the bat signal today on
the ex Twitter always answer said if anybody has any questions,
we would answer them, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
This could take up some time here. I think we've
got a lot of We've.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Got a lot of questions to ask us. Yeah, it's
that time of year. I mean, this is when you
ask this is the time of year to ask the question.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, we got time to relax and if there's something
you really wanted to dig into, please let us know.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We just kind of talked about this one and PGH
Sports asks, how worried are you about the economics of
the NFL starting to price out family owners? Any guaranteed
money needs to be placed in escrow? Facilities have been
becoming more luxurious. It's okay if you're a billionaire with
(19:40):
the team, But the Rooneys, the Giants, Cincinnati teams like that,
can they still compete in that market?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Really not my area of expertise at all, but I
can assure you that I say this a lot on
the air that the two ways to just tell the
health of the league or any league for that matter,
is the salary cap, and even more so is when
teams get sold value of all thirty two teams, like
(20:13):
the Lakers just got sold for a crazy amount of money.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Here's the difference, though, So while the teams themselves are
worth a lot of money, just because you own let's
say a five billion dollar franchise, yeah, yeah, doesn't mean
that you have five billion dollars and you're not one
hundred percent owner all the time and things like that too, right,
(20:37):
and you don't You're not quite You're not that liquid now,
You're not very liquid. You could be if you sold
the team, but then you don't have the team anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And that's like why the Raiders sell a chunk to Brady, Right,
So then the Davis family, or Mark Davis in particular,
gets a huge chunk of cash that he can put
it in scrow et cetera, et cetera, But now he
owns less of the team, you know, like, I know,
this isn't what was asked, but the Washington franchise, Daniel
(21:06):
Schnyder buys it. I forget the numbers, but it was
like a billion or something like that. It's frankly basically
the worst owner in NFL history and couldn't do his
job really any worse. Twenty thirty years later or whatever
it was, he sells it for five billion. I mean,
it's like you can't lose in this situation. So the
(21:26):
owners are very very healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
By the way, had to sell it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yes, he was forced to, right right right, So knowing
it was still going up in Valley.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
You would think that would drive the price down a
little bit, right right right. People know that, Oh he's
got to sell.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, it's not you're just blowing our doors off. We're
not interested in selling now. I don't know how that
the future will affect the Rooneys, the eras the Browns,
because frankly, they're not gonna have as much money as
Walmart or Yeah, you know the corporations that rule.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They run football teams.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
They run football teams. Right, it's to family business. I'm
sure they have other interests. They have stocks. I mean
they're not they're not. I'm sure's some diversifications throughout their families. Again,
I'm not a financial wizard at all, but I guess
it could be a problem. I mean, yeah, big picture,
Does that become a disadvantage? Is there more do those
(22:19):
teams push for more revenue sharing or the way I
was actually thinking of it is at owners meetings, which
we always broadcast from in the future, might they start
to get out numbered on things? Twenty teams want something
that's not great for the mond pop organizations. Relatively speaking,
seven are cool with it, and then the other one
(22:41):
in between is like that, I don't really it doesn't
matter to me, you know, like, could they start to
get out numbered on those type of things, like potentially
I can't imagine it ever being a pirate situation though, yeah,
I mean like pirates versus Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I mean, like, well, the revenue sharing itself right on
the TV deals kind of prevents that from happening.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I say, that's kind of an umbrella. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
But at the same time, that is why you've seen
the Rooney family take on some investors. Investors, Yeah, yeah,
you know, and things of that nature. There's always been investors,
but you know, that's just the way that these teams
have to handle things to be able to compete.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
And I'm obviously not speaking for the Rooney family or
the Morrows or Browns, for that matter too. But they
could sell at the Walmart and make a huge amount
of money yea, and become very liquid and go on
with their life. Well not there on their life's work,
but they could go on and basically retire, and a
huge company could run the Steelers someday, I guess, I mean,
(23:39):
or the Bengals or the Giants. It seems so unlikely,
but I guess fifty years from now, it's possible.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Me exclamation point, I said, let's go. While your voice
was strained, you sound like sounded like coach caller. I
get that.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I've gotten some Don Corleoni Cower. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Cower after a game would often have a very strange voice. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Okay, so his postgame press conference was as good as
game speech, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah. He has a couple of questions here, Gifted quarterbacks
or well, I guess it's one question. Gifted quarterbacks can
make wide receivers look like all stars, for example, Ben
with Hey, Bay Brown, Juju Sanders, Wallace Bryant, Deonda, et cetera.
Can Rogers make a wide receive wide receiver room awesome
(24:34):
or do we need a wide receiver two.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I'd say both. I still think the need for wide
receiver two has not diminished. I mean, I definitely think
they're in the market and are pursuing options there, and
I think that that's something they should do. But especially Rogers,
more so than Wilson for sure, and definitely more so
(24:57):
than any of the other guys the fields and Bisky's
and those guys, is so demanding on route precision and timing.
It's almost like the Bill Walsh thing. If you watch
specials of him coaching at Montana, six inches in front
of the numbers, not three, not nine, you know, not
slightly above the numbers. I mean, really, ball placement is
(25:21):
super important to Rogers, more than most quarterbacks over the
last twenty years. You know, the back shoulder fades, those
type of things. Now, that takes a lot of buy
in from your wide receiver room, and they have to
be good at it. I mean, there's one thing, is okay, Aaron,
I believe you your track records awesome. I'm gonna be
(25:43):
I'll do everything I possibly can be in the right place.
But that doesn't mean you will be, you know. But
I definitely think his history of elevating receivers.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Over the course of his career very real. I will
say this, I think we're going to see Pat Fryarmouth elevated.
He's in that regard to ye.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Like Garrett Wilson's a great receiver. But I've been watching
more and more Jets tape, and there was a disconnect
there for a while. You know, he was a round
off a route here and there, some hands in the air.
There was also some major dysfunction with that offense structurally
and protection wise and things like that. And it got better,
but it was also a lot different deal when DeVante
(26:28):
Adams was there. Yeah, you know, no, I don't think
anybody in this team is going to replicate the Adams
Rogers connection. It's one of the best in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They played together for years, and.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
They played together for years, and but if they are
where Rogers wants them to be, the football will be
where Rogers wants it to be, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah? And I think you know, all you have to
do is look back at the two interceptions he threw
against the Steelers in the examples, right, the first one,
Beanie Bishop made a hell of a play, yeah, and
that happens the second one, Wilson probably and I don't
know this for sure, but probably didn't run that route
(27:09):
quite as deep as he was supposed.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
To right right, And so there's a lot of trust
from a quarterback when he releases the ball that you're
gonna be where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
He goes up a little bit, the ball hits off
off of his shoulder pad and bounces backwards into Beanie
Bishop's hands right right right, And that was probably an
instance where he wasn't quite where he needed to be at.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And it's hard, I mean, you'd think that it's not wide.
Receivers are domb they don't know where to be. You're
running full speed getting off a jam, and there's linebackers
and safeties in your way and things like that. It's
not just seven on seven and we're talking about two
point four seconds versus two point six seconds of when
to make that break and get your head around and
(27:49):
where your hands need to be and it's just gonna
be in the back shoulder is just gonna be on
my back hip? Is this gonna lead me? You know,
like people don't think about things like this. It's this
is very basic. Is actually it was a big Bill
Walsh thing that he kind of brought to the league.
That is everyone in the world employes now too, is
if I'm getting man coverage after the catch, I'm pretty
(28:11):
much running in stride. If you do that ver zone,
you get your head taken off. So therefore a good
quarterback will lead you accordingly. You know what I mean.
