July 17, 2025 • 27 mins
There’s a lot to get excited about when training camp kicks off in just one week from today. Another rage bait list was released ranking the top defensive units since 2000 and somehow someway the 2008 Steelers were completely left off the list.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
We'll get to the rage bait list in a second,
but we do have training camp just a week away,
moving day on Wednesday. Their first practice will be about
a week and a couple.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Of hour hours now even half hour.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
They shifted back to the afternoon practices this year.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
It's eleven thirty right at this moment, so it's literally
that's true and a half hour a podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
That's a good call.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't say that because it could literally
be like next Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
I mean someone someone could be busy and be listening
to this like next month, That's.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
What I'm saying, and they're like, oh, I thought it
was this week.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's eleven thirty on Thursday, July seventeenth, seventeen.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And it is like it does have that same kind
of feel I think as baseball spring training does. Absolutely
maybe not to the level of just like magic of
spring training, because you've got that summer coming now, and
like you can go outside in short some times now
when spring training starts and it's just like we made
(01:03):
it through the winter, right, Like we survived another winter,
boys and girls, and I get that there's a little
bit more of that kind of romance wrapped up with
spring training. But I'm talking about just like that hope
springs eternal for your team kind of thing where it's
just like, man, this is the NFL, and there is
(01:23):
an example every year of a team that even their
own fan base thinks that they're gonna be kind of
boot bee and they're not. They're actually like fun and
enjoyable and sometimes go on a run. I think last
year Denver was a perfect example of that, Like, you
can't tell me, and I know I didn't because I
thought they would be the worst team in football, But
you can't tell me that that Denver Bronco fan base
(01:45):
last year went into that season with bo Nix, the
guy who was like twenty six years old out of Oregon,
and Sean Payton and what happened with Russell Wilson in
the fallout there, and having no real weapons on the
team on offense and the defense. It's like in Major
League when he's looking at the roster, he's like, who
the freak are these guys? Like you just don't know
who they are other than Pat certain. You can't tell
(02:08):
me that the casual Denver fan, even maybe the hardcore
Denver fan, was.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Like, we're gonna be good this year.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We're gonna sneak up on people, We're gonna surprise people,
gonna be fun. Maybe there's a little bit of that,
But my point is like, when you get to this
point of the year, I'm sure there was a lot
of like, it probably doesn't look too good, but you
should have that hope and that feeling that your team
might do something because you might be this year's Denver Broncos.
(02:34):
You might be that surprise team that isn't just completely awful.
It doesn't even have to be to that level of Denver.
Maybe you could be like Carolina, where it's like you
think that you are going nowhere right, like it is
a rudderless ship, and then all of a sudden, I
might have a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now the sky's part and sun comes out. I could
see me winning the division this year because it's a
weak division that's up for grabs. I don't think they're going.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
To win the division. Something just intervened.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I think you were just getting choked up about No.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I think it's the other way.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I think some Baker Mayfield like you do dolls, like
got me in the neck because he's like, I only.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Win the Yeah, direct path.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But my point is, like, you get to these training
camps to open up, and I think that there should
be more of a sense and there is a sense
around the league of just like, yeah, we might think
this year, but what if? And I think that the
NFL does such a good job with the parody that
it's created that like it it goes from there. Again,
there's always a team that goes from worse to first.
It feels like every year there's a team that does that.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Except for baseball, there's really a great job collectively across
all professional sports.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
For baseball, Baseball is different because it's just like again,
summertime and it's like, well, what if they hit well?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Like, oh, I was just I was saying about the
parody among Oh yeah, there's no parody in baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
But across base I'm sorry, football, basketball, and hockey. If
you have something to get excited for, you're gonna think like, Okay,
my team's at least got a shot.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So who do you think since moving day is Wednesday,
who do you think is gonna who's a good candidate
for to keep on something wacky?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Do something fun?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh, do something fun?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Bring the tank or bring in the hot air balloon
or I don't think anything will be like that.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I think we've seen the wild like that era that's
over now, right, Was it was it Harrison or keysl
who brought the tank?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Rogers used to like like with Green Bay, remember the
year that he dressed up like uh Nick Cage and
conn Air like he drew He wore the tank top
or the the wife beater and the jeans and he
had the like long hair and the mustard like Rogers
might do something.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
He might kind of goofy.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I'm just I'm just really curious to see how he adapts.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
To living in a dorm. Do you think he's gonna
live in a dorm?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Is ab the only guy that didn't have to do
that because Ben did.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It that we know of.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Ben had like I think labsoutely like there's a corner
suite or something like. Don't r a rooms right, like
you know how our rooms are bigger, like they might
have like a couch area.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
They're not putting Tomlin in like a twin bed. No,
he's in an r a room like some kind of
staff room.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Now, I think the ve at or at the hotel.
He might be at tom Actually, Tomlin strikes me as
a guy who's in the in the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Yeah, right, he could be either work, but Rogers will
probably get a big room, bigger room.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I think so that's fair, even though it was
first year on the team.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I wonder if he will stay on campus though, if
he's just like, it's kind of what we do, right,
I'm I'm part of the team, So to me, it's
just easier. He just roll out of bed and go
to the right there, roll out of bed and go
to the practice.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
You gotta drive there if you want to, if you
want to stay off campus.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
How about Tomlin's reasoning to move back in the day
was because it was too cool.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
He wanted to That was the reason he moved it up.
Was because he said, it is just so hot now
and in August. We really just we don't want guys
out there.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Feinting but misses it now. Apparently he.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That sun back out here. Yeah, he wants his players
to fight through it.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I love too that he's the guy that's like, I'm
in long sleeve pants and shirts.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
What's your excuse for being day?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
He's out there and not just what it's black sweatpants
and a black man like a black hat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
At least white would be able to reflect that. No, no, no, no,
he is out there.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I do remember. I think there was one time. It
was preseason, maybe last year.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I remember him in.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
A white long sleeve shirt. I think there was one.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
It was just too oppressive, like it was just like
even for me, I can't do this. This feels like
it's the surface of the sun. But damn it, I'm
still going long sleeves. You won't be able to take
that away from me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
No, And he was still rocking with the black sweatpants
and the black hat too.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Man.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Now we're gonna get all a little sentimental here, but
it is really special like that they still.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Do this today. It's it's very cool.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And let's be very blunt and and upfront.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You had to put a lot of money into Saint
Vincent to get it up to snuff, like they made
a lot of Yeah, if I'm going to a Division
what is it two or three? Is a Division three school?
