May 29, 2025 • 46 mins
Wes Uhler, along with Matt and Dale continue to bring the latest coverage from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson show
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And we are back. I am Dale LOLLI he is
the Matt Williamson. This is the Drive, well kind of
the drive called the drive, call it the Drive. Here
on Steelers Nation Radio and Fox Sports Pittsburgh, we are
live from the Steelers Ota sessions here at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's South side. The Steelers
(00:40):
taking part in practice here right now as we sit
here in front of us, they'll be just about time
here to break off and go do some seven shots here.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Matt, Yeah, it's about that time to really start ramping
up practice here.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Had an opportunity to talk to Joey Porter Jr. No
did you yesterday after practice dodging rain drops? And uh
said that he really his focus this year was cleaning
up some of those penalties that that he had last year.
And and you know, he said, like that was it
was a technique thing. It wasn't like guys were consistently
(01:16):
beating me. And yeah, and I was, you know, just
completely out of position.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It's just you know, he wasn't dragging dives down that
were running past him yet, and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
He feels like he you know, he's like, I want
I want to be the best, you know, one of
the best, if not the best cornerback in the league.
And you know, to do that, I got to start
to clean up some of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I don't think that's an unrealistic goal to the best
guys at that position, you know, with his length and
traits and you know what he's shown already, I think
that's possible.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, and I think he can learn some of the
tricks of the trade. You know, he had Patrick Peterson
his first year. Last year was Dante Jackson, and now
you're getting a different look at this now from work.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I thought the same and we had a good conversation
last week about how from year one to year two
he really improved as a tackler. And I haven't spoken
to him, but my hunches and those of you that
have that was his off season priority, you know, like, Okay,
it sounds like each off season he's had a singular
(02:24):
focus of if I could give a lot, if I
can make this weakness into a strength, boy, my entire
game goes up dramatically, and year one it was tackling.
Now he's not the best tackler in the league, but
it's not to me, and I think we agree after
talking about it. Yet last week he's become fine. You know,
it's not a problem anymore. It's not an awkward situation.
(02:47):
And if he could do the same with penalties. And
I remember you talking about being a good porter conversation earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
More's asked of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Him, though, you know, I mean, he's never going to
be penalty free if you.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Look super clean. Most of the penalties came in like
four games.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah, they were in clusters.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
They came in a five in one game.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, wow. I mean, right, that does how happened? Right?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That adds And sometimes you just get an officiating group
that hey, they're gonna call everything.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's why I was wondering too, is that you get
on the bad side of the officials or he just
have a bad day, or is it a combination of
all the above, And you know where they just throwing
flags left and right on defensive backs that day. I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You get, you get, and you get some of that.
So I think some of it is maybe knowing who
that who those guys are and playing a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
He hates this experience around the league. Yeah, you hate
to say.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You'd played differently when those guys are officiating, but you
do have to be cognizant.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
That's definitely true in basketball hockey. I mean some guys
throw more flag. I mean it's umpires with the strike zone.
I mean all that stuff matters, and Slagh would help
him with that too. He's like, be careful with this officiating,
you know. I mean it's been around right, he's done
it longer, and I'm sure Slay will help with technique too.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The thing where I really think that slave can help him.
Sligh over the course of his career has averaged averaged
thirteen pass breakups per season.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, I was shocked that he was on the air
with us on the Drive and you were citing, you know,
his career stats in some of his big years. I
knew he had a great career, but I didn't realize, Wow,
the PBUs and the takeaways.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Were really really hot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, And I think that's one area if Joey Porter
Junior wants to take that next step and become somebody
who's looked at as one of the top cornerbacks in
the league. You gotta have. You gotta have some of
those numbers.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The numbers go along, yeah right, I mean rightfully so,
or not to truly get recognized as one of the best.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You know, some of the guys getting you hands on them.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, some of the guys who are considered, you know,
good cornerbacks aren't good cornerbacks. They just take the ball away.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Oh yeah, yeah. I mean like Digs in Dallas, like
he's fine, but he's overrated. There's always two or three
of them every year that or supreme risk takers. Marcus
Peters is like the poster boy for it. I mean,
he was a first round pick, so everyone assumes that
he's super talented, which he definitely a talent, but he
was a massive risk taker, had a lot of negative
(05:15):
yeah right, right, right, And maybe that's how he was coached,
and that team's fine with it. Great, you know, that's
a perfect marriage. But I mean that's one of those
things where it'd be nice if Joey's highlight tape improved,
you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Like there's there's this idea out there that he had
a bad season last year.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
No, I don't see that.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
The passer. He gave up a passer rating of eighty
two point seven last year and he only had one interception.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, which goes into that range interceptions kill passer ratings.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right, And you know that wasn't you know. I think
it was just over seventy his rookie year, So it
wasn't that different in terms of the passer rating allowed.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And I urged people to realize too that maybe certains
in this level, but there really aren't real vs islands anymore.
I mean, there's too much scheming and rub routes and
pre snap motion and things like that. It's not Dion
outside the numbers shaking hands with Rice and going one
on one over the over and over and over.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
These guys move to the slot.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But that being said, Porter's job is still harder than
almost every corner in the league. Therefore, he's never going
to have games where he's only targeted two three times.
The ball is going to go his way because the
offensive Steelers are playing are designed to get it in
Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase his hands, you know, so
(06:37):
they are going to throw the ball to their guy,
and even when they're covered, these receivers are going to
get the ball thrown their way. So I don't know
that his passer rating or any stuff's ever going to
be a plus. But if he can do battle with
those guys again, not shut them down like Rebus, but
if he can hang with the chases in Jefferson and
give them a long day, a tough day, kind of
(06:59):
like Pickings gave certain a tough.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Day that day.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You know, on the flip side of it, that's a
huge home run. And let alone, if he could take
the ball away three times a year and when you're
asking for a time, you know, you know the ball
is going to go as direction.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah, if he can, you know, in this day and age,
a cornerback who gets three picks a year.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You'll take that all day long.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah. All that's just the way the quarterbacks are so good.
The offensive coordinators and scheme it up so well.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, in the creen game, and the league.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Leader every year. Now in today's NFL throws fifteen interceptions.
Yeah you're not seeing twenty five.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This isn't the seventies where.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
They're just throwing the ball down the field all the time.
And you know that your interceptions percentage is.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Seven step drops and things like that too. You know,
ball comes out and gets tipped and things like that too.
But no, here, you're right, you're not going to have
a time. But if he could get a few a
year and a handful of people, I mean a decent
number of PBUs to I meanes a long way.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
The Steeler were tied I believe, for third or fourth
last year in interceptions in the league. They had seventeen.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
One per game game a ton for a team. Yeah, yeah,
you'll you'll take that. Like again, if you told me
Steelers are going to have seventeen interceptions in twenty twenty five,
all right, I yeah, could they.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Get more, yeah, but you'll take that for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah. I think the leader had like twenty one, twenty two,
twenty three.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Somewhere in there, yeah, which is.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
A huge number in today's day and age.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
For this defense. I wouldn't take twelve, right, yeah, because
they rushed the passer so well, they tip a lot
of balls, you know, I mean, so I would not,
But you give me one per game, yeah, I'm in
on that.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, And that's that's what it has to be. Because
you're gonna get the fumbles, you're gonna get the strip
sacks and things.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Like that as well. I mean, you're gonna win the
turnover battle twelve out of seventeen games if you get
a pick in that game.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
You know, and we heard about it from Mason Rudolph
when he spoke on the first day of the of
these Ota sessions that you know, just that morning, you know,
Mike Toman had stressed in a team meeting, you know,
taking the football away and taking care of the football.
You know, winning the turnover battle. People talk about that
is like it's a bad thing. Oh, Toman plays so conservative, Like, no,
(09:16):
you want to win the turnover battle, right, right, that's
the idea. If you win the turnover battle, you're going
to win a lot more games than you lose.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
This goes back to Lombardy and Nole and Shula, right.
I mean, the game changes a lot. This doesn't look
like the game in the sex sixties and seventies, but
some of that stuff doesn't change ever ever, and it
turns into a lot of wins. You know, Shula's teams
never had were always a top of league in penalties
that's free guarded you're giving people, you know, I mean,
that stuff still matters.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
The Raiders were not the Raiders were not.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
They did it differently.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
It looks like they're getting ready now for seven shots
in the offensive lineman walking down here. They're going to
do this on our end of the field here today.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Good good. We even had a great viewpoint of seven
shots in the first two days.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, quarterbacks practicing some of those throws right now that
they're gonna have to make some of the pages and
things of that nature that maybe called in a seven
shots type situation.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Possibly fight, possibly corner of the end zone stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, And that's the thing, you know with the seven
shots stuff, like, especially when you're not in pads you're throwing.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, there's no reason to run here. I mean, that's
cheating that, that's killing the drill. Yeah, I can remember
that when and hopefully the ball comes out of your
hands in a reasonable amount of time too.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
They Bill Kauer liked to do this goal line drill
on the first Saturday of training camp and they would all,
you know, that was a big deal. And I remember
they came out and threw one time in the goal
line drill and all the defense goes.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
That's chating.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You get through that, Like, so you're telling the offense
they can't throw the football from the one.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's good, a little bit of a defensive advantage if
you know, to run every time, every single time.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, but they.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Shouldn't be running in this situation without past, right.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It's kind of senseless. But yeah, so they're getting ready
to do that now. It uh about eleven fifteen here,
eleven ten after eleven or eleven, So looks like they're
pretty much on schedule with everything here, the weather holding
off and uh, Wesley Yuller jumping on here.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
What's up, gentlemen? Yeah, issues I just said, you see
him must break my laptop on.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
A side I did see just when you were around.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
So much here. It fell right out of my backpack.
I mean, what else can go right today?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Couldn't have dropped it on that wvu uh sticker on
your Yeah, that's right, had to be on the other side.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
But I am happy to be here.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Yeah, like you guys said, I think the weather about
as good as we could expect from the weather report.
And uh, you know, kind of final day of the
first week here.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, well a week in the books, well, one more
week of OTAs left after this and then mini camp
mandatory mandatory.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Yeah, it all happens pretty quick, certainly, And yeah, I
you know, I always like it's funny because we kind
of talked about this a little bit on Tuesday.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You got a grain of salt. Everything that's going on
out here.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
It's an important part of the process, but you don't
also want to over emphasize how important it is at
the same time. But I do like, right, exactly right,
I do like the last day of these three weeks.