You're not going to lead a guy into Minka yet
the hospital ball, right exactly, And that's there's no jack
tatums anymore and the stuff. But right, you sit down
and take a big hit. Yeah right, I mean, so
(28:33):
after the catch stuff you get a lot more usually
after man because you're not running into the teeth of
the zone. And all receivers and quarterbacks know these things.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
His next question is rank these pizza places from worse
the best. WHOA, Okay, now, they're all national chains. I
don't want to do the worst.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I get so few Pizza Hut Dominoes anymore, but bringing.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
On Okay, so that's actually two of them.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
There's actually a good food to build America about those too, too.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Domino's Little Caesars.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I haven't had any in a long time. Yeah, I'd
probably got Pizza Hut first.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I probably would too.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Because I kind of remember just childhood all you could
a teenager. You walked in there for lunch. That was
pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
And they had green olives on the salad bar, so
you can load up to green olives.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
At UPJ, there was a pizza hut. You can get
a personal you know, like four cutter at the tuck
shop or whatever. And I'd go get banana peppers and
green peppers and stuff like that and dump it on.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
There, says speaking of that, I did the uh. And
this is right before I lost my voice. Yeah, I
did the UH. We had a little thing at UPJ
where I went back. They had It was a reunion
for people who had worked on the college radio station
and the newspaper.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, and UH got to see a lot of people
back there that I hadn't seen in a while. You
stayed in the dorms, right, stayed in the dorms. It
was actually nice because they had the alumni area where
we could engage in some adult beverages and then you
just walk back the hallway to your dorm room.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Not bad. Are they inducted us in the Hall of
Fame soon or what they should? Well, yeah, but nothing yet.
I haven't gotten any notifications.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
It hasn't happened. Yet I did talk to Mike Mastovich,
who works at the Tribune Democrat and who is in
the UPJ Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So well, okay, you got him on our side.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
They do. They do have people that I worked with,
Mike back in the way, back in the day when
I first started out.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
That's should show there some pint we should well.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, his third question, what was the last summer blockbuster
movie that you enjoyed seeing in the theater?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Boy, these it's not my area of expertise either. I
mean I've gone I've probably gone ten movies in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm gonna say dead Pool over in last year.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
I would say it had to be a Marvel movie
for you. It had to be. I mean, like you.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Said, pull overine was. I've watched it probably twenty times
since then, and every time I watch it, I see
a new gag. Okay I didn't catch the first time around.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I only watched it because of you and actually CJ
as well pumping it up so much that I had
never watched any of the Deadpool movies. Yeah, as of
a year ago, and they're pretty darn hilarious. Yeah, but
along those lines, it just so happens. As of two
days ago was the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws being released,
which might be the biggest summer blockbuster in the history
(31:56):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
It was huge.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
And I was a creative writing major and sometimes would
do like cinema stuff and things like that. And frankly,
I mean I was a creative for any major because
it was the easiest way to get a diploma without
going to class early. But you learned a lot, and
like Jaws changed things, yeah, you know, like little things
like they didn't show the villain, which was the Shark
in this instance until the end in very very little,
(32:19):
or you see a fin or you see blood, you know,
like Hannibal Lecter. They've used that kind of press strategy
Darth Vader, you know, like you don't see the villain
all the time, just hanging out, but you know he's
there and the music and all that summer blockbuster though
that I like had to see. I don't know that
there's ever been any I mean, I'm sitting there going
(32:41):
back to childhood, like speaking of Star Wars, when the
second when Empire came out, I was like second in line.
Just so happens. Our neighbor. Johnny Diggins must have been
first in line because he told the whole neighborhood that
Darth Vader. I mean, come on, man, I mean that
he was Luke's faugh. There a spoiler alert. If you
(33:01):
haven't seen it by now, then you're a little late.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
You haven't seen it by now, Shame on it.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Shame on you. Although you've called out a couple of times.
Not that I knew German at the time when I
was seven or whatever, but Vader is German for father. Yeah,
that's probably not an accident. But yeah, he told the
whole neighborhood, like the day came out, like we should
all beat up Johnny Diggins.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
That's a jerk move.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
That's a jerk move. But I will say Christmas the
day Godfather three came out, came out on Christmas, and
my buddy and I went like as soon as Christmas
dinner was over. It was a bit of a.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Letdown, But that easily the worst of gotten, not even close.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But we didn't know that walking in. We had to
be first in line for that one.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, good questions there.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Let's see what else go back to childhood and all
of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Though DSR says, can you guys expand on the AFC
Norse schedules, analyze the Ravens, Bengals and Brown's strength of schedule?
That's I don't have it in front of me very much.
A segment there, yeah, that is.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
And maybe maybe that's a Wednesday segment because my notes
aren't anywhere near me. But if you go to Sharp Football,
I think it's up there for free all the time.
Is he always has the chart of where these all
rank just based on opponents, strength of schedule, based off
(34:22):
win totals. Browns is awful, Brown's is at the bottom
of the league. The Giants are at the way bottom,
Browns are thirty first. Steelers are I want to say,
like twenty fifth or so. Ravens and Bengals are mid.
They're a little easier than the Steelers. But and I'm
taking this all from Sharp. If you start analyzing like
(34:46):
rest analysis and when the games are played, doesn't help
the Steelers as much as I thought it would, because
he makes a note too like if you pick their
five hardest opponents, they have a rest disadvantage in like
all those games. You know, So there's some I don't
want to say, unfair, but there's some things that aren't
working in your favor. It's not three in eleven days,
(35:08):
but you know.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It seems to me that a lot of people, both
nationally and locally seem to feel that the Bengals are
a better team than the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
No Vegas does too, and I don't see it. I
don't either. I'm very unimpressed with their offseason, especially defensively. Yeah.
Not even even if hendrick Ing worse, they are worse.
I mean, even if Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart their first
round pick, sing Kumbaya the first day of training camp
and can't wait to be Bengals, I still think they're
worse on defense, and they're two of the most important guys.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, I just don't see it.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
I don't either, and it's not because the forum we're
on right now. But my least favorite bet would at
the numbers of who wins the Super Bowl is betting
on the Bengals because it doesn't pay that much. It's
like the fifth highest odds are. It's only behind the Eagles, Lions, Bills.
Refense still matters. Yeah, Burrow's awesome, but that's just so
reliant on one thing. Just the passing game in general,
(36:08):
which is phenomenal, but even the run game's not that great. Yeah,
you know, and I don't think the coaching staff gives
them a huge advantage. You know. I will probably pick
them to be third in the division.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I think I will too.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah, and outside the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I think the Ravens have helped themselves this offseason.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I'm very impressive.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I can't say that about the Bengals. I certainly can't
say that about the Browns. No.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
I mean the Browns at least finally made a bunch
of draft picks. They're not the picks I would have made,
but at least they have an influx of youth for
the first time in five years or whatever. Again, I
would not have drafted two running backs and two quarterbacks.
I was drafted some big people. But at least there's
something and they have a future first round pick. Yeah,
I could say screw it up. The Bengals actually taking
(36:51):
a step backwards this year. I've said this and I've
hesitated to say it, and I think I've said it
on this airwaves too. I could see Joe Burrow being
Carson Palmer in two years and just being frustrated with
the whole organization, saying I'm doing everything, I'm doing all
the heavy lifting, and we still only can win seven games.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Because here's the other thing that happens when you have
a guy like Hendrickson who is respected in that locker room. Yeah,
he's your best defensive player by far, and you have
not even remotely made him a priority.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
No, and to take it a step further, and to
use the Steelers as as an example. Nick Herby sits
down with us at at mini camp and one of
us was asking him how influential was TJ watt Fellow Wisconsin,
same position, and He's like, I just followed around like
a puppy Dog's the best thing I've ever had, right,
I saw it. And I'm like, what do you think
(37:50):
Harmon will do the same with Cam Hayward, He's like,
he's insane if he doesn't. Well, you have Hendrickson the
last two years, you've taken a defensive edd in the
first round. What kind of influence is that? You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
It's like the.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Polar opposite of doing just to do what trade does
all the time. Yeah, Well, Trey's on here and he's
unhappy and he's talking bad things about the organization. Okay,
and you're sitting out and Miles Murphy's also a first
round pick. What kind of influenced you on the young guy?
You know, like there's there's a ripple effect there too
that makes all Hey, let's get to.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
A break before you get to any more questions here.
He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lollie. You're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network, Matt
and I'll be back with more right after this. At least.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolli. He is the
Matt Williamson and we're going through some next Twitter questions here.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Yeah, I just got one I need to interjector a
quick from at Williamson NFL for Justin. It is and
the question is is Tom Offerman in the house today?
Have you seen him around?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Oh? That is very revealing because the candy jar.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
The candy jar. We've been here for two segments. I
got a coffee before segment one. There was forty pieces
of candy in there.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
I saw that when I walked by it.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
It was hardy. It was hardy. We haven't been here
for months, right, And I've always assumed that the candy
monster was Tom Offerman because he's one of the only
ones that's always here and he definitely dips in there.
