Steelers Preview Show Hour 2

The crew continues to prepare you for Steelers Ravens.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on w dv E Pittsburgh,
brought to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers
by Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits
and by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from
the team at shop dot Steelers dot com. And now
here are your hosts, Merril Hodge, Matt Williamson and Mike Persuda.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome back. Yeah, first start again, so much fun. Let's
do another one. Mike pursuit of Matt Williamson with you on.
Uh yeah, afore mentioned special two hour edition of Steelers Preview.
Meryl Hodge got his carries, but we've still got effective carries.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Nice yards for attempt there.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Meryl takes what's there.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
He takes what's there and gets a little more, and
gets a little more.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yes, it run backwards. Very few tackles for the lost.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
If it's a two yard hole, he gets you four.
If it's a four yard hole, he gets you six.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Picks up the blitz, I mean solid, gotta love it.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Can't have a better feature back than Meryll Hodge. But
we do have another hour for you as we get
you ready for the Steelers and the Ravens. And uh,
if you recall our first segment with Merrilyn mentioned to him, Matt,
I think the town is really that bad way people.
People have taken this losing streak hard. They don't know

(01:21):
what to make of this game there there, dare I.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Say, I think they know what to make of it,
and they don't like it.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Maybe a little a little afraid of the Ravens, a little.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Bit down on the team as a whole right now.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Lost faith in pretty much everything. So I was thinking
to myself, what can we do? This might even I'm
not certain about this, but this might even satisfy the
public service requirements for this station, to kind of give
people a buck up, a jolt of confidence, a little inspiration,

(01:53):
a little feel good as we get ready for you're
psyching me up the playoffs. And I thought, who could
who could do that? And one guy came immediately to mind,
and that is the one and only Billy Gardell. Now,
if you're in Pittsburgh, from Pittsburgh, you know who Billy is.
If you are a regular listener to the DV Morning Show,
you know who Billy is. If you go to games

(02:15):
at Hinesfield Slash Actors Sure Stadium, I know Billy's done
twelve or thirteen terrible tal twirls before the game.

Speaker 5 (02:23):
He is.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
He is a star of stage and screen, and I
think he's lost one game, by the way, when he's
done the terrible towels. It's his record is phenomenal about
Ben Roethlisberger. Lake during Ben's rookie year, Yeah, some real
good juju. And we had Billy on the Morning show
this week and he too, since that people were a

(02:46):
little down, so he decided to get well, you know
when they're Matt. There's some famous pep talks over the years.
There's there's Herb Brooks, there's Newt Rockney, and now well
there's Billy Gardell.

Speaker 6 (03:02):
So I got to think, and if I was Tomlin,
how would I inspire this team after four losses?

Speaker 5 (03:09):
And here's what I would do.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
I would give everybody the first day an extra day off,
and I would say go home and be with your families.
And if you don't have a family, get with a
guy who's got a family and heal up and eat
your favorite food and sit with your family and be
grateful because when we come in here, I'm gonna grind

(03:33):
you down to a nub so that we leave nothing
nothing on the field, and we use everything that's left
in the tank. Then when they came in, I would
put them all in the film room and shut the
lights off, and the first thing I would run is
John Facenda saying there are twenty eight football teams in
the National Football League, and then there are the Pittsburgh Steelers.

(03:57):
And then I would run the full call of Myron
Cope with the immaculate Reception. And then I would run
Bettie and Ben and believe me, this team wasn't nothing
to look at the year they went from a six seed,
the first team ever to go from a six seed
to Super Bowl champions. Then I would cross the wires.

(04:19):
I would show a Stanley Cup with Mario. Then I
would run the nineteen seventy nine World Series when we
were down three to one to Baltimore, and then I
would close it with Bob Prince's words of we got
them right where we won them. Pittsburgh is not pretty.

(04:41):
We don't do it pretty. Yeah, there's stuff wrong. Pipes
are leacoln, stuff is popping out of the wall. The
rufus rickety Okay, yeah, I get that. It's right, Pickens.
I don't know what you're doing, but get it together.
This is one game. We got, one game against the
arch enemy. This is like Batman being all cut up

(05:03):
in the Joker waiting for him in the alley. Okay,
that's what this is. But we got conditions, and we
play well in conditions we're not supposed to win, and
we play well when we're not supposed to win. So
I don't know what's gonna happen on Saturday, but this
is my last Steeler game as far as I know,

(05:24):
and I'm gonna root with everything I have against a
team that I truly hate. Okay, And there would be
nothing nothing sweeter in my life than to watch a
sour look on Harboss face as they go home very quietly.
I don't know what's going to happen, but I can
tell you this. I'm gonna show up, and I hope
my Steelers show up. And that's where I sit with that.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
I love that cause.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right now, me too, love it. Yeah, And you know
I it's not a layup, and it's far from it.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
No doubt, really good football play it.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
But you know, get upset after they lose. You don't
have to jump ahead of it. You don't have to
beat the Christmas rush. Christmas is over. Go into it
optimistic as a fan, Go into it for your team. Yeah,
figure out a way that you think it can happen,
and root for that to happen. Enjoy it. It's entertainment.
Get excited to see it.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, it's a perk. I mean, like.

