August 6, 2025 • 43 mins
Labs and Tom talk about the practice yesterday for the Steelers and how Rodgers looked. They get into what Coach Tomlin had to say and then hear from TJ Watt
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Iheartradios. Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers Training
Camp is presented by Padex where Now Meets Next and
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(00:40):
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and by US Steel.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Offerman and Bob
Labriola Labs. It was becoming a bit of a theme
here at training camp. The defense was really dominating the offense.
But it looks like yesterday the offense started to show
some serious promt rests.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
It was a good day for the offense. I thought
it was a really good day for Aaron Rodgers. He
just he you know, I don't think it was.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
It wasn't.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It wasn't a good day for the offense on Sunday.
Then they were off Monday, and yesterday was Tuesday. Yep,
I got the days right. I'm so proud of me.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm surprised for this deep in the camp and you
have the calendar, such a grasp on it like that.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, I mean, I know Mondays are days off and
I know today's Wednesday, so I did I did the
figuring out after that. But yeah, I think it was
the defense one seven shots, six to one, and the
offense came back and posted just as you know, decisive
(01:48):
victory on its own. I mean Aaron Rodgers, he was
on time and accurate all day.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
And you know, the the NFL is a quarterback league,
it is. I mean, and you got when you have
a quarterback playing as well as he was playing yesterday,
it's NFL offenses are pretty hard to stop.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So yeah, it was good to see.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Still having some trouble running the ball, and I think
that's gonna that's something that's gonna take some time. But yeah,
it was a good day for the offense. Some guys
made some plays receivers, I mean Aaron Rodgers was distributing
the ball very nicely. Yeah, well, got a lot of
things done. It as I said, it was it was
(02:32):
good to see, and uh, it made me feel a
little better because the defense had been kind of controlling
things here the previous few practices.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
Yeah, you want to see the offense definitely respond.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
As we've noted though with those previous practices in the
defense's dominance. It's a great defense. It's supposed to be
one of the best defenses in the NFL. But yeah,
you want to see a punch thrown back or two
by the still.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Little Connor punching little eb and flow. You don't want
it to be two ones. Uh, you know it just
it doesn't. I don't think it bodes well for the season.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
If it is, we'll get into you know, the seven shots,
the two minute drill that they did at practice yesterday.
But let's stick with Aaron Rodgers for just a little bit,
because you know, you and I love our Quarterback.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Talk Labs absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Mike Tomlin put it this way when he was talking
to the media, and we'll hear from him in our
second segment. But he has complete command of this offense already,
and it's really only been a few weeks in total
that he's been a Pittsburgh Steeler and had a chance
to practice with them. Sure, he had a little bit
of a run at mini camp, and I know he
flew the guys out to Malibu to work out with him.
(03:36):
In the time between Mini camp and training camp. But
now he's got the pads on and he's installing this offense.
And to hear that he's in complete command this early
is not really surprising to me because that's who that
guy is, you know, between the ears. He might be
the smartest quarterback in the NFL right now.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, And I don't I don't want listeners to confuse
complete command with he is one hundred percent sharp all
the time, because that's not yet the case. But in
terms of the command, you know, he knows, he knows,
he knows it, and his command of the unit on
(04:12):
the field is spectacular, you know because that comment from
Mike Tomlin kind of came, you know, in reference to
the two minut drill, which was the last period of
the practice yesterday. And you know, you can see Aaron
Rodgers when he, you know, gets the play and the
team comes up to the line of scrimmage. You know what,
(04:34):
he's looking around, Uh, he sees things, you see him
kind of sometimes some hand signals he'll be given to
his receivers. You know, he's calling out the signals. Yes
he is, he is in command. He putting guys in
motion if he needs to move somebody they're split a
little wider, or bring them a little tighter to the formation.
(04:56):
You know, he can handle all of that stuff, and
he does it, you know, quickly and with a command
that I think, well, first of all, the command. You
need to do it with the command, because when you're
in a game, there's a play clock, clock's ticking, TikTok, TikTok.
You know, there's not a lot of time for messing around.
And when you also have command of it, your teammates
(05:19):
are paying attention and they respect that. So all of that's,
all of that's good stuff. Uh, And yeah, it was
good to see yesterday. As I said, I don't want
to keep repeating myself, but no, it was yes and right.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You know, I think that that mental side of things
is really going to be his greatest asset for the Steelers,
and it really should be at this stage in his career.
Not to say that his arm still still isn't impressive,
because he's certainly been spinning it up at training camp,
but you know, he's just gonna think the game ats
just such a different level than you've seen from the
quarterback position since number seven was back.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
There, right, And you know, you mentioned his arm. He
threw in the two men a drill he had. The
play was a dump to the in the flat to
Jalen Warren and the outside linebacker on that side, I
believe it was dj Watt, but he would have been
(06:14):
his side, but he wasn't really participating a lot of
in the team portion. But and I'm looking. I'm sitting
up here from my vantage point, and where the offense
was was pretty close to, you know, my spot up here,
and so I'm looking almost like directly down at Rogers,
(06:34):
and he dropped his arm down almost kent to Colvie
and through a sidearm pass that got through all the
arms right to Jalen Warren. Now, you know, other guys
they might have had to try and lob it over.