It might be D three, it might be D three.
If I'm going to a D three school, and those
are my facilities and that's my football field, Oh my God,
they're still.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Not even up to snuff. Really.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I mean, when you think, you remember the polls that
come out, the player polls, and that's the facility at
the south side. But I'm sure the guys who are
voting in the within the organization remember what they had
to deal with.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But as far as a dorm is concerned, that's as
juiced up and as good as it can possibly get.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It is as a dorm a dorm.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
But you're telling any of the facilities that the Sewers
have helped donate in Saint Vincent are as good as
like the facilities at Bama.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
That's my point though, it's just like it's amazing. Now
they have had to, you know, boost it a little bit,
but it's amazing that they still continue this tradition when
everybody trains like Drago now in Rocky four, where it's
just the modern techniques and machines that you can get,
and the Steelers in a lot of ways still are
(08:06):
like Rocky with the beard out chopping the wood right
They're they're out at some remote location in the middle
of Latrope. So it is just such a it's truly
remarkable that they continue to do this that they think
that this is a a tradition that should continue and
it should continue to live on, and it has become
such an event. I mean, I think that's something that
(08:28):
new Steelers rookies and players that come in really I
think get kind of washed over with when they first
start training camp. Is just like there's a lot of
people here, Like this is like every open practice is
like I'm performing in front of like four thousand people almost,
like and it's kind of like a circus carnival atmosphere
like a state fair almost every every day we go
(08:50):
out to practice.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And then Friday Night Lights is just it's.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
A that's something that I think any guy wherever they're
coming from, whether it's a rookie from like a Bama
or an Aaron Rodgers guy, because all these guys played
high school football, they all knew what it was like
to play on Friday nights in front of like a
genuine home crowd, like a high school, high school atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So I really do think like that's the one thing.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
That really sticks out is Friday Night Lights, that that
one practice it brings them I think it just washes
them over with nostaliga.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, Like all of them played
high school football.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Yeah, maybe there's a rare one case, rare rare, but
that's not even like rare for the team. That's like
rare league wide, you know what I mean. It's not
like every team has a guy. That's like the league
has at least one guy. I MEANFL teams.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I mean, when's the last time these guys are when's
the next time you get on.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
A school bus, Like you get on a bus from
the hotel to the stadium in the airport, but those
are chartered buses, like those are nice comfy play things,
but like school bus, like.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Like elementary schoolers are using the same same.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Thing, and you get bust out. Yeah, it feels really fun.
Six year olds are using the same and getting excited
talking about it. We only have to wait a week until.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
You know it's funny because every year when we approach
this time, we're like in the clear, and you're looking
back at the off season and say, oh, do you
remember in March? Do you remember in February, even like
early April, when this whole thing was ahead of us
and we thought, man, it just feels like forever until
we reached the start of the season. And every year
(10:32):
we get to one week out from La trobe and
we're like, great, this is where I.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Want to be. I have the whole season ahead of.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Us, and this year and this has been the case
for a while.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Now it's a reason to get excited.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, there's a lot that matters at this training like
what are they going to do in the defense with
these new acquisitions, how does Rogers blend in? What's the
line look like new running back dk Metcalf.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Like, I guess that's a good point because in years
past and like the Ben era, it was okay, just
get the training camp, get you get your bleep together well,
and then I'm excited for the regular season.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What I was gonna say is, ever since we started
talking really and doing shows like this and becoming, you know,
something new, it's been a matter of a training But
when we were like fans and like you really didn't
have I imagine I wonder what it was like to do
kind of this stuff because it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Was kind of rinse and repeat.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
N as the quarterback he's got dese yeah, like and
especially going back to when they were winning Super Bowls,
like it was just like the team is just you don't.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Need to get concerned with training camp. You need to
get concerned with the start of the regular season and
then get ready for the postseason. But you're right, Ever
since we started doing the show, every year has been
something considerably different from the year prior. And you need
to be a latrobe to see, like what's it gonna
look like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
All you used to have is like the rookies and
how they looked, and then like some minutia like this
guy's gonna be a gunner or this, and.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
You remember too, like we're talking about the Bend situation
being the defining part of this argument. But also to
like the the GM job, like Kevin Colbert like wasn't
making these splashy moves.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
He was doing a good enough job to keep the
team intact.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But there wasn't a gun for hire that would come
in and be like, oh, how's he gonna blend in?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Right, It wasn't like, Okay, well you brought in DK Metcalf.
Last year, you're you're bringing in It seems like they
bring in a new guy almost every year. That's a
huge free agent acquisition. Last year it was Pac Queen.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
And this year is just right right, it's a new
team this year. Basically, Yeah, you mentioned Pat Queen. Did
you see him clock in at the NFL one? I did,
number seventy five.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Honestly, I'm surprised he made the list.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's weird that peers in the league would look at
him higher than Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I'll just say that agreed, just to use that as
kind of like a burrow, because I'm not gonna argue.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I think it's more so of an underrating of Can
than Yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
A little bit of a both, maybe an overrating of too.
I'm not gonna be mad that Pac Queen's in the
top one hundred. Give me all these top one sure,
let me be able to boast that we have top No.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
As I said earlier, it was surprising to see him
on the.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
List, especially ahead of Cam.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Just anywhere on the list, but especially specially ahead of Cam.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, let me ask you this about this before we
get to this bad list.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Does Alex high.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Smith pop up in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I don't feel like he probably would have already, right
like he would have.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Wasn't he wasn't there last year? Right?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And I just think pack Queen gets there because he's
Pack Queen.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Well, he was a second team All Pro, so that
maybe puts him.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
That was two years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He's remember high Smith missed some time this year he did.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I think that if he was going to show up
on the list, it would have been in like the
eighties or something like that, And I think he probably
deserves to be on the list in somewhere. I agree,
in the eighties right around here, like eighties, seventies.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Honestly, like no offensive pack Queen. If I would have
seen high Smith clock in at seventy wherever he came
in at.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I'd be like, I would have felt like my sixty four,
Like I would have been like, am I higher than that?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh? No, I was just thinking for myself my.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Five seventy five.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I would have been like, yeah, well, I'm saying Jacob
Rex's perspective. I would say, hell, yeah, Alex, you got yeah,
like I would. I would feel nothing. If Packhun missed
the list, It'd probably be like, well, that's expected because
he wasn't as good as he was in his.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Last year in Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No, it was a surprising.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Man, I'd be more excited to see high Smith on
the list than seeing the past.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Seen Pat Queen on it, I think more deserving to
be a listen. And honestly, again this kind of just
Heyward's too low. I mean Hayward should be. It's the
top fifty of them. He's a thirty seven year old
defensive line But first, pro get some damn perspective. Know what,
it's the kids, right, it's the damn young whipper snappers
in this league that are voting and they don't appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
He does it again.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
If he gets even like second team All Pro this
year and he's like right around the same area.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I'll throw a fit.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They need to rig the vote.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Then the media guy who collects the votes and puts
it together, and you'd be like, this is but we
all stuff about it.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
We know these guys aren't sitting down and ranking one
through one hundred.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I very much question how much thought goes into the
NFL one hundred. Yeah, And I think you're right, like
most of these guys.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Just do top ten.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I think ten like they show you show you the
anonymous top tens yeaheah. It does make me wonder though,
if there is like a guy like I don't know why.