Speaker 7 (06:24):
To quote Billy, you know, go hang with your family
for this day or two, and then get geared up
for Saturday. Let's go, because we're gonna grind it to
a nub as a fan base, as media folks, as analysts,
and as a football team.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah. And here's another reason for optimism, Matt. These two
teams just played in December. Here's who Pittsburgh didn't have
available right right, justin fields. George Pickens, Deshaun Elliott, Dante Jackson,
and Larry Ogin Jobie and lost Porter mid game, lost
Porter mid game. Here's who the Ravens didn't have available.

(06:57):
Quarterback Jalen armor Davis not a factor. Guy wide receiver
Nelson Aguilar.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
He's a third receiver.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
He looked good here but he's not a key guy
for them. Safety Marcus Williams, who they benched, that's on purpose,
right running back Keaton Mitchell, outside linebacker Isaac. I forgot
his first name and my depth charge.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
That is Isaac the Penn State dude.

Speaker 7 (07:24):
Yeah, not a no, he's a special team or not
a killer guy and a center who hasn't played all season.
Nick Saymac Yeah, and Aguilar is one of the only
names there people might know. He's get forced into action
as the number two I would presume in this game,
which is fine by me. I mean he is not
a difference maker either, so clearly it's.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
A desa Isaac. I'm sorry, Yeah, okay, Isaac blanked out right.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Much different human beings playing this game than the last one.
And this is true.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
You heard Billy reference George Pickens. We haven't gotten around
to talking about him yet. It is obviously he's been
not what anybody has wanted. Either a couple of games
he missed to injury or his play against Kansas City
and Cincinnati has not been what the Steelers have.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Needed since he was disturbing.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
I think this guy's a wild card, Matt, but much
like the team as a whole I've seen him do it,
and when he does it, well, it's something to see.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
It's something to see.

Speaker 7 (08:22):
I think he's as important as a players or is
in this game, and he's capable of being, if not
number one, one of the best players on the field.
And if he is, they'll be in it. And even
if that's just drawing defensive pass interferences or making sure
Hamilton's always on his side and open up run lanes
because of his presence, but he's capable of being a

(08:42):
real difference maker. And we go a long way.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
What do you think is he gonna be the guy
that he was while they were going six and one
in Russell Wilson's first seven starts. He's going to be
the guy we saw against the Bengals six targets, one catch,
zero yards.

Speaker 7 (08:58):
Well, I'm kind of going with our body, Merrill. You know,
a highly talented player that got embarrassed, you know, usually
comes back really strong. And I'll be the first to
admit Picking seems very volatile on the field, and you
know there's some immaturity and there's work to be done,
but he sure seems competitive too, and I think he

(09:20):
got embarrassed and the talent is off the charts.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
I would expect him to be at least much better.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
They went to him early against the Bengals through that
flanker screen, which was his one catch for zero yards.
Would you expect that again just to kind.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
Of get him in but even more Yeah, I mean
after that it was a little bit of a drought
till he got the ball again. And I know they
didn't run a lot of plays in the first half,
and there was a lot of three and outs, and yeah,
there's only so many balls to go around. But I
think he's catching bubble screens, quick slants.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Get him involved early, get him very into the game,
you know the age.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
This is one of those situations. To me, your guys
are your guys. Yeah, and all teams are imperfect, certainly
this one is. But sure this is one you trust him,
you trust Russell Wilson, and you live with the results. Right.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
I agree.

Speaker 7 (10:06):
I also think you're gonna see a spike in Mike Williams. Yeah,
bring big bodies out there, and if he's one on one,
I think he's earned more time.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Interesting. Uh, We've still got a lot more to get
to before we close the showdown tonight, So you're gonna
want to keep it. Here with Matt Williamson on Mike Persuda,
this is a special two hour edition of Steelers Preview
as we get you ready for Saturday night's playoff opener,
the Steelers at the Baltimore Ravens right here on your

(10:34):
Steelers Flagship one of two point five DVE and the
Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Welcome back, two hour special edition of Steelers Preview right
here on your Steelers Flagship one of two point five
DVE and the Steelers Audio Network rolls on Mike Pursuda
and Matt Williamson getting you ready for the Steelers and
the Ravens on Saturday Night. Of course, Matt, one of
the interesting dynamics of this season. The Steelers are on

(11:07):
hard knocks for the pretty crazy. And not only are
they on hard knocks, but the rest of the division
is on hard knocks, the AFC North Hard Knocks.

Speaker 7 (11:16):
I've enjoyed it, have you? Have you watched it traditionally? Yes,
I've always watched it. I've watched every one of these.
I'm trying to get my wife to actually pay attention
like I worked in that Browns Building for a year,
if you be honest.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
She doesn't care. I go down that Steelers building a bunch.
She doesn't care. But I think it's cool. I think
it's really well done.