Oh yeah, I just went back there after two segments
to get a second coffee. There's one hard tack ball left,
like forty pieces of chocolate receis, et cetera. Has been
(39:47):
gone in two segments. I assumed it was Tom, but
now it's not. We need to start digging into things again.
Who's the candy monster?
Speaker 2 (39:55):
It's not justin.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
The three of us are safe, oh CJ. Wolfully certainly
of okay, all right, there's not many candidates throughout the
course of the year. There's not many people sitting here
as much as us. All right, all right, good information.
I know.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Marco A. Romero Navarro says, for Matt, oh, how are
you evaluated as a scout back in Cleveland?
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Well, we were on fired because we stunk after a year.
After a year, and I think they actually did keep
like two people on. But one thing I can tell
you is how I was evaluated to get the job.
I thought was an intro. It was a full day.
So over the course of probably six to eight hours
(40:45):
of being at the Browns facility, not knowing a soul,
I did. At one point I thought it was really interesting.
They just left me in a dark room with a
note tap with a note tablet for like three or
four hours, and they had me a value you wait,
one of their players. I remember it was Andre Davis,
the linebacker. He was one of the better players. Yeah,
(41:06):
and they had like a form of how they did things,
but they basically just said, just write your notes here.
I know you're not gonna type them up.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
They're not formal.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
They gave me a college player, which I remember who
that was, and they gave me another player on another
team and basically just said, here's as much tape as
you want. We'll be back in two hours or three
hours or whatever. If you need anything, come call in
or whatever. Give us a report on these three guys.
And I remember watching three or four games of each
and doesn't change direction. Well, good size, blah blah blah
(41:37):
blah blah. Had definitely had lunch with both the College
Scout director of college scouting and the director of pro Scouting.
We all just had a long lunch and was part
of the interview process. The last thing I did was
I definitely was in Butch Davis's office for a good
half hour or forty five minutes something like that. Peak
(41:59):
Arc was the GM at the time. Spent a lot
of time with him. Don't think I talked to any
assistant coaches during the interview process, but apparently I did well.
I mean I remember them saying, there's forty or fifty candidates,
and you're one of the ones we're bringing in. And
two of us got hired. I mean, you know, and
my man James and I and we both had basically
(42:20):
the exact same job. So that was kind of interesting
considering my circumstances. I don't think I ever got evaluated
for like a final product, right right. I mean I
was in the draft room and I would chime in
here and there about players or hey, Matt, I know
(42:40):
you watched them, what's your report on them? But then
I was let go to the day after draft. So,
I mean those reports are still on file, and I'm
hoping it probably will never happen. I'm hoping to have
a conversation with Aaron Rodgers because that was the year
he came out and I remember watching him at CAL
and his game has changed so much much. And oh,
(43:01):
by the way, folks, that was Alex Smith went first
that year. We picked third. We the Browns. It's weird
to say we for that, but our favorite player in
the draft was Brayln Edwards, who we end up taking
with the third pick. And weirdly, we didn't think we
had a quarterback problem at the time. Jeff we had
Jeff Garcia was like thirty eight years old and kind
(43:22):
of shot, and we had taken Luke McCown not Josh
the year before. I was there, so he had a
rookie year in the third round, so they thought they
got the successor in hand. But where I'm going with
this is the Browns as a team, as did I
had a higher grade on Rogers than Smith, even though
(43:42):
he ended up going like twenty picks later when it
was all said and done. So if the Browns had
thought they had a quarterback problem, the probably it would
have been Rogers. It would not have been They wouldn't
have traded up for Smith, he wouldn't have been there.
They gladly would have taken Rogers, and I'm hoping to
have that conversation someday with Rogers because his game has
changed so much and it's just how he was coached,
(44:02):
I'm sure at CAW, Yeah, because everything even just watch
him in warm ups last week or two weeks ago.
You see all these different arm angles and equated to
like Auzzie Smith playing short stuff. Then everything was at
the ear, you know, like so long ago. But that
was typical throw like Dan Marino, everything snaps off exactly
(44:23):
the same, you know. And he he did that well, Yeah,
he did it well. But I'm sure the far of
influence changed him dramatically because frankly, he wasn't as good
a prospect the cow and I bet he would even
tell you that then what he turned into. Yeah, I
mean yeah, he was considered somewhat of a system quarterback too. Yeah,
and he wasn't an improv guy.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Like that for both of us. How do the Steelers
evaluate their own draft process, Well, you evaluate your draft
process by wins and losses. I mean that's the that's
the bottom line for every scouting department.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, I wonder the So I hope someone scouts the scouts. Oh,
that happened. I mean, it definitely happens. I don't know
their process for doing those things, and we would never
know those things unless we were employed by the team,
like their Southeastern scout might not even know how he's evaluated, right,
you know, I mean I'm sure there.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
As with anything, you go and you sit down with
your boss. In this case, the head of the scouting
department would be vital. If you're a pro scout, you go,
you know, to Sheldon White, and you probably have an
evaluation or a review at the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
My wife works at PNC. I think she has a
monthly one with her boss, and there's one at the
end of the year that's actually like a grade. Yeah,
you know, you get this much bonus because of it
or whatever. I'm sure all that stuff exists. I didn't
really have that luxury as you it m'd have been
to one more day. Probably that starts to happen. Yeah,
I mean, at that point, there were all a bunch
(45:58):
of raven scouts taking our.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Jobs and finally asked, how do the Steelers get better
in the scouting department. Well, they've changed their scouting department massively,
drastically over the last three years.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, there have been a huge influx of different people.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
As most organizations, they had a lot of long term scouts,
some have retired, and you know, right right, they're much
younger now.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
They're much younger. They've also, I think, added more analytics
to it, no question, and that's just that's part of
the process.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And there's no doubt that Omar does things differently than Kevin. Yeah,
I'm sure he learned a lot from Kevin. And there's
still some things in place, without a doubt. And you
could go find the reports that much like my Rogers
report is probably on file somewhere in Cleveland. You could
go back and see the old stuff. But that's a
tough one to answer. I mean, you'd have to be
in the meeting rooms and know their scouting system and
(46:55):
all that type of stuff.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
VMG says, do you think the Steelers need some support
just in case on their offensive line?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
I would love it. It's just the hardest thing in
the world to find.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Right right, Yeah, it's very difficulty that right.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Now, I would love it. I mean, anyone who listen
to our predraft shows I preached, man, I really hope
they take an old lineman or two, even if it's
a six to seventh round. But every thirty one other
team saw it the same way. I mean, the.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Offensive lineman went early.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
There was a very heavy tax on fourth round offensive
lineman going the second round, sixth round offensive lineman going
in the third and fourth where that's a cost of
doing business. I get it, but I understood, especially with
limited picks this year, you'd have a second round.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Pick and it wasn't a great offensive line.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
And it wasn't. And that's what made it even worse
because they became even more of a premium Like next year,
no matter what happens with Siamalu or Broderick Jones, what
kind of year they're going to have, but I guarantee
one of their picks will be on an offensive line.
Had twelve of them, they may two or three. Yeah,
that might be multiple. So yeah, I am worried. I
just don't know where it comes from. Yeah, yeah, but
(48:08):
that's not a unique problem in the league either.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
It really isn't. It really isn't. Dan says Dale, we
won't miss the back in my day voice. Any thoughts
on their now suddenly deep safety room with mincing de
Shawn now locked up for a few years.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
I guess that's happened since we were together the contract
and you add.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
In Thornhill, how might this group be deployed at the
same time on the field.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Well, I definitely contract aside. I mean, you knew Elliott
was gonna be a Steeler this year either way. Thornhill
is a free agent after the season. Who knows. But
I've been harping on this for a while and we've
talked about it quite a bit. I definitely expect that
there will be more defensive personnel packages than there were. Like,
I think there's a chance you might see three linebackers
(49:00):
on the field, true linebackers. I mean, I'm talking about
Queen Holcombe Wilson, you know, a true old school four
to three. I think there's a chance you see three
outside linebackers on the field together. I mean it's hard
to keep her big on the bench and depends on
the opponent. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a possibility. And
I absolutely think three safeties is going to be a
(49:20):
bump for sure. Big nickel. They've done a lot of
big nickel in the Tomlin ear in the last five years.