And if it made it over, then you know, you're
(06:54):
giving the defense a lot of time to react to that.
And Jalen Warren has to stand there and wait for
the ball, and usually bad things, you know, sometimes defenders
arrive right after the ball does and that's never pretty
for the guy trying to catch it. So but he
dropped it down and was it was seriously he looked
like a baseball pitcher right on target, Jalen Warren caught
(07:17):
the ball, turned it up field for I don't know
eight or ten yards, got a first down as the
clock was ticking in the two minute drill.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well in seven shots drill in practice, the offense was
able to get one back against the defense. They came
away with a victory yesterday, and as we mentioned the
one before that, it was a six to one dominant
win for the defense. So it's good to see that
the offense got themselves on the score. But I believe
it was five to two in favor of the offensive unit.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Right and Aaron Rodgers was three for three, you know.
He the first pass was one of those he kind
of buzzed it past the defenders year right to DK
Metcalf before he could turn around the second one. You know,
for an old man forty one going on forty two,
(08:05):
he does a pretty nice job. He's kind of nimble.
He's not a scrambler. He's not a guy who's gonna
take take off and run, I don't think, but he can,
you know, move around in the pocket a little bit
to either buy some time or create some throwing lanes
for himself. And he did that nicely on the second
one found a wide open John hus Smith for a
(08:26):
second touchdown. And then on the third play of seven shots,
the formation had three wide receivers to the one side
and to the right, and Roman Wilson was a solo guy.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
On the left.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Now that was This is a really nice play for
two reasons. When you run a formation like that, the
guy who's singled usually has to be a good route
runner and a dependable catcher of the football because that's
usually where it goes. If you know that was Antonio
(09:05):
Brown made hundreds of catches as that single guy when
the bulk of the receivers were on the other side
of the formation. So that was Roman Wilson on that play.
And Rogers put it it was low to the inside.
It was one of those ones where you throw it
(09:26):
there you're hoping your receiver is gonna make the play,
but he the position of the ball. It's either he
makes the play or nobody does, which is kind of
what you're looking for down there in that area. And
Roman Wilson went down and made the catch, secured it touchdown.
So great throw by Rogers, good read, He threw it
(09:49):
on time. It was accurate in terms of where it
had to be. And you like your second year receiver
making that play to a guy he's drafting in the
third round last year who missed all of his rookie
season because an injury. So that was a there were
two good things that happened on that play.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, And you know, I know we've talked before about
it's nice for the offense when they put the pads
on to kind of establish that they're willing to run
the ball down there. But I'm a fan of seeing
for all three of Rogers' reps in this seven shots
drill yesterday passing the football because sometimes Labs and I know,
you know, on paper, you just want to hand it
(10:27):
off to Warren or Johnson and have him plunge right in,
and it's the easy way to get it in. But
this is the NFL, and teams get real stout up
on that goal line, and sometimes it's going to need
to come from the passing game when you're down in
that area. So it's good to see Rogers be able
to be that weapon that we need him to be
in that red zone area.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Right And this is training camp, so you're it's you know,
handing the ball off. I have no doubt that Aaron
Rodgers can do that, you know, I mean, but getting
him in sync as much as possible with the receivers
and different receivers too. It's not like he's going to
(11:07):
the same guy every play. That to me is what
this is about. You know, these kinds of practices, that's
what I want to see him do. You know you
want to be able to run the ball. I get it,
But in terms of what you're looking for in terms
of quarterback play and his on a relationship with the receivers,
(11:31):
you want to maximize that this is time to take
those shots in the end zone when it's practice.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Now, you did mention that the Steelers running game probably
needs to get going a little bit more. Caleb Johnson
did get into the end zone on Mason Rudolph's first
rep of seven shots, and I saw someone else note
that he had a little bit of burst. A little
bit of ability was shown from Caleb Johnson in yesterday's practice.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
So it wasn't all bad correct from the running game?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
No, I mean, and Caleb Johnson, you know he flashes, uh,
and he's a rookie and again, uh, it's it's a process.
We've talked about how good the defense is when Caleb
Johnson is in Usually it's with the second team offense
offensive line, and so there's that. But yeah, I like,
(12:22):
I like what he's gonna bring. You know, I don't
believe that the Steelers Arthur Smith have figured it out
exactly what he's best at and what he's you know,
when you combine what he's good at and what the
line can block. So then what plays does that leave
you in your repertoire? If you want to run the ball,
(12:44):
all that's there's time for all of that. And I
don't even know that it's gonna all be figured out
September seventh, when the regular season opens against the Jets,
because offenses take more time to develop and get sharp
than fences due so, but so it's not all bad
for Caleb Johnson, but there is a ways to go yet.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
The two minute drill was another thing of note from
practice yesterday, and the offense was really moving the ball
down the field. It looked like it was really fluid.