Speaker 7 (11:35):
I actually went to high school with the gentleman in
charge of the whole project, Keith Cosbro.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
He's has a bang up job, so good stuff.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I've always been a fan, and uh, you know,
my wife's always found it strange. Every July I go
away to training camp and stay at Saint Vincent College
Orunda Trope close by, and then you get a rare
off day and I come home and I turn on Hard.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Knocks and watch all football.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
My wife says, weren't you just at a training camp?
And I said yes, And now you're watching other people
at a training camp. I'm like, yeah, well wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
I absolutely right.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's it's been really entertaining. What's what's got your attention
about what we've seen so far this year.

Speaker 7 (12:16):
I like Baltimore's facility bricking nice city. I mean it
kind of looks old school. I think that's pretty cool.
Burrow to me is super impressive, just the way he
holds himself and frankly Tomlin I think kind of steals
the show, you know.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Question.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
You know, I know the Steelers weren't necessarily campaigning to
be on this program.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Sure it's not their favorite thing, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
But I have thought for years, and you've been to camp, right,
and you've seen him in his element on a field,
coach and ball.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
I always thought, behind the scenes, you know, people could get.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
A different glimpse of him other than a Tuesday at
noon or after a game, he would he would be
a media star.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
I think so too.

Speaker 7 (12:58):
I mean, imagine if he was a guy in the
games or whatever, you know, or doing media or pregame
shows or whatever, how enjoyable he'd be. If he actually
could tell us some of the secrets too, you know,
and all the stuff he knows, all the people he knows, right.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know, He's won a super Bowl, he's been to another.
His record is what it is. But what amazes me
every year about Mike Tomlin, and this year is no different,
is his his passion for the game. Yeah, and how
he is just so completely invested in doing what he does.

Speaker 7 (13:27):
Draft stuff, free agent stuff. I mean, it's not like
the season's over, I'm going home, I'm done. I mean
and how well he treats, understands the players and commands
the room and all those type of things.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
It all shows up well in hard Knocks.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
So no surprise that he's coming off in a good light.
But yeah, it was interesting to me, if not surprising.
We had some people in from NFL Films with the
DV Morning Show this week and they propably going.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
To show up on the next episode.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Oh no, I'm not. They did this a couple of
weeks ago before. I forget which game it was, but
they like to get a little radio banner going from
each prospective city. And one of the persons who visited
this week, Aaron O'Toole of NFL Films, was kind enough
to surnown with us after they filmed what they needed
to film. Because my colleague Randy Bauman, and my buddy

(14:22):
Bill Crawford who's also on the show, and even Abby Chrisner,
the fourth member of our group, we're all fascinated by
the show and by NFL Films in general and how
they do what they do. So let's let let's let
Aeron O'Toole of NFL Films explain how they do what
they do to the DV Morning show.

Speaker 8 (14:44):
We thought it'd be really cool to have Aeron O'Toole
join us. She was here this morning with NFL films
and anticipation of Saturday nights prime playoff game in Baltimore,
and they bounce around to the collective radio stations. You know,
they did this when we played the Brown in the
snow Globe game last month. Aaron, thanks for being willing
to talk with us, But it was so fascinating hearing

(15:07):
you talk about the difficulties the challenge of Hard Knocks
AFC North in season.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
How do you.

Speaker 8 (15:16):
Guys approach four teams in season and then sort of
thread that all together.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
What's it look like?

Speaker 9 (15:25):
Well? I have to say, first of all, the people
who work on that show are just the absolute hardest
working people in sports. But you know, it was a
challenge to figure out how to cover four teams this season,
and I think everybody has done a really good job
figuring that out. It's just you need resources. You got
to throw a lot of people and money each team,

(15:46):
and you've got to cover four times the amount of
content than you would for one team, and you're still
turning around all that footage and getting it on the
air on a weekly basis.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
Are you a part of any of those teams?

Speaker 9 (15:58):
No, No, I'm not a part of it any of
those teams. But the people who are they've been you know,
they've been on site since November, you know, day in,
day out, filming all day every day with those teams
really embedded with them.

Speaker 8 (16:10):
So what is the collective amount of footage, like on
average that they have to call through to whittle down
to the hour long show we see each week.

Speaker 9 (16:20):
Well, they've always said, you know, for the Hard Knocks
training camp in the summer, that for every hour of
footage you see on TV every week, it's about three
hundred plus hours of footage that you don't get to see.
So it's not sure what that'll net out to be
hours wise with four different teams, but as you can imagine,
it's it's it's a lot.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
What happens with all that footage that doesn't make.

Speaker 9 (16:42):
The air it's in our vault.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, it just gets archives.

Speaker 9 (16:49):
Potentially if you know especially, I mean that's what is
so special about NFL films or the history of the NFL.
So you know, if we're doing a football life or
something on teach Watch, someday we might be able to
pull out some great archival footage of TJ that we shot,
you know, this season during Hard Knocks.