I just pulling them out of there tabulator George Kittle
that just sits there and he's just like, oh a
football nerd, give me two weeks and really gets you
(15:14):
a hundred of the best players here, and like he's got.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You know, like rough drafts where he scratched.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I forgot about how many.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Scratches it off, Like there's got to be one of
those too.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Right, it's like mob drafting for fantasy football. Like, I'm
sure there are guys in the league that love.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Doing for the millions basically, and that's an exaggeration, hyperbolically speaking,
like almost ninety five percent of them that just basically
autopilot fill it out or don't even do it, or
do top tens. There's gotta be a few of them
that are, like I take they're locked in, super serious, Yeah,
they're locked in.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Who's the number fifty sixth player in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I'm sure to me it's George. This is where George is.
I'm sure there are.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You gotta love the game that you play, right, Look,
I always really wonder that when it comes to athletes,
it's just like.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
How much is it really a job to them? Or
how much is like a passion, like are they a
fan of it? As much as like, is it really
just like a paycheck? Maybe not to that extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There's definitely guys that are like that, but I think
they want to win and they recognize like the greatness
of it, But like are they a fan of like
are they watching games?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Are they well like the history of it?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Sure, there's the greatest case for the how and tuned
are they is?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It is not a football guy, it's a basketball guynkolek
from is he from Serbia?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Serbia. He doesn't care about that.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
He just doesn't care like they. When he was in
his postgame press conference after the Nuggets won the NBA championship,
he was asked about the celebration parade, he goes, what
do you mean parade?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I'm going home. I don't want to celebrate.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That may be more of the extreme end, but I
bet you there's a lot of young guys in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
They they wouldn't even.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
They know who Jordan is, right and like those names,
but they wouldn't be able to like James Worthy. They
might not know how that name is or the greatest.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
One of the greatest teams showtime later.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But like they just they won't have that kind kind
of like knowledge that you get when we sit around
all day and just google things on our phone and
just kind of read up on historically great teams.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know, what's sport?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I think that has the most respect for like the
old and like the history of it.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Well.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I think a great example of that was at the
All Star Game, the Hank Aaron, the Henry Aaron thing
Hank Aaron for passing Baybrew seven fourteen to seven fifteen.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I think, do you see that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I think another local example was when Dave Parker passed
and Nick and Zalez was speaking about how cool was
to wear his number and he would give it up
and retire, and it was just like nickos All shouldn't
know who Dave Parker is unless he actually cares about
the history of baseball and like, who was this guy
called the Cobra that won an MVP and was so
great in the seventies for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Like you
would have to know and at least take it little
(17:46):
bit of time to sit down and read something about
him to know and speak of him that way. So
I think baseball is the sport where that translates the most.
All right, before we wrap up here, let's get mad.
But I'm not mad because I recognize it for what
it is. Yeah, I'm I'm Tom Hardy and mad Max.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
That's bait. I'm that Jeff right now. Okay, you've never
seen that.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I have, but I don't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The ladies are up on the like polls like the
remember Charlie steering to find her old communion and they're
up there and he just looks up.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh that's bait. Oh okay, okay, okay, this is bait.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
So I don't even know who did this, but people
like just took the screenshot and retweeted it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It might have been Pro Football Network. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I don't know who whose it was.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It is the top ten NFL defenses since two thousand.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, it's another quarter century list. So number one is.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The two thousand Baltimore Ravens. I hate the Ravens, but
I get it. They could be number one. Yeah, they
really could be. Right, there's no wiggle room for anybody
to be number two. But the two thousand and eight
Pittsburgh Steelers, like and they're the only team that could
probably do thrown the number one two thousand Baltimore Ravens,
But for some reason number two is the two thousand
and two Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay, good defense, John Gruden,
(18:53):
Derek Brookes, war and Sap. They were beasts n like
Mike Domalin, Mike Thomins over there over there with the
Pampa Bay defense, but like great defense, not better than
the O eight Steelers. Then you got the two thousand
and what year is this nineteen New England Patriots Gilmore
defense joke to be the third best?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
No chance?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Two thousand and six Baltimore Ravens. Okay they what do
they amount to? Nothing but great defense?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Twenty twenty three Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I mean because do you remember what happened to them
in the postseason? Blew their destroyed them, A rookie CJ.
Shroud destroyed them.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And I remember doing this that year.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Like their defensive numbers at the end of the year,
like they were great during the season, but remember that
they like even out to the A lot of the
Steelers numbers were like the same as the defense, like.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
They were good at like bending, but they also broke.
Remember Garrett had his deploy year, so points against was
like eleventh in the league.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Two thousand five Chicago Bears, they went to the Super Bowl.
