May 30, 2023 • 42 mins
Matt and Dale are live for day 4 of the Steelers OTAs.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt
Williamson and we were joined recently by Cole Holcomb, the
Steelers inside linebacker. Here's what Cole had to say and
sit down interview with us. Being joined here by Cole Holcombe, Cole,
Matt Williamson, and Dale Lolly. I'm Dale, He's Matt. We
were just talking about the situation at linebacker in the
(00:21):
NFL and Keith Butler, who is the defensive coordinator here.
He used to say that linebackers, especially inside linebackers, you've
reached that peak of about at about the age of
twenty six where you're at where everything kind of meshes.
You now have the experience this, but you still have
the athleticism that you're kind of in that that soft
peer or that that that pure period where everything matches up.
(00:43):
Do you do you feel that it's that way for you? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, I mean I've definitely seen, you know, had a
lot of experience seeing a lot of ball, you know,
noticing concept of repeat concepts, you know, things that are
becoming second nature and just allowing you to play faster
and not really thinking about out like you know, specific
things that you know you develop these.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Habits and they.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And it's really like like I said, you see so
many plays the offense going ruins, so many plays, right,
you know, so you just see the same concepts over
and over and over again and just try and doctor
it up, do it different, try to manipulate you a
little bit so, but in the end they're still trying
to do the same concepts. So you can figure out
and get past the window dressing of it. You get
down to the basics. You know, you know what concept
(01:29):
you're getting.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So a term we've been using to describe you. And
it's great to meet you, by the way, congratulations as
being a Steeler is ascending. You know, it seems like
every year gets better than the last, and unfortunately last
year was cut a little short for you with injuries,
so maybe you didn't get to show the world as
much that you really are hitting your peak. But to
expand on what Dale was saying, there are so many
examples of first second round, especially first round linebackers that
(01:53):
are just great athletes get thrown right in the mix
because they're first rounders, and these great play callers and
offensive design is just manipulate him like crazy. I mean,
is that part of it to you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I mean I think I think you know, it's
it's you really have to like to play line back.
You gotta love watching ball, Yeah yeah, learning tendencies and yeah,
and I think, uh, you know, I mean, shoot my
rookie year, I was biting on every.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Play action to say play action anything.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was running forward, I.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Was crossing ground right behind you.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah yeah, and I was getting over all day. And
you know, now now it's.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Like they want to run a play action looks sounds
feels different, like you know, a rookie might come in,
he might do the same thing I did.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Is that really hard to hold your water on play action,
especially as a young guy, like since you've been trained forever.
As soon as that ball comes out, yeah, pack down hill,
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know, but then you start realizing, you start, you
start it's like it's like a sixth sense, like you're like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It looks like it's a little fishy. Yeah yeah, something
doesn't feel right. And and to your point, you watch
the film and you've seen the tendencies that these Okay,
I can read things differently, whereas you know, when you're
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three years old, maybe you
don't understand that like you do now.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's uh, you know,
sometimes it could be more so like guys thinking about
what his job is versus like what's.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What's the offense trying to give you?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Hm? And you know, the more you you understand defensive
concepts like you can you can plug and play.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know, I feel.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Like like every every defense like just like defense, same
with offense. You know, you only have so many plays,
so many coverages, so many different types of you know,
every team might have their little tweaks and things they
like to do a little bit differently within that coverage,
but in the in the end, it's all you know,
single high, too high, you know, cover three, cover two courters.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
People play this game a long time. Y's not that
many thing changes over one hundred years with right right right.
I would think a big adjustment too, though, is in
the man coverage world, there aren't many McCaffrey's and camaras
and Kittles, and you know, the tight end and running
back route runners in this league are so much better
than in college mm hm oh yeah, yeah, I mean
(04:03):
it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, And that's why, you know, I feel like this
position has changed. You know, you gotta be able to cover,
you gotta be able to play, you know, because there's
always gonna be an incident where you're matched up on
a wide out, yeah, or you're on a slot, on
a slot, you're on a receiving tight end, you're on
a receiving running back.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Like, and they're all shaped different to move differently different.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I feel like the you know, the way linebackers play
has changed a little bit, a lot of aspect of
of you know, you've got to be able to run
and hit, and you gotta be able to cover, and
you gotta be able.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Play running so you get through this ot sessions that
you've been doing this now for a few weeks with
your with your new teammates. Uh, you settling in here
pretty well? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No, love the guys, love the competition that they bring
out here. I mean, I love the coach staff like
it's it's it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun,
fun year for the for the kid.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So another huge portion of your position there's always been
the case. It's communication and getting the calls in and out.
Do you expect to get a lot of those responsibilities,
you know, Yeah, getting on the field with your with
your guy as well, and absolutely getting all the play
calls where they need to be.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Communications, communications key, you know, like I just want to
make sure everybody's on that same page and we all
get everything figured out, and you know, whatever my role
needs to be, I'll do it to the best of
my abilities. And you know, I'd love to I like
running it. I would love to do that.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Were you a Green Dot guy in Washington, I thought so, Yeah. Great.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Now for fans who don't understand what what goes into
I mean, you obviously have to not only communicate to
your teammates what the play call is, but you have
to understand it a little bit more so than everybody do.
You look at the defense it's it's a big picture
kind of thing. Big picture of a small picture, you know.
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I think when you're calling it, you really do have
to have a full understanding of the defensive call in
its entirety, just because so many things can change within
that that one call. There there can be a launder
list of checks that you might have to make or
adjustments that we're gonna Hey, if they do this, we're
gonna change this.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
If they do this, we're gonna we're gonna adjust this way.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So I feel like when you're when you're that play call,
you have to be able to anticipate that it's gonna happen.
It's not like a react like, oh snap, it happened. Yeah,
now we're adjusting, like I got this guy and that's what.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I feel like it's like it's like chess. You're thinking
tumu's D. So you're always anticipating what could possibly happen.
You know what adjustment you're gonna have to make if
they do this, if they do that, So.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Fans ask me a lot. They're like, why would a
middle linebacker, inside linebacker tap a D tackle on the
button move them over six inches? Like how could that
possibly matter? It matters a ton, doesn't it. You know,
like the guy's in the right alignment in front of.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, alignments mean a lot, and you know, I mean
that's it goes. It goes both ways as within. You know,
not only D line alignment but our alignments is linebackers.
You know, it changes, it can change blocking schemes, like
you know where they're targeting, who they're targeting. So, yeah,
the little things mean a ton.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Are you health wise? You you're back close to feeling
good man.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'm I'm trumping at the bit, but you know you're
we're still taking a little slow.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
But just being smart with it. I mean, yeah, the
idea is to play seventeen games, not exactly practices in May. Yes, sir,
be ready to be ready for September.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And I think you know our coaches, you know training staff,
they all have the right mindset and you know I'm
I'm behind them one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now, are you a guy that, sorry, Matt, now, are
you a guy that can sit and watch from the
sideline and still get your mental reption?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Some guys have to be on field and stuff. No,
I mean that's that's been the story of my life.
So I've uh, yeah, I guess I learned how to
get good at that.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, you weren't really handed anything that you know, just
three around the field, whether you deserve it or not.
So that's that's a good looking at it. I gonna ask,
are you playing on participating in all nine and assuming
the injuries okay.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And yeah, yeah, whatever they allow me to do, I'm
gonna I'm gonna participate. I'm gonna go one hundred percent
with whatever they allow me to do. And real they
tell me I got to chill out a little bit,
like okay.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, I'm sure that's hard to do, but yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It is, man, I'm competitive competitive.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Need to get to the starting line though. Oh yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
You go from college, uh in North Carolina, you go
to Washington, still kind of in that same southern area here.
What's it been like for you here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Man, I love it up here.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I mean I got I got a lot of family
actually from upstate New York and uh, you know, so
I've been up that way a couple of times, and man,
it's been beautiful in the past couple of weeks. We'll
see when it is.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Wait till like in November is ship.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, but you're settled in with your house and know
everything's again and.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everything figured out. I mean, I got the guys have
been awesome. They've they've showed me, showed me around the town. Well,
you know, show me the ropes, good eat and yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Traffic's not quite as bad here as it is in Washington. No,
we have some times a day that it's a little different.
But but it's it's nothing like that. So for people
didn't know you were a walk on in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, just calling schools asking if I can, Yeah,
who who would let me come to their school? It's
gonna go walk on a duke at first, and then
that fell through and then went to North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It's been a good student in high school.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, yeah, high school was yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I mean once I got to Once I got there,
I was like, okay, I can I can compete with
these guys. So, you know, the mindset I had going
into it definitely changed. And I was like, I'm I'm
on a scholarship and I'm gonna earn one. I'm gonna
do whatever it takes.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
And so it just dawned on me. I mean with
Isaac being an Eagle and the guard and you being
in the division, you guys took each other on quite
a bit. You know, what are the Steelers getting in him?
And there looks like a starting guard?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Dude? I mean, should we got three guys who were
formerly with Philly? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Her break, I guess them. Yeah, okay, give us a
scouting report?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Did there like? That? Was?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I thought Philadelphia's line was one of the best lines
and all around. And you know Isaac was one of them.
He was he was a dog. And I thought like
that entire line had my respect. Yeah, hard to play against. Yeah, no,
they all were. They all were had their strings, they
all had they were all good. They were all you know,
Jason freaking the leader of the group and yeah, right,
(10:23):
like I always.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Said, he was like a gnat, he's just fast, never
go away.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But no, they were all they Like I said, they
all have my respect and I played to all of them.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And you know, I think we got some some great players.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, I think Steelers made some nice additions from your
division as former division.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Absolutely, well, we'll let you go here. I'm sure you
have a busy day here. I guess it's been Cole Hulkom,
the Steelers new inside linebacker, and uh, well, we I
appreciate you coming on. Cole, absolutely thanks for having me.