And I know you guys have late, but you know,
it's three practices every week, four three weeks, the first
six being optional, the last three being mandatory. But the
(12:22):
last day of every week there's always like a renewed energy.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
There's a little extra pep in everyone's step.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Because it's all we got to do is.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Get is get through this this practice here, and we've
got a four day weekend before we got to be
back out here.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Also, by the third day of each week, there's a
little bit of body training that has gone on, and
now everything that you learned on Tuesday, correct, you're now
repping on Thursday, and it's like, okay, there should be
it should be a little more speeded up at this point.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can definitely tell it's like the
sneer Bowl. You know, you go down there and you
have those practices and the Thursday practice is way different
than the Tuesday practice. And that's true for these guys too,
especially with a bunch of new bodies, young guys, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know, so you can hear the yelling and screaming
going on over there as they celebrate, whether the offense
or defense, these are competitive situations. These guys want to win.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And that's what they're starting to teach these guys too. Yes,
we we go and when we walk on the practice field,
we compete, and whether we have pads on or not,
or what speed we're doing in that or what level
of you know, instruction we're doing, or you know, how
deep we get in the playbook.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We're here to win.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And for the young guys who don't know yet, we
haven't been through this, or new guys, this will decide
who gets a good dinner and who does not. That's right,
who gets a dinner and who gets the good dinner
at training camp.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And there's some bragging rights.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
I do think that is one of the best kind
of behind the scenes things that you know, we're we're
all kind of pretty privileged to get to see a
lot of stuff and be around a lot of well,
eat the good dinner, matter what, And that is the
most privileged part of all of it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Baby.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
But yeah, every uh, you know, every single dinner out
at training camp which will be there and you know
a little less than two months before we know it. Uh,
there is a big s that is clear about who
won seven shots that practice and what they are allowed
to eat that the other group better stay away from.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
And we've seen it at forced. I mean we've seen it.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
Wait a second, you're not on offense, you're not on defense.
You didn't win in practice today. And that is again,
like every everything is competition once they step out on
the field here, if they're playing ping pong in the
back room, it's it's compete, compete, compete, the home run
derby's all that different kind of stuff that they do.
And that is that is, obviously, I think, the just
(14:30):
the absolute baseline of building a culture.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And these guys, these guys are everybody who has made
it to this point is uber competitive. They had better be.
If they're not really competitive, if they're just I'm okay
with being a backup or whatever.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
You be very long, long, absolutely, and you know all
these that's one of those things that you know when
you this guy really works hard and this guy is
really you better be right like that's that's that's the
base base line.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You know.
Speaker 6 (14:59):
It might have worked in high school when you were Obviously,
if you're at this point.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Probably you're stronger at everybody.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
You're probably the best or maybe one of two or
three to ever go through your high school in terms
of athletes. And then maybe depending on where you went
to college, you were able to get away with it
a little bit, if you know, if you weren't in
a big SEC school or something like that. But yeah,
out here, no chance, nowhere to hide.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And that makes me crazy, especially during like draft season
when you start talking about quarterbacks like you know, hypothetical
next year, there's five potential first round quarterbacks and Steelers
are in the market for one. And whoever leads off with, oh,
he's first one in the building, last one to leave,
I'm like, okay, that means he's allowed to sit at
the table.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
I mean that's a prerequisite. Wre not make That.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Doesn't make you any different than anyone that starts. That's
Mahomes that's cousins. I mean, that's everybody, that's right. Yeah,
you don't have that. I have no interest you know.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That was that was the shocking thing about the Kyler
Murray situation a few years Yeah, yeah, where they were
trying to build study time into his contract, Like you
mean he wasn't doing that.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Right, right, I mean you have to that that gets
you in the door. That's something that's up to you.
If you don't have that, then I don't have any
interest in you, right, that.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
Position completely, and especially at that position. Like you guys
will remember twenty years ago when Matt Lioner was in
his last year at USC and his only class was
ballroom dancing, right, Remember that was a big deal. And
how much time he gets to spend in the film
room and on the football field and working on his
body because his only class is ballroom dancing for you know,
ninety minutes, once a week type thing. That's pretty much
(16:30):
every high level Division one quarterback.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh that was my schedule in college my senior year.
I just had journalism classes because I switched majors.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Right, And you're doing particularly by the time they get
to the end of their collegiate experience. But for any
quarterback now at a high level Division one program, that's
how they set their schedule for you, is that you
maybe have two classes. The rest of the time, you
better be studying. You better be working on your game.
You better be in the film room. Like Matt said,
like that nowadays is the if you're buying a new
(16:58):
you're buying a new car, better turn off, right, Like
you better have an engine that works, that gets you
to point A to point B.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
That's the minimum.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, don't tell me these these ones have turn signals
or you know, like that's that's the bare minimum.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Car has a gas pedal. Well, gee, I hope so
better a break as well too.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And there are quarterbacks, and there are players at every
position that are super freaks that don't have to work
quite as hard as Brady or whatever, but it inevitably
hurts you. Yeah, And I mean and again, if I'm drafting,
if I'm choosing a player, especially at that position, and
it's next year in the first round, you better be
(17:33):
at a minimum, you know, the hardest worker on the team.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Like the offense just won.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
They look pretty happy, they look.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Pretty happy, and how they won was what we were
just talking about a little running play. I'm not going
to say who ran it.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Right, I saw that too. I'm like it was a
new guy. I might not know the rules from what
I saw.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I think I was a called play though, was it?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Okay? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:53):
All right?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
But we want the vault secrets because the Ravens might
find out. But you know, I think that was a
little bit of the guys.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We're all looking around going, wait a.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Second, right, you want me to blast this guy in
the next week so he doesn't get in the end zone.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Anyway. So now that they've got the seven shots out
of the way, they'll break off here into us some more.
Looks like a little nine on seven here, Uh, with
the skilled position guys, the offensive lineman. I'll go back
down to there.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
They go there Neckla Woods.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Trench and start working more on again hand placement and
things of that nature, and blocking.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And all the fundamentals that are so important to that.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Too, Fundamental fundamentals, fundamentals, and that's what you're building here.
It's there's not enough.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
There's people, there's a snow league. There's not much fundamentals
and teaching during the NFL season as you would think.
They're just not enough time. Yeah, you gotta figure out
how to beat the Ravens on Sunday, that's your goal.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you know. I mean it's
just yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't give your team as healthy as possible, right.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Right, right, I mean duct tape you up and get
you in the training room and learn their schemes and
all those type of things. There's not much teaching at
the NFL level as people think.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And that's why, you know, it's difficult, for example, for
a guy who missed a large portion of training camp,
like a Roman Wilson, to jump on, you know, midway
through the seats, a rookie. It's a rookie to come
in and become a part of that because you missed,
you missed a big part. You built no foundation, right,
The foundation was the coaching staff too. You're jumping in
(19:23):
and they're on the fourth floor now of building the house,
and you're still down on the foundation.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
And as Matt mentioned, like Zach Zani and these guys,
they're getting ready to beat the Ravens. Right, how do
we play the Chiefs? How do we attack the Eagles?
How do we attack the Browns? Not you know, being
able to and I don't mean this as an insult,
but like having the time to hold somebody's hand to
get them up the speed.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
You just don't.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
And that's why you have all these extra off season
phases and and and big part of why there's all
these programs.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Now and then playing three games in eleven days and
all that kind of stuff where your practices are a walkthrough.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
And again that's like assuming everyone's healthy as well to
all hands on, which is hardly ever the case.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, to your point, West, I mean a lot of
it is Can I just get my body healthy enough
to be ready for the sixty?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You know what? I can I feel human again by
the time we by the time we stapped this thing.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Right, and then what other brain power do I have
left to prepare and get ready for those you know,
eleven guys that are gonna be lined up across from me.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I can remember Jerome Bettis talking about that, and
Jerome took a beating on Sundays, just took a beating I.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Can remember, like a car wreck.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, talking to him and he looked like somebody had
had taken a cane and just beat him on the back,
you know, trying to put his shirt on. He couldn't
raise his arms up with the shoulders the bruises, and
you know, Monday was you know, I can't even get
out of bed. Tuesday is okay, I'm starting to feel
kind of human again. Wednesday, let's right, let's go back
(20:51):
and do it again.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
And it's I mean, you hear that from football players,
I think at every level, even if you know, even
if you're just like a high school football star who
was getting thirty touches of game, now, imagine what that's
like when you're lining up against Brian or Lacker and
ray Lewis, And yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
I think I think you're right. I think that's one
of the things.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
I think people don't really kind of realize how little
time there is once you get into the season throughout
the course of a week.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Now, they're younger, and times were different back then, and
sports science has changed dramatically. But when I was a
pit next door, typical game was would beat WU on
on Saturday, and then Sunday you come out here and
they just run them and run them and run them,
and conditioning and stuff.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
And those guys are hurting men like I mean, that's.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Just to get russels moving and kind of locking up
for a day.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
It wasn't like they were stupid about it. That's what
people did back then.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I don't think that's the same now, but I mean
those guys were, they'd summon everything they could to get
out there on those fields and start running sprints.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Guys, let's get to a break. Here. We are live
from the Steelers OTA session here at the upmc rooney
Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's south side. He is West Hueler.
That's Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to our
ongoing coverage here on Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back with more right after this least.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
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 1 (22:31):
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly here with Dean,
Matt Williamson, and Wesley Euler. We are live from the
Steelers OTA session here, session number three at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's south side. A spirited
practice today, fellas.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Oh big time. I was thinking the same thing. It's
not like the other ones were lacking it. But the
weather was the story yesterday.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, nobody was happy to be out there yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
No, Tuesday, the story was first day back on the field,
on the grass. And today it's like they're out there
competing and into this, and they're doing more football ish stuff,
you know, than just drills.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
They're footballing.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah, yeah, falling.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
It's it's funny. It's been three days, but they've noticeably
taken steps forward as a team.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah. The speed is picked up a little bit here. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah, and you're seeing starters out there, you know, doing
starter stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Absolutely, and that's what you would expect. And and you know,
you just keep kind of ramping up and ramping up
and ramping up. I would expect next week to be
more spirited than even today as they continue to get
ready and prepare.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, a quick question for you. I don't know if
you know the answer to this, but we mentioned they
have a four day weekend. Do most of these guys
go back to their hometown or do they camp out
somewhere in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
A lot of them will leave, and they'll they'll leave
in it come back.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
You know, if you have millions and millions of dollars
and pop off flight and get home.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You know, you know, if you're a younger guy, you
probably you probably hang out and they'll do little things
over the weekend to kind of a little team building exercises. Cookouts. Yeah,
Cam Hayward will have everybody over to his house for
a cookout or things of that nature. I saw there
was a sign inside that there somebody's having.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
They've gone to Kennywood in the past, like things like.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
They'll do things like that just to kind of again,
not everybody's gonna leave. Not everybody's here.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
And not, as Matt mentioned, like some of the younger
guys who have made some money already, they can get
on a plane. And but if you're someone who's kind
of rookie or young, you have it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You're here.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
You're here, You're not running around every couple of days.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And you know the big thing that you get to
fight the temptation to go out and do something stupid.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Right right, There will be some of that around the league.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
That's all. That's all part of the process. Town hit
do something that is going to get you in the.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Front pages is the summertime weekend.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
That's a big conversation, as every coach has after these
three weeks, is we any headlines are bad?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Between these camps and training camp, these six.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
Weeks, seven weeks the only time we go quiet unless
you do something dumb.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Right, Yeah, there's going to be NFL headlines and if
you're it, then we got problems right. The other thing, though,
there are logistics to it too, Like a lot of
these rookies, especially the draft picks, are they gonna move,
you know, Like I mean they may not buy a
permanent house.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Some of the might, some of them not.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Someone might just get an apartment, but it might be
like I gotta go back to Georgia and pack my
stuff up and bring it up to my apartment. And
you know, like there's a lot of logistics to do.