Speaker 8 (17:07):
I would imagine in the digital age, it is so
much easier to catalog all that Bee role than it
used to be. That you know, the you know, hashtags
for all of the potential clips make it way easier
than back in the old day of like like literally,
you guys are writing on canisters.

Speaker 5 (17:24):
Yes, that's what's on this.

Speaker 9 (17:26):
Yeah, I mean that's probably my favorite area of our
building in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, is our film vault.
We have about I believe one hundred million feet of film,
and our film vault we stopped you know, using film
about ten years ago, so that's just you know, up

(17:46):
until twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen. But yeah, I believe it
equates to nineteen thousand miles of film.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
You know.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
I've been in the locker room since you guys showed up,
and the only thing you really noticed they set up
a couple of trailers into parking lot, Yes, which made
parking a problem, but you don't notice during the.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
Day to day ops.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Have you gotten any feedback from the teams about, oh,
this was way less intrusive than we thought, or.

Speaker 9 (18:10):
Well, that's the point we want to blend in. We
want business to be gone about as normal while we're there.
I mean we're there, as we like to say, fly
on the wall. We just want to be a fly
on the wall and capture what's actually happening to tell
the real story of the season.

Speaker 8 (18:26):
I would imagine that the most difficult part each week,
and you may have only heard the second hand, is
from the people who are working with the perspective team.
You say, there's two show runners for two teams. So
there's two total who are each handling two teams, right, Yeah.

Speaker 9 (18:43):
I mean there's a whole team of people, but generally
they yeah, they do split it up.

Speaker 8 (18:47):
How how lengthy and challenging are the I won't say fights,
but the discussions to include what they think is the
most important like storyline. Yeah, because I would imagine, you know,
there's limited amount of time and somebody has to make
the decision that says, no, we don't have time for that.

(19:09):
Like there was noticeable lack of George Pickens stuff of
drama in the first couple.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Of that stuff didn't make it.

Speaker 8 (19:15):
And if you were, you know, needing some content. There
was plenty of stuff there that doesn't get touched. So
when you're following your respective team, each one of the
fan bases of these four teams is probably coming away
each week thinking, oh, well, they didn't.

Speaker 5 (19:29):
Talk about this, and they did talk about that, and
they did talk about that. But you can't that's.

Speaker 9 (19:33):
The struggle, right, There's four different storylines you have to tell,
but it's the same same amount of time, so you
know a lot of stuff is going to end up
on the cutting room floor.

Speaker 10 (19:42):
How much of that stuff are you guys pre figuring out?
Like the Porter storyline where Joey Porter and his dad,
two guys that both played for the Steelers, Like some
of that stuff seems like you could have had a
few meetings before the season started.

Speaker 9 (19:58):
Oh, they meet for week months on end. The producers,
the producers who are going to be you know, putting
together the show back in NFL films, and the infield directors.
They're constantly in communication. I mean, you have to be
in order to stay on top of the storylines that
are developing in real time in the field, you know.

(20:18):
And that's the thing. There's what they say about best
laid plans, you know, you can't predict how a season
is going to go. An injury or you know, anything
could happen at any time that's just going to derail
everything you thought was going to happen.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
What does your week to week job look like?

Speaker 9 (20:34):
My week to week job. So I'm a generally, I'm
a talent producer NFL films, so it really depends. It's
project based what I'm working on. So right now I've
been working on this and then on the Top one
hundred show. I don't know if you're familiar with that,
but right now we're doing our balloting for the series,
and that's how the list gets made. So I go

(20:56):
to all the teams and you know, do the ballots
and interviews with all the players team generally, so this
time of year, I'm generally on the road quite a bit.

Speaker 8 (21:05):
Now, I would imagine that it's a mixed bag that
leans more towards excited to see you from the players.

Speaker 5 (21:13):
I'm sure there are some who are like, yeah.

Speaker 8 (21:15):
I don't just leave me alone, But there are also
other players who revere NFL films and understand the history
of it, the impact and things like that, and so
they love having it.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
There is the balance more kind of on that side
of them.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (21:28):
Absolutely.

Speaker 9 (21:30):
I mean a lot of people know what NFL film
stands for in the football world, and that's a really
great thing to be a part of. And then just
being a part of Top one hundred for the last
ten years, especially not with these younger guys in the league.
They grew up watching that show and wanting to be
on that list one day, which makes me feel incredibly
old because I'm like, so, I've been doing this since

(21:52):
you were twelve.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
But guys, son of a guy I used to come.

Speaker 10 (22:00):
So I would think that the crankiest people that you
have to deal with is the coaches, Like they don't
want to open their room up and their game plans
or like Mike Tomlin or has been pretty outspoken about
not wanting to have cameras in the locker room.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Is that true? Does that bear out?

Speaker 9 (22:20):
I think? I mean, coaches are obviously going to be
really protective of their teams and their game planning and
their staff and what they're doing. But I think that's
you know, another thing is with NFL films, there comes
a certain level of trust. We're here to work with you,
we're part of the league. We want to tell your story,
but we're also not going to air out your secret.

Speaker 5 (22:43):
How long have you been at NFL Films a.