Absolutely welcome to Pittsburgh and hope by everybody enjoyed the
hearing from Cole.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Absolutely good stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And that was Steelers inside linebacker Cole Holcome. He sat
down with Matt Williamson and myself at the Steelers Ota
Sessions recently. Thanks for listening and we'll be back with
more right after this. Welcome back. This is the Drive
(11:18):
on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seven Music. Threw
me a little bit there.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, it's a little different tune.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Different song than we're used to coming in with. But Matt,
interesting stuff there from Michole Holkem. I wanted to play
that back. Yeah, these people who didn't get a chance
to hear from him last week, and well, I'm looking
here at a piece on cbssports dot com. He's written
by Cody Benjamin. We've done. We've talked about some Cody
(11:43):
stuff over the years, and I haven't always necessarily agree
with his opinion on some stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But this was interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Today is one hundred days out from the week one
would kickoff.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Really okay until that Thursday night came on days one
hundred days. Wow, that means camp is soon, you know,
I mean, all things considered.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, we start ramping up here even more and more.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
You got a whole preseason in there, you know, to
throw in the whole camp, you know, a little bit
of a break. Still have two weeks of OTAs. That's crazy.
It doesn't seem like much. He never guessed.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, he's got a list of one hundred things to know.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Oh okay, one hundred days out and the start to
project too.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I'll be just took him some time to write here,
so I thought we'd go through a touch on some
of the more interesting things here said. The Chiefs are
looking to become the first team to repeat a Super
Bowl champions to Patriots in two thousand and four, two
thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It doesn't seem like long been that long. Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's almost twenty years.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Just shows how hard it is, right, it really is.
I mean some of these teams, like the Chiefs, like
like the Patriots during that stretch, were in Super Bowls
back to back or.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
To Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Interesting, Okay, yeah they got a shot.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah. Mahomes is coming off his second NFL v peelward,
fifth straight AFC Championship appearance.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
He's also thrown at least thirty seven touchdowns in four
of his five years as a starter.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Wow, unbelievable. I mean I used to compare him to
Marinos start. Yeah, but it's better. Yeah, I mean it
really is. Really four or five years, it's not two
or three, and it's multiple playoffs or multiple Super Bowls.
During that stretch, win or lose. I mean that many
is patriot like the championship run, you know with that
five five's bonkers.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah. Yeah, the Lions are preseason darling after winning eight
of their final ten games in twenty twenty two. Their
season opening matchup with the Chiefs is just one of
four primetime games on their twenty twenty three slate, including
not including their Thanksgiving matchup with the Packers. You know,
we talked about the off seasons in the previous segment
or previously on the show here the Bill Barmel thing,
(13:51):
and the Steelers came in tenth tenth best offseason and
he was draft everything right right on top to bottom.
Steelers won seven of their final nine games last year. Yeah,
and they're not viewed in the same light as the Lions.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And it's funny too, because both these teams were the
eight seed in the NFC and the NFC they picked
right next to each other in the draft. I'll be honest,
and it's not just because who were who the audience is.
I often look at teams and players like their stock,
and I might pick the Lions to win that really
bad division. I might. I probably won't pick the Steelers
(14:24):
to win the North, but for what their stock price is,
just how the general media is viewing these teams, I'd
be selling Lions stock and buying Steeler stock.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. And I think the
Lions stock is noticeably higher than the Steeler stock right now,
which doesn't make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I don't know that it should be like they should
be equal.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
They should be Honestly, if they played one hundred times
starting tomorrow, I think I'd picked Pittsburgh to win the series. Yeah,
I mean, the Lions are in a much easier conference
and a much easier division. But though, yeah, good point,
good point, that's not even I'm talking about. Like, if
better tick, which.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Team's gonna win more games in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Three, I would immediately say the Lions, just because of
the division they're in. But I don't think the rest
of their schedules not is favorable as Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Schedule is nice. Real we're playing this entire season this
year is basically last year's second half schedule.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Right, That's a great way of putting it. You know,
of course, you have the Burrows and the Lamars, and
those guys them last year anyways, Right, but right, it
is really favorable and of course subject to change. But
I don't think the quarterbacks all of a sudden are
going to come out of nowhere and right phenomenal, you
know what I mean, Maybe Lawrence is the best quarterback
in the league by then, Okay, that's only one game.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, you and I continue to say there's good Jared
Goff and there's bad Jared Goff.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, yeah, good Jared Goff is at home more often
than not.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
More often, Bad Jared Goff is on the road. His
road splits home road splits are stark.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Rough, They're tough and just talking Steelers Lions. And I
can't stress this enough. I mean, who's been the more
successful organ.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, that's it's you know, his next bullet here is
Detroit hasn't made the playoffs since seven years or won
a playoff game since nineteen ninety one. Right, that's here.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I graduated high school and I'm an old man. I'm
about I'm gonna turn fifty next week, dude, you know so, Yeah,
I mean that's they're the least successful organization over the
last thirty years. Yeah, I mean, and you don't walk
past six trophies when you walk into their building either.
There's somebody said for that. I mean that stuff doesn't
it matters? Yeah, it's how do you deal with success
(16:31):
and expectations?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah? How do you deal with that? And that's one
of the things you have to That's a learned behavior,
no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And maybe they're building that. I hope they are for
that fan base in that city, and plus they're in
the other conference. But man, I have a hard time
getting behind some of those teams, even like Jacksonville. I mean,
it's it's a learned.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
You get it right.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
The Bounce haven't learned yet.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They have not. You know, the Texans are on their
fourth coach in as many a year, Four coaches in
four years. What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Talk about anti Steeler way of doing business? Right? I
didn't think this is the last couple coaches, but I
do think this one at least is going to get
a couple of years to fail or succeed. I would hope,
so I would. I mean, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Lovely Smith is a good football coach?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, right, right right?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And you gave him one year.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
In one year and you don't give me players, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
That's like here you here's here's a pack of cards.
Here's a pack of playing cards. Yeah, there are no
face cards in here. Go win this pot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I mean does Tomlin or Belichick win seven games with
those rosters? Probably not. It's rough, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That is bad players and then you and then like
one of the reasons I think he got fired was
because they won down that they won.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
A game, Like that's the idea that we know he's
getting fired. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Uh. Stroud, of course they've drafted. Stroud is arguably the
most polished pocket passer Houston's had since the initial emergence
of Deshaun Watson. That's not saying a whole.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Lot, no, I mean, you're compared to yourself, to Davis
mill yea and these type of dude.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
They're former Pro Bowl starter. But he set to work
with a makeshift offensive line and receiving corps as a rookie.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Like Sather, the line's not so terrible now, I mean
Shack Mason huntsl I mean, it's I think they're mirroring
respectability on offense where they were laughingstock before. I mean
it's still not good.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Not good.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
It's not good. Yeah, I mean it's not a great
environment for Stroud to succeed, and I don't think he
will this year.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
No, I don't think so either, Yeah, which leads us
to Watson. Watson, meanwhile, is facing pressure to deliver in
Cleveland after the Browns made a startling investment in the
quarterback last offseason, acquired in a blockbuster trade, then signed
to a record two hundred and thirty million fully guaranteed
contract despite sitting out the twenty twenty two season facing
dozens of civil lawsuits alleging off the field misconduct. The
(18:50):
quarterback was off target after returning from an eleven game suspension.
Now I was listening it's kind Yeah. I was listening
to a radio show recently and they had a somebody
who covers the Browns, and I believe he's a television
guy in Cleveland. First of all, they tipped it off
because he said, we.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Okay, if anyone ever catches me with that, the police,
it doesn't have my bag.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, it doesn't happen on this show. We don't suit
up for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I don't influence them winning or losing.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
But this guy made. He tried to make the point
that Watson isn't worried about going to prison, so this
year is going to be so much better. He wasn't
going to prison. That was never on the teable table, right,
all right. He was facing civil lawsuits, which is a
much different thing. You're not facing prison time. It's got
how much is this gonna cost me?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
A basically what it was. It's a change of it.
It's a hard situation for Deshaun Watson. I mean dismiss
what he did or didn't do, you know, to all
these allegations. That was a hard, hard situation to succeed it.
I mean, he hadn't played football on a field for
seven hundred days, you're on a new team, you have
massive distractions. But it was a miserable failure.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
It was awful.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It was a miserable fail.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Anybody looked at what Deshaun Watson did last year and thought, oh,
this is pretty.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Good, right, or it's okay, I can work with it, right.
I mean, is there is there a more pivotal player
in the league right now? I mean maybe Aaron Rodgers.
Maybe Aaron Rodgers. I mean so many teams are talking
that you gave up so much to go get Yeah,
I mean Lamar is in that conversation now, I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
At least he was part of that team, right right, right.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But the Browns, as much as any organization in the league,
will sink or swim with that decision because everything is
so huge.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Right right, the draft picks the right everything.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And not to mention, you probably lost some fans and
you know it's not a good one, you know, right.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Uh. Cleveland may face one of the steepest competitions for
a division title this year. Besides the reigning AFC runner
up in the Bengals, the AFC North features the Steelers,
who haven't been a losing season in twenty years for
that and the Ravens, who made the playoffs in twenty
two despite Margot Jackson missing the final five games of
the season due to injury.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And the Bengals aren't too sappy either.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Well, they said, yeah, yeah, this this division is gonna
be I mean.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
It's rough, it really is. So yesterday's podcast that I
do we did who could be worse the first and
I said the Browns and Jets of the of the
of the fourth place teams are probably the they have
that toughest, but they have the brutalist, yeah, toughest way
to get there. I mean, say what you want about
(21:34):
the Patriots, They're not going anywhere. They're gonna be hard
to play against. It the East, and that's probably the
easiest team in either division, you know what I mean. So,
I mean we were really stretching it a little bit
for content too, But like, can any of these worst
place teams win the Super Bowl this year? I said
maybe the Browns and Jets.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I don't see it.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I mean, that's a tough story to sell to your editor.