And the older guys DK Metcalfs kids have to go
to a new school or whatever. You mean, there's a
lot more of that stuff than people think about.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Absolutely, these guys have lives, and you know, if you're
a young guy, you know, let's say you're one of
the undrafted guys, or you're a first year guy or whatever.
You might just be sitting in a hotel room all weekend.
You have nothing to do but study your playbook.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Play yeah, play Xbox, study your playbook and just be
a hermit. I mean, I'm sure a lot of those
guys are doing that, like.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Workout, rest, yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Maybe go over to somebody's house for dinner one night
or something like that. You might not know, but you right, yeah,
workout and you know, do all that kind of absolutely, and.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I'm sure some of them, like, man, I don't know
if you remember this. For whatever reason, this just popped
in my head, but this would have been pre COVID.
I mean, so twenty eighteen or twenty nineteen, you and
I talked to James Connor here for a few minutes
and he was like, this is great for me when
we get these four days off because I just pop
up the Ear.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
He can drive home to Ear.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
He spent a couple of days with my family, and
maybe get out on the lake a little bit. Yeah,
so some guys do some stuff like that as well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Actually we can drive drive home to Columbt.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
A lot of these guys live within a two or
three hour distance, you know, even where they grew up.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
But you could go see your family do something like
that as well.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Harmon could go to Michigan and the Sawyer is a
good example. But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
If you're from Utah, are you going home?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You know why?
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Probably not?
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, that's all part of the process. And you know
it's you're an adult now, Yeah, you're an adult.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
This is right.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Job.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I'm gonna figure this stuff out. I hold your hand.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Being in college and you know, being on Easter break
and I stayed on campus because I had to work.
I was working at the TV station in Johnstown and
so I stayed. Or I was working at the newspaper
in Johnson. I stayed because I was working.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You're hoping these guys aren't like, Oh, I can't wait
to get home so I can give mommy my laundry.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
That stuff by yourself now.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Dude, Yeah, you are an adult now.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Now if you want mommy's home cooking and you want
to see your family, different story.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But you know everybody relates to that on But yeah, no,
it is.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I always wonder that a four day weekend is that
enough to go home or not. I'm sure a lot
of people leave.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
But kind of budget you're working with has a big
factor in it as well too.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But your responsibilities are away from the team too.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But again, if you if you were a young guy
trying to make this roster, do you really want to
spend four days away from this right away from what.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
You should what you should probably want this this long
weekend to work and reinforce on the stuff that you
just went through these past three days. Maybe I'll take
one day to rest and recover, and then I got
three straight days that I could kind of rep this
out again on my own.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of learning that goes
on here. And you know, if you're you're Will Howard
for example, especially, you know you're learning a completely new
playbook and you have to know what everybody has to do.
You know, it's not just what what What's If I'm
the running back, I just got to know, Okay, where's
the offensive line going, where's my blocking at, and here's
(28:17):
my whole Sure, if I'm the quarterback, I gotta know everything.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I also don't want to risk that my Monday flight
gets delayed and yeah, right, or I can't get here
on time and I'm the undrafted free agent and our
position coach doesn't want to hear it. The head coach
definitely doesn't want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
One thing I thought was interesting as I saw an
interview I can't remember where, but I saw an interview
with somebody who had talked to one of the guys
who was here for Rookie Camp Rookie Mini Camp, and
talked about how Mike Tomblin knew everybody's names at Rookie
Mini Camp, even the guys who are here on tryouts.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I say, some of those dudes are way down the
pecking yeah, right, but.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He knew every single dude and knew something about them.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Which is impressive. Yeah, a lot of coaches aren't like that,
but I also think that.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Really don't even have to. I mean, that's going above
and beyond. That's one of those guys you may never
see again totally.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
But I also I think that's I think that's part
of why he has the reputation with the players around
the league. That's a big reason why when we hear
you guys know this better than I do, because you're
you're kind of boots on the ground down here even
more than I am.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Especially Dale. You know, Matt, he was like a real
journalist compared to your teacher.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He's in the locker room in every practice, and you know, when.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
The Steelers sign free agents or when they go out
and trade for somebody like Mega Fitzpatrick, one of the
first things that those guys usually talk about is when
they met with Mike Tomlin two years ago, four years ago,
six years ago, when I was coming out of college
and we had dinner and he was very personable and
he made an impression on me.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's that.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Knowing these guys' names and even if they're a rookie
and rookie mini camp who has a two percent chance
of even getting to training camp. I think that goes
a long way in that process of just having relationships
with everybody that you never know down the line when
that might come in.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
He's from Division three, what's the matter?
Speaker 5 (30:06):
You correct?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Correct, And you know what, it's funny too, Dale, Like,
I think that's now and you guys know this. A
lot of things from the college game leak into the
pro game. A lot of things from the pro game
kind of trickle down to the collegiate game.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
World that's get and smaller. You know, people know each
other and right.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
These college football coaches now, if you're recruiting a kid
out of high school and he ends up going If
you're recruiting him to pitt and he ends up going
to Virginia Tech instead, you better still have that relationship.
Years from now, he might be in the portal and
he might be interested in coming back. And that happens
all the time now. So it is that whole like
football is relationship things. That's it's never I think more
(30:43):
real than it is if football.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
World is a small one totally.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
These agents all know each other, and these guys did
camps together, or you know, they all went to high
school together, or played against Miami or Texas or some
of these you were.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
In the case of the case of a guy like
Skyler Thompson and Will Howard, they played together, yeah, you know,
even though they're not the same, Ah, yeah, but they're
They were in that k State quarterback room together. They
shared playing time together.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
And something day when I talk about a lot is
you know the pre draft visits and why would they
meet with all these quarterbacks. Well, they brought sh Door
Sanders in. They might play against him twice a year,
you know, or his contract will be up in four
years and on sign him as a backup or you
know whatever, Like you your past are going to cross
a lot. Why wouldn't you get as much information, especially
(31:29):
on quarterbacks as you possibly can? Right?
Speaker 5 (31:32):
A hundred percent? And you're right.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
The quarterback is the ultimate example, right right, Like I
think for tangibly, what we have here the Micka Fitzpatrick example,
Like they knew they weren't going to what was he
drafted eleventh overall this year? I think they knew they
weren't going to be picking that high and able to.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Get him right, right, but but they loved them and.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Just the second he became available. You don't have to
have that event. You go, yeah, we want them. What
are we willing to give up? Let's go, let's get
it done right.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, you're gonna be on top of that stuff. You
got to be that your pro scouting, but it starts
with your college scouting.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
They're different from DK Metcalf, They're different from anybody that
end up trading for. You don't just trade for him
because well I really like his NFL tape.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
You want to have a baseline on that.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
No, I met with that guy. I think he's an
individual who will fit within our locker room.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
He had a neck injury back then, is it a
problem still or is he nursing it or you know right,
I mean, there's a database inside those walls that you
can click on any NFL player of any decade and
start reading their reports that start with college stuff. You know,
when they went first time they walked into Auburn, ne
the you know, the area scout and he keeps building
(32:30):
on it, building on it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Interesting to note here again I'm not giving anything away here,
but the defense is out on the field here and
Peyton Wilson making the play call.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I noticed that too. And the other thing I noticed,
without giving too much away, is a lot of people
that are going to be playing. They're definitely making this
team have been on the field a lot. That's not
just a bunch of throwaway dudes out there. They they're
they're repping real stuff abso mentally more than physically.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
But yeah, I mean this right now is more mental
than physical. But like Wilson's drops and you know, his reads,
and yeah, taking taking the information from Taroll Austin and
then relaying it to the rest of the defense.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So again, a very important part of this. He probably
didn't do any of that last year. In fact, I
guarantee he didn't.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Do it probably last year. Probably not.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
And that doesn't mean they're gonna take it away from Queen,
but maybe, I mean, may.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Better have good You gotta have better have two guys
capable of doing it. And you know, one of those
two guys is gonna be on the field all the
time unless they're both hurt.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
And if someone gets hurt, you go every third one
lined up too. Yeah, right, and I'm sure Holcome's done
some of it. Yeah, I would take over his career,
especially with Washington. He was our top linebacker for a while.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So yeah, it's just interesting that, you know, now again,
last year for him was the baseline, you know, the floor.
Now you're going up to the second floor with him
on having him do some of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
We've talked a lot of Peyton Wilson, and again I
think we all loved they lost a linebacker. I mean
that we all were fond of of course, but there's
only so many reps and they wouldn't get Wilson on
the field a lot, you know, and he's gonna play
more than Jess Nickel and Dime.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think, Yeah, that's pretty evident. Every down linebacker. And
so if you're gonna do that, you know, Landon Roberts
becomes expendable, especially since he doesn't play specialty.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
That's the killer, right, I mean, and Harrison does. And
you don't need Harrison on defense if you've got Wilson
and Holcomb ahead of them, you know, let alone queen.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Which sorry, we you know, we've got maybe ten percent
of the defensive snaps for you.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
That's what we can offer you. That's what disaster.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's not going to be enough, right, right, you know
to justify paying you four million dollars or whatever he
got from from the Raiders to be a ten percent
snap guy.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
The Raiders will play him sixty percent, right, yeah, right,
be out there. It's better for him too. I mean,
they got a way way from their side too.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Speaking of the Raiders, Raiders, Jackson Powers. Johnson was on
Max Crosby's podcast earlier and he talked about how he
was so happy Cam Hayward hasn't retired because Cam Hayward
beat him for a sack last year. Well, he didn't
say he beat him. He said, I overset on this
(35:12):
short and I gave up the first sack of my
career at any.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Level, which I'm sure he'll always remember at any level,
any level. I'd like to fact check that one.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
But regardless, and he said, I'm glad I'll get another
opportunity to play against him, he said, And oh, by
the way, he let me know about it after he
beat me, but he said it wasn't necessary. He didn't
necessarily beat me. I overset and I gave up a sack. Well, no,
then if that was the case, Jackson, he did beat
you because you made a mistake and he took advantage
(35:46):
of it. That's that's how this works.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
That's how it works, right, I mean, even if your
technique was perfect, you can still beat you, all right.