Speaker 9 (22:45):
Little over ten years.

Speaker 5 (22:46):
How did you get into working with NFL Films?

Speaker 9 (22:48):
I started as an intern where'd you call it? I
went to Penn State?

Speaker 8 (22:53):
Okays you and then you just ended up getting an
internship there.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
What was your major?

Speaker 9 (22:59):
Communications?

Speaker 5 (22:59):
Okay, that's that's so cool.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
Does NFL film still have interns?

Speaker 9 (23:03):
Sure? I actually I help run the program, internship program.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Would you come run on here? We still love having Our.

Speaker 9 (23:11):
Internship program is great. A lot of our employees are
former interns, and that's.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
How it was here.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
I was an intern, but no.

Speaker 11 (23:21):
When she was talking about even just like the film,
the actual film and the preservation of that, the first
thought I had was, what an incredible internship program to
get even like the opportunity if you were even responsible
for any way of like being part of digitizing that
stuff and making sure that, like you know, you could
get to preserve that stuff, because you would get such

(23:44):
a lesson.

Speaker 9 (23:46):
In the history of the NFL.

Speaker 11 (23:48):
Oh my god, that would be incredible just to see it.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Were you always a huge football fan?

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Though?

Speaker 9 (23:53):
I was definitely a huge football fan. I mean, it
was a big reason why I decided to go to
Penn State. I wanted to go to a big football
school from originally I'm from the Philadelphia area.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
East side of the state. Person, well, you guys are
doing okay over there, so you where your Eagles fandom proudly?

Speaker 9 (24:08):
I mean, yeah, I'm an Eagles fan, but I always
say I'm a fan of whatever team. I'm gonna need
something from the following.

Speaker 10 (24:16):
I mean, for the in season hard Knocksallas. You really
can have drawn it up any better? No, Now these
two teams are in the playoffs.

Speaker 9 (24:24):
The playoffs facing each other. Yeah, you can't. You can't
write a better story than this.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
So that'll be the finale.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
We'll see Or do you just follow whatever.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
AFC North team.

Speaker 9 (24:37):
We're gonna Yeah, we'll keep following.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Wow, So we'll see you next week then hopefully right.

Speaker 8 (24:45):
When you guys shoot this on video, Like all the
stuff is on video, right?

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (24:52):
Well we shoot it on card.

Speaker 8 (24:54):
Okay, right, But is there something in production that you
try to emulate the felt films film tone? Like are
you putting a Nashville filter on it?

Speaker 5 (25:04):
Type thing?

Speaker 9 (25:06):
Well, so everything we shoot, we shoot and log and
then we have an amazing post production color grading, color correction,
video editing team, and you know, they they really punch
it up for us and make it look amazing.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
How much has drone usage changed what you do?

Speaker 9 (25:23):
I mean, it's only enhanced what we do, I think.

Speaker 8 (25:25):
I mean the shot that I don't know who was
in charge of, the one in the Cowboys stadium, Yeah.

Speaker 9 (25:29):
That was incredible right.

Speaker 8 (25:33):
On tire for Yeah, that was one of the coolest
engineered things I've ever seen on television.

Speaker 9 (25:39):
We worked with a specific company for that one, but
I mean, yeah, that was that was incredible, and it
certainly went viral and a lot of people were really
blown away by it.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Do you have a favorite personality or moment or anything
throughout this process that really resonated with you so far.

Speaker 9 (25:59):
Justin in my career in general, or.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
In the Hard Knocksters, like oh, I didn't know Mike
Tomlin was like that, or I didn't think.

Speaker 9 (26:05):
I just think it's really nice to see like how
different each of these teams are, about how special they are,
Like I think coming away from the series, like how
do you not want to play for Coach Tomlin? Like
he's he's a great coach, but I would I would
say just. I mean, I'm biased, but I like it all.
I can't get enough of it all.

Speaker 5 (26:26):
Right, who's going to win the audible?

Speaker 9 (26:28):
Well, Penn State's gonna obviously obviously. I mean, I don't
understand how we're underdogs, but I think they're going to win.
To I do, I mean, I have I have flights
in a hotel booked in Atlanta. I don't know if
that's too presumptuous, but I do.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
Really, I just wanted.

Speaker 9 (26:43):
To get ahead of it. I booked it a couple
of weeks ago. I don't know if I'm confident, I'm
just delusional.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
Do you like James Franklin?

Speaker 9 (26:51):
I mean I do. I like him a lot if
he wins.

Speaker 5 (26:53):
Us a National Conditions relationship.

Speaker 8 (26:59):
Aaron O'Toole from NFL Films, Thanks for staying and spending
some time with us, and we want to hit.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
The road having me.

Speaker 9 (27:04):
I can't believe you guys wanted to talk to me.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
You're painting the fence for us right now, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Can people take tours of the facility up there?

Speaker 9 (27:13):
Unfortunately we're a closed facility.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
I mean we makes sense, you know, people putting their
greasy fingers on the sta.