But I think the Bears.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did. The Bears finish lesson they.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Were I couldn't go there. My partner Peacock was all
over the Bears.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I think the Bears have a much better chance to
win the division based on the division that they play it.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That was his argument too, Like, I think the Vikings are.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Bad, right, but we don't know what the Packers are
going to be, right. We don't trust the Lions.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
But boy, look at the Bears d line and and
it's bad.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But if Justin could, I could paint a picture where
Justin Fields comes out, lights the world on fire.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
They got DJ Moore, the offense could be much better
this year and they win nine games.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
In his argument, which I agreed with, which is kind
of where you're going to, is what if they have
thirty eight minutes a time of possession, which they could,
they could make that defense a little easier job.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, Baltimore is betting big on Jackson, extending the former
MVP this offseason with a two hundred and sixty million
dollars deal that makes him the highest paid quarterback in
the NFL. While Jackson is an electric athlete with two
thousand yard rushing seasons and great arm talent, he hasn't
played a full season since his twenty eighteen rookie year
(22:59):
and it's just one and three into playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and I wish I had the numbers in front
of me. But Lamar, Kyler, To and Baker they're all
small and they all don't hold up throughout the course
of the year. Which I use this argument for not
drafting young first overall because he's smaller than all of them.
But to me, that's my concern about Lamar more so
(23:21):
than can he thrive in a heavier pass volume? Yeah,
that doesn't worry. He could throw, He's a really good player. Yeah,
and then I also think, you know, bad decisions are
made with should we fire this coach or should we
move on from his quarterback? And the answer really is yes.
But you're like, what else is out there? We can't
live with? What's that? That's a bad way to do business.
(23:43):
But in this case, you had to bring him back,
you know what I mean too, You had to You
didn't have another option. You didn't have another option. It's worked.
You've won a lot of games, you know, I mean,
I mean their success rate with him is so much
better than with that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
They signed that deal right before the draft, now had
they known the draft was going to go the way
that it did.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I mean, still, do you want to go down the
Leves round?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, you're gonna get down the Leves run unless you
wanted to trade up and you know you're gonna trade
next year's first round draft pick to go get a
different you know, one of these other quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I mean, Lamar a is still young. I mean, I
still don't one percent understand why the Falcons and Commanders
and maybe even others just didn't go after Lamar or Indy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You know, the Ravens haven't at least improved supporting cast
for Jackson, signing Odell Beckham, spending first round pick Onse
Flowers out wide. The real X factor of them besides
a physical defense headlined by Rokwe Smith, I don't know
that it is a physical defense. Question about the defense,
I disagree with that statement the defense. If we're looking
(24:45):
at it from top to bottom, Baltimore's defense might be
the worst defense in the AFC North.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I think it is. The Browns have an argument, but
the brownsk line is so much better than the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
The Brons have a pass rush.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, the Ravens don't have a pass they don't have
a pass rush, and I think their the tackles are
really really weak.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
They basically get Baltimore or they've got Cleveland's defense from last.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Year without Miles Garrett. Yeah, without I mean, they're counting.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
On one of these of these guys that they've drafted,
that they took a chance on. It was hurt turning
into that.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I know, I know they did very little de tackle
and that hope is not a plan. No, no, And
the biggest route for the issues with the Ravens is
they have not drafted well in five years. Yes, despite
making a lot of.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Picks basically since the Costa took over.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, it's pretty close. Yeah, I mean really since the
Lamar Draft, it's been not so great first round picks everywhere.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
The Steelers still lean heavily on their defense, of course,
which is part of the course unders under Mike Tomlin.
Dominant edge rusher TJ Watch justifies that approach. But Kenny
Pikett has an underrated skill group this year, with Alan
Robinson joining Naujie Harris, Deontay Johnson, George Pickens, and.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Pat Fryarmouth amongst others.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Amongst others. Yeah, we we just so you know, Jayleen
more like he's gonna have a I don't.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Think people realize how good he is, you know. I
mean you talk about last year's draft, Lass was great,
but the best value just walked past for what they
gots I undrafted free agent. I mean, he is a
really good receiver. He has some explosive trades and we
I mean this is a sort of a redundant conversation,
but the skill guys now of what they can throw
out in four receiver sets, three tight end sets, you know,
(26:28):
extra offensive lineman, those five you can play around with
is better than I can remember.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah. Bengals head coach Dach Taylor has overseen an improved
record in three straight seasons. Since his two and fourteen
debut in twenty nineteen, Cincinnati has played seven playoff games,
advancing to one Super Bowl. The team is a top
five favorite to win the next Lombardi Trophy this year
per Caesars Sportsbook. But do we trust Zach Taylor?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I don't either.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's a guy I'm really hard on, not just because
he's in the division. And so I was listened to
a fantasy podcast on the way down here that was
just about the Bengals are going team by team. It's
Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life site, and it's a very good podcast.
They really dig into every offense and basically what they said,
only metric wise, they're not really impressed with the Bengals.
(27:18):
You know, the execution is great, the quarterback is a
great quarterback, covers up a lot of words, yeah and this,
and I mean there's great players, but like they're at
the bottom of the league in motion and play action.
They don't vary their who's on the field very much.
And it's working. So you know, shut up, Matt shows
to be just better, but he's not out coaching people.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
It's in some elecution. Yeah, it's it's a very execution
based and they've been fortunate. Can they stay fortunate when
they have to start paying these guys, That's.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The real question to me. You can't go get the
Orlando Brown next offseason, or you know, Higgins might not
be around and those type of things. I think Burrough's phenomenal,
So I think he's going to be a great the
odorant and already is.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, it's unclear if Anthony Richardson will open his rookie
season as Indy starter, putting an official undo the Colt's
recent annual tradition of trotting out veterans stop gaps. Yeah,
that's been the most bizarre thing in the league the
last half decade, revolving right quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts,
(28:23):
who for such a long period of time it was
Peyton Manning and then you'll you had one year of
transition between Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. You had twenty
plus years of Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean, I'm sure people around here don't think about
it much, but I don't even think the national media
addresses the Andrew Luck retirement enough now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I mean he's like thirty two years old. He should
be in the prime of his career.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
He could be the rivaling Mahomes as the best quarterback
in the league for the last five years. I mean,
he was that type of player and almost like a
Ryan shaz Eer injury, Like there was no warning, you know,
like you can be critical of gms that don't prepare
for Hey, Aaron Rodgers is leaving, or Ben's getting old,
blah blah blah blah blah. You know, you see that coming.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Luck.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I think it was like when training camp O was
it during training. It wasn't even like after the season.
I mean it was late in that year. I'm not
coming back, Like wow, I mean that's a bomb.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Now. They had to have had some conversations internally at
the very probably and they probably looked at and said, well,
he's twenty eight years old, he's coming back.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Who retires at that age? Jim Brown, I mean right, right, right,
I mean that just doesn't happen. And he said, the
heck with it. Yeah, it's a franchise shattering movie.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
That's a good point by you. It is very much
like the Steelers with Ryan Chasey.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, so you can't see that coming, you know, I mean,
he's just you can't plan for that, right, And it's
the first overall pick who's already one of the best
quarterbacks of the league. With all respect to Ryan, he's
a linebacker, you know what I mean, he's not the
best player in the league or you know, almost impossible
to replace. But then to your point, well, we'll hire
Rivers for a year, We'll trade for Wentz for a year,
you know, with Ryan for a year and Wentz maybe
(30:05):
they thought when they made the deal would be more
than a year, but those others were the definition of
stop gaps. Yeah, I mean, that's a band aid.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Buffalo is coming off back to back years of divisional
round playoff losses, which sounds kind of surprising, yea. Its
defenses also relying on some aging standouts in past rush
Von Miller who suffered a season ending injury in twenty
twenty two, Tredavius White, and Jordan Poyer. You can have
Micah Hyde into that as well.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, and Edmunds is gone. I mean, not that he's
a superstar, but is.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
It outlandish to think that the Bills don't win the
AFC East.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I had two questions for you. Well, one was a statement,
I think their windows closing a lot faster than people think,
that they really missed an opportunity that they're fine years
to succeed. Were the last two or three and they've
been good, but they didn't get it they get there.
I mean, so I would do you agree if I
gave you the rest of the East or the Bill
(31:00):
to win the division? I'll take the field. I think
i'd take the field too, right, I mean, they'll probably
be my pick.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I mean, I still think there's a fifty chance that
the Bills are the champion. Yeah, but I'll take I'll
take door number two. I'll take door number two because
it's and I'm not even like the Patriots aren't even
in that conference.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
It's really just Jets and Dolphins, right, right, right, It's
really just Jets and Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. I mean, honestly, if the Patriots had a different
head coach right now, people be talking about what the
Patriots kind of have top ten draft pick.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, and they still might and they still might, they
still might.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah. Another challenge of the Bill is the increasingly tough
division we just talked about it. Besides the Jets, now
led by Aaron Rodgers, the Dolphins are looking to build
off Mike daniel say coaching debut, and the Patriots score
a perpetually tough defense under Bill Belichick. Those two, I mean,
the AFC North and the AFC East, to me, might
be the two best divisions.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I think they are. Yeah, I think they clearly are.