And when we did all the center analysis of him,
him and Frasier and those guys Barton all coming out
of school and end up being a lot of centers
in that class that ended up being starters. He was
kind of like on the top of the list to start,
(36:10):
and then you start doing more and more homework and
get more reveal. There was a lot of people that
kind of thought, he's his personality is not for everyone,
and maybe that's part of it, and he should look
at it that way. What can I do better against
Cam Hayward, of course, but sometimes you'd be like, yeah,
you'll be you know, in such a life.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
You know. You know Cam Hayward a few years ago
abused Quinton Nelson over there on the r shore and
that's one of the best guards of this generation.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
It happens, and yeah, you're right, like he won't be
the last guy that kind the Raiders with that personality,
But you're right. This offseason and he had a he
had a nice end of the season, Like he had
a good I think he struggled a little bit at
the start of the season, then he had a nice stretch,
but he's I think he's let everybody know that he
had a nice stretch down the end of the season.
And I think there was a clip of like him
(36:58):
and Ashton Genty talking at the Raiders it out and
he he was like, you know, like we're gonna be
the I'm paraphrasing, but like, you know, we're gonna be
the center in the running back of the league going
forward type thing, you know, And hey, you want you
guys to have confidence, but maybe kind of keep that.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Every Yeah, exactly, absolutely absolutely, Uh, let's get through a break, guys.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
He is Matt Williamson. That is Wesley Euler. I am
Dale Lolly. You're listening to our live, ongoing coverage here
from the Steelers Ota Sessions here at the upmc rooney
Sports Complex here on Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
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 1 (37:56):
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly. Here wither
and the Matt Williamson and guys that we were live
here from the Steelers Ota Sessions and Danny Smith out
there right now working on some special team stuff and
they're going over the kickoff coverage and and things of
(38:16):
that nature.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Here all these guys probably for the first time.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
This is like, this is like learning algebra. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know wait what what excuse me, teacher? You can't
leave until when this is this is math? Right?
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Why are there letters up on the board.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I thought this was just a number, yes, yes, right, yeah.
These these college kids didn't do any of this kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
So some of the NFL guys have never done this before.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
It's also pretty brand new. You know, you may have
seen it, but now you actually have to put it
into I've I've seen pythagoreans there. I don't know how
it works, you know.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
But I really have to hold my water and not
run down there as fast as I want and all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, so it's it's just different. It's it's all part
of this process.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Danny and special teams coaches in general just fascinate me.
I mean, they they've worked with so many people, and
they so many of them come and go, even their
best guys.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
You know, like I say this all the time, but
like no one in.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Week five tells the offensive coordinator we cut the left tackle,
you know, you know what I mean? And that what
inevitably happened to him twice this year, where someone he's
counting on to be, you know, his third best kickoff
return guy and second best punt coverage a guy like
let's say a Jeremiah Moon, right exactly, somebody counts on.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know, we can't have five outside linebackers this week.
We needed a spot for an extra safety.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Right, somebody got hurt on the line. What do you mean, right,
I need that right?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I mean you can't have this week.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Then there are some good examples of special teams coaches
becoming big time head coaches.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
You know, Harbaugh is one of them, and because.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
They have to deal with so many people, they're the
only other coach on the roster is other than the
head coach who deals with the entire RUSS.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean a special teams meeting has more meeting,
more people in it than any other meeting you're going
to be at. Like the quarterbacks aren't in there, and
they're you know, Cam Hayward does not together necessarily, but
you're talking to a lot of different players.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I'm still on special team.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Yeah, I'll say he does too. I mean there are some.
I mean, I don't know if Eric Kickerson was in
there back in the day or you know a couple
of those type of dudes. But all in all, you
got to at least know it because you might get
called upon on Sunday that, hey we got two guys
hurt your returning kicks.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Now, you know, but your offensive to your point, the
offensive and defensive lineman, they're still out there on field goal.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
They're still on field goal block and protection and right,
So I mean you you're dealing with, you gotta wrap it.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
The fifty three men on the regular roster, forty two
or forty five of them are in that meeting room.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah, especially this time of year or camp when the
rosters are gigantic. I mean there might be seven five
Patricks on the hands team, you know, right right right,
he can be they could block a punt or yeah
they got.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
To go in there, or you get into a situation
where hey, we got leave our first team defense on
the field here because they made they made fake a
pun here, fake a field goal. I say all the
situational stuff too, all right, So I need T J.
Watt in my in my special teams meeting. Yeah, you
may have to pay attention to all of it, but no,
right right, you know, he better know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
But special teams coaches live a crazy world. And so
imagine whether they're or nuts, they're they're all high energy,
and they're all a little of screwlat Yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
I got so I got to imagine that a lot
of this process for Danny Smith is information gathering.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
Who can I trust?
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Who can understand?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You know?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Okay, if this is my number one on my depth chart,
but Okay, who's two and three? In case I lose
one or number two gets cut, or someone's injured, or
as you mentioned, someone doesn't make the active game day roster.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
It's it's just got to be a lot of information gathering,
I would think.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
And my hunch is all special teams coaches in may
don't get upset when I have to correct somebody. But
if I have to correct that guy three times for
the same thing, or in training camp every day, this
guy still doesn't get it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
I'm sorry, gets burned pretty.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Quickly, right, even if he's trying his butt off and
he wants to be a great special team or but man,
I you have to correct him on the same thing.
I can't play the Bengals with this guy, you.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Know, right, Sorry, you gotta have a baseline of trust.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Right absolutely. It's like you know, running back in protection.
You get I can't have my quarterback getting killed, and
you know you're gonna be in your lane on the kickoff.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
No one else is gonna think about it until it
presents itself as an issue.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
Yeah, right, the one who's got to be circle trust.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, you gotta be in the circle of trust. If
you're outside the circle of trust, you're out. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
I mean because the other justify roster, the other special
teams coaches are gonna be like, man number fifteen is
never in his lane on kickoff coverages. Where do you
think we're gonna right, yeah, you're gonna go right there.
We're like offensive defense.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
This guy leaves early every single time. Yeah, yeah, every
single time. All right, we're gonna take advantage of that. Yeah,
that's how Danny, that's how the Steels blocking. They don't
block all these kicks every year because they've got better
guys who are better at blocking kicks. They blocked the
kicks because they understand what to look for. Danny bridge
down the film and shuts them up to block the kick.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
And I would think that's I don't know much about
special teams, so I would think that's especially true with
field goal block because to our point before, you got
a bunch of Cam Haywards and tight ends, and I mean,
and there's defensive players that aren't good blockers, right, I mean,
they're not getting paid to get blocked. We only have
so many huge people active on game days. So he's
gonna be our field goal protection team. They're inevitably is
(43:26):
gonna be a weak link. Now, can I beat that
guy and get in the backfield before the kick gets off?
Maybe not, but I'm still gonna attack weak links. Yeah,
and you can see him on film. I'm sure without doubt,
and I'm sure there's some d linemen out there that
really don't even care. I'm just gonna put my hands
up it getting the way.
Speaker 5 (43:44):
You know.
Speaker 6 (43:45):
One other cool thing, guys, since we got a couple
of minutes here that I just wanted to mention that
I like about this setting every single year is the.
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Local area.
Speaker 6 (43:54):
And I don't mean like Pitt and Penn State and WU,
but the local area, smaller college is.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
We talked about that while you were gone. I went
running over to talk to them.
Speaker 6 (44:06):
There's you know, there's there's Duquine and Saint Vincent and
some smaller schools and things like that. You know, Saint Francis,
I think West Virginia Wesleyan was here on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Dale mentioned Sawyer's High School.
Speaker 6 (44:17):
Guys are here right right absolutely in another lifetime as
well to pre COVID one time, you guys will get
a kick out of this. I was cooking back here
with all of our equipment. We were kind of up
against it, right. It might have taken me a couple
extra minutes to park or something like that. I don't
remember the exact parameters, but I'm like sprinting down this
long hallway to get down to the practice fields. Here,
i come cooking around the corner and I literally smack
(44:38):
into Pat White, who was an assistant coach at Alcorn
State at the time, and I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry,
Oh hey, what's up. I was obsessed with you when
I was growing up. So it is it's cool to
see them kind of peel back the curtain or open
up maybe the you know, the the help that everybody
can can get here and things. You know, some of
(44:59):
these coaches that are grinding and out and on their
way up and you know, can come here and see
how they're doing it at this level. I think that's
pretty cool. Accidents, very cool guys.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yeah, I have citing examples of we'd often have high
school coaching staffs at pit practices and things like that too,
which helps you.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
But I mean the these NFL organizations for the most part,
are very open to Hey, come much practice, ask me questions,
maybe even sit in my O line meeting room, you know,
just sit there in the back, just taking note in.
Speaker 6 (45:28):
That same conversation that we had with Mike Tomlin, with
these players and getting to know them as they come out.
Speaker 5 (45:32):
Maybe this coach at Akron three or four years from
now is interviewing for a job with.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
The Steelers, you know, or they have a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
You might like, right, he might be at Ohio State
and now has a quarterback, or like, yeah, it's it's cool.
It's cool to see that start in that kind of again,
that access that they grant here as well too, I
think is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Absolutely, let's get in the training camp too. Yeah, let's
get to another break here, guys. That's going to do
it for hour number two of our live ongoing coverage
here from knocking it out the Steelers OTA sessions, your
OTA session number three here at the upmc rooney Sports
Complex here on the South Side. When we get into
(46:14):
our number three here, we'll be joined by at least
one Steelers player, maybe two. Oh, we see how that
goes here. But we'll see who we get and how
that goes. They'll be wrapping up practice here probably within
the next twenty minutes. Or so, but he is West Ruler.