Speaker 9 (27:22):
A film is locked down and preserved, it is probably
that's probably our safest room in the building.

Speaker 5 (27:27):
What is the expense to store that every year?

Speaker 9 (27:31):
I can't imagine. I can't imagine either.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
Because the film has to be in a cool space.

Speaker 9 (27:36):
Yeah, it's kept temperature control to preserve you know, it's
preserve the actual film integrity of the film.

Speaker 5 (27:42):
Haven't they just digitized all of it by now yet?

Speaker 9 (27:45):
No, we're still in the process of doing that. That's ongoing,
ongoing for quite some time.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's how much is there's one hundred million feet or something.

Speaker 9 (27:56):
I believe, so, I mean, I don't know the exact number,
but when I give you know, the internship tours, that's
always what's on my fact.

Speaker 5 (28:02):
I'm kind of nerdy about that stuff.

Speaker 8 (28:04):
I'm fascinated with, like how cool it would be to
just like today, I spent eight hours going through footage
of the nineteen seventy five rams, you know, and cataloging
it all, and just.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
I get fascinated the old miked up stuff, the old
coaches that.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
Too, because they have the raw like it's not just
like the produced stuff. It's the raw footage.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
I would love to hear all the hankstramp stuff that
didn't make the cuts. We have all the Gibberan stuff
that didn't make the cut.

Speaker 9 (28:33):
We have the immaculate reception camera in our building. It's
currently the one we used to shoot.

Speaker 5 (28:39):
So you guys have like immortalized that.

Speaker 9 (28:40):
Yeah, it's it's actually a set piece on the inside
the NFL. I think I believe he caught it.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
He did he cut it.

Speaker 9 (28:50):
Of course that's also some Penn State bias coming in
up there.

Speaker 5 (28:53):
You go, Aaron O'told from NFL Films, You're the best.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Thank you so much, welcome back. That was entertainment, in formative,
a lot of stuff. Appreciate Aaron taking the time that
she did with us. I've been an NFL films junking
my whole life.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Oh there was a John Facenda reference earlier. I mean right, yeah,
I used to viral going through the air, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
The day of the Super Bowl. They used to run
all their stuff on the Super bowls. ESPN would run it.
I used to have VHS tapes, remember, I used to
tape all that stuff. Did you have a particular that
you just no matter how many times you see it,
you can't stop watching it.

Speaker 7 (29:33):
I think America's game is tremendous, but I love them,
you know, just one as a kid. As you mentioned
those half hour recap a super Bowl. Here's super Bowl nine,
the Super Bowl ten, and Super Bowl eleven. I would
just never leave the front of television.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
I can't get enough of coaches miked up. Everything from
Hank Stram sixty two, toss Power Trap bus, wide open,
Marve Leedy, you over a fisious jerk. All those old
school guys were just so entertaining.

Speaker 7 (30:03):
I just love the spiral going through the air in
slow motion too. I mean, just how dramatical they made
it all. It's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
The music, the writing of the scripts, and just the
way they put this stuff together. It's no wonder the
NFL is as popular as it is because NFL films
a lot to do it big hand in that. We've
got more to get to before we call it a night.
So keep it here with Matt Williamson Mike Pursuit of
This is a special two hour edition of Steelers Preview

(30:29):
right here on your Steelers Flagship one or two point
five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Back to the Steelers preview show on DVE.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Welcome back, one more segment to go here on our
two hour extravaganza. If you're not yet ready for Steelers
Ravens on Saturday night in Baltimore, Matt, it's not our fault.

Speaker 7 (30:50):
No bringing it two hours at you. Let's go bring
it on home and before.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
We get out of here.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
I wanted to provide a little more feel good and
also rely on one of the guys I work with
every day on the DV morning show, Bill Crawford, to
bring that to you. You know, Matt, we do a segment.
I know you like to sleep late. You live a
life of mostly leisure.

Speaker 7 (31:13):
Quite but yeah, you're not up at six am when
we kick off the morning show.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
But Bill and I wouldn't change gigs with you in
a million years.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
You don't sleep much. But Bill and are calling Randy
Bauman have a feature every week they call Pick six
where they pick six games.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you know there happens to be
six games this week.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Who's gonna win? Oversonders that kind of thing. Bill, who
is a diehard Steelers fan. I'm sure people who listen
to the show are aware he's actually picking the Steelers
this week.

Speaker 10 (31:48):
Everything about this matchup is too much. The point spread
is too much. There's too much on the line, too
much hanging in the balance, too many.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
Legacies at stake.

Speaker 10 (31:57):
It's the first week in January, for my resolution for
peace and tranquility for the new year is about to
get curbs stomped. I don't like this game one bit.
The reward is not as appealing to me as the risk.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Steelers win.

Speaker 10 (32:12):
We all feel exhilarated, relieved, playoff losing streak Monkey is
off our backs. We beat our most hated rival, crush
their Super Bowl hopes and dreams, send their franchise spiraling.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
The city's buzzing Steelers lose.