I mean that was decent defense. Two thousand and eight
Baltimore Ravens. So another Ravens and that's where my that's
where my antenna really went up. That this is rage
but against them for the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
This was the eight Ravens defense.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
See specifically, you're gonna call out the eight Ravens defense.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
And say that they're on this was but not the
defense that year like that won the Super Bowl that year, right,
and funny enough, had one of their worst performances in
that Super Bowl, like got touched up Byner.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
They were on all season loss except for Warner touched
them up.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, although to be fair, they had a fourteen point
swing with James Harrison picking it up.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Oh it was well, let's just say this, it was
like sixty minutes.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
It was forty minutes of great football on defense. It's
just that last twenty.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Warner started hitting it. Yeah, they started heating up.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
But also let's not forget Lamar Woodley caused that fumble
on Kurt Warner to end the game. Yes, like that,
I mean san Antonio Holmes. That's the play that sticks out.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But they got the ball back.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Lamar had to They had to stop Warner, and Lamar
did that.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I don't know if Warner was gonna have enough time
to ultimately get down.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
He forced the turnover. They had the ball back. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Uh. Then they actually tied the nine New York Jets
and the eight Baltimore Ravens together. They grouped these.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Two oh nine Jets. I get it, but I think
they could be on the list. Yeah, but it's annoying.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Two thousand Tennessee Titans number nine.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I'm too young to really know.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And again, the Ravens were the defense that you right, right,
they took the head.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
I was too young, but I know the two thousand
Ravens defense. They won the Super Bowl that year. That
was the defense.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I know.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Jeff Fisher back then could play some defense. I'm sure
the Titans teams were good. And then the number ten
team is the two thousand and three Baltimore Ravens, so it's.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Another Yeah, it's getting annoying much Ravens.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
The Browns don't even belong and it's too much Ravens.
There should be two Steelers on here. Sure it should.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Be throw five, eight or ten.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
I think it's eight and ten. I think ten was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Too, but still oh five if I was good?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, but eight and ten, eight and.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Ten were just nasty defenses. I mean James and Troy.
They had two defensive Player of the Years playing on
those defenses. In fact, they won them in both of
those years. Eight was one and then with Troy. So look,
two thousand Ravens at number one. Okay, I will give
that to you because I have a respect for the
Baltimore Ravens, and I admit that that team literally literally
(22:31):
was all defense. I mean, Trent Dilfer is a Super
Bowl Championship champion today because of how good that Ravens
defense was. So I I will allow you to put
them at number one. But again, there is no possible
way you can argue that number two is anybody but.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The eight Steelers, and you just keep is that the
whole list? That was it?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
They were just ten, Like, there is no way there's
a number two best events. And again, the debate shouldn't
be why are the Steelers not even on this? The
debate should be is two thousand Ravens best?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Or is that eight.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Steelers kind of sneaky the best. Now I think the
tiebreaker might come down to the Super Bowl. The Steelers,
like we said, kind of got a little bit as
ravenstaid nothing. Yeah, was it like thirty four shut them
down completely? I mean that thirty for thirty on that
Ravens defense really gets over how bad the quarterbacks were, Like.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
They were just a rotating door.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Who's going to play quarterback for this team? And it
didn't matter. The defense was so good. It was just
like the quarterback just has to be literally have a
pulse and know how to take a snap.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And we're probably gonna win the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But it's just it struck me as a Ravens fan.
It struck me as a Browns fan. It struck me
as somebody just trying to get under Steelers fans skin.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And I mean, there were four Ravens.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Four Ravens kill, especially if you're not going to put
us Steelers on there. And I mean, like, come.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
On, remembers the twenty twenty three Cleveland Browns defense.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know what they remember? They remember getting torched by
a rookie CJ. Shroud.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Here here's the other thing.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
No one remembers that number three twenty nineteen Patriots defense either,
like we know Gilmore won the deepoy.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
I'll tell you what happened, do you what happened to
the nineteen Patriots? They lost and the wild cartown to
Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
They couldn't stand the tight they couldn't stop Dereck Henry, Right,
great defense, third best of this the last year, yeah,
third best ever in the past twenty five.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You remember that stretch where TJ.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Watt hadn't yet won his Defensive Player of the Year award,
and we were thinking, like what year was it really
the most egregious?
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Was it the.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Aaron donald a year where they just gave it to
Aaron Donald because he's Aaron Donald? Or was it the
Stefan Gilmore year? And you and I agree, it's the
Stephan Gilmore year, because okay, you want to give it
to Aaron Donald. Sure, he's a Hall of Famer, Like
you say a lot, he's a mount Rushmore defensive player
of all time. Giving it to Stefan Gilmore is a
joke over TJ. Watt Or was a joke?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah? I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
In all it really comes down to, like we joke about,
like how you forget players sometimes and that can be
an omissions to the list. It makes me wonder if
this guy or girl whoever put this together doesn't know
the Steelers exists as a franchise, Like I forgot that
they're an actual team, like not just that they forgot
a specific defense and put them like they don't remember
that Pittsburgh exists. I mean, okay, what are the three
(25:27):
franchises that you think of off the top of your
head when you think of defense.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
It's Baltimore, It's Pittsburgh, and it's Chicago.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yes, that's exactly my three.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Two. Yeah, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago. They are the cornerstones of
defensive football in the NFL, so much so that even
when their defenses suck, they still get talked about sometimes
like they're great. We went through that the entire Killer
VI era.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Well, you know the Steelers, they got a great offense,
and you know they're playing defense up there in Pittsburgh.