That is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lolly and Well,
(46:35):
you're listening to Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back to bring you our number three right
after this
The least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson show
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And we are back. I am Dale LOLLI he is
the Matt Williamson. This is the Drive, well kind of
the drive called the drive, call it the Drive. Here
on Steelers Nation Radio and Fox Sports Pittsburgh, we are
live from the Steelers Ota sessions here at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's South side. The Steelers
(00:40):
taking part in practice here right now as we sit
here in front of us, they'll be just about time
here to break off and go do some seven shots here.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Matt, Yeah, it's about that time to really start ramping
up practice here.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Had an opportunity to talk to Joey Porter Jr. No
did you yesterday after practice dodging rain drops? And uh
said that he really his focus this year was cleaning
up some of those penalties that that he had last year.
And and you know, he said, like that was it
was a technique thing. It wasn't like guys were consistently
(01:16):
beating me. And yeah, and I was, you know, just
completely out of position.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It's just you know, he wasn't dragging dives down that
were running past him yet, and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
He feels like he you know, he's like, I want
I want to be the best, you know, one of
the best, if not the best cornerback in the league.
And you know, to do that, I got to start
to clean up some of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I don't think that's an unrealistic goal to the best
guys at that position, you know, with his length and
traits and you know what he's shown already, I think
that's possible.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, and I think he can learn some of the
tricks of the trade. You know, he had Patrick Peterson
his first year. Last year was Dante Jackson, and now
you're getting a different look at this now from work.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I thought the same and we had a good conversation
last week about how from year one to year two
he really improved as a tackler. And I haven't spoken
to him, but my hunches and those of you that
have that was his off season priority, you know, like, Okay,
it sounds like each off season he's had a singular
(02:24):
focus of if I could give a lot, if I
can make this weakness into a strength, boy, my entire
game goes up dramatically, and year one it was tackling.
Now he's not the best tackler in the league, but
it's not to me, and I think we agree after
talking about it. Yet last week he's become fine. You know,
it's not a problem anymore. It's not an awkward situation.
(02:47):
And if he could do the same with penalties. And
I remember you talking about being a good porter conversation earlier.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
More's asked of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Him, though, you know, I mean, he's never going to
be penalty free if you.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Look super clean. Most of the penalties came in like
four games.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah, they were in clusters.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
They came in a five in one game.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, wow. I mean, right, that does how happened? Right?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That adds And sometimes you just get an officiating group
that hey, they're gonna call everything.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's why I was wondering too, is that you get
on the bad side of the officials or he just
have a bad day, or is it a combination of
all the above, And you know where they just throwing
flags left and right on defensive backs that day. I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You get, you get, and you get some of that.
So I think some of it is maybe knowing who
that who those guys are and playing a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
He hates this experience around the league. Yeah, you hate
to say.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You'd played differently when those guys are officiating, but you
do have to be cognizant.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
That's definitely true in basketball hockey. I mean some guys
throw more flag. I mean it's umpires with the strike zone.
I mean all that stuff matters, and Slagh would help
him with that too. He's like, be careful with this officiating,
you know. I mean it's been around right, he's done
it longer, and I'm sure Slay will help with technique too.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The thing where I really think that slave can help him.
Sligh over the course of his career has averaged averaged
thirteen pass breakups per season.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, I was shocked that he was on the air
with us on the Drive and you were citing, you know,
his career stats in some of his big years. I
knew he had a great career, but I didn't realize, Wow,
the PBUs and the takeaways.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Were really really hot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, And I think that's one area if Joey Porter
Junior wants to take that next step and become somebody
who's looked at as one of the top cornerbacks in
the league. You gotta have. You gotta have some of
those numbers.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The numbers go along, yeah right, I mean rightfully so,
or not to truly get recognized as one of the best.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You know, some of the guys getting you hands on them.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, some of the guys who are considered, you know,
good cornerbacks aren't good cornerbacks. They just take the ball away.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Oh yeah, yeah. I mean like Digs in Dallas, like
he's fine, but he's overrated. There's always two or three
of them every year that or supreme risk takers. Marcus
Peters is like the poster boy for it. I mean,
he was a first round pick, so everyone assumes that
he's super talented, which he definitely a talent, but he
was a massive risk taker, had a lot of negative
(05:15):
yeah right, right, right, And maybe that's how he was coached,
and that team's fine with it. Great, you know, that's
a perfect marriage. But I mean that's one of those
things where it'd be nice if Joey's highlight tape improved,
you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Like there's there's this idea out there that he had
a bad season last year.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
No, I don't see that.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
The passer. He gave up a passer rating of eighty
two point seven last year and he only had one interception.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, which goes into that range interceptions kill passer ratings.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right, And you know that wasn't you know. I think
it was just over seventy his rookie year, So it
wasn't that different in terms of the passer rating allowed.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And I urged people to realize too that maybe certains
in this level, but there really aren't real vs islands anymore.
I mean, there's too much scheming and rub routes and
pre snap motion and things like that. It's not Dion
outside the numbers shaking hands with Rice and going one
on one over the over and over and over.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
These guys move to the slot.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But that being said, Porter's job is still harder than
almost every corner in the league. Therefore, he's never going
to have games where he's only targeted two three times.
The ball is going to go his way because the
offensive Steelers are playing are designed to get it in
Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase his hands, you know, so
(06:37):
they are going to throw the ball to their guy,
and even when they're covered, these receivers are going to
get the ball thrown their way. So I don't know
that his passer rating or any stuff's ever going to
be a plus. But if he can do battle with
those guys again, not shut them down like Rebus, but
if he can hang with the chases in Jefferson and
give them a long day, a tough day, kind of
(06:59):
like Pickings gave certain a tough.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Day that day.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You know, on the flip side of it, that's a
huge home run. And let alone, if he could take
the ball away three times a year and when you're
asking for a time, you know, you know the ball
is going to go as direction.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah, if he can, you know, in this day and age,
a cornerback who gets three picks a year.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You'll take that all day long.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah. All that's just the way the quarterbacks are so good.
The offensive coordinators and scheme it up so well.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, in the creen game, and the league.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Leader every year. Now in today's NFL throws fifteen interceptions.
Yeah you're not seeing twenty five.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This isn't the seventies where.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
They're just throwing the ball down the field all the time.
And you know that your interceptions percentage is.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Seven step drops and things like that too. You know,
ball comes out and gets tipped and things like that too.
But no, here, you're right, you're not going to have
a time. But if he could get a few a
year and a handful of people, I mean a decent
number of PBUs to I meanes a long way.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
The Steeler were tied I believe, for third or fourth
last year in interceptions in the league. They had seventeen.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
One per game game a ton for a team. Yeah, yeah,
you'll you'll take that. Like again, if you told me
Steelers are going to have seventeen interceptions in twenty twenty five,
all right, I yeah, could they.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Get more, yeah, but you'll take that for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah. I think the leader had like twenty one, twenty two,
twenty three.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Somewhere in there, yeah, which is.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
A huge number in today's day and age.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
For this defense. I wouldn't take twelve, right, yeah, because
they rushed the passer so well, they tip a lot
of balls, you know, I mean, so I would not,
But you give me one per game, yeah, I'm in
on that.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, And that's that's what it has to be. Because
you're gonna get the fumbles, you're gonna get the strip
sacks and things.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Like that as well. I mean, you're gonna win the
turnover battle twelve out of seventeen games if you get
a pick in that game.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
You know, and we heard about it from Mason Rudolph
when he spoke on the first day of the of
these Ota sessions that you know, just that morning, you know,
Mike Toman had stressed in a team meeting, you know,
taking the football away and taking care of the football.
You know, winning the turnover battle. People talk about that
is like it's a bad thing. Oh, Toman plays so conservative, Like, no,
(09:16):
you want to win the turnover battle, right, right, that's
the idea. If you win the turnover battle, you're going
to win a lot more games than you lose.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
This goes back to Lombardy and Nole and Shula, right.
I mean, the game changes a lot. This doesn't look
like the game in the sex sixties and seventies, but
some of that stuff doesn't change ever ever, and it
turns into a lot of wins. You know, Shula's teams
never had were always a top of league in penalties
that's free guarded you're giving people, you know, I mean,
that stuff still matters.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
The Raiders were not the Raiders were not.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
They did it differently.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
It looks like they're getting ready now for seven shots
in the offensive lineman walking down here. They're going to
do this on our end of the field here today.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Good good. We even had a great viewpoint of seven
shots in the first two days.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, quarterbacks practicing some of those throws right now that
they're gonna have to make some of the pages and
things of that nature that maybe called in a seven
shots type situation.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Possibly fight, possibly corner of the end zone stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, And that's the thing, you know with the seven
shots stuff, like, especially when you're not in pads you're throwing.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, there's no reason to run here. I mean, that's
cheating that, that's killing the drill. Yeah, I can remember
that when and hopefully the ball comes out of your
hands in a reasonable amount of time too.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
They Bill Kauer liked to do this goal line drill
on the first Saturday of training camp and they would all,
you know, that was a big deal. And I remember
they came out and threw one time in the goal
line drill and all the defense goes.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
That's chating.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You get through that, Like, so you're telling the offense
they can't throw the football from the one.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's good, a little bit of a defensive advantage if
you know, to run every time, every single time.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, but they.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Shouldn't be running in this situation without past, right.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It's kind of senseless. But yeah, so they're getting ready
to do that now. It uh about eleven fifteen here,
eleven ten after eleven or eleven, So looks like they're
pretty much on schedule with everything here, the weather holding
off and uh, Wesley Yuller jumping on here.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
What's up, gentlemen? Yeah, issues I just said, you see
him must break my laptop on.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
A side I did see just when you were around.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
So much here. It fell right out of my backpack.
I mean, what else can go right today?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Couldn't have dropped it on that wvu uh sticker on
your Yeah, that's right, had to be on the other side.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
But I am happy to be here.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Yeah, like you guys said, I think the weather about
as good as we could expect from the weather report.
And uh, you know, kind of final day of the
first week here.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, well a week in the books, well, one more
week of OTAs left after this and then mini camp
mandatory mandatory.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Yeah, it all happens pretty quick, certainly, And yeah, I
you know, I always like it's funny because we kind
of talked about this a little bit on Tuesday.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You got a grain of salt. Everything that's going on
out here.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
It's an important part of the process, but you don't
also want to over emphasize how important it is at
the same time. But I do like, right, exactly right,
I do like the last day of these three weeks.