I'm not sure who number three is, to be honest,
maybe the NFC East.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
They would have an argument.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, but you have to trust the Giants. I don't
trust the Giants.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I don't trust for either one of them.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I think they would be the worst two teams of
the twelve. Potentially maybe the Patriots, Yeah, potentially.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Miami went nine and eight McDaniel's first season. People look
at that season like it was better than that, but
they were nine and eight team. On paper, they might
be one of the most talented teams in the league,
with elite speed in an offense that includes Tyreek Hill,
Jalen Wattle or he moster Devin to Chain, the veteran
d now featuring x Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey also
has a new leader, improving coordinator Vic Fangio. But, as
(32:32):
he mentions in his next bullet, the ultimate X factor
with the Dolphins is the health of two oh tackle Looa.
As we were talking about previously, Mike White, to me
is not the answer is the back. I would have
liked that. I can't. I don't understand. I mean, I'm
not a Teddy Bridgewater fan at all, but at least
he is a proven commodity.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, I will say, I think the league is telling
us that Teddy might be shot.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Or Teddy's looking at this and going on, I'm gonna
I'm I'm gonna play for three million dollars.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I mean I have a lot of a lot
in the bag now way to an injury. I would
have liked to see one tier above Mike White. Yeah,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Andy Dalton would.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Have made say something like that a little more trustworthy
because of the state of to his health, you know,
and their numbers with and without two or night and day.
It's a very Niner quarterback friendly operation. So maybe Mike
White would be in there and be efficient in a
party type way. But I would have liked to see
somebody a notch above.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah. I don't if Mike White had done what Mike
White has done in his career in Atlanta as opposed
to New York. Yeah, nobody's talking about Mike White.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
I mean, really only have one really good game and
it was against a dreadful defense. And he had a
month where he was fine.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That's not fine. Thrown touchdown, pa, Right, get the team
in the end zone. Right. They didn't score any points.
They moved up and down feel between the twenties. They
didn't score points.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I mean, I know he's not Aaron Rodgers, but the
Jets didn't even consider bringing him back as a stop
gap or a back. He would have been cheap, and
he had been cheap.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Las Vegas has big names, a premium running back spots
or premium spots running back Josh Jacobs, watch receiver DeVante Adams,
Max Crosby and Changel Jones and Tyree Wilson. But Jimmy
Garoppolo has played a full season just once in nine years, right,
nine years.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I think that's a bottom five quarterback situation. Yeah, I
mean in terms of today what they have for the future, right,
I mean, it's not good. And taking a step further,
he's very you know Derbilly is a huge problem with
him as stated here, but he's only played a handful
(34:50):
of games not in a Shanahan system too. You know,
like he's gonna ask to be asked to do a
lot more. I have major doubts how that goes. Like
they might have the first picked the draft. Yeah yeah,
I mean I think they could have that type of season.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All indications are that Sean Payton will attempt to return
Russell Wilson to more of a run heavy, play action attack.
The Broncos spent top dollars on new offensive lineman Mike
McGlinchey and Ben Powers, and are also adding ex Cardinals
defensive lineman Zach Allen in free agency. Wilson can't be
much worse than he was in twenty twenty two. But
even if he doesn't thrive under Peyton, Denver might be
(35:24):
competitive thanks to his steady defense that boasts the return
of the game's top defense two of the game stop
defensive backs, Patrick's Retain and Justin Simmons. But what he
doesn't mention there is Javonte Williams.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
I want nothing to Jewante Williams. I think he's he
had the same Dobbins injury, which just lingers and lingers,
and this is the time of year. You hear some
good things. Oh he's on track, and then camp goes by,
and two weeks in and he hasn't done anything, and
then he's questionab before week one. However, I tend to
agree with that entire statement. I think Russell Wilson's better
(36:00):
than what he showed us last year, and after the
coaching change, he got a little better. You know, I mean,
I am I saying the coach held him back, because even
his last year in Seattle wasn't wonderful. But one of
my favorite people to listen to right now is Nate Tice,
who works with the athletic and he is Mike Tyson's son,
(36:20):
grew up in the game and he was Russell Wilson's
backup at Wisconsin. He's a backup quarterback. And he said, Wilson,
there's a misnomer that Wilson's this athlete, run around guy.
Wilson has always patterned his game off Drew Brees Coincidentally,
their short you know, their pocket passers with good not
insane athleticism. I think that Peyton Wilson and the pride
(36:44):
of those two is going to work out better than
surely last year. Of course, you know, like so I
think there'll be a tough team to beat. I think
they might have her around five hundred.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
No team might be a safer bet to finish last
in There was Division Arizona Cardon. He nailed it a
year after going four and thirteen. Arizonas turning to a
new coach in Jonathan Gannon, and it could be without
quarterback Kyler Murray for an extended stretch.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
So you get a rookie no Kyler, no Hopkins, a
rookie coach on Johnathan Gannon who's a defensive guy right
working with the current backup plan is Colt McCoy who's
thirty seven and coming off of his own injuries. I mean,
they probably will have the worst opening day starter great
quarterback in a league. Gannon not only is he a
(37:35):
rookie head coach, but he comes from a team a
defense that's just loaded with defensive lineman, you know, littered
with them hockey lines of them. Now he takes over
like the worst defensive line in the league. So, I
mean his path to getting the most out of his
defense is really rocky. Here I was looking over my shoulder.
(37:56):
Make sure Aaron Donalds wasn't around, because I said, I
thought might be really bad too. But the Cardinals I
think are the worst in the league.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
They very well maybe Yeah. Speaking of which, the Rams
were gutted by injuries in twenty twenty two, posting one
of the worst records to ever come from a reigning
Super Bowl champion. Yes, as Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cup, Aaron
Donald went down. Coach Sean mcvah should have a more
stable lineup this time around, but plenty of pieces from
their title runner are now gone.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
So I meant to mention that with Denver so Football
Siders does their advanced whatever their injury metric was, and
the Rams and Broncos were two of the most injured
teams in the last ten years. I mean they both
got crushed. Yeah, Denver, I think that's bound to go
back to the meet you know where the Rams a role.
(38:45):
I mean it's his Stafford Cup, you know. Yeah, I
mean I think Donald could have played some of those guys.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, he could have played if it meant Yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Season was kind of shot and some of those guys
cashed out. Now not they cashed out and they just
didn't there's no reason to go back out there last
two weeks or whatever. But they're just so relying on
five guys and this isn't basketball, Yeah right, right right,
that's just a different roster build the team.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
The Steelers open the season with the forty nine. Ers
have been more injury proof, at least under center, with
Kyle Shanahan in charge. After losing both Trey Lance and
Jimmy Garoppolo in twenty twenty two, San Francisco got veteran
level poise from seventh round rookie Brock Purty and re
Dynasty Championship appearance. Now Perty is coming off his own
(39:29):
serious injury, however, and it's Anyone's guests who will open
the season as Kyle Shanahan's new quarterback.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
So the news this is kind of like the Javante
Williams conversation, though, is Perty's going to start throwing soon?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
We're one hundred days out from the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yeah, that's a long way from dealing with Cam Hayward
on the road, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
And if you remember when Ben Roethlisberger was coming off
of his album Yeah Situation, you can remember the first
the first videos of him throwing came up pre OTAs
and he was having workouts on his own and then
they kind of you know, worked him up to it
and he was throwing fully, you know, you know at
(40:12):
mini camp and things of that nature. This guy's not
even throwing a football yet. He's not. He's not gonna
be ready for the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I can't believe he will. And would you play him
any preseason snaps if he was ready? I think no.
I don't think he plays one snap of preseason. So
was his first snap since injury going to be Opening
day here with TJ Watt? Yeah, I mean, offensive line
is not not good. His arm was bad to begin with.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Arm.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
He's not super reliant on it, but it's a bad arm.
And this time of year so funny to me. You know,
Jeante Williams is on track or he's doing you know,
perty's throwing. That means he might be throwing a tennis
ball ten yards to his buddy or a NERF ball,
I mean, or it's soft, soft tossing a real football,
(41:03):
you know, like it's a long way from NFL throws
and NFL stuff. You know, Like I wonder what Matthew
Stafford's doing right now? Is he throwing or anything? Yeah,
I mean this time, he never knows about it right right,
this time of year, people are always optimistic, but it's
not usually how it goes so quick. Who do you
think their starter will be? I mean, none of us
have a clue. I mean, I think it's almost thirty
(41:25):
three percent for all three.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
I think he's gonna be Tree, Lance.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
I think it's gonna be Donald. But I'm totally guessing.
I mean, I'm basically taking coin flips here. I think
it's almost a thirty three percent chance of all three
of those guys. Yeah, I just think it's odd or
telling that they grabbed Donald like the second day creacy.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
They want to cover their butts. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty
much it for I mean, there's a lot of good
stuff in this Cody Benjamin piece. I mean a lot
of a lot of it's freehashing, but a lot of
it's you know, just as we were going through here,
things we've talked about. Yeah, yeah, all on one piece.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
That's yeah, kind of get hundred days away thing is
one hundred days away opening to me, you know, I'm
looking at it like, oh, I got a vacation coming up.
Not much talk about the next month and a half
or so. But it's not a league work.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
It's right around the corner.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, can't wait, can't wait one bit. I mean we'll
sit and talk NFL all the time, which is what
we do, stop back and talk. We will be We'll
be back tomorrow. If that is going to do it
for our show today from the upmc rooney Sports Complex. Uh.
He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lalla, you've been
listening here on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seventy.
(42:34):
Hopefully we get all of our issues. I feel good
about it for tomorrow, feel good about it. Feel good
about tomorrow. We will have some player interviews, things of
that nature, some live player interviews. We were hoping to
do that, but that's going to do it for our
show today. So for CJ here AND's keeping us on
the air, which well has been needed. I'm challenge. Yeah.