Just a couple of unlucky hiccups kind of derailed them,
didn't it.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, you know, the it was Aaron Rodgers first and
he was going, let's see here. Oh yeah, okay, here
it is Pat Firemouth for six, Jalen Warren for eight,
Pat Firemuth for fifteen, Jalen Warren for seven. Then there
(13:41):
was a throwaway to stop the clock. Then the next
play was a It was over the middle of Roman
Wilson again. Now Brandon Echols reached around and got his
hand on the ball. It popped up in the air
and it was intercepted. My and I'm not saying this
is what it was, but my opinion is that in
(14:04):
an NFL regular season game, the flag comes out because
they call that. You know, it's like reaching in in basketball. Yeah,
it's always a file reaching around in the NFL. In
that situation in a two minute drill with one team
trying to move the ball down the field to get
in position for a score that could win the game,
(14:26):
I don't think they're giving or I don't think they're
letting the defense do that. Again, I'm not saying that
it's right, but you can usually count on that kind
of interference call or illegal contact or they'll call some
But anyway, so that it was intercepted and that ended
that possession. So then the next group comes out and
(14:48):
it was Skylar Thompson at quarterback. And as I think
we were talking about this yesterday when what we thought
we might see in the two minute, I said, Mike
Tomlin might choose to put a quarterback out there that
he thinks thinks is going to be in that situation,
you know, at the end of the even at the
(15:08):
end of one of the halves, you know, to get
him some practice at it, because if you're you know, again,
I don't know that Aaron Rodgers is going to play
against the Jaguars. If it was up to me and
I was the head coach, I would not play him.
We'll find out probably tomorrow and Mike Tomlin has his
news conference. So anyway, but you want Aaron Rodgers doing
(15:29):
it because you know he's your guy.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
So he gets the first turn. Then.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
So what didn't surprise me that Skyler Thompson was the
next guy in because you know, if the game goes
the way you think it's going to go, he's probably
in there at the end of the fourth quarter. And
so if you need this kind of situation to unfold
for you correctly successfully, he's going to have to be
(15:54):
the guy doing it. So okay, so he was the
second guy out there. He was doing a nice job
early moving the ball. And what I noticed too was
Max Hurlman, that undrafted rookie from Notre Dame, the guy
that pursued a calls Rudy. He was It was Thompson
(16:17):
to Hurlman a bunch of times, and they're, you know,
moving the ball right down the field, so they're getting close.
Maybe Robert Woods caught a ball and got across the
goal line or maybe not. I don't really know. I
couldn't see it well enough. I think that was one
of those situations, you know that Mike Tomlin manipulated a
(16:41):
little bit to create more snaps in the drill, and
to create more important snaps in the drill. So instead
of signaling a touchdown, the drills over. You know, he
puts it on the one yard line and you've got
to run a couple more plays to get it in.
And that's you know again, it's it's practice. This is
(17:01):
what this is the kind of thing you're you want
to work on. So on the last play, it was
fourth and goal with the one, so Skyler Thompson takes
the snap, quick throw, probably just outside the right tackle,
right in that area there hit Kenneth Gainwell right in
(17:21):
the stomach. He dropped it, and so again from the
quarterbacks point, he did what you wanted him to do.
I mean, that's he threw to the right guy. The
ball was on target. I don't think Kenneth Gainwell drops
another one of those in his career.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I mean, that's the kind of pass it was. It
just he dropped it.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Yeah, that seems more fluky to me. Yes, right, what
he has shown to do in his career.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Yes, in big games too. You know, it's not it's
not like this guy, you know, is a neophyte. So yeah, unfortunate.
But again, I think from a Mike Tomlin perspective, from
a Steelers coaching staff perspective, you've got you saw a
lot of things that well, you saw players in a
(18:15):
lot of the situations that they're gonna be in in games.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And so if you're trying to evaluate these guys who
you want to keep and who you know, it's it's
good to see them actually doing or attempting to do
those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Please don't use big words like neophyte around me. Again,
they scare me. I'm not smart enough to know what
you mean by that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Okay, thank you movie.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Dumb it down for me. Thanks. I need that.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
When we come back, we're gonna hear from coach Mike
Tomlin and his thoughts following practice yesterday, and Labs is
going to tell you what the weather's looking like for
practice up at Saint Vincent College. Also, we got a
little bit more quarterback talk, a little bit more down
the depth trot. We got to get into what happened
to QB three, Will Howard, so all that on the way,
Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola on the Training Camp Report,
Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Iheartradios. Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training
Camp is presented by FedEx where Now meets Next and
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(19:52):
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by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union, and by
US Steel.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Collaps.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
I feel bad.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I feel like your weather report is just so uneventful
this year. I mean it was at the beginning of camp,
don't get me wrong, but we've just fallen into this
repetitive cycle of perfect weather for Steelers practice.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Is today going to be more the same?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
This might be a better day because there's there's some
clouds here. But all the clouds are doing there. I
think they're you know, I might try and use a
meteorological term that I've heard on TV careful first high
serious clouds, and it takes.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Me back to like tenth grade science class right now?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh really, okay, am I doing? Is that the right word?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Short?
Speaker 6 (20:44):
You sound right to me.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Well, anyway, all these clouds are doing really is providing
a nice shade. I mean it's not dark or anything,
but you're not sitting in the sun. It's not burning hot.