Speaker 10 (32:27):
It's apocalypse now, a portal to Hell opens up, and
we all as a city collectively ride one of Elon's rockets,
like Doctor Strangelove, right into the brown eye of Satan's beeple.
I'm talking of full blown sports armagedon.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (32:42):
Delete your social media accounts, throw your TVs in the river,
burn your jerseys.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
And move Start somewhere fresh.

Speaker 10 (32:50):
Get some fun hobbies, live a life free from this
eternal torment. Don't subject yourself to the tyranny and be
bound like Prometheus to McKee's having the Steelers eat away
your hearts and your livers year after gut wrenching, souls
sucking year, fanish with the wind or I don't know.
Start watching college volleyball or something. It's pretty exciting. They

(33:13):
cheer after every point, and when your team loses, you
don't feel like your whole central nervous system shuts down.
But regardless of my preference, they're playing this game and
I have to pick a winner. I have no earthly
idea what to expect from this team on offense, and
it's mainly because I don't know what George Pickens is
going to do. He exists in a realm outside of

(33:36):
scheme and play calling and common sense. What he does
isn't on anyone's play sheet. It's not like Russ comes
into the huddle and goes all right, double jump, oat,
stiff arm, hail mary, fistfight backsmack or drop a dude,
want too. He's not calling audibles at the line, like
give up on your route, stop trying, stop trying, figure guns,

(33:58):
figure guns.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Hod ho huh.

Speaker 10 (34:00):
It's not like Broderick Jones is going up to him.
After a penalty and saying, hey, man, don't worry, just
keep complaining to the refs in the middle of a
turnover and go start a fight with the fans. I
saw Arthur Smith speaking with the media yesterday and saying
they weren't gonna leave any stone unturned and they were
gonna burn the boats. Hey, Ardie, you don't need to

(34:21):
overthink this or reinvent the wheel route or go all
Julius Caesar.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Just use your best players.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
Throw it to move every.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Single time until they stop it.

Speaker 10 (34:33):
If Mike Williams makes a great play, throw it to
him again before the fourth quarter. And if you're gonna
burn some boats, make sure it's the ones.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
With the HP.

Speaker 10 (34:43):
Toss to Cordero Patterson and the rollout to Mike cole
pro it. If you're gonna roll russ out, have him
throw it to the small guy who's faster than everyone else,
or the tight end whose nickname is Ma Washington. Even
if it's for three yards and he gets tackled immediately,

(35:05):
he's eight yards long. That's our first down. I'm picking
the Steelers, and not because I think they're gonna win,
but because I don't want to live in a world
where they lose. Take the points if you're a gambler,
take the money line if you're reckless and willing to
lose at all.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
So Good gets a little emotional, but he's picking the balers.
I love the ten points.

Speaker 7 (35:28):
Satan's brown eye. I think it's another did expect that one?

Speaker 2 (35:33):
I think it's another.

Speaker 8 (35:34):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
I think the points are very skewed. Yeah, yeah, I
mean it's just a lot.

Speaker 7 (35:40):
I mean I'm not a betting expert, but I'm sure
people just look at like one team's hot, one team's cold,
they're gonna blow him out. I think there's a lot
more to it than that, including who's on the field
compared to the last game.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Here's another reason I like him. I think this is
gonna be a Justin Fields game. Dude, I think we're
gonna see Justin Fields.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
I thought we wouldn't since guy, so we'd.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
See him a lot more than we have since he
stopped being the starting quarterback.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Now, there wasn't injury for a couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
There were some circumstances, but Arthur Smith, the offense coiner,
has said this week that you know they're not gonna
leave anything in the back. Yeah, Matt. This is a
team that struggles in short yardage, and you got a
guy who's capable running the Reid option, and when he
gets space up the middle or gets to the edge,

(36:29):
I'm here to tell you justin fields is every bit
as dynamic and hold your breath. This guy might go
all the way as Lamar Jackson. He really is.

Speaker 7 (36:37):
I know that we have not seen that in a
Steeler uniform, But the day he became a Steeler, I
said that on the air and I kept saying, guys,
you should see what this guy is like when he
opens it up. And we still haven't seen one of those.
But he's as good a runner. He turns that corner
and he's more physical to tomorrow. He's gonna start stop
as Lamar. But when he opens that stride, he can

(36:58):
really go.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
And the thing I like about it is there's not
a ton of tape on it.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
True, and you can throw the football too. You know,
sure he can.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
You know I'll die on this hill. I thought the
pass to Pickens in Cleveland on the short yard is
played that ended up being in completion. I think that
ball was put exactly where it needed to be. I
think Pickens needed to finish.

Speaker 7 (37:19):
Right, and even like the end of the first half
against the Bengals, first down up under further review, Nope,
you're short three times in a row like fields would
have been useful there.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, So let's see if they can can come up
with a way to incorporate that and maybe expend some drives.
The other thing I wanted to talk about. Then, We've
touched on this a little bit tonight, but this rivalry
pretty awesome. I talk about this every year. The two
games that I look forward to as soon as the

(37:48):
schedule comes out, the ones I circle aren't revenge games.
They aren't Oh, you're playing the champs. Uh, it's it's
Baltimore at Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh at Baltimore.