And I know you guys have late, but you know,
it's three practices every week, four three weeks, the first
six being optional, the last three being mandatory. But the
(12:22):
last day of every week there's always like a renewed energy.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
There's a little extra pep in everyone's step.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Because it's all we got to do is.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Get is get through this this practice here, and we've
got a four day weekend before we got to be
back out here.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Also, by the third day of each week, there's a
little bit of body training that has gone on, and
now everything that you learned on Tuesday, correct, you're now
repping on Thursday, and it's like, okay, there should be
it should be a little more speeded up at this point.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can definitely tell it's like the
sneer Bowl. You know, you go down there and you
have those practices and the Thursday practice is way different
than the Tuesday practice. And that's true for these guys too,
especially with a bunch of new bodies, young guys, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know, so you can hear the yelling and screaming
going on over there as they celebrate, whether the offense
or defense, these are competitive situations. These guys want to win.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And that's what they're starting to teach these guys too. Yes,
we we go and when we walk on the practice field,
we compete, and whether we have pads on or not,
or what speed we're doing in that or what level
of you know, instruction we're doing, or you know, how
deep we get in the playbook.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
We're here to win.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And for the young guys who don't know yet, we
haven't been through this, or new guys, this will decide
who gets a good dinner and who does not. That's right,
who gets a dinner and who gets the good dinner
at training camp.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And there's some bragging rights.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
I do think that is one of the best kind
of behind the scenes things that you know, we're we're
all kind of pretty privileged to get to see a
lot of stuff and be around a lot of well,
eat the good dinner, matter what, And that is the
most privileged part of all of it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Baby.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
But yeah, every uh, you know, every single dinner out
at training camp which will be there and you know
a little less than two months before we know it. Uh,
there is a big s that is clear about who
won seven shots that practice and what they are allowed
to eat that the other group better stay away from.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
And we've seen it at forced. I mean we've seen it.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
Wait a second, you're not on offense, you're not on defense.
You didn't win in practice today. And that is again,
like every everything is competition once they step out on
the field here, if they're playing ping pong in the
back room, it's it's compete, compete, compete, the home run
derby's all that different kind of stuff that they do.
And that is that is, obviously, I think, the just
(14:30):
the absolute baseline of building a culture.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And these guys, these guys are everybody who has made
it to this point is uber competitive. They had better be.
If they're not really competitive, if they're just I'm okay
with being a backup or whatever.
Speaker 6 (14:45):
You be very long, long, absolutely, and you know all
these that's one of those things that you know when
you this guy really works hard and this guy is
really you better be right like that's that's that's the
base base line.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You know.
Speaker 6 (14:59):
It might have worked in high school when you were Obviously,
if you're at this point.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Probably you're stronger at everybody.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
You're probably the best or maybe one of two or
three to ever go through your high school in terms
of athletes. And then maybe depending on where you went
to college, you were able to get away with it
a little bit, if you know, if you weren't in
a big SEC school or something like that. But yeah,
out here, no chance, nowhere to hide.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And that makes me crazy, especially during like draft season
when you start talking about quarterbacks like you know, hypothetical
next year, there's five potential first round quarterbacks and Steelers
are in the market for one. And whoever leads off with, oh,
he's first one in the building, last one to leave,
I'm like, okay, that means he's allowed to sit at
the table.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
I mean that's a prerequisite. Wre not make That.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Doesn't make you any different than anyone that starts. That's
Mahomes that's cousins. I mean, that's everybody, that's right. Yeah,
you don't have that. I have no interest you know.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That was that was the shocking thing about the Kyler
Murray situation a few years Yeah, yeah, where they were
trying to build study time into his contract, Like you
mean he wasn't doing that.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Right, right, I mean you have to that that gets
you in the door. That's something that's up to you.
If you don't have that, then I don't have any
interest in you, right, that.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
Position completely, and especially at that position. Like you guys
will remember twenty years ago when Matt Lioner was in
his last year at USC and his only class was
ballroom dancing, right, Remember that was a big deal. And
how much time he gets to spend in the film
room and on the football field and working on his
body because his only class is ballroom dancing for you know,
ninety minutes, once a week type thing. That's pretty much
(16:30):
every high level Division one quarterback.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh that was my schedule in college my senior year.
I just had journalism classes because I switched majors.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Right, And you're doing particularly by the time they get
to the end of their collegiate experience. But for any
quarterback now at a high level Division one program, that's
how they set their schedule for you, is that you
maybe have two classes. The rest of the time, you
better be studying. You better be working on your game.
You better be in the film room. Like Matt said,
like that nowadays is the if you're buying a new
(16:58):
you're buying a new car, better turn off, right, Like
you better have an engine that works, that gets you
to point A to point B.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
That's the minimum.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, don't tell me these these ones have turn signals
or you know, like that's that's the bare minimum.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Car has a gas pedal. Well, gee, I hope so
better a break as well too.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And there are quarterbacks, and there are players at every
position that are super freaks that don't have to work
quite as hard as Brady or whatever, but it inevitably
hurts you. Yeah, And I mean and again, if I'm drafting,
if I'm choosing a player, especially at that position, and
it's next year in the first round, you better be
(17:33):
at a minimum, you know, the hardest worker on the team.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Like the offense just won.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
They look pretty happy, they look.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Pretty happy, and how they won was what we were
just talking about a little running play. I'm not going
to say who ran it.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Right, I saw that too. I'm like it was a
new guy. I might not know the rules from what
I saw.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I think I was a called play though, was it?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Okay? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:53):
All right?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
But we want the vault secrets because the Ravens might
find out. But you know, I think that was a
little bit of the guys.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
We're all looking around going, wait a.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Second, right, you want me to blast this guy in
the next week so he doesn't get in the end zone.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Anyway. So now that they've got the seven shots out
of the way, they'll break off here into us some more.
Looks like a little nine on seven here, Uh, with
the skilled position guys, the offensive lineman. I'll go back
down to there.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
They go there Neckla Woods.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Trench and start working more on again hand placement and
things of that nature, and blocking.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And all the fundamentals that are so important to that.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Too, Fundamental fundamentals, fundamentals, and that's what you're building here.
It's there's not enough.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
There's people, there's a snow league. There's not much fundamentals
and teaching during the NFL season as you would think.
They're just not enough time. Yeah, you gotta figure out
how to beat the Ravens on Sunday, that's your goal.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you know. I mean it's
just yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
I don't give your team as healthy as possible, right.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Right, right, I mean duct tape you up and get
you in the training room and learn their schemes and
all those type of things. There's not much teaching at
the NFL level as people think.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And that's why, you know, it's difficult, for example, for
a guy who missed a large portion of training camp,
like a Roman Wilson, to jump on, you know, midway
through the seats, a rookie. It's a rookie to come
in and become a part of that because you missed,
you missed a big part. You built no foundation, right,
The foundation was the coaching staff too. You're jumping in
(19:23):
and they're on the fourth floor now of building the house,
and you're still down on the foundation.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
And as Matt mentioned, like Zach Zani and these guys,
they're getting ready to beat the Ravens. Right, how do
we play the Chiefs? How do we attack the Eagles?
How do we attack the Browns? Not you know, being
able to and I don't mean this as an insult,
but like having the time to hold somebody's hand to
get them up the speed.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
You just don't.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
And that's why you have all these extra off season
phases and and and big part of why there's all
these programs.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Now and then playing three games in eleven days and
all that kind of stuff where your practices are a walkthrough.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
And again that's like assuming everyone's healthy as well to
all hands on, which is hardly ever the case.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, to your point, West, I mean a lot of
it is Can I just get my body healthy enough
to be ready for the sixty?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You know what? I can I feel human again by
the time we by the time we stapped this thing.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Right, and then what other brain power do I have
left to prepare and get ready for those you know,
eleven guys that are gonna be lined up across from me.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I can remember Jerome Bettis talking about that, and
Jerome took a beating on Sundays, just took a beating I.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Can remember, like a car wreck.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, talking to him and he looked like somebody had
had taken a cane and just beat him on the back,
you know, trying to put his shirt on. He couldn't
raise his arms up with the shoulders the bruises, and
you know, Monday was you know, I can't even get
out of bed. Tuesday is okay, I'm starting to feel
kind of human again. Wednesday, let's right, let's go back
(20:51):
and do it again.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
And it's I mean, you hear that from football players,
I think at every level, even if you know, even
if you're just like a high school football star who
was getting thirty touches of game, now, imagine what that's
like when you're lining up against Brian or Lacker and
ray Lewis, And yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
I think I think you're right. I think that's one
of the things.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
I think people don't really kind of realize how little
time there is once you get into the season throughout
the course of a week.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Now, they're younger, and times were different back then, and
sports science has changed dramatically. But when I was a
pit next door, typical game was would beat WU on
on Saturday, and then Sunday you come out here and
they just run them and run them and run them,
and conditioning and stuff.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
And those guys are hurting men like I mean, that's.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Just to get russels moving and kind of locking up
for a day.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
It wasn't like they were stupid about it. That's what
people did back then.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I don't think that's the same now, but I mean
those guys were, they'd summon everything they could to get
out there on those fields and start running sprints.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Guys, let's get to a break. Here. We are live
from the Steelers OTA session here at the upmc rooney
Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's south side. He is West Hueler.
That's Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to our
ongoing coverage here on Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back with more right after this least.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
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 1 (22:31):
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly here with Dean,
Matt Williamson, and Wesley Euler. We are live from the
Steelers OTA session here, session number three at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex here on Pittsburgh's south side. A spirited
practice today, fellas.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Oh big time. I was thinking the same thing. It's
not like the other ones were lacking it. But the
weather was the story yesterday.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, nobody was happy to be out there yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
No, Tuesday, the story was first day back on the field,
on the grass. And today it's like they're out there
competing and into this, and they're doing more football ish stuff,
you know, than just drills.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
They're footballing.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah, yeah, falling.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
It's it's funny. It's been three days, but they've noticeably
taken steps forward as a team.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah. The speed is picked up a little bit here. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah, and you're seeing starters out there, you know, doing
starter stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Absolutely, and that's what you would expect. And and you know,
you just keep kind of ramping up and ramping up
and ramping up. I would expect next week to be
more spirited than even today as they continue to get
ready and prepare.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, a quick question for you. I don't know if
you know the answer to this, but we mentioned they
have a four day weekend. Do most of these guys
go back to their hometown or do they camp out
somewhere in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
A lot of them will leave, and they'll they'll leave
in it come back.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
You know, if you have millions and millions of dollars
and pop off flight and get home.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You know, you know, if you're a younger guy, you
probably you probably hang out and they'll do little things
over the weekend to kind of a little team building exercises. Cookouts. Yeah,
Cam Hayward will have everybody over to his house for
a cookout or things of that nature. I saw there
was a sign inside that there somebody's having.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
They've gone to Kennywood in the past, like things like.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
They'll do things like that just to kind of again,
not everybody's gonna leave. Not everybody's here.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
And not, as Matt mentioned, like some of the younger
guys who have made some money already, they can get
on a plane. And but if you're someone who's kind
of rookie or young, you have it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You're here.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
You're here, You're not running around every couple of days.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And you know the big thing that you get to
fight the temptation to go out and do something stupid.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Right right, There will be some of that around the league.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
That's all. That's all part of the process. Town hit
do something that is going to get you in the.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Front pages is the summertime weekend.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
That's a big conversation, as every coach has after these
three weeks, is we any headlines are bad?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Between these camps and training camp, these six.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
Weeks, seven weeks the only time we go quiet unless
you do something dumb.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Right, Yeah, there's going to be NFL headlines and if
you're it, then we got problems right. The other thing, though,
there are logistics to it too, Like a lot of
these rookies, especially the draft picks, are they gonna move,
you know, Like I mean they may not buy a
permanent house.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Some of the might, some of them not.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Someone might just get an apartment, but it might be
like I gotta go back to Georgia and pack my
stuff up and bring it up to my apartment. And
you know, like there's a lot of logistics to do.