Last year they were a little lighter. I mean, I
think Thornhill's a major an obvious upgrade over the KzS
of the world. Yeah, you know, especially the last year.
So I think that makes you way more versatile, spreads
out the workload a little bit. Like I don't think
(49:43):
Minka is ever gonna leave the field. I don't think
all of a sudden you're gonna rest him like Cam Hayward. Right,
it's a different type position. You know, Safeties and corners
don't really get that luxury. But I do think middle
of the field is really deep inside linebacker safety, and
there's a lot of versatility there too, Ye for sure,
a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
For sure. Let's get to a break that's going to
do it for hour number one of the drive. You're
on the Steelers Audio Network, Matt and I'll be back
with our number two right after this
At this He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the
Black and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale LOLLI he
is the Matt Williamson. And yes, I can talk. You
can talk, Yeah, not on way? Better you're doing the work.
I'm better when I just if I try to tell,
if I talk normally in a normal voice, it sounds better, okay.
(00:38):
If I try to have some exuberant in my voice,
you know, it gets a little dicey.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't know if you get this at home. I
don't think we've ever had this conversation. But sometimes my
wife will be like, you're giving me your radio voice
and I don't need it right now. And I don't
even know that there's a difference. I just get excited
when I'm doing this, and it's been a while, so
I'm rebbed up.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know, it's the same voice I you like. For
whatever reason, if I'm talking on my cell phone, I
still I get up into this higher voice, like I
get a shout for the people to hear me. I
don't know it's weird. I guess a lot of times
I'm talking while I'm driving and the phone's in my pocket,
I'm doing hands free, and so you end up talking
(01:18):
louder to make sure that they can hear.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I definitely talk louder on the air, but I don't
think I do, you know. But like my wife's like,
oh yeah, it's way different. You got your on air voice.
You can calm down now we're just sitting on the
porch having a drink or whatever. You know.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, you know that happens. But it's good to be
back on the air.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, it's good to actually be able to be heard.
You know, I'm not you know, even while like I
wasn't painful to talk, Yeah, because just to pull back
the curtains. What was happening was I had some fluid
build up and it was pressing on the nerve that
(01:59):
handles my vocal cords, and it paralyzed one half of
my vocal cords.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So I assume there's two. There's two okay, okay, And
they come to Okay to.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Help you form words and breathe and swallow things of
that nature.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They're important.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So one side wasn't closing, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I didn't quite understand that through your text and talking
to you. Yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I had to have a little procedure last week to
make sure that kind of speed things long here too.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
The procedure didn't sound fun.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
No, I got about uh well for an hour long
eight needles Ranney Adams.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Apple, I might just pass out on the air.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
They put some collagen in there to build up the
vocal cords in here. I am.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And it's a thousand times better than when you went
in for the procedure.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh yeah, I could still couldn't talk.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm sure like tomorrow will be better, Like you're better
today than you were yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It was supposed to last. He said it should hold
up for a year. Well, hopefully isn't paralyzed for a year?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, yeah, and hopefully I'll do that every year too.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I don't want to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Does not sound funny.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I don't want to do that ever again. That sounds
like last on the list of My wife was there
watching and she was like, oh, because I had to.
They had the camera down my nose the whole time
so they could see the vocal cords. So she's watching
that and then you can see the needle in there
poking around and they kept bending it, you know, because
(03:26):
you're trying to get in over the vocal with it.
Voistbox is tough.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
As if a needle in the neck isn't uncomfortable enough. Yeah,
they're just kind of squirming around and.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Moving around and trying to get the right spot.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Okay, if it's a short segment because I'm on the
ground passed out, but or the just it is. I
know he's a lightweight like me too.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I just know that they have they had to keep
air conditioning was on, but they had to keep mopping
my forehead because I was.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I can imagine. I can't imagine. That seems like I
put you under a kind of situation unrelated. But my
mom's a rock star too. I think every other month
it is, she gets a shot in the eyeball.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, that would not be pleasant.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I guess, she said. I a little more used to
it's been going on for years. But you're never like
you're not used to it. Yeah, you never get a
fully like, oh no, hey.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Let's go get good.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's eyeball shot day, Let's go. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I've had some interesting situations like that over the last year.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I say the last year or so, you've been in
some compromised positions to say the least.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's been a fun year hopefully.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But we're back at it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
We're back at it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This is what Dale does to get on the air
to talk to you guys. This you could have just
been like, I'm not talking for a couple of weeks.
Eighty four needles in my Adam's apple, right, But I
want to be here to do the show. I want
to be here to be able to talk to people.
I appreciate all the the outpouring that.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, any kind words you we we missed you know, right,
means a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That really showed up to me during COVID. Yeah, I
mean we joked now, but when we went in the
old studios, it was like Stan savergn Us and a
bunch of tumbleweeds. I mean there was nobody in the
whole building and you could get there in point four seconds.
There was no one on the roads, which I didn't
mind one bit. I mean, I'm like, I gotta work,
(05:22):
let's go.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, it's easy getting it out.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
But we got a million tweets during that time. Hey,
I'm stuck at home. I don't have anything to do.
You guys, going in the office is super appreciated, you know,
so the fans are good.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's why we're here. Yeah, that's why we're here. I
went to offer my condolences, our condolences to the family
of Arthur Smith. His father, Fred, who was the founder
of FedEx, died today at eighty.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
That was today, Yeah, I heard it was over the weekend.
I didn't know when it was.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
He founded fed X. It's amazing, right yeah. If you
want to see Fred Smith in action, turn on the
movie Castaway.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Oh yeah, okay, I didn't think about that one speach.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
At the end where Hanks comes into the the airport
hangar and they have the little party, and that's Fred Smith.
That's not an actor, that's Arthur Smith's the father.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yes, okay, And I had known that. But like, I'm
real big into like the men who build America, the
brands that build America, the food to build America. There's
one all about UPS and fed X. There's a whole
hour about how he started this company and you know,
revolutionized things along with UPS as their big rival. Pretty amazing.
(06:36):
I mean, him and that company are helped found the nation,
right right, right, one.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Percent when you send something, I'm in a fed exit
like they're their own.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's like I'm in a xerox the right, right, Yeah,
exactly what a Q tip is not a cotton swab.
It's a Q tip, right, that type of thing, just
fed exit And uh that's unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Past yeah yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Probably an unusual upbringing for Arthur Smith too. That's not
the usual coaching way of getting into football, right, right,
But I take it two ways, Like he didn't have
to do this, I mean he must love it, you
know what I mean? Like I think there's wealth in
the Smith family.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Arthur Smith, if he never coached a football game ever, right,
would be just fine, would be just fine.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, as would his great great grandkids likely unless they
do something done with the money. But obviously there's generational
family wealth that he doesn't have to do this, you know.
I mean, he could just even coach a high school team.
On the side, he doesn't have to be there for
one hundred hours a week, you know, busting it, breaking
down defenses and stuff, unless he loved it, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, So again, our heartfelt condolences to the to the
Smith family. You know, just tough to lose your.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Parents yeah, and I'm not making light of it at all,
But I assume he's not quitting the offensive coordinator job
to go run FedEx. He's not good? Good? Okay? Or
stay there.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Also? Uh. Pennsylvania Governor Joshapiro I said over the weekend, Well,
he's well, he's in office. No state money for stadium
upgrades or new stadiums or anything like that in Pennsylvania
(08:28):
for the pro sports teams. Now, the Steelers haven't been
angling for anything.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That The Eagles, however, oh, I have been, okay, and
their stadium is actually newer I.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Thought, so, yeah, okay. I mean I remember touring recruits
through what was about to become Heinz Field. That was
two That was two thousands. It was about twenty five
years ago. We put the hard hats on. I'm like,
this is going to be your locker room, and you know,
that kind of thing was. It was actually a very
cool experience because I was down there at least once
a week during construction taking recruits down there. Now I
(09:04):
guess it was two thousand. Wow, I guess that adds up.
But I do think the Eagles have built there since then. Yeah,
they did, Okay, But I don't think the Steelers are
in any rush to change things. No, No, So like
for example, in Ohio, I know Cincinnati is doing something
and the Browns are doing something. Right states, it's a
state heavily involved in.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
The state is involved thoughts in some form or fashion.