We thank you for listening to this edition of the
(42:55):
Drive
Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt
Williamson and we were joined recently by Cole Holcomb, the
Steelers inside linebacker. Here's what Cole had to say and
sit down interview with us. Being joined here by Cole Holcombe, Cole,
Matt Williamson, and Dale Lolly. I'm Dale, He's Matt. We
were just talking about the situation at linebacker in the
(00:21):
NFL and Keith Butler, who is the defensive coordinator here.
He used to say that linebackers, especially inside linebackers, you've
reached that peak of about at about the age of
twenty six where you're at where everything kind of meshes.
You now have the experience this, but you still have
the athleticism that you're kind of in that that soft
peer or that that that pure period where everything matches up.
(00:43):
Do you do you feel that it's that way for you? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, I mean I've definitely seen, you know, had a
lot of experience seeing a lot of ball, you know,
noticing concept of repeat concepts, you know, things that are
becoming second nature and just allowing you to play faster
and not really thinking about out like you know, specific
things that you know you develop these.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Habits and they.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And it's really like like I said, you see so
many plays the offense going ruins, so many plays, right,
you know, so you just see the same concepts over
and over and over again and just try and doctor
it up, do it different, try to manipulate you a
little bit so, but in the end they're still trying
to do the same concepts. So you can figure out
and get past the window dressing of it. You get
down to the basics. You know, you know what concept
(01:29):
you're getting.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So a term we've been using to describe you. And
it's great to meet you, by the way, congratulations as
being a Steeler is ascending. You know, it seems like
every year gets better than the last, and unfortunately last
year was cut a little short for you with injuries,
so maybe you didn't get to show the world as
much that you really are hitting your peak. But to
expand on what Dale was saying, there are so many
examples of first second round, especially first round linebackers that
(01:53):
are just great athletes get thrown right in the mix
because they're first rounders, and these great play callers and
offensive design is just manipulate him like crazy. I mean,
is that part of it to you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I mean I think I think you know, it's
it's you really have to like to play line back.
You gotta love watching ball, Yeah yeah, learning tendencies and yeah,
and I think, uh, you know, I mean, shoot my
rookie year, I was biting on every.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Play action to say play action anything.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was running forward, I.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Was crossing ground right behind you.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah yeah, and I was getting over all day. And
you know, now now it's.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Like they want to run a play action looks sounds
feels different, like you know, a rookie might come in,
he might do the same thing I did.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Is that really hard to hold your water on play action,
especially as a young guy, like since you've been trained forever.
As soon as that ball comes out, yeah, pack down hill,
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know, but then you start realizing, you start, you
start it's like it's like a sixth sense, like you're like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It looks like it's a little fishy. Yeah yeah, something
doesn't feel right. And and to your point, you watch
the film and you've seen the tendencies that these Okay,
I can read things differently, whereas you know, when you're
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three years old, maybe you
don't understand that like you do now.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's uh, you know,
sometimes it could be more so like guys thinking about
what his job is versus like what's.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What's the offense trying to give you?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Hm? And you know, the more you you understand defensive
concepts like you can you can plug and play.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know, I feel.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Like like every every defense like just like defense, same
with offense. You know, you only have so many plays,
so many coverages, so many different types of you know,
every team might have their little tweaks and things they
like to do a little bit differently within that coverage,
but in the in the end, it's all you know,
single high, too high, you know, cover three, cover two courters.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
People play this game a long time. Y's not that
many thing changes over one hundred years with right right right.
I would think a big adjustment too, though, is in
the man coverage world, there aren't many McCaffrey's and camaras
and Kittles, and you know, the tight end and running
back route runners in this league are so much better
than in college mm hm oh yeah, yeah, I mean
(04:03):
it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, And that's why, you know, I feel like this
position has changed. You know, you gotta be able to cover,
you gotta be able to play, you know, because there's
always gonna be an incident where you're matched up on
a wide out, yeah, or you're on a slot, on
a slot, you're on a receiving tight end, you're on
a receiving running back.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Like, and they're all shaped different to move differently different.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I feel like the you know, the way linebackers play
has changed a little bit, a lot of aspect of
of you know, you've got to be able to run
and hit, and you gotta be able to cover, and
you gotta be able.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Play running so you get through this ot sessions that
you've been doing this now for a few weeks with
your with your new teammates. Uh, you settling in here
pretty well? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No, love the guys, love the competition that they bring
out here. I mean, I love the coach staff like
it's it's it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun,
fun year for the for the kid.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So another huge portion of your position there's always been
the case. It's communication and getting the calls in and out.
Do you expect to get a lot of those responsibilities,
you know, Yeah, getting on the field with your with
your guy as well, and absolutely getting all the play
calls where they need to be.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Communications, communications key, you know, like I just want to
make sure everybody's on that same page and we all
get everything figured out, and you know, whatever my role
needs to be, I'll do it to the best of
my abilities. And you know, I'd love to I like
running it. I would love to do that.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Were you a Green Dot guy in Washington, I thought so, Yeah. Great.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Now for fans who don't understand what what goes into
I mean, you obviously have to not only communicate to
your teammates what the play call is, but you have
to understand it a little bit more so than everybody do.
You look at the defense it's it's a big picture
kind of thing. Big picture of a small picture, you know.
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I think when you're calling it, you really do have
to have a full understanding of the defensive call in
its entirety, just because so many things can change within
that that one call. There there can be a launder
list of checks that you might have to make or
adjustments that we're gonna Hey, if they do this, we're
gonna change this.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
If they do this, we're gonna we're gonna adjust this way.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So I feel like when you're when you're that play call,
you have to be able to anticipate that it's gonna happen.
It's not like a react like, oh snap, it happened. Yeah,
now we're adjusting, like I got this guy and that's what.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I feel like it's like it's like chess. You're thinking
tumu's D. So you're always anticipating what could possibly happen.
You know what adjustment you're gonna have to make if
they do this, if they do that, So.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Fans ask me a lot. They're like, why would a
middle linebacker, inside linebacker tap a D tackle on the
button move them over six inches? Like how could that
possibly matter? It matters a ton, doesn't it. You know,
like the guy's in the right alignment in front of.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, alignments mean a lot, and you know, I mean
that's it goes. It goes both ways as within. You know,
not only D line alignment but our alignments is linebackers.
You know, it changes, it can change blocking schemes, like
you know where they're targeting, who they're targeting. So, yeah,
the little things mean a ton.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Are you health wise? You you're back close to feeling
good man.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'm I'm trumping at the bit, but you know you're
we're still taking a little slow.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
But just being smart with it. I mean, yeah, the
idea is to play seventeen games, not exactly practices in May. Yes, sir,
be ready to be ready for September.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And I think you know our coaches, you know training staff,
they all have the right mindset and you know I'm
I'm behind them one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now, are you a guy that, sorry, Matt, now, are
you a guy that can sit and watch from the
sideline and still get your mental reption?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Some guys have to be on field and stuff. No,
I mean that's that's been the story of my life.
So I've uh, yeah, I guess I learned how to
get good at that.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, you weren't really handed anything that you know, just
three around the field, whether you deserve it or not.
So that's that's a good looking at it. I gonna ask,
are you playing on participating in all nine and assuming
the injuries okay.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And yeah, yeah, whatever they allow me to do, I'm
gonna I'm gonna participate. I'm gonna go one hundred percent
with whatever they allow me to do. And real they
tell me I got to chill out a little bit,
like okay.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, I'm sure that's hard to do, but yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It is, man, I'm competitive competitive.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Need to get to the starting line though. Oh yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
You go from college, uh in North Carolina, you go
to Washington, still kind of in that same southern area here.
What's it been like for you here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Man, I love it up here.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I mean I got I got a lot of family
actually from upstate New York and uh, you know, so
I've been up that way a couple of times, and man,
it's been beautiful in the past couple of weeks. We'll
see when it is.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Wait till like in November is ship.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, but you're settled in with your house and know
everything's again and.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Everything figured out. I mean, I got the guys have
been awesome. They've they've showed me, showed me around the town. Well,
you know, show me the ropes, good eat and yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Traffic's not quite as bad here as it is in Washington. No,
we have some times a day that it's a little different.
But but it's it's nothing like that. So for people
didn't know you were a walk on in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, just calling schools asking if I can, Yeah,
who who would let me come to their school? It's
gonna go walk on a duke at first, and then
that fell through and then went to North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It's been a good student in high school.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Yeah, yeah, high school was yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I mean once I got to Once I got there,
I was like, okay, I can I can compete with
these guys. So, you know, the mindset I had going
into it definitely changed. And I was like, I'm I'm
on a scholarship and I'm gonna earn one. I'm gonna
do whatever it takes.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
And so it just dawned on me. I mean with
Isaac being an Eagle and the guard and you being
in the division, you guys took each other on quite
a bit. You know, what are the Steelers getting in him?
And there looks like a starting guard?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Dude? I mean, should we got three guys who were
formerly with Philly? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Her break, I guess them. Yeah, okay, give us a
scouting report?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Did there like? That? Was?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I thought Philadelphia's line was one of the best lines
and all around. And you know Isaac was one of them.
He was he was a dog. And I thought like
that entire line had my respect. Yeah, hard to play against. Yeah, no,
they all were. They all were had their strings, they
all had they were all good. They were all you know,
Jason freaking the leader of the group and yeah, right,
(10:23):
like I always.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Said, he was like a gnat, he's just fast, never
go away.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But no, they were all they Like I said, they
all have my respect and I played to all of them.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And you know, I think we got some some great players.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, I think Steelers made some nice additions from your
division as former division.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Absolutely, well, we'll let you go here. I'm sure you
have a busy day here. I guess it's been Cole Hulkom,
the Steelers new inside linebacker, and uh, well, we I
appreciate you coming on. Cole, absolutely thanks for having me.