I always go wrong with taking a Steelers defense in fantasy,
Like even when they stunk, they just had such a
branding of being great at defense that it just sticks
with you. Same thing with the Bears, Like, yeah, I
think the.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Five defense gets a lot of recognition because of the
eighty five.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Defense because it was just a really good Bears defense.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
It's just that's stick like when the Bears are good
on defense, it's gonna stick out more when like the Titans.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Are good on like when they have Erlaker and Lance Bradys,
Like those guys are going to get over in Chicago
more than offensive players are.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Defensive players in Pittsburgh get over. Oh, offensive players do.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And in Baltimore they're just carbon copies of us, like
they're the exact same, basically DNA franchise.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
My favorite trope to make is, even though it's frustrating,
is every year in the draft, when Pittsburgh looked at
the Ravens draft class and the Ravens look at Pittsburgh's
draft class, and we both say, God, dang it, those
guys that the Ravens hook would be perfect here, and
the Ravens say the exact same thing about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
They're very similar teams, they're very similar approaches as organizations.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
All right, that'll do it for us this week on
the Steeler.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Standard gratulations, who ever made that list, because you succeeded,
you got us races.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I'm not mad.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I'm pretty made. Four Ravens and one Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I see through it. We'll be back next week and
training camp will be next week. So it's very exciting
and Steelers to enjoy your last weekend without Steelers football
for a long.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Time preseason two weeks.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Three weeks away.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, three weeks away, but you got practice in both
the weekends coming up, Saturday Sunday, Saturday Sunday.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So oh they're busy.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
It's that time of year, ran it.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah. So we'll be back next week on the Steeler Standard,
on Steelers Nation Radio, and the Steelers Audio Network
We'll get to the rage bait list in a second,
but we do have training camp just a week away,
moving day on Wednesday. Their first practice will be about
a week and a couple.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Of hour hours now even half hour.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
They shifted back to the afternoon practices this year.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
It's eleven thirty right at this moment, so it's literally
that's true and a half hour a podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
That's a good call.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't say that because it could literally
be like next Wednesday.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
I mean someone someone could be busy and be listening
to this like next month, That's.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
What I'm saying, and they're like, oh, I thought it
was this week.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's eleven thirty on Thursday, July seventeenth, seventeen.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And it is like it does have that same kind
of feel I think as baseball spring training does. Absolutely
maybe not to the level of just like magic of
spring training, because you've got that summer coming now, and
like you can go outside in short some times now
when spring training starts and it's just like we made
(01:03):
it through the winter, right, Like we survived another winter,
boys and girls, and I get that there's a little
bit more of that kind of romance wrapped up with
spring training. But I'm talking about just like that hope
springs eternal for your team kind of thing where it's
just like, man, this is the NFL, and there is
(01:23):
an example every year of a team that even their
own fan base thinks that they're gonna be kind of
boot bee and they're not. They're actually like fun and
enjoyable and sometimes go on a run. I think last
year Denver was a perfect example of that, Like, you
can't tell me, and I know I didn't because I
thought they would be the worst team in football, But
you can't tell me that that Denver Bronco fan base
(01:45):
last year went into that season with bo Nix, the
guy who was like twenty six years old out of Oregon,
and Sean Payton and what happened with Russell Wilson in
the fallout there, and having no real weapons on the
team on offense and the defense. It's like in Major
League when he's looking at the roster, he's like, who
the freak are these guys? Like you just don't know
who they are other than Pat certain. You can't tell
(02:08):
me that the casual Denver fan, even maybe the hardcore
Denver fan, was.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Like, we're gonna be good this year.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We're gonna sneak up on people, We're gonna surprise people,
gonna be fun. Maybe there's a little bit of that,
But my point is like, when you get to this
point of the year, I'm sure there was a lot
of like, it probably doesn't look too good, but you
should have that hope and that feeling that your team
might do something because you might be this year's Denver Broncos.
(02:34):
You might be that surprise team that isn't just completely awful.
It doesn't even have to be to that level of Denver.
Maybe you could be like Carolina, where it's like you
think that you are going nowhere right, like it is
a rudderless ship, and then all of a sudden, I
might have a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now the sky's part and sun comes out. I could
see me winning the division this year because it's a
weak division that's up for grabs. I don't think they're going.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
To win the division. Something just intervened.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I think you were just getting choked up about No.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I think it's the other way.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I think some Baker Mayfield like you do dolls, like
got me in the neck because he's like, I only.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Win the Yeah, direct path.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But my point is, like, you get to these training
camps to open up, and I think that there should
be more of a sense and there is a sense
around the league of just like, yeah, we might think
this year, but what if? And I think that the
NFL does such a good job with the parody that
it's created that like it it goes from there. Again,
there's always a team that goes from worse to first.
It feels like every year there's a team that does that.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Except for baseball, there's really a great job collectively across
all professional sports.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
For baseball, Baseball is different because it's just like again,
summertime and it's like, well, what if they hit well?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Like, oh, I was just I was saying about the
parody among Oh yeah, there's no parody in baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
But across base I'm sorry, football, basketball, and hockey. If
you have something to get excited for, you're gonna think like, Okay,
my team's at least got a shot.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So who do you think since moving day is Wednesday,
who do you think is gonna who's a good candidate
for to keep on something wacky?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Do something fun?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh, do something fun?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Bring the tank or bring in the hot air balloon
or I don't think anything will be like that.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I think we've seen the wild like that era that's
over now, right, Was it was it Harrison or keysl
who brought the tank?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Rogers used to like like with Green Bay, remember the
year that he dressed up like uh Nick Cage and
conn Air like he drew He wore the tank top
or the the wife beater and the jeans and he
had the like long hair and the mustard like Rogers
might do something.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
He might kind of goofy.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I'm just I'm just really curious to see how he adapts.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
To living in a dorm. Do you think he's gonna
live in a dorm?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Is ab the only guy that didn't have to do
that because Ben did.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It that we know of.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Ben had like I think labsoutely like there's a corner
suite or something like. Don't r a rooms right, like
you know how our rooms are bigger, like they might
have like a couch area.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
They're not putting Tomlin in like a twin bed. No,
he's in an r a room like some kind of
staff room.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Now, I think the ve at or at the hotel.
He might be at tom Actually, Tomlin strikes me as
a guy who's in the in the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Yeah, right, he could be either work, but Rogers will
probably get a big room, bigger room.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I think so that's fair, even though it was
first year on the team.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I wonder if he will stay on campus though, if
he's just like, it's kind of what we do, right,
I'm I'm part of the team, So to me, it's
just easier. He just roll out of bed and go
to the right there, roll out of bed and go
to the practice.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
You gotta drive there if you want to, if you
want to stay off campus.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
How about Tomlin's reasoning to move back in the day
was because it was too cool.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
He wanted to That was the reason he moved it up.
Was because he said, it is just so hot now
and in August. We really just we don't want guys
out there.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Feinting but misses it now. Apparently he.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That sun back out here. Yeah, he wants his players
to fight through it.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I love too that he's the guy that's like, I'm
in long sleeve pants and shirts.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
What's your excuse for being day?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
He's out there and not just what it's black sweatpants
and a black man like a black hat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
At least white would be able to reflect that. No, no, no, no,
he is out there.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I do remember. I think there was one time. It
was preseason, maybe last year.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I remember him in.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
A white long sleeve shirt. I think there was one.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
It was just too oppressive, like it was just like
even for me, I can't do this. This feels like
it's the surface of the sun. But damn it, I'm
still going long sleeves. You won't be able to take
that away from me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
No, And he was still rocking with the black sweatpants
and the black hat too.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Man.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Now we're gonna get all a little sentimental here, but
it is really special like that they still.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Do this today. It's it's very cool.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And let's be very blunt and and upfront.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You had to put a lot of money into Saint
Vincent to get it up to snuff, like they made
a lot of Yeah, if I'm going to a Division
what is it two or three? Is a Division three school?
It might be D three, it might be D three.