And the older guys DK Metcalfs kids have to go
to a new school or whatever. You mean, there's a
lot more of that stuff than people think about.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Absolutely, these guys have lives, and you know, if you're
a young guy, you know, let's say you're one of
the undrafted guys, or you're a first year guy or whatever.
You might just be sitting in a hotel room all weekend.
You have nothing to do but study your playbook.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Play yeah, play Xbox, study your playbook and just be
a hermit. I mean, I'm sure a lot of those
guys are doing that, like.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Workout, rest, yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Maybe go over to somebody's house for dinner one night
or something like that. You might not know, but you right, yeah,
workout and you know, do all that kind of absolutely, and.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I'm sure some of them, like, man, I don't know
if you remember this. For whatever reason, this just popped
in my head, but this would have been pre COVID.
I mean, so twenty eighteen or twenty nineteen, you and
I talked to James Connor here for a few minutes
and he was like, this is great for me when
we get these four days off because I just pop
up the Ear.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
He can drive home to Ear.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
He spent a couple of days with my family, and
maybe get out on the lake a little bit. Yeah,
so some guys do some stuff like that as well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Actually we can drive drive home to Columbt.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
A lot of these guys live within a two or
three hour distance, you know, even where they grew up.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
But you could go see your family do something like
that as well.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Harmon could go to Michigan and the Sawyer is a
good example. But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
If you're from Utah, are you going home?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You know why?
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Probably not?
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, that's all part of the process. And you know
it's you're an adult now, Yeah, you're an adult.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
This is right.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Job.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I'm gonna figure this stuff out. I hold your hand.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Being in college and you know, being on Easter break
and I stayed on campus because I had to work.
I was working at the TV station in Johnstown and
so I stayed. Or I was working at the newspaper
in Johnson. I stayed because I was working.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You're hoping these guys aren't like, Oh, I can't wait
to get home so I can give mommy my laundry.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
That stuff by yourself now.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Dude, Yeah, you are an adult now.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Now if you want mommy's home cooking and you want
to see your family, different story.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But you know everybody relates to that on But yeah, no,
it is.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I always wonder that a four day weekend is that
enough to go home or not. I'm sure a lot
of people leave.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
But kind of budget you're working with has a big
factor in it as well too.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But your responsibilities are away from the team too.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But again, if you if you were a young guy
trying to make this roster, do you really want to
spend four days away from this right away from what.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
You should what you should probably want this this long
weekend to work and reinforce on the stuff that you
just went through these past three days. Maybe I'll take
one day to rest and recover, and then I got
three straight days that I could kind of rep this
out again on my own.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of learning that goes
on here. And you know, if you're you're Will Howard
for example, especially, you know you're learning a completely new
playbook and you have to know what everybody has to do.
You know, it's not just what what What's If I'm
the running back, I just got to know, Okay, where's
the offensive line going, where's my blocking at, and here's
(28:17):
my whole Sure, if I'm the quarterback, I gotta know everything.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I also don't want to risk that my Monday flight
gets delayed and yeah, right, or I can't get here
on time and I'm the undrafted free agent and our
position coach doesn't want to hear it. The head coach
definitely doesn't want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
One thing I thought was interesting as I saw an
interview I can't remember where, but I saw an interview
with somebody who had talked to one of the guys
who was here for Rookie Camp Rookie Mini Camp, and
talked about how Mike Tomblin knew everybody's names at Rookie
Mini Camp, even the guys who are here on tryouts.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I say, some of those dudes are way down the
pecking yeah, right, but.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He knew every single dude and knew something about them.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Which is impressive. Yeah, a lot of coaches aren't like that,
but I also think that.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Really don't even have to. I mean, that's going above
and beyond. That's one of those guys you may never
see again totally.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
But I also I think that's I think that's part
of why he has the reputation with the players around
the league. That's a big reason why when we hear
you guys know this better than I do, because you're
you're kind of boots on the ground down here even
more than I am.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Especially Dale. You know, Matt, he was like a real
journalist compared to your teacher.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He's in the locker room in every practice, and you know, when.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
The Steelers sign free agents or when they go out
and trade for somebody like Mega Fitzpatrick, one of the
first things that those guys usually talk about is when
they met with Mike Tomlin two years ago, four years ago,
six years ago, when I was coming out of college
and we had dinner and he was very personable and
he made an impression on me.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's that.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Knowing these guys' names and even if they're a rookie
and rookie mini camp who has a two percent chance
of even getting to training camp. I think that goes
a long way in that process of just having relationships
with everybody that you never know down the line when
that might come in.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
He's from Division three, what's the matter?
Speaker 5 (30:06):
You correct?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Correct, And you know what, it's funny too, Dale, Like,
I think that's now and you guys know this. A
lot of things from the college game leak into the
pro game. A lot of things from the pro game
kind of trickle down to the collegiate game.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
World that's get and smaller. You know, people know each
other and right.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
These college football coaches now, if you're recruiting a kid
out of high school and he ends up going If
you're recruiting him to pitt and he ends up going
to Virginia Tech instead, you better still have that relationship.
Years from now, he might be in the portal and
he might be interested in coming back. And that happens
all the time now. So it is that whole like
football is relationship things. That's it's never I think more
(30:43):
real than it is if football.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
World is a small one totally.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
These agents all know each other, and these guys did
camps together, or you know, they all went to high
school together, or played against Miami or Texas or some
of these you were.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
In the case of the case of a guy like
Skyler Thompson and Will Howard, they played together, yeah, you know,
even though they're not the same, Ah, yeah, but they're
They were in that k State quarterback room together. They
shared playing time together.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
And something day when I talk about a lot is
you know the pre draft visits and why would they
meet with all these quarterbacks. Well, they brought sh Door
Sanders in. They might play against him twice a year,
you know, or his contract will be up in four
years and on sign him as a backup or you
know whatever, Like you your past are going to cross
a lot. Why wouldn't you get as much information, especially
(31:29):
on quarterbacks as you possibly can? Right?
Speaker 5 (31:32):
A hundred percent? And you're right.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
The quarterback is the ultimate example, right right, Like I
think for tangibly, what we have here the Micka Fitzpatrick example,
Like they knew they weren't going to what was he
drafted eleventh overall this year? I think they knew they
weren't going to be picking that high and able to.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Get him right, right, but but they loved them and.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Just the second he became available. You don't have to
have that event. You go, yeah, we want them. What
are we willing to give up? Let's go, let's get
it done right.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, you're gonna be on top of that stuff. You
got to be that your pro scouting, but it starts
with your college scouting.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
They're different from DK Metcalf, They're different from anybody that
end up trading for. You don't just trade for him
because well I really like his NFL tape.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
You want to have a baseline on that.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
No, I met with that guy. I think he's an
individual who will fit within our locker room.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
He had a neck injury back then, is it a
problem still or is he nursing it or you know right,
I mean, there's a database inside those walls that you
can click on any NFL player of any decade and
start reading their reports that start with college stuff. You know,
when they went first time they walked into Auburn, ne
the you know, the area scout and he keeps building
(32:30):
on it, building on it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Interesting to note here again I'm not giving anything away here,
but the defense is out on the field here and
Peyton Wilson making the play call.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I noticed that too. And the other thing I noticed,
without giving too much away, is a lot of people
that are going to be playing. They're definitely making this
team have been on the field a lot. That's not
just a bunch of throwaway dudes out there. They they're
they're repping real stuff abso mentally more than physically.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
But yeah, I mean this right now is more mental
than physical. But like Wilson's drops and you know, his reads,
and yeah, taking taking the information from Taroll Austin and
then relaying it to the rest of the defense.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So again, a very important part of this. He probably
didn't do any of that last year. In fact, I
guarantee he didn't.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Do it probably last year. Probably not.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
And that doesn't mean they're gonna take it away from Queen,
but maybe, I mean, may.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Better have good You gotta have better have two guys
capable of doing it. And you know, one of those
two guys is gonna be on the field all the
time unless they're both hurt.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
And if someone gets hurt, you go every third one
lined up too. Yeah, right, and I'm sure Holcome's done
some of it. Yeah, I would take over his career,
especially with Washington. He was our top linebacker for a while.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So yeah, it's just interesting that, you know, now again,
last year for him was the baseline, you know, the floor.
Now you're going up to the second floor with him
on having him do some of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
We've talked a lot of Peyton Wilson, and again I
think we all loved they lost a linebacker. I mean
that we all were fond of of course, but there's
only so many reps and they wouldn't get Wilson on
the field a lot, you know, and he's gonna play
more than Jess Nickel and Dime.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think, Yeah, that's pretty evident. Every down linebacker. And
so if you're gonna do that, you know, Landon Roberts
becomes expendable, especially since he doesn't play specialty.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
That's the killer, right, I mean, and Harrison does. And
you don't need Harrison on defense if you've got Wilson
and Holcomb ahead of them, you know, let alone queen.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Which sorry, we you know, we've got maybe ten percent
of the defensive snaps for you.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
That's what we can offer you. That's what disaster.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's not going to be enough, right, right, you know
to justify paying you four million dollars or whatever he
got from from the Raiders to be a ten percent
snap guy.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
The Raiders will play him sixty percent, right, yeah, right,
be out there. It's better for him too. I mean,
they got a way way from their side too.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Speaking of the Raiders, Raiders, Jackson Powers. Johnson was on
Max Crosby's podcast earlier and he talked about how he
was so happy Cam Hayward hasn't retired because Cam Hayward
beat him for a sack last year. Well, he didn't
say he beat him. He said, I overset on this
(35:12):
short and I gave up the first sack of my
career at any.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Level, which I'm sure he'll always remember at any level,
any level. I'd like to fact check that one.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
But regardless, and he said, I'm glad I'll get another
opportunity to play against him, he said, And oh, by
the way, he let me know about it after he
beat me, but he said it wasn't necessary. He didn't
necessarily beat me. I overset and I gave up a sack. Well, no,
then if that was the case, Jackson, he did beat
you because you made a mistake and he took advantage
(35:46):
of it. That's that's how this works.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
That's how it works, right, I mean, even if your
technique was perfect, you can still beat you, all right.