Speaker 7 (37:58):
I totally get it, and I think the fans recognize it.
But you guys that are at the game all the
time or traveling or near the team certainly understand it.
And I know the last game was on the scoreboard
lopsided by raven Steelers standpoint.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
It was also tied with two minutes left in the
third quarter.

Speaker 7 (38:18):
To just say right, but it was pretty tight. A
lot of the stretch there, and four times the ball
pops out and the Steelers couldn't recover any of them,
you know, like there's some things that could have went differently.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
That leads us into our what to expect segment that's
brought to you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all
about the benefits. I expect a fistfight at the fifty.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
In a close game, and I can't believe this spreads
as big as it is.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
I don't have a lot of details beyond that in
terms of what I expect to happen, but I think
it's gonna be anybody's game in the fourth quarter. I
may it may come down to the final possession, and
if it does, I think Russell Wilson'll be better than
he was against Cincinnati and last, but not least, Matt.

(39:04):
The Steelers have the better kicker.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Oh.

Speaker 7 (39:06):
Special teams is a massive advantage, and the kicker in
particular have brought this up on many of our Thursday shows.
But penalties greatly favor the Steelers. I mean, the Ravens
are the second highest penalized team in the league turnover differential.
I know it hasn't been great for the Steelers lately,
but they're still only behind the Bills in turnover differential

(39:27):
and absolutely special teams. I mean, would it shock anyone
if Killer blocks a kick or something crazy like that too?

Speaker 2 (39:34):
So you know, buckle up this is it's going to
be a typical Steelers Ravens game. I think it's going
to be a great one. Anything gets your attension around
the rest of the nationallygu let's start with the first
game on Saturday, Chargers at the Texas.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
I think it's gonna be a low scoring game. I
don't have a lot of faith in the Texans offense
and offensive line at this point, but not a lot
of firepower.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
I think the Chargers win it.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, I think Chargers are pretty good team.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
I too.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
I really like her, particularly with Dobbin's back. Yeah, it's
a big, big deal for them. Sunday, nice triple header
Denver at Buffalo. I think Denver's had a nice season.
Everybody gets pat on the back and a gold star,
and now it's time to go home. I think Buffalo
has its way with Denver at home.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
I think Denver keeps it close.

Speaker 7 (40:21):
I have a lot of respect for their defense, and
I don't have a lot of respect for Buffalo's defense.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
I'm not calling for the Upsett but I think it's
going to be closer. The people think.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
I got a lot of respect for Josh Allen.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Oh boy.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, Packers at the Eagles four point thirty. I may
pick Philadelphia to win the NFC.

Speaker 7 (40:37):
I might pick them to win it all. I mean,
it looks like Hurts is going to play. I really
like their defense. They're are lines terrific. They're really in
a good spot right now. Green Bay's walking into a buzzsaw.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
The night game the Commanders at the Buccaneers, and that
Buccaneers team has not gotten a lot of national love,
at least not.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
It's a big wins though, as I have went to Detroit.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
But yeah, I think Washington's in a little bit of
the same situation. Has done for a great year. Oh yeah, yeah,
didn't see it coming, rookie quarterback, you know, thanks for stopping.
Please drive home safe.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (41:10):
I don't know what the over under in that game is,
but I'm expecting a lot of points.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Fifty and a half.

Speaker 7 (41:15):
Neither defense is super impressive. I think it's going to
be a fun one.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
And last, but not least, a Monday night game Vikings
at the Rams. Last I've heard it's still in Los Angeles,
it might be in Phoenix. I really like that Rams
team when Puka Nakua and Cooper Cup.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Are health strong.

Speaker 7 (41:31):
I'm not willing to jump off the Vikings bandwagon, though,
after one brutal game, I think Darnold gets it right.
Well coached team close, but I like the Vikes to win.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
I kind of like the Rams, do you. That's another
well coached team, and.

Speaker 7 (41:45):
I hate to bring it up, but you kind of
already did. I don't love that their hometown's going through
a lot of stuff right now. Yeah, I mean, it
just makes prep and everything else a lot of distractions.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
But not to make lighted up. But no, it's not
like they have a great home advantage anyway.

Speaker 7 (42:00):
No, I just mean it's been a weird week at home,
you know, trying to prepare for a game.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
That is going to do it for us. I want
to thank everybody who was a part of the show,
either live or through the magic of tape, particularly a
lot of help tonight, our buddy Merril Hodge, who always
brings it and who knows, maybe we'll do it again
next week. Thanks to Justin Miller for keeping everything running
so smoothly. He had to work twice as hard tonight

(42:26):
with the two deal, And thanks to you for finding us,
however and wherever you found us. If they survive in advance,
we will too, So hopefully.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
My schedule open next Thursday.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Until next week for Matt Williamson on Mike Persuda. This
has been Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers flagship
one of two point five DVE and the Steelers Audio Network.
Good Night everyone,