If I'm going to a D three school, and those
are my facilities and that's my football field, Oh my God,
they're still.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Not even up to snuff. Really.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I mean, when you think, you remember the polls that
come out, the player polls, and that's the facility at
the south side. But I'm sure the guys who are
voting in the within the organization remember what they had
to deal with.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But as far as a dorm is concerned, that's as
juiced up and as good as it can possibly get.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
It is as a dorm a dorm.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
But you're telling any of the facilities that the Sewers
have helped donate in Saint Vincent are as good as
like the facilities at Bama.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
That's my point though, it's just like it's amazing. Now
they have had to, you know, boost it a little bit,
but it's amazing that they still continue this tradition when
everybody trains like Drago now in Rocky four, where it's
just the modern techniques and machines that you can get,
and the Steelers in a lot of ways still are
(08:06):
like Rocky with the beard out chopping the wood right
They're they're out at some remote location in the middle
of Latrope. So it is just such a it's truly
remarkable that they continue to do this that they think
that this is a a tradition that should continue and
it should continue to live on, and it has become
such an event. I mean, I think that's something that
(08:28):
new Steelers rookies and players that come in really I
think get kind of washed over with when they first
start training camp. Is just like there's a lot of
people here, Like this is like every open practice is
like I'm performing in front of like four thousand people almost,
like and it's kind of like a circus carnival atmosphere
like a state fair almost every every day we go
(08:50):
out to practice.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And then Friday Night Lights is just it's.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
A that's something that I think any guy wherever they're
coming from, whether it's a rookie from like a Bama
or an Aaron Rodgers guy, because all these guys played
high school football, they all knew what it was like
to play on Friday nights in front of like a
genuine home crowd, like a high school, high school atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So I really do think like that's the one thing.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
That really sticks out is Friday Night Lights, that that
one practice it brings them I think it just washes
them over with nostaliga.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, Like all of them played
high school football.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Yeah, maybe there's a rare one case, rare rare, but
that's not even like rare for the team. That's like
rare league wide, you know what I mean. It's not
like every team has a guy. That's like the league
has at least one guy. I MEANFL teams.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I mean, when's the last time these guys are when's
the next time you get on.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
A school bus, Like you get on a bus from
the hotel to the stadium in the airport, but those
are chartered buses, like those are nice comfy play things,
but like school bus, like.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Like elementary schoolers are using the same same.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Thing, and you get bust out. Yeah, it feels really fun.
Six year olds are using the same and getting excited
talking about it. We only have to wait a week until.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
You know it's funny because every year when we approach
this time, we're like in the clear, and you're looking
back at the off season and say, oh, do you
remember in March? Do you remember in February, even like
early April, when this whole thing was ahead of us
and we thought, man, it just feels like forever until
we reached the start of the season. And every year
(10:32):
we get to one week out from La trobe and
we're like, great, this is where I.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Want to be. I have the whole season ahead of.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Us, and this year and this has been the case
for a while.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Now it's a reason to get excited.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, there's a lot that matters at this training like
what are they going to do in the defense with
these new acquisitions, how does Rogers blend in? What's the
line look like new running back dk Metcalf.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Like, I guess that's a good point because in years
past and like the Ben era, it was okay, just
get the training camp, get you get your bleep together well,
and then I'm excited for the regular season.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What I was gonna say is, ever since we started
talking really and doing shows like this and becoming, you know,
something new, it's been a matter of a training But
when we were like fans and like you really didn't
have I imagine I wonder what it was like to do
kind of this stuff because it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Was kind of rinse and repeat.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
N as the quarterback he's got dese yeah, like and
especially going back to when they were winning Super Bowls,
like it was just like the team is just you don't.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Need to get concerned with training camp. You need to
get concerned with the start of the regular season and
then get ready for the postseason. But you're right, Ever
since we started doing the show, every year has been
something considerably different from the year prior. And you need
to be a latrobe to see, like what's it gonna
look like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
All you used to have is like the rookies and
how they looked, and then like some minutia like this
guy's gonna be a gunner or this, and.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
You remember too, like we're talking about the Bend situation
being the defining part of this argument. But also to
like the the GM job, like Kevin Colbert like wasn't
making these splashy moves.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
He was doing a good enough job to keep the
team intact.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
But there wasn't a gun for hire that would come
in and be like, oh, how's he gonna blend in?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Right, It wasn't like, Okay, well you brought in DK Metcalf.
Last year, you're you're bringing in It seems like they
bring in a new guy almost every year. That's a
huge free agent acquisition. Last year it was Pac Queen.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
And this year is just right right, it's a new
team this year. Basically, Yeah, you mentioned Pat Queen. Did
you see him clock in at the NFL one? I did,
number seventy five.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Honestly, I'm surprised he made the list.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's weird that peers in the league would look at
him higher than Cam Hayward.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I'll just say that agreed, just to use that as
kind of like a burrow, because I'm not gonna argue.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I think it's more so of an underrating of Can
than Yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
A little bit of a both, maybe an overrating of too.
I'm not gonna be mad that Pac Queen's in the
top one hundred. Give me all these top one sure,
let me be able to boast that we have top No.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
As I said earlier, it was surprising to see him
on the.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
List, especially ahead of Cam.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Just anywhere on the list, but especially specially ahead of Cam.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, let me ask you this about this before we
get to this bad list.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Does Alex high.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Smith pop up in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I don't feel like he probably would have already, right
like he would have.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Wasn't he wasn't there last year? Right?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And I just think pack Queen gets there because he's
Pack Queen.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Well, he was a second team All Pro, so that
maybe puts him.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
That was two years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He's remember high Smith missed some time this year he did.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I think that if he was going to show up
on the list, it would have been in like the
eighties or something like that, And I think he probably
deserves to be on the list in somewhere. I agree,
in the eighties right around here, like eighties, seventies.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Honestly, like no offensive pack Queen. If I would have
seen high Smith clock in at seventy wherever he came
in at.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I'd be like, I would have felt like my sixty four,
Like I would have been like, am I higher than that?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh? No, I was just thinking for myself my.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Five seventy five.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I would have been like, yeah, well, I'm saying Jacob
Rex's perspective. I would say, hell, yeah, Alex, you got yeah,
like I would. I would feel nothing. If Packhun missed
the list, It'd probably be like, well, that's expected because
he wasn't as good as he was in his.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Last year in Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No, it was a surprising.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Man, I'd be more excited to see high Smith on
the list than seeing the past.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Seen Pat Queen on it, I think more deserving to
be a listen. And honestly, again this kind of just
Heyward's too low. I mean Hayward should be. It's the
top fifty of them. He's a thirty seven year old
defensive line But first, pro get some damn perspective. Know what,
it's the kids, right, it's the damn young whipper snappers
in this league that are voting and they don't appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
He does it again.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
If he gets even like second team All Pro this
year and he's like right around the same area.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I'll throw a fit.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They need to rig the vote.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Then the media guy who collects the votes and puts
it together, and you'd be like, this is but we
all stuff about it.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
We know these guys aren't sitting down and ranking one
through one hundred.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I very much question how much thought goes into the
NFL one hundred. Yeah, And I think you're right, like
most of these guys.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Just do top ten.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I think ten like they show you show you the
anonymous top tens yeaheah. It does make me wonder though,
if there is like a guy like I don't know why.