And because even you know, the high today is supposed
to be eighty two right now, it's only seventy three.
And I think the temperature is that low now because
(21:09):
of the clouds.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Clouds are helping things. You know.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
The humidity is very very pleasant, sixty five percent. There's
a nice little breeze. Perfect day. I mean if you've
got to be sitting out here watching practice. You know,
you can even be sitting on the metal bleachers and
I'm sure those wouldn't even hurt you, you know what
I mean in terms of getting if you got any
(21:34):
bare skin on the aluminum, you know, sometimes that can
be really hot. But this is it's a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
This is Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
If this was the way it was the whole training camp,
Mike Tomlin would have not been happy.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, it's good that he got his adversity at least
at the beginning of things when the heat was oppressive,
and he doesn't Mike Comin doesn't want practices to end early.
They had a little bit of that throw a wrench
into things in the first portion of camp, but things
have been really smooth sailing since and labs don't look now,
but including today, there's just four camp practices that are
open to the public. So we just need the weather
(22:12):
to cooperate for a little bit longer.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
And we're good right today, tomorrow and then next Monday
and Tuesday, so you know, and Monday right now, the
advanced forecast Sunday and hot high in near ninety one.
So maybe Mike Tomlin gets a couple of.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Days gift on the way out. Yes, but I.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Don't think Jacksonville is gonna let him down this weekend.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
No, I don't think so either. And Labs, I know
you actually won't be on the training camp report tomorrow.
You've got Mike Tomlin duties that you have to take
care of, and I get it if you want to
put me on the back burner for him. I guess
that that's allowable. But since you won't be here, I
am just curious Friday. Is that like a walk through
it all for the team too? And then they get
on the plane and get out to Jacksonville Or do
they just go right to the airport and leave.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
No, they have a walk through in the morning on
the south side though.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
Oh okay, so they won't be at La Trobe for that.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
No, you're right, No, it will be here. My mistake,
my mistake. Yeah, the buses will leave from here and
take anyone who wants to be on the buses directly
to the airport. You know, players who live in Pittsburgh
can drive themselves because then when they come home, Sunday's
(23:34):
an off day, so their cars will be at the
airport and then they can just you know, do what
they want. But then for the others, rookies who put
people who don't have a place to go. When they land,
there will be a bus to bring them back here.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
And you just stay on campus right the whole time
because you love it so much.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I got a pregame show to do.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Other than that, of course, you'll come on here and
hang out with me and do that stuff. But I mean,
you can't get enough of that dorm living.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Well, I actually I think I've I've officially gotten enough
of the dorm living for this year, but there are
a few more days left.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Mike Tomlin always talks to the media following practice. Let's
take a listen to what he had to say yesterday.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Man, a lot of really good work today. I like
the way they approached it. We didn't warm up to it,
and that was one of the things we talked about
this morning, going in and out off days.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Man, we just can't waste time.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
And I just felt the energy and an urgency in
the group in terms of how we work. We had
some really good competition. Got another shot at two minutes,
which is important.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
Man.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
We just got to keep hitting situations because at the
end of the week we'll be in the stadium and so,
you know, not enough time to cover all the scenarios.
We better stay after it. But I like what we
did today. You know, no new news on a lot
of those guys status that we've been talking about, a
lot of people working their way back. Joey Porter Jr.
(24:59):
Was a a partial participant today. For an example, I gainst.
The big news is Will Howard left with a hand
injury that's being evaluated. John lew left with some knee soreness.
Will evaluate him as well. That appears to be less significant.
But we're examining Will Howard, will see where it takes
us hurt. I think it was a c Q exchange,
(25:20):
but I didn't have direct eyes on it. Some speculating
Robert Woods of the opinion he scored at the end
of that two minutes.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
I'm sure he was because it is. Yes, it is.
Mike got he up there on high school.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
He's got a growing But I don't know the length
of time. You know, it'll be a couple of days
at least for sure. I will play it by year.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
What's your super Marion? In two minute he ran market,
you know, he's in complete command.
Speaker 8 (25:46):
I've seen some things that I've seen from the opposing
sideline over the years in terms of his ability to
take advantage of substitution changes and so forth. He's been
doing it at a high level for a long time
and so not surprised by any of that.
Speaker 9 (25:58):
On that interception to twenty six, get their.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Little we'll take a look at the tape.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
Are you gonna start on?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Man?
Speaker 8 (26:06):
I can't see past Wednesday at this juncture, at this
stage of development, Saturday is a long way away. Seriously,
we're just trying to have good days.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Anyone else could talk about the progress that Jack Sawyer
said for He's.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Done a nice job. He's highly competitive. I'm equally as
impressed with what he's doing in special teams because essentially
he played d n at at college and so he's
playing on his feed and playing some space and doing
a nice job all right. Else you talk about getting
guys out to look at guys behind them, it's part
of that ultra balancing offense and defense at times, trying
(26:39):
to get specific matchups in play.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
No, that's less significant for me.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
You know, you can spend a lot of time trying
to control matchups this time of year. We just put
guys in groups and work and understand that sometimes people
are gonna be in tough matchups, sometimes they're gonna be
an easy ones.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
A Steelers coach Mike Tomlin following practice yesterday and LABS,
he talked about the injury that Will Howard suffered. That's
obviously on the mind of a lot of people in
Steelers Nation. Mike Tomlin when he was talking to the
media there didn't have all of the info privy to him.