So you know, we'll see how that goes. And again
I don't think, yeah this, the Steelers aren't in any
rush to get something done here anytime soon.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
But eventually, I mean there's going to be a day yeah,
I mean obviously, right, you know, and the thing is.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
To be able to compete. You know, when people talk
about the amenities at the stadium or wow, the Steelers
scored low on this or they scored low on that,
a lot of it comes back to the state. Yeah yeah,
Oh there's no family area in the stadium. Well there's
nowhere to put one.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Twenty five years ago that wasn't a concern.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So again, twenty five years ago, I was touring people
of that stadium as was being built. But it was
also year one, basically the second year of the facility
that they're now in, you know, the practice fields and
where they spend most of their time.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Which when they moved in there seems per you know, hey,
this is great.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Oh that's what I was gonna say. I mean, we
bragged about it a pit brand new facility. I mean,
this is one of the nicest college ones out there.
I mean it rivaled Bama and Ohio State and all
those guys. But it was twenty five years ago. And
I think that's also a huge thing. Just to pull
back the curtain of that facility. They've run out of room. Yeah,
you know what I mean, like there's just not enough space,
(10:48):
not because of they didn't account for not because players
got bigger or rosters got bigger, although they rosters did
get bigger. But I mean it's like things that maybe
we would have a radio station there. I know some
teams have that, or you know, there's just not enough
room to build.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Think about where we were at twenty five years ago
in terms of there was no such thing as Twitter.
Oh no, there was no such thing as a social
media department.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Right, Analytics teams hardly existed.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
If it's Steelers barely had a website. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
right right right, yeah, those things didn't exist.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Like the video crew we work with was probably two
people back then or whatever, and they did things here
and there, not every day all the time. You know,
different departments, coaching staffs have gotten bigger across the league.
I mean, like you said, some of these teams have
daycare facilities or whatever. And if you know where the
facility's at, there's a river on one side and there's
train tracks on the other, there's nowhere to go but up.
(11:46):
I mean, maybe you could build different layers on the
facility or kick pit out or That's why where it's
going with this is if in the next five years
they decide we're going to build a new facility anywhere.
Is that also a state thing or is that just
on the team.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think that would be because.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
That influence this Shapiro thing potentially.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, I think there would be the possibility of the
state giving them some form of either tax being or
something like that. He's saying no, so.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Okay, so that could be on the hurt. To me,
that's a more likely change than the stadium. The practice
facility moved or upgraded or whatever. Is more likely to
happen than why the stadium isn't getting it done anymore.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, yeah, but it's just interesting.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There's been a while for both they're both about twenty
five years old, right, yeah, which is a long time
in these.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Without a doubt. Think about Yeah, three of her stadium
was built what seventy okay, and it lasted until two thousands,
so thirty.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Years for two teams too. I mean there's also baseball too, right,
all right, Okay, that's just that's but sounds like it
effects the Eagles more than the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
No, but you know, the problem becomes people as well.
They should just build them themselves. Okay, in theory, that's yeah, correct,
But we're talking about to build a stadium or even
a practice facility billions of dollars.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Oh yeah, I don't know how do's Some NFL teams
own their stadium. I don't know much about this subject,
to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
There's a couple I know, Washington did, okay, but they're
building a new stadium.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So hypothetically, Washington owns their stadium. If Springsteen comes to town,
they make money on that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
They get all the money.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Okay, Okay, they don't share it with the community.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The stadium authority or anything.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like that, or you know, the city or a state
or anything.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But the majority of them are publicly publicly owned or
at least there's a consortium of whatever that runs the
stadium part of it. Yeah yeah, okay, and then they
can hold the concerts and things of that nature and
make the money off.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah yeah. But still, I mean for a football stadium
compared to like the Igloo or a baseball stadium, there's
still gonna be way. I mean, there may only be
twenty thirty events in the year, including concerts.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean, there's a lot of bigger crowds, but they're
huge crowds, right, all right, it's not like basketball every
night or hockey every night, and then there's concerts and
college but you.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Think about that, the concerts that you see at a
stadium as opposed to.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
They're the big ones.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah yeah, yeah, there are sixty thousand people.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, so you'll be a huge band to go to
a stadium tour, right yeah, huh okay. It sounds like
the Eagles are in worse shape with this new legislation.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I mean I can remember that stadium opening and being
there not only the first year, I think in the preseason,
and I'm like, oh, this is this is nice? Yeah yeah,
you know, and then all their stadiums are right next
to each other.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Are they there's like a fil I assume the Flyers
and Sixers share one.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
No, I don't think they do. I think they bring
on their own now Justin was shaking his head.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
They do that, I don't know. But they're all near
each other. Yeah, like you can.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think the Sixers are getting their own downtown m
okay currently okay.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But but maybe they're pushing for one.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but it's it's a I get it. I mean
I skipped both sides. Just when people say public money
shouldn't fund these things, at the same time, this is
generating a lot of revenue.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, and what people might not live in Pittsburgh without
a football team or might choose to go elsewhere, or
think about when.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We were talking with Max at the at the Combine
and he talked about the taxes that he paid.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Those are one of the more insane things I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
When he was when he was on the franchise tag.
And you get paid every week, Yeah, every week depending
on where you pay or played at. You paid a
bigger chunk depending on where that game was at.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So probably people are not understanding what you're talking about there,
because every football get player gets paid every week, but
on the franchise tag, you don't get a signing bonus.
You get one sixteenth at that time, or seventeenth or
eighteenth whatever of your entire yearly income on Monday or
(16:29):
whatever day you get paid for the franchise tag. It's
not like Josh Allen gets a ton of money up front.
So his weekly check is real small, relatively bigger than mine.
But you know, relatively speaking, where Max would have loved
to gotten a big check instead of the franchise tag because,
(16:50):
as he explained it, which I thought was insane and
as an accounting nightmare, every city they play in they
have to pay a tax on Like if they play
in Vegas, that they're playing nevad attacks. If they play
in New York, you know, they're playing New York tax.
So that's for every football player. So it's just one
more thing getting ripped out of your check as opposed
(17:11):
to getting it all up front.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, if you if you get it up front, yeah,
excuse me, you will need.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
You pay a one time deal. I'm sure right, you
pay that tax. Yeah, but you don't pay it in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
No, the cities don't hit you.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean you're paying a one
time deal on it, so you can see little things
like that like huge, I mean state taxes in Florida,
you know, things along that nature too are huge for
these guys income, you know, especially if you're in the
league five six years. Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, excuse me that I little coughin fit there. Yeah,
but yeah, so interesting. We'll keep an eye on that
and see where that goes. Again. I don't think the
Steelers are angling for anything at this point, but Nick
change quick, who knows right, right, let's get through a break.
He is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lollie. You're
listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network,
(18:10):
Matt and I'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
At least.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
He's 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 (18:30):
And we are back. I am Dale Lollie. He is
the Matt Williamson and Matt earlier today, since we hadn't
done a show yeah together. Well, we did a show
last week, but it wasn't ideal. But we haven't done
a little any yet Twitter questions.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Now, it's been quite a while of late. I don't
think we did any from any of the mini cams.