I just pulling them out of there tabulator George Kittle
that just sits there and he's just like, oh a
football nerd, give me two weeks and really gets you
(15:14):
a hundred of the best players here, and like he's got.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You know, like rough drafts where he scratched.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I forgot about how many.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Scratches it off, Like there's got to be one of
those too.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Right, it's like mob drafting for fantasy football. Like, I'm
sure there are guys in the league that love.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Doing for the millions basically, and that's an exaggeration, hyperbolically speaking,
like almost ninety five percent of them that just basically
autopilot fill it out or don't even do it, or
do top tens. There's gotta be a few of them
that are, like I take they're locked in, super serious, Yeah,
they're locked in.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Who's the number fifty sixth player in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I'm sure to me it's George. This is where George is.
I'm sure there are.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You gotta love the game that you play, right, Look,
I always really wonder that when it comes to athletes,
it's just like.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
How much is it really a job to them? Or
how much is like a passion, like are they a
fan of it? As much as like, is it really
just like a paycheck? Maybe not to that extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There's definitely guys that are like that, but I think
they want to win and they recognize like the greatness
of it, But like are they a fan of like
are they watching games?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Are they well like the history of it?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Sure, there's the greatest case for the how and tuned
are they is?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
It is not a football guy, it's a basketball guynkolek
from is he from Serbia?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Serbia. He doesn't care about that.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
He just doesn't care like they. When he was in
his postgame press conference after the Nuggets won the NBA championship,
he was asked about the celebration parade, he goes, what
do you mean parade?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I'm going home. I don't want to celebrate.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That may be more of the extreme end, but I
bet you there's a lot of young guys in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
They they wouldn't even.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
They know who Jordan is, right and like those names,
but they wouldn't be able to like James Worthy. They
might not know how that name is or the greatest.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
One of the greatest teams showtime later.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But like they just they won't have that kind kind
of like knowledge that you get when we sit around
all day and just google things on our phone and
just kind of read up on historically great teams.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know, what's sport?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I think that has the most respect for like the
old and like the history of it.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Well.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I think a great example of that was at the
All Star Game, the Hank Aaron, the Henry Aaron thing
Hank Aaron for passing Baybrew seven fourteen to seven fifteen.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I think, do you see that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I think another local example was when Dave Parker passed
and Nick and Zalez was speaking about how cool was
to wear his number and he would give it up
and retire, and it was just like nickos All shouldn't
know who Dave Parker is unless he actually cares about
the history of baseball and like, who was this guy
called the Cobra that won an MVP and was so
great in the seventies for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Like you
would have to know and at least take it little
(17:46):
bit of time to sit down and read something about
him to know and speak of him that way. So
I think baseball is the sport where that translates the most.
All right, before we wrap up here, let's get mad.
But I'm not mad because I recognize it for what
it is. Yeah, I'm I'm Tom Hardy and mad Max.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
That's bait. I'm that Jeff right now. Okay, you've never
seen that.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I have, but I don't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The ladies are up on the like polls like the
remember Charlie steering to find her old communion and they're
up there and he just looks up.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Oh that's bait. Oh okay, okay, okay, this is bait.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
So I don't even know who did this, but people
like just took the screenshot and retweeted it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It might have been Pro Football Network. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I don't know who whose it was.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It is the top ten NFL defenses since two thousand.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, it's another quarter century list. So number one is.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The two thousand Baltimore Ravens. I hate the Ravens, but
I get it. They could be number one. Yeah, they
really could be. Right, there's no wiggle room for anybody
to be number two. But the two thousand and eight
Pittsburgh Steelers, like and they're the only team that could
probably do thrown the number one two thousand Baltimore Ravens,
But for some reason number two is the two thousand
and two Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay, good defense, John Gruden,
(18:53):
Derek Brookes, war and Sap. They were beasts n like
Mike Domalin, Mike Thomins over there over there with the
Pampa Bay defense, but like great defense, not better than
the O eight Steelers. Then you got the two thousand
and what year is this nineteen New England Patriots Gilmore
defense joke to be the third best?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
No chance?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Two thousand and six Baltimore Ravens. Okay they what do
they amount to? Nothing but great defense?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Twenty twenty three Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I mean because do you remember what happened to them
in the postseason? Blew their destroyed them, A rookie CJ.
Shroud destroyed them.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
And I remember doing this that year.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Like their defensive numbers at the end of the year,
like they were great during the season, but remember that
they like even out to the A lot of the
Steelers numbers were like the same as the defense, like.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
They were good at like bending, but they also broke.
Remember Garrett had his deploy year, so points against was
like eleventh in the league.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Two thousand five Chicago Bears, they went to the Super Bowl.