We now know that it looks like it's going to
be more like a three week injury, essentially knocking him
out of all of the preseason and boy, that's a
(27:15):
tough blow for the rookie.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Ian Rappaport reported last night around I don't know, eight
nine o'clock, maybe that you know, Will Howard has a
small bone broken in his right hand and he banged
it on what Rappaport didn't say. Mike Tomlin mentioned he
(27:40):
thought it was on an exchange with the center. But
maybe we'll find out a little bit more about that
details after practice. Howard is said to be going to
have more tests surgery. According to Rappaport At this point
is not indicated, but you know it's it's not a
(28:03):
good thing for a quarterback to injure his throwing hand
at this stage of the process. You know, the Steelers
are just about to start their preseason, and so you know,
it's not a good time. It's not it's not a
good time for Will Howard. It's not really not a
good time for the team either, because you know, you
(28:24):
still have a lot of reps and practices. Uh, let
me say, yes, you still have four practices that are
open to the public, and there's a few more walkthroughs
than those kinds of things, and there's a lot of
drills within those practices. And you don't want to wear
out Aaron Rodgers, that's for sure. You know, you don't
(28:44):
want to overuse him to the point where you know
he may have he develops a tired arm or something,
but I don't know. Maybe you know he has taken
care of that himself in the off season, but you
want to be cautious with that. You can't really bring
in anybody for camp.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
I'm just gonna ask you that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
A quarterback at this time, if he's on the street,
I'm not saying that they all stink. But if he's
on the street, you can't even teach him. What are
you gonna you know, how quickly can he learn? Because
if he doesn't know the offense or the plays or
you know, what good is he he's an arm?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Right?
Speaker 6 (29:27):
But then Will comes back in three weeks and then
what you don't need him?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, but I'm just saying to get you through three
weeks of.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Practice, I see what you mean. Yeah, he wouldn't even
know how to really do it right.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So uh yeah, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
As I said, it's it's not a good situation for
the team either. I don't think that it's realistic that
you would, you know, just go and try and rent
an arm for three weeks, because, as I said, the
guy wouldn't be up to speed on any of your
plays or your players. So, as I said, not a
good thing for Will Howard, not a the thing for
(30:00):
the Steelers. Maybe we'll find out a little bit more
today about how the team proceeds, and maybe we'll find
out a little bit more about you know, Will Howard
in this course of treatment.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, we'll hear what Mike Tomlin had to say after practice,
of course, and then he has his press conference tomorrow
as well, which I'm sure we'll be full of updates
and we'll carry that for you live here on Fox
Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy and the Steelers Audio Network. You know,
looking at it from Will Howard's perspective, this is a
lot more snaps for Rudolph and maybe even more so
for Skyler Thompson now to get them through at least
(30:33):
this first preseason game in Jacksonville, and really most of
the preseason Rogers won't play very much, I have to imagine,
but this is really the only chance that if things
go right for the Steelers, Will Howard would have had
to go out there and actually play NFL football. And
I'm not saying that that means that the Steelers would,
you know, puol the plug on him potentially being a
backup down the road for them or being a Steeler
(30:53):
for four or five more years here. But boy, that's
just it's always tough to see a rookie get this
opportunity rob from them right away.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
You just never know when you're gonna get it again.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Yeah, And if I mean, if you really want to
get down and the jump down the rabbit hole with
this whole situation. You know, the cutdown day is here.
I'm gonna find this real quick. It's in August. It's
a Tuesday in August. It is August twenty sixth. Okay,
(31:25):
so here's the deal. You know, three weeks. We're now
in August sixth, so three weeks twenty one days is
the twenty seventh. So technically, and this is all ifs.
You know, it's all.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
Speculations.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thank you, I got you with neophyte and then speculation
just at least.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Oh I told you to dumb it down. Maybe maybe
not that much.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
But anyway, So this is all speculation. So twenty one
days from today is the twenty seventh. So this is
These are your options. If you put a player on
injured reserve before the rosters are cut to fifty three,
he's done for the year, and done for the year
(32:13):
means can't practice, right, okay, But if you want to
try and sneak him onto the practice squad or something,
you got to expose them to waivers. You don't want
to do that either, especially if you like the guy,
and I'm pretty sure they do. Then the other option
(32:34):
is you're kind of rolling the dice and hoping that
you don't need them because it's going to take him.
I would imagine three more weeks, maybe a month to
get back to where he was, you know, two snaps
before he hurt himself, right, So, I mean, I don't
(32:57):
know what you do. I really don't. The thing to
me is, since he's he's a rookie. You know, it's
not a lot of money, So you could put him
on IR for the year and just eat the salary
and protect him, but then he loses a whole you know,
there may not be a lot of practice reps for
(33:21):
third string quarterbacks, which is probably what he was going
to be, But there's no practice for a guy on IR.