Absolutely welcome to Pittsburgh and hope by everybody enjoyed the
hearing from Cole.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Absolutely good stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And that was Steelers inside linebacker Cole Holcome. He sat
down with Matt Williamson and myself at the Steelers Ota
Sessions recently. Thanks for listening and we'll be back with
more right after this. Welcome back. This is the Drive
(11:18):
on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seven Music. Threw
me a little bit there.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, it's a little different tune.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Different song than we're used to coming in with. But Matt,
interesting stuff there from Michole Holkem. I wanted to play
that back. Yeah, these people who didn't get a chance
to hear from him last week, and well, I'm looking
here at a piece on cbssports dot com. He's written
by Cody Benjamin. We've done. We've talked about some Cody
(11:43):
stuff over the years, and I haven't always necessarily agree
with his opinion on some stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
But this was interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Today is one hundred days out from the week one
would kickoff.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Really okay until that Thursday night came on days one
hundred days. Wow, that means camp is soon, you know,
I mean, all things considered.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, we start ramping up here even more and more.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
You got a whole preseason in there, you know, to
throw in the whole camp, you know, a little bit
of a break. Still have two weeks of OTAs. That's crazy.
It doesn't seem like much. He never guessed.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, he's got a list of one hundred things to know.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Oh okay, one hundred days out and the start to
project too.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I'll be just took him some time to write here,
so I thought we'd go through a touch on some
of the more interesting things here said. The Chiefs are
looking to become the first team to repeat a Super
Bowl champions to Patriots in two thousand and four, two
thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It doesn't seem like long been that long. Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's almost twenty years.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Just shows how hard it is, right, it really is.
I mean some of these teams, like the Chiefs, like
like the Patriots during that stretch, were in Super Bowls
back to back or.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
To Wow.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Interesting, Okay, yeah they got a shot.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah. Mahomes is coming off his second NFL v peelward,
fifth straight AFC Championship appearance.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
He's also thrown at least thirty seven touchdowns in four
of his five years as a starter.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Wow, unbelievable. I mean I used to compare him to
Marinos start. Yeah, but it's better. Yeah, I mean it
really is. Really four or five years, it's not two
or three, and it's multiple playoffs or multiple Super Bowls.
During that stretch, win or lose. I mean that many
is patriot like the championship run, you know with that
five five's bonkers.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah. Yeah, the Lions are preseason darling after winning eight
of their final ten games in twenty twenty two. Their
season opening matchup with the Chiefs is just one of
four primetime games on their twenty twenty three slate, including
not including their Thanksgiving matchup with the Packers. You know,
we talked about the off seasons in the previous segment
or previously on the show here the Bill Barmel thing,
(13:51):
and the Steelers came in tenth tenth best offseason and
he was draft everything right right on top to bottom.
Steelers won seven of their final nine games last year. Yeah,
and they're not viewed in the same light as the Lions.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And it's funny too, because both these teams were the
eight seed in the NFC and the NFC they picked
right next to each other in the draft. I'll be honest,
and it's not just because who were who the audience is.
I often look at teams and players like their stock,
and I might pick the Lions to win that really
bad division. I might. I probably won't pick the Steelers
(14:24):
to win the North, but for what their stock price is,
just how the general media is viewing these teams, I'd
be selling Lions stock and buying Steeler stock.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. And I think the
Lions stock is noticeably higher than the Steeler stock right now,
which doesn't make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I don't know that it should be like they should
be equal.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
They should be Honestly, if they played one hundred times
starting tomorrow, I think I'd picked Pittsburgh to win the series. Yeah,
I mean, the Lions are in a much easier conference
and a much easier division. But though, yeah, good point,
good point, that's not even I'm talking about. Like, if
better tick, which.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Team's gonna win more games in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Three, I would immediately say the Lions, just because of
the division they're in. But I don't think the rest
of their schedules not is favorable as Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Schedule is nice. Real we're playing this entire season this
year is basically last year's second half schedule.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Right, That's a great way of putting it. You know,
of course, you have the Burrows and the Lamars, and
those guys them last year anyways, Right, but right, it
is really favorable and of course subject to change. But
I don't think the quarterbacks all of a sudden are
going to come out of nowhere and right phenomenal, you
know what I mean, Maybe Lawrence is the best quarterback
in the league by then, Okay, that's only one game.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, you and I continue to say there's good Jared
Goff and there's bad Jared Goff.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, yeah, good Jared Goff is at home more often
than not.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
More often, Bad Jared Goff is on the road. His
road splits home road splits are stark.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Rough, They're tough and just talking Steelers Lions. And I
can't stress this enough. I mean, who's been the more
successful organ.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, that's it's you know, his next bullet here is
Detroit hasn't made the playoffs since seven years or won
a playoff game since nineteen ninety one. Right, that's here.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I graduated high school and I'm an old man. I'm
about I'm gonna turn fifty next week, dude, you know so, Yeah,
I mean that's they're the least successful organization over the
last thirty years. Yeah, I mean, and you don't walk
past six trophies when you walk into their building either.
There's somebody said for that. I mean that stuff doesn't
it matters? Yeah, it's how do you deal with success
(16:31):
and expectations?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah? How do you deal with that? And that's one
of the things you have to That's a learned behavior,
no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And maybe they're building that. I hope they are for
that fan base in that city, and plus they're in
the other conference. But man, I have a hard time
getting behind some of those teams, even like Jacksonville. I mean,
it's it's a learned.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
You get it right.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
The Bounce haven't learned yet.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They have not. You know, the Texans are on their
fourth coach in as many a year, Four coaches in
four years. What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Talk about anti Steeler way of doing business? Right? I
didn't think this is the last couple coaches, but I
do think this one at least is going to get
a couple of years to fail or succeed. I would hope,
so I would. I mean, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Lovely Smith is a good football coach?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, right, right right?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And you gave him one year.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
In one year and you don't give me players, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
That's like here you here's here's a pack of cards.
Here's a pack of playing cards. Yeah, there are no
face cards in here. Go win this pot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I mean does Tomlin or Belichick win seven games with
those rosters? Probably not. It's rough, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That is bad players and then you and then like
one of the reasons I think he got fired was
because they won down that they won.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
A game, Like that's the idea that we know he's
getting fired. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Uh. Stroud, of course they've drafted. Stroud is arguably the
most polished pocket passer Houston's had since the initial emergence
of Deshaun Watson. That's not saying a whole.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Lot, no, I mean, you're compared to yourself, to Davis
mill yea and these type of dude.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
They're former Pro Bowl starter. But he set to work
with a makeshift offensive line and receiving corps as a rookie.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Like Sather, the line's not so terrible now, I mean
Shack Mason huntsl I mean, it's I think they're mirroring
respectability on offense where they were laughingstock before. I mean
it's still not good.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Not good.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
It's not good. Yeah, I mean it's not a great
environment for Stroud to succeed, and I don't think he
will this year.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
No, I don't think so either, Yeah, which leads us
to Watson. Watson, meanwhile, is facing pressure to deliver in
Cleveland after the Browns made a startling investment in the
quarterback last offseason, acquired in a blockbuster trade, then signed
to a record two hundred and thirty million fully guaranteed
contract despite sitting out the twenty twenty two season facing
dozens of civil lawsuits alleging off the field misconduct. The
(18:50):
quarterback was off target after returning from an eleven game suspension.
Now I was listening it's kind Yeah. I was listening
to a radio show recently and they had a somebody
who covers the Browns, and I believe he's a television
guy in Cleveland. First of all, they tipped it off
because he said, we.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Okay, if anyone ever catches me with that, the police,
it doesn't have my bag.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, it doesn't happen on this show. We don't suit
up for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I don't influence them winning or losing.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
But this guy made. He tried to make the point
that Watson isn't worried about going to prison, so this
year is going to be so much better. He wasn't
going to prison. That was never on the teable table, right,
all right. He was facing civil lawsuits, which is a
much different thing. You're not facing prison time. It's got
how much is this gonna cost me?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
A basically what it was. It's a change of it.
It's a hard situation for Deshaun Watson. I mean dismiss
what he did or didn't do, you know, to all
these allegations. That was a hard, hard situation to succeed it.
I mean, he hadn't played football on a field for
seven hundred days, you're on a new team, you have
massive distractions. But it was a miserable failure.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
It was awful.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It was a miserable fail.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Anybody looked at what Deshaun Watson did last year and thought, oh,
this is pretty.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Good, right, or it's okay, I can work with it, right.
I mean, is there is there a more pivotal player
in the league right now? I mean maybe Aaron Rodgers.
Maybe Aaron Rodgers. I mean so many teams are talking
that you gave up so much to go get Yeah,
I mean Lamar is in that conversation now, I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
At least he was part of that team, right right, right.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But the Browns, as much as any organization in the league,
will sink or swim with that decision because everything is
so huge.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Right right, the draft picks the right everything.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
And not to mention, you probably lost some fans and
you know it's not a good one, you know, right.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Uh. Cleveland may face one of the steepest competitions for
a division title this year. Besides the reigning AFC runner
up in the Bengals, the AFC North features the Steelers,
who haven't been a losing season in twenty years for
that and the Ravens, who made the playoffs in twenty
two despite Margot Jackson missing the final five games of
the season due to injury.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And the Bengals aren't too sappy either.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Well, they said, yeah, yeah, this this division is gonna
be I mean.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
It's rough, it really is. So yesterday's podcast that I
do we did who could be worse the first and
I said the Browns and Jets of the of the
of the fourth place teams are probably the they have
that toughest, but they have the brutalist, yeah, toughest way
to get there. I mean, say what you want about
(21:34):
the Patriots, They're not going anywhere. They're gonna be hard
to play against. It the East, and that's probably the
easiest team in either division, you know what I mean. So,
I mean we were really stretching it a little bit
for content too, But like, can any of these worst
place teams win the Super Bowl this year? I said
maybe the Browns and Jets.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I don't see it.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I mean, that's a tough story to sell to your editor.