It's been over a month.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, so I put out the bat signal today on
the ex Twitter always answer said if anybody has any questions,
we would answer them, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
This could take up some time here. I think we've
got a lot of We've.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Got a lot of questions to ask us. Yeah, it's
that time of year. I mean, this is when you
ask this is the time of year to ask the question.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, we got time to relax and if there's something
you really wanted to dig into, please let us know.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We just kind of talked about this one and PGH
Sports asks, how worried are you about the economics of
the NFL starting to price out family owners? Any guaranteed
money needs to be placed in escrow? Facilities have been
becoming more luxurious. It's okay if you're a billionaire with
(19:40):
the team, But the Rooneys, the Giants, Cincinnati teams like that,
can they still compete in that market?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Really not my area of expertise at all, but I
can assure you that I say this a lot on
the air that the two ways to just tell the
health of the league or any league for that matter,
is the salary cap, and even more so is when
teams get sold value of all thirty two teams, like
(20:13):
the Lakers just got sold for a crazy amount of money.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Here's the difference, though, So while the teams themselves are
worth a lot of money, just because you own let's
say a five billion dollar franchise, yeah, yeah, doesn't mean
that you have five billion dollars and you're not one
hundred percent owner all the time and things like that too, right,
(20:37):
and you don't You're not quite You're not that liquid now,
You're not very liquid. You could be if you sold
the team, but then you don't have the team anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And that's like why the Raiders sell a chunk to Brady, Right,
So then the Davis family, or Mark Davis in particular,
gets a huge chunk of cash that he can put
it in scrow et cetera, et cetera, But now he
owns less of the team, you know, like, I know,
this isn't what was asked, but the Washington franchise, Daniel
(21:06):
Schnyder buys it. I forget the numbers, but it was
like a billion or something like that. It's frankly basically
the worst owner in NFL history and couldn't do his
job really any worse. Twenty thirty years later or whatever
it was, he sells it for five billion. I mean,
it's like you can't lose in this situation. So the
(21:26):
owners are very very healthy.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
By the way, had to sell it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yes, he was forced to, right right right, So knowing
it was still going up in Valley.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
You would think that would drive the price down a
little bit, right right right. People know that, Oh he's
got to sell.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, it's not you're just blowing our doors off. We're
not interested in selling now. I don't know how that
the future will affect the Rooneys, the eras the Browns,
because frankly, they're not gonna have as much money as
Walmart or Yeah, you know the corporations that rule.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They run football teams.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
They run football teams. Right, it's to family business. I'm
sure they have other interests. They have stocks. I mean
they're not they're not. I'm sure's some diversifications throughout their families. Again,
I'm not a financial wizard at all, but I guess
it could be a problem. I mean, yeah, big picture,
Does that become a disadvantage? Is there more do those
(22:19):
teams push for more revenue sharing or the way I
was actually thinking of it is at owners meetings, which
we always broadcast from in the future, might they start
to get out numbered on things? Twenty teams want something
that's not great for the mond pop organizations. Relatively speaking,
seven are cool with it, and then the other one
(22:41):
in between is like that, I don't really it doesn't
matter to me, you know, like, could they start to
get out numbered on those type of things, like potentially
I can't imagine it ever being a pirate situation though, yeah,
I mean like pirates versus Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I mean, like, well, the revenue sharing itself right on
the TV deals kind of prevents that from happening.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I say, that's kind of an umbrella. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
But at the same time, that is why you've seen
the Rooney family take on some investors. Investors, Yeah, yeah,
you know, and things of that nature. There's always been investors,
but you know, that's just the way that these teams
have to handle things to be able to compete.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
And I'm obviously not speaking for the Rooney family or
the Morrows or Browns, for that matter too. But they
could sell at the Walmart and make a huge amount
of money yea, and become very liquid and go on
with their life. Well not there on their life's work,
but they could go on and basically retire, and a
huge company could run the Steelers someday, I guess, I mean,
(23:39):
or the Bengals or the Giants. It seems so unlikely,
but I guess fifty years from now, it's possible.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Me exclamation point, I said, let's go. While your voice
was strained, you sound like sounded like coach caller. I
get that.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I've gotten some Don Corleoni Cower. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Cower after a game would often have a very strange voice. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
Okay, so his postgame press conference was as good as
game speech, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah. He has a couple of questions here, Gifted quarterbacks
or well, I guess it's one question. Gifted quarterbacks can
make wide receivers look like all stars, for example, Ben
with Hey, Bay Brown, Juju Sanders, Wallace Bryant, Deonda, et cetera.
Can Rogers make a wide receive wide receiver room awesome
(24:34):
or do we need a wide receiver two.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I'd say both. I still think the need for wide
receiver two has not diminished. I mean, I definitely think
they're in the market and are pursuing options there, and
I think that that's something they should do. But especially Rogers,
more so than Wilson for sure, and definitely more so
(24:57):
than any of the other guys the fields and Bisky's
and those guys, is so demanding on route precision and timing.
It's almost like the Bill Walsh thing. If you watch
specials of him coaching at Montana, six inches in front
of the numbers, not three, not nine, you know, not
slightly above the numbers. I mean, really, ball placement is
(25:21):
super important to Rogers, more than most quarterbacks over the
last twenty years. You know, the back shoulder fades, those
type of things. Now, that takes a lot of buy
in from your wide receiver room, and they have to
be good at it. I mean, there's one thing, is okay, Aaron,
I believe you your track records awesome. I'm gonna be
(25:43):
I'll do everything I possibly can be in the right place.
But that doesn't mean you will be, you know. But
I definitely think his history of elevating receivers.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Over the course of his career very real. I will
say this, I think we're going to see Pat Fryarmouth elevated.
He's in that regard to ye.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Like Garrett Wilson's a great receiver. But I've been watching
more and more Jets tape, and there was a disconnect
there for a while. You know, he was a round
off a route here and there, some hands in the air.
There was also some major dysfunction with that offense structurally
and protection wise and things like that. And it got better,
but it was also a lot different deal when DeVante
(26:28):
Adams was there. Yeah, you know, no, I don't think
anybody in this team is going to replicate the Adams
Rogers connection. It's one of the best in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They played together for years, and.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
They played together for years, and but if they are
where Rogers wants them to be, the football will be
where Rogers wants it to be, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah? And I think you know, all you have to
do is look back at the two interceptions he threw
against the Steelers in the examples, right, the first one,
Beanie Bishop made a hell of a play, yeah, and
that happens the second one, Wilson probably and I don't
know this for sure, but probably didn't run that route
(27:09):
quite as deep as he was supposed.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
To right right, And so there's a lot of trust
from a quarterback when he releases the ball that you're
gonna be where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
He goes up a little bit, the ball hits off
off of his shoulder pad and bounces backwards into Beanie
Bishop's hands right right right, And that was probably an
instance where he wasn't quite where he needed to be at.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And it's hard, I mean, you'd think that it's not wide.
Receivers are domb they don't know where to be. You're
running full speed getting off a jam, and there's linebackers
and safeties in your way and things like that. It's
not just seven on seven and we're talking about two
point four seconds versus two point six seconds of when
to make that break and get your head around and
(27:49):
where your hands need to be and it's just gonna
be in the back shoulder is just gonna be on
my back hip? Is this gonna lead me? You know,
like people don't think about things like this. It's this
is very basic. Is actually it was a big Bill
Walsh thing that he kind of brought to the league.
That is everyone in the world employes now too, is
if I'm getting man coverage after the catch, I'm pretty
(28:11):
much running in stride. If you do that ver zone,
you get your head taken off. So therefore a good
quarterback will lead you accordingly. You know what I mean.
You're not going to lead a guy into Minka yet
the hospital ball, right exactly, And that's there's no jack
tatums anymore and the stuff. But right, you sit down
and take a big hit. Yeah right, I mean, so
(28:33):
after the catch stuff you get a lot more usually
after man because you're not running into the teeth of
the zone. And all receivers and quarterbacks know these things.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
His next question is rank these pizza places from worse
the best. WHOA, Okay, now, they're all national chains. I
don't want to do the worst.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I get so few Pizza Hut Dominoes anymore, but bringing.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
On Okay, so that's actually two of them.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
There's actually a good food to build America about those too, too.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Domino's Little Caesars.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I haven't had any in a long time. Yeah, I'd
probably got Pizza Hut first.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I probably would too.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Because I kind of remember just childhood all you could
a teenager. You walked in there for lunch. That was
pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
And they had green olives on the salad bar, so
you can load up to green olives.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
At UPJ, there was a pizza hut. You can get
a personal you know, like four cutter at the tuck
shop or whatever. And I'd go get banana peppers and
green peppers and stuff like that and dump it on.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
There, says speaking of that, I did the uh. And
this is right before I lost my voice. Yeah, I
did the UH. We had a little thing at UPJ
where I went back. They had It was a reunion
for people who had worked on the college radio station
and the newspaper.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, and UH got to see a lot of people
back there that I hadn't seen in a while. You
stayed in the dorms, right, stayed in the dorms. It
was actually nice because they had the alumni area where
we could engage in some adult beverages and then you
just walk back the hallway to your dorm room.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Not bad. Are they inducted us in the Hall of
Fame soon or what they should? Well, yeah, but nothing yet.