You know, you can't work with your teammates all. The
only thing you could do would be rehab. So there's
no throwing with receivers that are on the team or
(33:41):
on the practice squad. So yeah, it's it's a it's
a it's not a good thing for Will Howard in
a lot of different ways, on a lot of different levels.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Potentially, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, it's just basically all rehabit mental reps. If that
were going to be the case for him going on IR.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, mental reps.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I mean they're beneficial, but you got to go out
there and throw the ball right.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
And you know mental reps I mean Roman Wilson asked
Roman Wilson about the value mental reps. Really, Calvin Austin third,
he did the same thing, ask him about that. You know,
mental reps are good for players who have some experience
with physical reps and then they can follow it mentally
because they have some muscle memory about actually doing it.
(34:27):
A rookie doesn't really have any of that muscle memory yet,
so you know, it's probably a lot easier for him
to learn.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
It than it is to you know, hone it.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Because, as I've said to you before, I could learn it,
but I guarantee you they don't want me understand.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
When we come back, we got a special treat to
close out the hour.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Watt spent a good amount of time talking to the
media yesterday after practice, So we'll play the thoughts from
Steeler's former defensive Player of the Year, Ed Rusher TJ.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
Watts.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
It's Tom Aframan Bob Labriola on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy am and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Network Iheartradios Live coverage Job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
Kalucy Chevrolet, iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors,
(35:29):
by S and T Bank, we Max Select Realty, by
Tom's Appliances, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop, by Always Safe
Flagging and Traffic Control, and by us Steel.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Tom off Froman and Bob Labriola on the Training Camp Report.
Gonna hear from Steelers addresser TJ. Watt in just a
second laps he got a pretty decent raise. I guess
I would say this offseason the last time he got
a big time raise, signed a contract extension with the Steelers.
All he did was go out and time Michael Strahan
single season sack record and win the Defensive Player of
(36:03):
the Year. I'm not gonna put the bar there because
that's insanely high, but I do expect TJ. Watt to
come out after signing that contract with a little bit
of hunger. He has that chip on his shoulder when
it comes to never having a playoff win, and I expect,
if health permits it, a huge year from mister Watt.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah, I'm you know, TJ.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Watt is someone who you know, he's a self motivator.
And I believe that that contract, if I remember correctly
reading it, made him the highest paid non quarterback in
NFL history. So I think that he's going to want
to live up to that with a performance that shows that,
you know, he was worth every nickel.
Speaker 7 (36:44):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Watt, as I said, had a lengthy chat with the
media yesterday after practice.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Let's hear what he had to say.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
The time we've been doing it, it's something that we're
doing every single day. I think we're picking days kind
of work on it. I'd rather work on one.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Side for that day, just get more reps at a
was you going over there for a rep? Here? There
something that we're gonna continue to do. What are the
challenges that were the differences when.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
You're flipping sides?
Speaker 9 (37:07):
I mean, I've talked about this a bunch.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
I think it's just something that's not as comfortable, but
working on getting it to be more comfortable.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You've been on a lot of the kounts have just
gone through this process for several years here training camp
for this.
Speaker 9 (37:17):
That's the defense we've been a part of so far.
It's too early to tell.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
Everybody looks good this time of year, until we get
new stadium with another team, until we allow the offense
to continue to make more adjustments to attack us. Definitely
allow us to make more adjustments to see how many
guys are willing to tackle. All of those things are
still yet to be determined.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Will there be a point in practice where you do
flip from side to side within the same practice to
simulate like you might do in a game.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
Oh, very likely. I mean that's don't rule that out.
Did Jack as stimulating himself into the Oh, he's a
big guy.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
A guy that has been a sponde. He's asking all
the right questions and see continue improving from him. He's
been a great rookie so far. And I think he
has a very high ceiling, right you seen the curb.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
And kind of makes some jokes and know train to
do a little bit in the off season. Will be
the wing all last year's where have you seen him?
Speaker 9 (38:05):
Grows of argument, He's he's so hungry.
Speaker 7 (38:07):
He really is.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
He's a very hungry individual, asking the right question still
to this day, and just constantly working. Whether it's pre
practice with nobody out there post practice, just working new moves. Uh,
he's not afraid to fail, but he doesn't fail much.
It's been fun to watch him.
Speaker 9 (38:22):
Grow DJ he told us a Mike Tomlin. It's just
a lot of greed. Gives him a lot of degree
about his around.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
Stop how much if you just see him that I
approved over his time here.
Speaker 9 (38:30):
Yeah, he's done a great job.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I think that's the biggest key to being an outside
linebacker here is you wanna be a well rounded player
and not only for yourself but for the whole team.
And you wanna be reliable. And I think he's working
his way towards that. And uh, it's a smaller body guy.
He's put on some weight. He's he's trained with me
in the off season. He's stronger than ever.
Speaker 9 (38:48):
And uh, it's been fun to see him attacked around
like he has. Who calls you guys like Patricks?
Speaker 8 (38:52):
Didn't they the side linebackers bought they they they said,
they're excited because they're blitzing a lot more.