But I think the Bears.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did. The Bears finish lesson they.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Were I couldn't go there. My partner Peacock was all
over the Bears.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I think the Bears have a much better chance to
win the division based on the division that they play it.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That was his argument too, Like, I think the Vikings are.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Bad, right, but we don't know what the Packers are
going to be, right. We don't trust the Lions.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
But boy, look at the Bears d line and and
it's bad.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But if Justin could, I could paint a picture where
Justin Fields comes out, lights the world on fire.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
They got DJ Moore, the offense could be much better
this year and they win nine games.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
In his argument, which I agreed with, which is kind
of where you're going to, is what if they have
thirty eight minutes a time of possession, which they could,
they could make that defense a little easier job.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, Baltimore is betting big on Jackson, extending the former
MVP this offseason with a two hundred and sixty million
dollars deal that makes him the highest paid quarterback in
the NFL. While Jackson is an electric athlete with two
thousand yard rushing seasons and great arm talent, he hasn't
played a full season since his twenty eighteen rookie year
(22:59):
and it's just one and three into playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and I wish I had the numbers in front
of me. But Lamar, Kyler, To and Baker they're all
small and they all don't hold up throughout the course
of the year. Which I use this argument for not
drafting young first overall because he's smaller than all of them.
But to me, that's my concern about Lamar more so
(23:21):
than can he thrive in a heavier pass volume? Yeah,
that doesn't worry. He could throw, He's a really good player. Yeah,
and then I also think, you know, bad decisions are
made with should we fire this coach or should we
move on from his quarterback? And the answer really is yes.
But you're like, what else is out there? We can't
live with? What's that? That's a bad way to do business.
(23:43):
But in this case, you had to bring him back,
you know what I mean too, You had to You
didn't have another option. You didn't have another option. It's worked.
You've won a lot of games, you know, I mean,
I mean their success rate with him is so much
better than with that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
They signed that deal right before the draft, now had
they known the draft was going to go the way
that it did.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I mean, still, do you want to go down the
Leves round?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, you're gonna get down the Leves run unless you
wanted to trade up and you know you're gonna trade
next year's first round draft pick to go get a
different you know, one of these other quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I mean, Lamar a is still young. I mean, I
still don't one percent understand why the Falcons and Commanders
and maybe even others just didn't go after Lamar or Indy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You know, the Ravens haven't at least improved supporting cast
for Jackson, signing Odell Beckham, spending first round pick Onse
Flowers out wide. The real X factor of them besides
a physical defense headlined by Rokwe Smith, I don't know
that it is a physical defense. Question about the defense,
I disagree with that statement the defense. If we're looking
(24:45):
at it from top to bottom, Baltimore's defense might be
the worst defense in the AFC North.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I think it is. The Browns have an argument, but
the brownsk line is so much better than the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
The Brons have a pass rush.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, the Ravens don't have a pass they don't have
a pass rush, and I think their the tackles are
really really weak.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
They basically get Baltimore or they've got Cleveland's defense from last.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Year without Miles Garrett. Yeah, without I mean, they're counting.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
On one of these of these guys that they've drafted,
that they took a chance on. It was hurt turning
into that.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I know, I know they did very little de tackle
and that hope is not a plan. No, no, And
the biggest route for the issues with the Ravens is
they have not drafted well in five years. Yes, despite
making a lot of.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Picks basically since the Costa took over.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, it's pretty close. Yeah, I mean really since the
Lamar Draft, it's been not so great first round picks everywhere.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
The Steelers still lean heavily on their defense, of course,
which is part of the course unders under Mike Tomlin.
Dominant edge rusher TJ Watch justifies that approach. But Kenny
Pikett has an underrated skill group this year, with Alan
Robinson joining Naujie Harris, Deontay Johnson, George Pickens, and.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Pat Fryarmouth amongst others.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Amongst others. Yeah, we we just so you know, Jayleen
more like he's gonna have a I don't.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Think people realize how good he is, you know. I
mean you talk about last year's draft, Lass was great,
but the best value just walked past for what they
gots I undrafted free agent. I mean, he is a
really good receiver. He has some explosive trades and we
I mean this is a sort of a redundant conversation,
but the skill guys now of what they can throw
out in four receiver sets, three tight end sets, you know,
(26:28):
extra offensive lineman, those five you can play around with
is better than I can remember.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah. Bengals head coach Dach Taylor has overseen an improved
record in three straight seasons. Since his two and fourteen
debut in twenty nineteen, Cincinnati has played seven playoff games,
advancing to one Super Bowl. The team is a top
five favorite to win the next Lombardi Trophy this year
per Caesars Sportsbook. But do we trust Zach Taylor?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I don't either.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
He's a guy I'm really hard on, not just because
he's in the division. And so I was listened to
a fantasy podcast on the way down here that was
just about the Bengals are going team by team. It's
Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life site, and it's a very good podcast.
They really dig into every offense and basically what they said,
only metric wise, they're not really impressed with the Bengals.
(27:18):
You know, the execution is great, the quarterback is a
great quarterback, covers up a lot of words, yeah and this,
and I mean there's great players, but like they're at
the bottom of the league in motion and play action.
They don't vary their who's on the field very much.
And it's working. So you know, shut up, Matt shows
to be just better, but he's not out coaching people.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
It's in some elecution. Yeah, it's it's a very execution
based and they've been fortunate. Can they stay fortunate when
they have to start paying these guys, That's.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The real question to me. You can't go get the
Orlando Brown next offseason, or you know, Higgins might not
be around and those type of things. I think Burrough's phenomenal,
So I think he's going to be a great the
odorant and already is.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, it's unclear if Anthony Richardson will open his rookie
season as Indy starter, putting an official undo the Colt's
recent annual tradition of trotting out veterans stop gaps. Yeah,
that's been the most bizarre thing in the league the
last half decade, revolving right quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts,
(28:23):
who for such a long period of time it was
Peyton Manning and then you'll you had one year of
transition between Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. You had twenty
plus years of Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean, I'm sure people around here don't think about
it much, but I don't even think the national media
addresses the Andrew Luck retirement enough now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I mean he's like thirty two years old. He should
be in the prime of his career.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
He could be the rivaling Mahomes as the best quarterback
in the league for the last five years. I mean,
he was that type of player and almost like a
Ryan shaz Eer injury, Like there was no warning, you know,
like you can be critical of gms that don't prepare
for Hey, Aaron Rodgers is leaving, or Ben's getting old,
blah blah blah blah blah. You know, you see that coming.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Luck.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I think it was like when training camp O was
it during training. It wasn't even like after the season.
I mean it was late in that year. I'm not
coming back, Like wow, I mean that's a bomb.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Now. They had to have had some conversations internally at
the very probably and they probably looked at and said, well,
he's twenty eight years old, he's coming back.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Who retires at that age? Jim Brown, I mean right, right, right,
I mean that just doesn't happen. And he said, the
heck with it. Yeah, it's a franchise shattering movie.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
That's a good point by you. It is very much
like the Steelers with Ryan Chasey.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, so you can't see that coming, you know, I mean,
he's just you can't plan for that, right, And it's
the first overall pick who's already one of the best
quarterbacks of the league. With all respect to Ryan, he's
a linebacker, you know what I mean, he's not the
best player in the league or you know, almost impossible
to replace. But then to your point, well, we'll hire
Rivers for a year, We'll trade for Wentz for a year,
you know, with Ryan for a year and Wentz maybe
(30:05):
they thought when they made the deal would be more
than a year, but those others were the definition of
stop gaps. Yeah, I mean, that's a band aid.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Buffalo is coming off back to back years of divisional
round playoff losses, which sounds kind of surprising, yea. Its
defenses also relying on some aging standouts in past rush
Von Miller who suffered a season ending injury in twenty
twenty two, Tredavius White, and Jordan Poyer. You can have
Micah Hyde into that as well.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, and Edmunds is gone. I mean, not that he's
a superstar, but is.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
It outlandish to think that the Bills don't win the
AFC East.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I had two questions for you. Well, one was a statement,
I think their windows closing a lot faster than people think,
that they really missed an opportunity that they're fine years
to succeed. Were the last two or three and they've
been good, but they didn't get it they get there.
I mean, so I would do you agree if I
gave you the rest of the East or the Bill
(31:00):
to win the division? I'll take the field. I think
i'd take the field too, right, I mean, they'll probably
be my pick.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I mean, I still think there's a fifty chance that
the Bills are the champion. Yeah, but I'll take I'll
take door number two. I'll take door number two because
it's and I'm not even like the Patriots aren't even
in that conference.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
It's really just Jets and Dolphins, right, right, right, It's
really just Jets and Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. I mean, honestly, if the Patriots had a different
head coach right now, people be talking about what the
Patriots kind of have top ten draft pick.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, and they still might and they still might, they
still might.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah. Another challenge of the Bill is the increasingly tough
division we just talked about it. Besides the Jets, now
led by Aaron Rodgers, the Dolphins are looking to build
off Mike daniel say coaching debut, and the Patriots score
a perpetually tough defense under Bill Belichick. Those two, I mean,
the AFC North and the AFC East, to me, might
be the two best divisions.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I think they are. Yeah, I think they clearly are.
I'm not sure who number three is, to be honest,
maybe the NFC East.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
They would have an argument.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, but you have to trust the Giants. I don't
trust the Giants.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I don't trust for either one of them.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I think they would be the worst two teams of
the twelve. Potentially maybe the Patriots, Yeah, potentially.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Miami went nine and eight McDaniel's first season. People look
at that season like it was better than that, but
they were nine and eight team. On paper, they might
be one of the most talented teams in the league,
with elite speed in an offense that includes Tyreek Hill,
Jalen Wattle or he moster Devin to Chain, the veteran
d now featuring x Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey also
has a new leader, improving coordinator Vic Fangio. But, as
(32:32):
he mentions in his next bullet, the ultimate X factor
with the Dolphins is the health of two oh tackle Looa.