I haven't gotten any notifications.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
It hasn't happened. Yet I did talk to Mike Mastovich,
who works at the Tribune Democrat and who is in
the UPJ Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
So well, okay, you got him on our side.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
They do. They do have people that I worked with,
Mike back in the way, back in the day when
I first started out.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
That's should show there some pint we should well.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, his third question, what was the last summer blockbuster
movie that you enjoyed seeing in the theater?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Boy, these it's not my area of expertise either. I
mean I've gone I've probably gone ten movies in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm gonna say dead Pool over in last year.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
I would say it had to be a Marvel movie
for you. It had to be. I mean, like you.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Said, pull overine was. I've watched it probably twenty times
since then, and every time I watch it, I see
a new gag. Okay I didn't catch the first time around.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
I only watched it because of you and actually CJ
as well pumping it up so much that I had
never watched any of the Deadpool movies. Yeah, as of
a year ago, and they're pretty darn hilarious. Yeah, but
along those lines, it just so happens. As of two
days ago was the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws being released,
which might be the biggest summer blockbuster in the history
(31:56):
of the world.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
It was huge.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
And I was a creative writing major and sometimes would
do like cinema stuff and things like that. And frankly,
I mean I was a creative for any major because
it was the easiest way to get a diploma without
going to class early. But you learned a lot, and
like Jaws changed things, yeah, you know, like little things
like they didn't show the villain, which was the Shark
in this instance until the end in very very little,
(32:19):
or you see a fin or you see blood, you know,
like Hannibal Lecter. They've used that kind of press strategy
Darth Vader, you know, like you don't see the villain
all the time, just hanging out, but you know he's
there and the music and all that summer blockbuster though
that I like had to see. I don't know that
there's ever been any I mean, I'm sitting there going
(32:41):
back to childhood, like speaking of Star Wars, when the
second when Empire came out, I was like second in line.
Just so happens. Our neighbor. Johnny Diggins must have been
first in line because he told the whole neighborhood that
Darth Vader. I mean, come on, man, I mean that
he was Luke's faugh. There a spoiler alert. If you
(33:01):
haven't seen it by now, then you're a little late.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
You haven't seen it by now, Shame on it.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Shame on you. Although you've called out a couple of times.
Not that I knew German at the time when I
was seven or whatever, but Vader is German for father. Yeah,
that's probably not an accident. But yeah, he told the
whole neighborhood, like the day came out, like we should
all beat up Johnny Diggins.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
That's a jerk move.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
That's a jerk move. But I will say Christmas the
day Godfather three came out, came out on Christmas, and
my buddy and I went like as soon as Christmas
dinner was over. It was a bit of a.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Letdown, But that easily the worst of gotten, not even close.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But we didn't know that walking in. We had to
be first in line for that one.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, good questions there.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Let's see what else go back to childhood and all
of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Though DSR says, can you guys expand on the AFC
Norse schedules, analyze the Ravens, Bengals and Brown's strength of schedule?
That's I don't have it in front of me very much.
A segment there, yeah, that is.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
And maybe maybe that's a Wednesday segment because my notes
aren't anywhere near me. But if you go to Sharp Football,
I think it's up there for free all the time.
Is he always has the chart of where these all
rank just based on opponents, strength of schedule, based off
(34:22):
win totals. Browns is awful, Brown's is at the bottom
of the league. The Giants are at the way bottom,
Browns are thirty first. Steelers are I want to say,
like twenty fifth or so. Ravens and Bengals are mid.
They're a little easier than the Steelers. But and I'm
taking this all from Sharp. If you start analyzing like
(34:46):
rest analysis and when the games are played, doesn't help
the Steelers as much as I thought it would, because
he makes a note too like if you pick their
five hardest opponents, they have a rest disadvantage in like
all those games. You know, So there's some I don't
want to say, unfair, but there's some things that aren't
working in your favor. It's not three in eleven days,
(35:08):
but you know.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It seems to me that a lot of people, both
nationally and locally seem to feel that the Bengals are
a better team than the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
No Vegas does too, and I don't see it. I
don't either. I'm very unimpressed with their offseason, especially defensively. Yeah.
Not even even if hendrick Ing worse, they are worse.
I mean, even if Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart their first
round pick, sing Kumbaya the first day of training camp
and can't wait to be Bengals, I still think they're
worse on defense, and they're two of the most important guys.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, I just don't see it.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
I don't either, and it's not because the forum we're
on right now. But my least favorite bet would at
the numbers of who wins the Super Bowl is betting
on the Bengals because it doesn't pay that much. It's
like the fifth highest odds are. It's only behind the Eagles, Lions, Bills.
Refense still matters. Yeah, Burrow's awesome, but that's just so
reliant on one thing. Just the passing game in general,
(36:08):
which is phenomenal, but even the run game's not that great. Yeah,
you know, and I don't think the coaching staff gives
them a huge advantage. You know. I will probably pick
them to be third in the division.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I think I will too.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah, and outside the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I think the Ravens have helped themselves this offseason.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I'm very impressive.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I can't say that about the Bengals. I certainly can't
say that about the Browns. No.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
I mean the Browns at least finally made a bunch
of draft picks. They're not the picks I would have made,
but at least they have an influx of youth for
the first time in five years or whatever. Again, I
would not have drafted two running backs and two quarterbacks.
I was drafted some big people. But at least there's
something and they have a future first round pick. Yeah,
I could say screw it up. The Bengals actually taking
(36:51):
a step backwards this year. I've said this and I've
hesitated to say it, and I think I've said it
on this airwaves too. I could see Joe Burrow being
Carson Palmer in two years and just being frustrated with
the whole organization, saying I'm doing everything, I'm doing all
the heavy lifting, and we still only can win seven games.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Because here's the other thing that happens when you have
a guy like Hendrickson who is respected in that locker room. Yeah,
he's your best defensive player by far, and you have
not even remotely made him a priority.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
No, and to take it a step further, and to
use the Steelers as as an example. Nick Herby sits
down with us at at mini camp and one of
us was asking him how influential was TJ watt Fellow Wisconsin,
same position, and He's like, I just followed around like
a puppy Dog's the best thing I've ever had, right,
I saw it. And I'm like, what do you think
(37:50):
Harmon will do the same with Cam Hayward, He's like,
he's insane if he doesn't. Well, you have Hendrickson the
last two years, you've taken a defensive edd in the
first round. What kind of influence is that? You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
It's like the.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Polar opposite of doing just to do what trade does
all the time. Yeah, Well, Trey's on here and he's
unhappy and he's talking bad things about the organization. Okay,
and you're sitting out and Miles Murphy's also a first
round pick. What kind of influenced you on the young guy?
You know, like there's there's a ripple effect there too
that makes all Hey, let's get to.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
A break before you get to any more questions here.
He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lollie. You're listening
to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network, Matt
and I'll be back with more right after this. At least.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And we are back. I'm Dale Lolli. He is the
Matt Williamson and we're going through some next Twitter questions here.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Yeah, I just got one I need to interjector a
quick from at Williamson NFL for Justin. It is and
the question is is Tom Offerman in the house today?
Have you seen him around?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Oh? That is very revealing because the candy jar.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
The candy jar. We've been here for two segments. I
got a coffee before segment one. There was forty pieces
of candy in there.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
I saw that when I walked by it.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
It was hardy. It was hardy. We haven't been here
for months, right, And I've always assumed that the candy
monster was Tom Offerman because he's one of the only
ones that's always here and he definitely dips in there.
Oh yeah, I just went back there after two segments
to get a second coffee. There's one hard tack ball left,
like forty pieces of chocolate receis, et cetera. Has been
(39:47):
gone in two segments. I assumed it was Tom, but
now it's not. We need to start digging into things again.
Who's the candy monster?
Speaker 2 (39:55):
It's not justin.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
The three of us are safe, oh CJ. Wolfully certainly
of okay, all right, there's not many candidates throughout the
course of the year. There's not many people sitting here
as much as us. All right, all right, good information.
I know.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Marco A. Romero Navarro says, for Matt, oh, how are
you evaluated as a scout back in Cleveland?
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Well, we were on fired because we stunk after a year.
After a year, and I think they actually did keep
like two people on. But one thing I can tell
you is how I was evaluated to get the job.