Speaker 9 (38:57):
They're coming with them with you.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
But what does that do for you with that rusher?
Speaker 9 (39:00):
Have other linebackers with the different spots.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Also, you're locating the rushing.
Speaker 9 (39:04):
Yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 5 (39:05):
I mean, Payton's playing fast, PQ's playing fast, both of them. Second,
you're in the system, anytime you get those huggers coming
as quickly as they are, it allows us to have
those one on one pass rush opportunities, or it even
allows for a potential miss up where one of us
is running free. So the quicker those guys play, the
better it is for everybody. Jay, you said you wanted
an age like a game, or at least use them
as an example as you get order.
Speaker 9 (39:26):
How much of a focus is the power.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Board your game when you're gonna be you know, again,
it's a contract thirty four.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
And the exposure just might not be the same as
a way.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
I mean, i'd like to think the explosiveness is always
going to be there. Obviously, realistically, I don't know if
that's the case. I mean, it still is right now,
but it's just constantly finding new ways to win, evolving
with the game.
Speaker 9 (39:45):
Like coach t says, adapted Die. But at the end
of the day, if you have a fastball that works,
keep throwing the fastball along the line.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
Christmas question about the linebackers and what's it also seems
like you're bringing a lot of nickel crushers.
Speaker 9 (39:56):
What's the benefit when you have a neck like Jaylen Ramsey,
you know.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
Rushing off the edge on with you.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
I think it's one of those things where you never
know where Jalen's gonna be, You never know what he's
gonna do, and.
Speaker 9 (40:04):
The better that we disguise, the better that everybody eats.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
So I'm really looking forward to continuing to get better
and our dis guys in the back end helping them
upfront as well. Dun Bart.
Speaker 10 (40:13):
Dunbar's helped with obviously Jared Allen, Kim Hayward. What kind
of things has he done to help you try to
promoe your career the way that some of those guys
have he did.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
I think taking care of us, making sure that even
if we want to practice, making us take days off,
and just being smart. I think, more than anything than
you play for Carl Dunbar and Denzel Martin, you want
to turn on the film and see physical football players
using their hands, turning their hips, making sure those things
are ready so that when it's game time we don't
have to walk up to it.
Speaker 10 (40:40):
How do you balance not practicing all the time, knowing
that you will be doing some different things this year
in the rush. I mean, is it tough to not
go out there and want to practice it all the
time and just get as familiar as you can with it.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (40:50):
I think it's a push and pull.
Speaker 5 (40:51):
I mean in twenty twenty one, I didn't practice with
the team at all and felt really good.
Speaker 9 (40:56):
Going into the season.
Speaker 5 (40:57):
There's been I mean as the years go on, I
don't practice as much, but I still feel good, and
it's just a matter of getting that individual work, working
on the right side, running hoops and doing things sometimes
almost as a benefit as opposed to wasteing that rep
and high Next, did you adjust and just feel how
much getting ready for a season had you get older?
I think it's just being more and more comfortable with
(41:19):
the system, not feeling like I have to be ready
right now, even though I feel great, it's just a
slow ramp up, a slow build to the season.
Speaker 9 (41:28):
I don't have to have my best days right now.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
I can continue to try new things and have fun
with it, me and her and and also trying this
new pass, this movement and working on all off season,
and it hasn't been working out really well. So I
think we're prior to the point of the off season.
We're like the start of the season where you ditch
that move and you get back to what you're doing.
Stuff like that is fun. This time we here attention
to sack totals as the defense. You guys were kind
(41:51):
of middle of the road last year. Do you do
you think about wanting to be top five, wanting to
be top ten and what's the ceiling for this group? Yeah,
I mean my first couple of years we were always
at the top. I think we can definitely be better.
But at the end of the day, I think splashes
is always on our mind. We talk about splash easan
every week, whether that sacks, TFLs, tip passes, picks, anything
that we can do to affect the offense and deliver
(42:11):
the ball in good field position for offenses.
Speaker 9 (42:13):
Something we're always talking about.
Speaker 7 (42:15):
TJ pol Jack.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
I might have finished this the card in the background,
But when you're going up against bout John and you're
seeing him at developing come along or he's.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Healthy, he's describing a red shirt, seasons under his belt,
how's he going into your face?
Speaker 9 (42:28):
Yeah, I think he's getting better each and every day.
I think he's a very physical, a very I should say,
a very quick tackle, very athletic. He can recover really well.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
I think he's just getting his confidence under him, trying
to give him a myriad of things where I can
bowl rush him, do his confidence in that knee, and
then also just trying to work some things. It's fun
to go up against a young guy like that who's
really athletic.
Speaker 9 (42:49):
There have been a lot of talk you have a
really good track prior to his injury last year. Have
you seen if you managed to get back back, if
not beyond he's geting healthy.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
I think he's doing some really good things this camp,
and it's only going to get better the more and
more reps that he gets without.
Speaker 8 (43:03):
When it comes to the cornerbacks, it seems like you
guys have and we guys rams even play with Joey.
Speaker 9 (43:07):
You guys gonna be on a run a lot.