As we were talking about previously, Mike White, to me
is not the answer is the back. I would have
liked that. I can't. I don't understand. I mean, I'm
not a Teddy Bridgewater fan at all, but at least
he is a proven commodity.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, I will say, I think the league is telling
us that Teddy might be shot.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Or Teddy's looking at this and going on, I'm gonna
I'm I'm gonna play for three million dollars.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I mean I have a lot of a lot
in the bag now way to an injury. I would
have liked to see one tier above Mike White. Yeah,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Andy Dalton would.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Have made say something like that a little more trustworthy
because of the state of to his health, you know,
and their numbers with and without two or night and day.
It's a very Niner quarterback friendly operation. So maybe Mike
White would be in there and be efficient in a
party type way. But I would have liked to see
somebody a notch above.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah. I don't if Mike White had done what Mike
White has done in his career in Atlanta as opposed
to New York. Yeah, nobody's talking about Mike White.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
I mean, really only have one really good game and
it was against a dreadful defense. And he had a
month where he was fine.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
That's not fine. Thrown touchdown, pa, Right, get the team
in the end zone. Right. They didn't score any points.
They moved up and down feel between the twenties. They
didn't score points.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I mean, I know he's not Aaron Rodgers, but the
Jets didn't even consider bringing him back as a stop
gap or a back. He would have been cheap, and
he had been cheap.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Las Vegas has big names, a premium running back spots
or premium spots running back Josh Jacobs, watch receiver DeVante Adams,
Max Crosby and Changel Jones and Tyree Wilson. But Jimmy
Garoppolo has played a full season just once in nine years, right,
nine years.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I think that's a bottom five quarterback situation. Yeah, I
mean in terms of today what they have for the future, right,
I mean, it's not good. And taking a step further,
he's very you know Derbilly is a huge problem with
him as stated here, but he's only played a handful
(34:50):
of games not in a Shanahan system too. You know,
like he's gonna ask to be asked to do a
lot more. I have major doubts how that goes. Like
they might have the first picked the draft. Yeah yeah,
I mean I think they could have that type of season.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All indications are that Sean Payton will attempt to return
Russell Wilson to more of a run heavy, play action attack.
The Broncos spent top dollars on new offensive lineman Mike
McGlinchey and Ben Powers, and are also adding ex Cardinals
defensive lineman Zach Allen in free agency. Wilson can't be
much worse than he was in twenty twenty two. But
even if he doesn't thrive under Peyton, Denver might be
(35:24):
competitive thanks to his steady defense that boasts the return
of the game's top defense two of the game stop
defensive backs, Patrick's Retain and Justin Simmons. But what he
doesn't mention there is Javonte Williams.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
I want nothing to Jewante Williams. I think he's he
had the same Dobbins injury, which just lingers and lingers,
and this is the time of year. You hear some
good things. Oh he's on track, and then camp goes by,
and two weeks in and he hasn't done anything, and
then he's questionab before week one. However, I tend to
agree with that entire statement. I think Russell Wilson's better
(36:00):
than what he showed us last year, and after the
coaching change, he got a little better. You know, I mean,
I am I saying the coach held him back, because even
his last year in Seattle wasn't wonderful. But one of
my favorite people to listen to right now is Nate Tice,
who works with the athletic and he is Mike Tyson's son,
(36:20):
grew up in the game and he was Russell Wilson's
backup at Wisconsin. He's a backup quarterback. And he said, Wilson,
there's a misnomer that Wilson's this athlete, run around guy.
Wilson has always patterned his game off Drew Brees Coincidentally,
their short you know, their pocket passers with good not
insane athleticism. I think that Peyton Wilson and the pride
(36:44):
of those two is going to work out better than
surely last year. Of course, you know, like so I
think there'll be a tough team to beat. I think
they might have her around five hundred.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
No team might be a safer bet to finish last
in There was Division Arizona Cardon. He nailed it a
year after going four and thirteen. Arizonas turning to a
new coach in Jonathan Gannon, and it could be without
quarterback Kyler Murray for an extended stretch.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
So you get a rookie no Kyler, no Hopkins, a
rookie coach on Johnathan Gannon who's a defensive guy right
working with the current backup plan is Colt McCoy who's
thirty seven and coming off of his own injuries. I mean,
they probably will have the worst opening day starter great
quarterback in a league. Gannon not only is he a
(37:35):
rookie head coach, but he comes from a team a
defense that's just loaded with defensive lineman, you know, littered
with them hockey lines of them. Now he takes over
like the worst defensive line in the league. So, I
mean his path to getting the most out of his
defense is really rocky. Here I was looking over my shoulder.
(37:56):
Make sure Aaron Donalds wasn't around, because I said, I
thought might be really bad too. But the Cardinals I
think are the worst in the league.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
They very well maybe Yeah. Speaking of which, the Rams
were gutted by injuries in twenty twenty two, posting one
of the worst records to ever come from a reigning
Super Bowl champion. Yes, as Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cup, Aaron
Donald went down. Coach Sean mcvah should have a more
stable lineup this time around, but plenty of pieces from
their title runner are now gone.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
So I meant to mention that with Denver so Football
Siders does their advanced whatever their injury metric was, and
the Rams and Broncos were two of the most injured
teams in the last ten years. I mean they both
got crushed. Yeah, Denver, I think that's bound to go
back to the meet you know where the Rams a role.
(38:45):
I mean it's his Stafford Cup, you know. Yeah, I
mean I think Donald could have played some of those guys.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, he could have played if it meant Yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Season was kind of shot and some of those guys
cashed out. Now not they cashed out and they just
didn't there's no reason to go back out there last
two weeks or whatever. But they're just so relying on
five guys and this isn't basketball, Yeah right, right right,
that's just a different roster build the team.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
The Steelers open the season with the forty nine. Ers
have been more injury proof, at least under center, with
Kyle Shanahan in charge. After losing both Trey Lance and
Jimmy Garoppolo in twenty twenty two, San Francisco got veteran
level poise from seventh round rookie Brock Purty and re
Dynasty Championship appearance. Now Perty is coming off his own
(39:29):
serious injury, however, and it's Anyone's guests who will open
the season as Kyle Shanahan's new quarterback.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
So the news this is kind of like the Javante
Williams conversation, though, is Perty's going to start throwing soon?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
We're one hundred days out from the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yeah, that's a long way from dealing with Cam Hayward
on the road, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
And if you remember when Ben Roethlisberger was coming off
of his album Yeah Situation, you can remember the first
the first videos of him throwing came up pre OTAs
and he was having workouts on his own and then
they kind of you know, worked him up to it
and he was throwing fully, you know, you know at
(40:12):
mini camp and things of that nature. This guy's not
even throwing a football yet. He's not. He's not gonna
be ready for the start of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I can't believe he will. And would you play him
any preseason snaps if he was ready? I think no.
I don't think he plays one snap of preseason. So
was his first snap since injury going to be Opening
day here with TJ Watt? Yeah, I mean, offensive line
is not not good. His arm was bad to begin with.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Arm.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
He's not super reliant on it, but it's a bad arm.
And this time of year so funny to me. You know,
Jeante Williams is on track or he's doing you know,
perty's throwing. That means he might be throwing a tennis
ball ten yards to his buddy or a NERF ball,
I mean, or it's soft, soft tossing a real football,
(41:03):
you know, like it's a long way from NFL throws
and NFL stuff. You know, Like I wonder what Matthew
Stafford's doing right now? Is he throwing or anything? Yeah,
I mean this time, he never knows about it right right,
this time of year, people are always optimistic, but it's
not usually how it goes so quick. Who do you
think their starter will be? I mean, none of us
have a clue. I mean, I think it's almost thirty
(41:25):
three percent for all three.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
I think he's gonna be Tree, Lance.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
I think it's gonna be Donald. But I'm totally guessing.
I mean, I'm basically taking coin flips here. I think
it's almost a thirty three percent chance of all three
of those guys. Yeah, I just think it's odd or
telling that they grabbed Donald like the second day creacy.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
They want to cover their butts. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty
much it for I mean, there's a lot of good
stuff in this Cody Benjamin piece. I mean a lot
of a lot of it's freehashing, but a lot of
it's you know, just as we were going through here,
things we've talked about. Yeah, yeah, all on one piece.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
That's yeah, kind of get hundred days away thing is
one hundred days away opening to me, you know, I'm
looking at it like, oh, I got a vacation coming up.
Not much talk about the next month and a half
or so. But it's not a league work.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
It's right around the corner.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, can't wait, can't wait one bit. I mean we'll
sit and talk NFL all the time, which is what
we do, stop back and talk. We will be We'll
be back tomorrow. If that is going to do it
for our show today from the upmc rooney Sports Complex. Uh.
He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lalla, you've been
listening here on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine seventy.
(42:34):
Hopefully we get all of our issues. I feel good
about it for tomorrow, feel good about it. Feel good
about tomorrow. We will have some player interviews, things of
that nature, some live player interviews. We were hoping to
do that, but that's going to do it for our
show today. So for CJ here AND's keeping us on
the air, which well has been needed. I'm challenge. Yeah.
We thank you for listening to this edition of the
(42:55):
Drive
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Come hang with Amy Poehler. Each week on her podcast, she'll welcome celebrities and fun people to her studio. They'll share stories about their careers, mutual friends, shared enthusiasms, and most importantly, what's been making them laugh. This podcast is not about trying to make you better or giving advice. Amy just wants to have a good time.