And when we did all the center analysis of him,
him and Frasier and those guys Barton all coming out
of school and end up being a lot of centers
in that class that ended up being starters. He was
kind of like on the top of the list to start,
(36:10):
and then you start doing more and more homework and
get more reveal. There was a lot of people that
kind of thought, he's his personality is not for everyone,
and maybe that's part of it, and he should look
at it that way. What can I do better against
Cam Hayward, of course, but sometimes you'd be like, yeah,
you'll be you know, in such a life.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
You know. You know Cam Hayward a few years ago
abused Quinton Nelson over there on the r shore and
that's one of the best guards of this generation.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
It happens, and yeah, you're right, like he won't be
the last guy that kind the Raiders with that personality,
But you're right. This offseason and he had a he
had a nice end of the season, Like he had
a good I think he struggled a little bit at
the start of the season, then he had a nice stretch,
but he's I think he's let everybody know that he
had a nice stretch down the end of the season.
And I think there was a clip of like him
(36:58):
and Ashton Genty talking at the Raiders it out and
he he was like, you know, like we're gonna be
the I'm paraphrasing, but like, you know, we're gonna be
the center in the running back of the league going
forward type thing, you know, And hey, you want you
guys to have confidence, but maybe kind of keep that.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Every Yeah, exactly, absolutely absolutely, Uh, let's get through a break, guys.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
He is Matt Williamson. That is Wesley Euler. I am
Dale Lolly. You're listening to our live, ongoing coverage here
from the Steelers Ota Sessions here at the upmc rooney
Sports Complex here on Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back with more right after this.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
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 1 (37:56):
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly. Here wither
and the Matt Williamson and guys that we were live
here from the Steelers Ota Sessions and Danny Smith out
there right now working on some special team stuff and
they're going over the kickoff coverage and and things of
(38:16):
that nature.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Here all these guys probably for the first time.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
This is like, this is like learning algebra. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know wait what what excuse me, teacher? You can't
leave until when this is this is math? Right?
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Why are there letters up on the board.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I thought this was just a number, yes, yes, right, yeah.
These these college kids didn't do any of this kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
So some of the NFL guys have never done this before.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
It's also pretty brand new. You know, you may have
seen it, but now you actually have to put it
into I've I've seen pythagoreans there. I don't know how
it works, you know.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
But I really have to hold my water and not
run down there as fast as I want and all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, so it's it's just different. It's it's all part
of this process.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Danny and special teams coaches in general just fascinate me.
I mean, they they've worked with so many people, and
they so many of them come and go, even their
best guys.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
You know, like I say this all the time, but
like no one in.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Week five tells the offensive coordinator we cut the left tackle,
you know, you know what I mean? And that what
inevitably happened to him twice this year, where someone he's
counting on to be, you know, his third best kickoff
return guy and second best punt coverage a guy like
let's say a Jeremiah Moon, right exactly, somebody counts on.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know, we can't have five outside linebackers this week.
We needed a spot for an extra safety.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Right, somebody got hurt on the line. What do you mean, right,
I need that right?
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I mean you can't have this week.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Then there are some good examples of special teams coaches
becoming big time head coaches.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
You know, Harbaugh is one of them, and because.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
They have to deal with so many people, they're the
only other coach on the roster is other than the
head coach who deals with the entire RUSS.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean a special teams meeting has more meeting,
more people in it than any other meeting you're going
to be at. Like the quarterbacks aren't in there, and
they're you know, Cam Hayward does not together necessarily, but
you're talking to a lot of different players.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
I'm still on special team.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Yeah, I'll say he does too. I mean there are some.
I mean, I don't know if Eric Kickerson was in
there back in the day or you know a couple
of those type of dudes. But all in all, you
got to at least know it because you might get
called upon on Sunday that, hey we got two guys
hurt your returning kicks.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Now, you know, but your offensive to your point, the
offensive and defensive lineman, they're still out there on field goal.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
They're still on field goal block and protection and right,
So I mean you you're dealing with, you gotta wrap it.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
The fifty three men on the regular roster, forty two
or forty five of them are in that meeting room.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah, especially this time of year or camp when the
rosters are gigantic. I mean there might be seven five
Patricks on the hands team, you know, right right right,
he can be they could block a punt or yeah
they got.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
To go in there, or you get into a situation
where hey, we got leave our first team defense on
the field here because they made they made fake a
pun here, fake a field goal. I say all the
situational stuff too, all right, So I need T J.
Watt in my in my special teams meeting. Yeah, you
may have to pay attention to all of it, but no,
right right, you know, he better know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
But special teams coaches live a crazy world. And so
imagine whether they're or nuts, they're they're all high energy,
and they're all a little of screwlat Yeah, and.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
I got so I got to imagine that a lot
of this process for Danny Smith is information gathering.
Speaker 5 (41:29):
Who can I trust?
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Who can understand?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You know?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Okay, if this is my number one on my depth chart,
but Okay, who's two and three? In case I lose
one or number two gets cut, or someone's injured, or
as you mentioned, someone doesn't make the active game day roster.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
It's it's just got to be a lot of information gathering,
I would think.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
And my hunch is all special teams coaches in may
don't get upset when I have to correct somebody. But
if I have to correct that guy three times for
the same thing, or in training camp every day, this
guy still doesn't get it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
I'm sorry, gets burned pretty.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Quickly, right, even if he's trying his butt off and
he wants to be a great special team or but man,
I you have to correct him on the same thing.
I can't play the Bengals with this guy, you.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Know, right, Sorry, you gotta have a baseline of trust.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Right absolutely. It's like you know, running back in protection.
You get I can't have my quarterback getting killed, and
you know you're gonna be in your lane on the kickoff.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
No one else is gonna think about it until it
presents itself as an issue.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
Yeah, right, the one who's got to be circle trust.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, you gotta be in the circle of trust. If
you're outside the circle of trust, you're out. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
I mean because the other justify roster, the other special
teams coaches are gonna be like, man number fifteen is
never in his lane on kickoff coverages. Where do you
think we're gonna right, yeah, you're gonna go right there.
We're like offensive defense.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
This guy leaves early every single time. Yeah, yeah, every
single time. All right, we're gonna take advantage of that. Yeah,
that's how Danny, that's how the Steels blocking. They don't
block all these kicks every year because they've got better
guys who are better at blocking kicks. They blocked the
kicks because they understand what to look for. Danny bridge
down the film and shuts them up to block the kick.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
And I would think that's I don't know much about
special teams, so I would think that's especially true with
field goal block because to our point before, you got
a bunch of Cam Haywards and tight ends, and I mean,
and there's defensive players that aren't good blockers, right, I mean,
they're not getting paid to get blocked. We only have
so many huge people active on game days. So he's
gonna be our field goal protection team. They're inevitably is
(43:26):
gonna be a weak link. Now, can I beat that
guy and get in the backfield before the kick gets off?
Maybe not, but I'm still gonna attack weak links. Yeah,
and you can see him on film. I'm sure without doubt,
and I'm sure there's some d linemen out there that
really don't even care. I'm just gonna put my hands
up it getting the way.
Speaker 5 (43:44):
You know.
Speaker 6 (43:45):
One other cool thing, guys, since we got a couple
of minutes here that I just wanted to mention that
I like about this setting every single year is the.
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Local area.
Speaker 6 (43:54):
And I don't mean like Pitt and Penn State and WU,
but the local area, smaller college is.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
We talked about that while you were gone. I went
running over to talk to them.
Speaker 6 (44:06):
There's you know, there's there's Duquine and Saint Vincent and
some smaller schools and things like that. You know, Saint Francis,
I think West Virginia Wesleyan was here on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Dale mentioned Sawyer's High School.
Speaker 6 (44:17):
Guys are here right right absolutely in another lifetime as
well to pre COVID one time, you guys will get
a kick out of this. I was cooking back here
with all of our equipment. We were kind of up
against it, right. It might have taken me a couple
extra minutes to park or something like that. I don't
remember the exact parameters, but I'm like sprinting down this
long hallway to get down to the practice fields. Here,
i come cooking around the corner and I literally smack
(44:38):
into Pat White, who was an assistant coach at Alcorn
State at the time, and I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry,
Oh hey, what's up. I was obsessed with you when
I was growing up. So it is it's cool to
see them kind of peel back the curtain or open
up maybe the you know, the the help that everybody
can can get here and things. You know, some of
(44:59):
these coaches that are grinding and out and on their
way up and you know, can come here and see
how they're doing it at this level. I think that's
pretty cool. Accidents, very cool guys.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yeah, I have citing examples of we'd often have high
school coaching staffs at pit practices and things like that too,
which helps you.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
But I mean the these NFL organizations for the most part,
are very open to Hey, come much practice, ask me questions,
maybe even sit in my O line meeting room, you know,
just sit there in the back, just taking note in.
Speaker 6 (45:28):
That same conversation that we had with Mike Tomlin, with
these players and getting to know them as they come out.
Speaker 5 (45:32):
Maybe this coach at Akron three or four years from
now is interviewing for a job with.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
The Steelers, you know, or they have a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
You might like, right, he might be at Ohio State
and now has a quarterback, or like, yeah, it's it's cool.
It's cool to see that start in that kind of again,
that access that they grant here as well too, I
think is pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Absolutely, let's get in the training camp too. Yeah, let's
get to another break here, guys. That's going to do
it for hour number two of our live ongoing coverage
here from knocking it out the Steelers OTA sessions, your
OTA session number three here at the upmc rooney Sports
Complex here on the South Side. When we get into
(46:14):
our number three here, we'll be joined by at least
one Steelers player, maybe two. Oh, we see how that
goes here. But we'll see who we get and how
that goes. They'll be wrapping up practice here probably within
the next twenty minutes. Or so, but he is West Ruler.
That is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lolly and Well,
(46:35):
you're listening to Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation Radio.
We'll be back to bring you our number three right
after this
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