I thought was an intro. It was a full day.
So over the course of probably six to eight hours
(40:45):
of being at the Browns facility, not knowing a soul,
I did. At one point I thought it was really interesting.
They just left me in a dark room with a
note tap with a note tablet for like three or
four hours, and they had me a value you wait,
one of their players. I remember it was Andre Davis,
the linebacker. He was one of the better players. Yeah,
(41:06):
and they had like a form of how they did things,
but they basically just said, just write your notes here.
I know you're not gonna type them up.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
They're not formal.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
They gave me a college player, which I remember who
that was, and they gave me another player on another
team and basically just said, here's as much tape as
you want. We'll be back in two hours or three
hours or whatever. If you need anything, come call in
or whatever. Give us a report on these three guys.
And I remember watching three or four games of each
and doesn't change direction. Well, good size, blah blah blah
(41:37):
blah blah. Had definitely had lunch with both the College
Scout director of college scouting and the director of pro Scouting.
We all just had a long lunch and was part
of the interview process. The last thing I did was
I definitely was in Butch Davis's office for a good
half hour or forty five minutes something like that. Peak
(41:59):
Arc was the GM at the time. Spent a lot
of time with him. Don't think I talked to any
assistant coaches during the interview process, but apparently I did well.
I mean I remember them saying, there's forty or fifty candidates,
and you're one of the ones we're bringing in. And
two of us got hired. I mean, you know, and
my man James and I and we both had basically
(42:20):
the exact same job. So that was kind of interesting
considering my circumstances. I don't think I ever got evaluated
for like a final product, right right. I mean I
was in the draft room and I would chime in
here and there about players or hey, Matt, I know
(42:40):
you watched them, what's your report on them? But then
I was let go to the day after draft. So,
I mean those reports are still on file, and I'm
hoping it probably will never happen. I'm hoping to have
a conversation with Aaron Rodgers because that was the year
he came out and I remember watching him at CAL
and his game has changed so much much. And oh,
(43:01):
by the way, folks, that was Alex Smith went first
that year. We picked third. We the Browns. It's weird
to say we for that, but our favorite player in
the draft was Brayln Edwards, who we end up taking
with the third pick. And weirdly, we didn't think we
had a quarterback problem at the time. Jeff we had
Jeff Garcia was like thirty eight years old and kind
(43:22):
of shot, and we had taken Luke McCown not Josh
the year before. I was there, so he had a
rookie year in the third round, so they thought they
got the successor in hand. But where I'm going with
this is the Browns as a team, as did I
had a higher grade on Rogers than Smith, even though
(43:42):
he ended up going like twenty picks later when it
was all said and done. So if the Browns had
thought they had a quarterback problem, the probably it would
have been Rogers. It would not have been They wouldn't
have traded up for Smith, he wouldn't have been there.
They gladly would have taken Rogers, and I'm hoping to
have that conversation someday with Rogers because his game has
changed so much and it's just how he was coached,
(44:02):
I'm sure at CAW, Yeah, because everything even just watch
him in warm ups last week or two weeks ago.
You see all these different arm angles and equated to
like Auzzie Smith playing short stuff. Then everything was at
the ear, you know, like so long ago. But that
was typical throw like Dan Marino, everything snaps off exactly
(44:23):
the same, you know. And he he did that well, Yeah,
he did it well. But I'm sure the far of
influence changed him dramatically because frankly, he wasn't as good
a prospect the cow and I bet he would even
tell you that then what he turned into. Yeah, I
mean yeah, he was considered somewhat of a system quarterback too. Yeah,
and he wasn't an improv guy.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Like that for both of us. How do the Steelers
evaluate their own draft process, Well, you evaluate your draft
process by wins and losses. I mean that's the that's
the bottom line for every scouting department.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, I wonder the So I hope someone scouts the scouts. Oh,
that happened. I mean, it definitely happens. I don't know
their process for doing those things, and we would never
know those things unless we were employed by the team,
like their Southeastern scout might not even know how he's evaluated, right,
you know, I mean I'm sure there.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
As with anything, you go and you sit down with
your boss. In this case, the head of the scouting
department would be vital. If you're a pro scout, you go,
you know, to Sheldon White, and you probably have an
evaluation or a review at the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
My wife works at PNC. I think she has a
monthly one with her boss, and there's one at the
end of the year that's actually like a grade. Yeah,
you know, you get this much bonus because of it
or whatever. I'm sure all that stuff exists. I didn't
really have that luxury as you it m'd have been
to one more day. Probably that starts to happen. Yeah,
I mean, at that point, there were all a bunch
(45:58):
of raven scouts taking our.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Jobs and finally asked, how do the Steelers get better
in the scouting department. Well, they've changed their scouting department massively,
drastically over the last three years.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, there have been a huge influx of different people.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
As most organizations, they had a lot of long term scouts,
some have retired, and you know, right right, they're much
younger now.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
They're much younger. They've also, I think, added more analytics
to it, no question, and that's just that's part of
the process.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And there's no doubt that Omar does things differently than Kevin. Yeah,
I'm sure he learned a lot from Kevin. And there's
still some things in place, without a doubt. And you
could go find the reports that much like my Rogers
report is probably on file somewhere in Cleveland. You could
go back and see the old stuff. But that's a
tough one to answer. I mean, you'd have to be
in the meeting rooms and know their scouting system and
(46:55):
all that type of stuff.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
VMG says, do you think the Steelers need some support
just in case on their offensive line?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
I would love it. It's just the hardest thing in
the world to find.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Right right, Yeah, it's very difficulty that right.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Now, I would love it. I mean, anyone who listen
to our predraft shows I preached, man, I really hope
they take an old lineman or two, even if it's
a six to seventh round. But every thirty one other
team saw it the same way. I mean, the.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Offensive lineman went early.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
There was a very heavy tax on fourth round offensive
lineman going the second round, sixth round offensive lineman going
in the third and fourth where that's a cost of
doing business. I get it, but I understood, especially with
limited picks this year, you'd have a second round.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Pick and it wasn't a great offensive line.
Speaker 3 (47:45):
And it wasn't. And that's what made it even worse
because they became even more of a premium Like next year,
no matter what happens with Siamalu or Broderick Jones, what
kind of year they're going to have, but I guarantee
one of their picks will be on an offensive line.
Had twelve of them, they may two or three. Yeah,
that might be multiple. So yeah, I am worried. I
just don't know where it comes from. Yeah, yeah, but
(48:08):
that's not a unique problem in the league either.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
It really isn't. It really isn't. Dan says Dale, we
won't miss the back in my day voice. Any thoughts
on their now suddenly deep safety room with mincing de
Shawn now locked up for a few years.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
I guess that's happened since we were together the contract
and you add.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
In Thornhill, how might this group be deployed at the
same time on the field.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Well, I definitely contract aside. I mean, you knew Elliott
was gonna be a Steeler this year either way. Thornhill
is a free agent after the season. Who knows. But
I've been harping on this for a while and we've
talked about it quite a bit. I definitely expect that
there will be more defensive personnel packages than there were. Like,
I think there's a chance you might see three linebackers
(49:00):
on the field, true linebackers. I mean, I'm talking about
Queen Holcombe Wilson, you know, a true old school four
to three. I think there's a chance you see three
outside linebackers on the field together. I mean it's hard
to keep her big on the bench and depends on
the opponent. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a possibility. And
I absolutely think three safeties is going to be a
(49:20):
bump for sure. Big nickel. They've done a lot of
big nickel in the Tomlin ear in the last five years.
Last year they were a little lighter. I mean, I
think Thornhill's a major an obvious upgrade over the KzS
of the world. Yeah, you know, especially the last year.
So I think that makes you way more versatile, spreads
out the workload a little bit. Like I don't think
(49:43):
Minka is ever gonna leave the field. I don't think
all of a sudden you're gonna rest him like Cam Hayward. Right,
it's a different type position. You know, Safeties and corners
don't really get that luxury. But I do think middle
of the field is really deep inside linebacker safety, and
there's a lot of versatility there too, Ye for sure,
a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
For sure. Let's get to a break that's going to
do it for hour number one of the drive. You're
on the Steelers Audio Network, Matt and I'll be back
with our number two right after this
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