I mean that was decent defense. Two thousand and eight
Baltimore Ravens. So another Ravens and that's where my that's
where my antenna really went up. That this is rage
but against them for the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
This was the eight Ravens defense.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
See specifically, you're gonna call out the eight Ravens defense.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
And say that they're on this was but not the
defense that year like that won the Super Bowl that year, right,
and funny enough, had one of their worst performances in
that Super Bowl, like got touched up Byner.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
They were on all season loss except for Warner touched
them up.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, although to be fair, they had a fourteen point
swing with James Harrison picking it up.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Oh it was well, let's just say this, it was
like sixty minutes.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
It was forty minutes of great football on defense. It's
just that last twenty.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Warner started hitting it. Yeah, they started heating up.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
But also let's not forget Lamar Woodley caused that fumble
on Kurt Warner to end the game. Yes, like that,
I mean san Antonio Holmes. That's the play that sticks out.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But they got the ball back.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Lamar had to They had to stop Warner, and Lamar
did that.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
I don't know if Warner was gonna have enough time
to ultimately get down.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
He forced the turnover. They had the ball back. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Uh. Then they actually tied the nine New York Jets
and the eight Baltimore Ravens together. They grouped these.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Two oh nine Jets. I get it, but I think
they could be on the list. Yeah, but it's annoying.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Two thousand Tennessee Titans number nine.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I'm too young to really know.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And again, the Ravens were the defense that you right, right,
they took the head.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
I was too young, but I know the two thousand
Ravens defense. They won the Super Bowl that year. That
was the defense.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I know.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Jeff Fisher back then could play some defense. I'm sure
the Titans teams were good. And then the number ten
team is the two thousand and three Baltimore Ravens, so it's.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Another Yeah, it's getting annoying much Ravens.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
The Browns don't even belong and it's too much Ravens.
There should be two Steelers on here. Sure it should.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Be throw five, eight or ten.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
I think it's eight and ten. I think ten was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Too, but still oh five if I was good?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, but eight and ten, eight and.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Ten were just nasty defenses. I mean James and Troy.
They had two defensive Player of the Years playing on
those defenses. In fact, they won them in both of
those years. Eight was one and then with Troy. So look,
two thousand Ravens at number one. Okay, I will give
that to you because I have a respect for the
Baltimore Ravens, and I admit that that team literally literally
(22:31):
was all defense. I mean, Trent Dilfer is a Super
Bowl Championship champion today because of how good that Ravens
defense was. So I I will allow you to put
them at number one. But again, there is no possible
way you can argue that number two is anybody but.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
The eight Steelers, and you just keep is that the
whole list? That was it?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
They were just ten, Like, there is no way there's
a number two best events. And again, the debate shouldn't
be why are the Steelers not even on this? The
debate should be is two thousand Ravens best?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Or is that eight.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Steelers kind of sneaky the best. Now I think the
tiebreaker might come down to the Super Bowl. The Steelers,
like we said, kind of got a little bit as
ravenstaid nothing. Yeah, was it like thirty four shut them
down completely? I mean that thirty for thirty on that
Ravens defense really gets over how bad the quarterbacks were, Like.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
They were just a rotating door.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Who's going to play quarterback for this team? And it
didn't matter. The defense was so good. It was just
like the quarterback just has to be literally have a
pulse and know how to take a snap.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And we're probably gonna win the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But it's just it struck me as a Ravens fan.
It struck me as a Browns fan. It struck me
as somebody just trying to get under Steelers fans skin.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And I mean, there were four Ravens.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Four Ravens kill, especially if you're not going to put
us Steelers on there. And I mean, like, come.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
On, remembers the twenty twenty three Cleveland Browns defense.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know what they remember? They remember getting torched by
a rookie CJ. Shroud.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Here here's the other thing.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
No one remembers that number three twenty nineteen Patriots defense either,
like we know Gilmore won the deepoy.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
I'll tell you what happened, do you what happened to
the nineteen Patriots? They lost and the wild cartown to
Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
They couldn't stand the tight they couldn't stop Dereck Henry, Right,
great defense, third best of this the last year, yeah,
third best ever in the past twenty five.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You remember that stretch where TJ.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Watt hadn't yet won his Defensive Player of the Year award,
and we were thinking, like what year was it really
the most egregious?
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Was it the.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Aaron donald a year where they just gave it to
Aaron Donald because he's Aaron Donald? Or was it the
Stefan Gilmore year? And you and I agree, it's the
Stephan Gilmore year, because okay, you want to give it
to Aaron Donald. Sure, he's a Hall of Famer, Like
you say a lot, he's a mount Rushmore defensive player
of all time. Giving it to Stefan Gilmore is a
joke over TJ. Watt Or was a joke?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah? I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
In all it really comes down to, like we joke about,
like how you forget players sometimes and that can be
an omissions to the list. It makes me wonder if
this guy or girl whoever put this together doesn't know
the Steelers exists as a franchise, Like I forgot that
they're an actual team, like not just that they forgot
a specific defense and put them like they don't remember
that Pittsburgh exists. I mean, okay, what are the three
(25:27):
franchises that you think of off the top of your
head when you think of defense.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
It's Baltimore, It's Pittsburgh, and it's Chicago.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yes, that's exactly my three.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Two. Yeah, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago. They are the cornerstones of
defensive football in the NFL, so much so that even
when their defenses suck, they still get talked about sometimes
like they're great. We went through that the entire Killer
VI era.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Well, you know the Steelers, they got a great offense,
and you know they're playing defense up there in Pittsburgh.
I always go wrong with taking a Steelers defense in fantasy,
Like even when they stunk, they just had such a
branding of being great at defense that it just sticks
with you. Same thing with the Bears, Like, yeah, I
think the.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Five defense gets a lot of recognition because of the
eighty five.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Defense because it was just a really good Bears defense.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
It's just that's stick like when the Bears are good
on defense, it's gonna stick out more when like the Titans.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Are good on like when they have Erlaker and Lance Bradys,
Like those guys are going to get over in Chicago
more than offensive players are.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Defensive players in Pittsburgh get over. Oh, offensive players do.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And in Baltimore they're just carbon copies of us, like
they're the exact same, basically DNA franchise.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
My favorite trope to make is, even though it's frustrating,
is every year in the draft, when Pittsburgh looked at
the Ravens draft class and the Ravens look at Pittsburgh's
draft class, and we both say, God, dang it, those
guys that the Ravens hook would be perfect here, and
the Ravens say the exact same thing about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
They're very similar teams, they're very similar approaches as organizations.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
All right, that'll do it for us this week on
the Steeler.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Standard gratulations, who ever made that list, because you succeeded,
you got us races.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I'm not mad.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I'm pretty made. Four Ravens and one Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I see through it. We'll be back next week and
training camp will be next week. So it's very exciting
and Steelers to enjoy your last weekend without Steelers football
for a long.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Time preseason two weeks.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Three weeks away.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, three weeks away, but you got practice in both
the weekends coming up, Saturday Sunday, Saturday Sunday.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So oh they're busy.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
It's that time of year, ran it.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah. So we'll be back next week on the Steeler Standard,
on Steelers Nation Radio, and the Steelers Audio Network
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