Speaker 8 (43:09):
More pressman, What is that kind of stuff on the
back end helping you guys do as pass rod?
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Yeah, Man, Russian coverage goes together and we said that
from day one, anytime that they can give us just
an extra half the second or at ten to the
second is going to be huge for us, and anytime
that week can affect the quarterbacks would be huge for
them as well.
Speaker 9 (43:24):
So we work together.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Steelers all pro ed rusher TJ. Watt a lot of
great stuff from him there. When we come back, we'll
actually hear from someone who he talked about, Jack Sawyer,
and also Derek Harmon and LABS and I are going
to talk a bit about the rookies and how they've
looked so far through their first NFL training camp. And then,
as I mentioned here that audio from Harmon and Sawyer
after practice yesterday. It's Tom Aperman, It's Bob Labriola. You're
(43:48):
listening to the Training camp Report on Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy am and the Steelers Audio Network
Iheartradios. Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers Training
Camp is presented by Padex where Now Meets Next and
also brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health System,
by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente Pizza
and Drafthouse, by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto, Laurel, Highlands
(00:40):
Visitors Bureau, Wemax, Select Realty, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop,
and by US Steel.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Offerman and Bob
Labriola Labs. It was becoming a bit of a theme
here at training camp. The defense was really dominating the offense.
But it looks like yesterday the offense started to show
some serious promt rests.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
It was a good day for the offense. I thought
it was a really good day for Aaron Rodgers. He
just he you know, I don't think it was.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
It wasn't.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It wasn't a good day for the offense on Sunday.
Then they were off Monday, and yesterday was Tuesday. Yep,
I got the days right. I'm so proud of me.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm surprised for this deep in the camp and you
have the calendar, such a grasp on it like that.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, I mean, I know Mondays are days off and
I know today's Wednesday, so I did I did the
figuring out after that. But yeah, I think it was
the defense one seven shots, six to one, and the
offense came back and posted just as you know, decisive
(01:48):
victory on its own. I mean Aaron Rodgers, he was
on time and accurate all day.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
And you know, the the NFL is a quarterback league,
it is. I mean, and you got when you have
a quarterback playing as well as he was playing yesterday,
it's NFL offenses are pretty hard to stop.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So yeah, it was good to see.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Still having some trouble running the ball, and I think
that's gonna that's something that's gonna take some time. But yeah,
it was a good day for the offense. Some guys
made some plays receivers, I mean Aaron Rodgers was distributing
the ball very nicely. Yeah, well, got a lot of
things done. It as I said, it was it was
(02:32):
good to see, and uh, it made me feel a
little better because the defense had been kind of controlling
things here the previous few practices.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
Yeah, you want to see the offense definitely respond.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
As we've noted though with those previous practices in the
defense's dominance. It's a great defense. It's supposed to be
one of the best defenses in the NFL. But yeah,
you want to see a punch thrown back or two
by the still.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Little Connor punching little eb and flow. You don't want
it to be two ones. Uh, you know it just
it doesn't. I don't think it bodes well for the season.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
If it is, we'll get into you know, the seven shots,
the two minute drill that they did at practice yesterday.
But let's stick with Aaron Rodgers for just a little bit,
because you know, you and I love our Quarterback.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Talk Labs absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Mike Tomlin put it this way when he was talking
to the media, and we'll hear from him in our
second segment. But he has complete command of this offense already,
and it's really only been a few weeks in total
that he's been a Pittsburgh Steeler and had a chance
to practice with them. Sure, he had a little bit
of a run at mini camp, and I know he
flew the guys out to Malibu to work out with him.
(03:36):
In the time between Mini camp and training camp. But
now he's got the pads on and he's installing this offense.
And to hear that he's in complete command this early
is not really surprising to me because that's who that
guy is, you know, between the ears. He might be
the smartest quarterback in the NFL right now.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, And I don't I don't want listeners to confuse
complete command with he is one hundred percent sharp all
the time, because that's not yet the case. But in
terms of the command, you know, he knows, he knows,
he knows it, and his command of the unit on
(04:12):
the field is spectacular, you know because that comment from
Mike Tomlin kind of came, you know, in reference to
the two minut drill, which was the last period of
the practice yesterday. And you know, you can see Aaron
Rodgers when he, you know, gets the play and the
team comes up to the line of scrimmage. You know what,
(04:34):
he's looking around, Uh, he sees things, you see him
kind of sometimes some hand signals he'll be given to
his receivers. You know, he's calling out the signals. Yes
he is, he is in command. He putting guys in
motion if he needs to move somebody they're split a
little wider, or bring them a little tighter to the formation.
(04:56):
You know, he can handle all of that stuff, and
he does it, you know, quickly and with a command
that I think, well, first of all, the command. You
need to do it with the command, because when you're
in a game, there's a play clock, clock's ticking, TikTok, TikTok.
You know, there's not a lot of time for messing around.
And when you also have command of it, your teammates
(05:19):
are paying attention and they respect that. So all of that's,
all of that's good stuff. Uh, And yeah, it was
good to see yesterday. As I said, I don't want
to keep repeating myself, but no, it was yes and right.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You know, I think that that mental side of things
is really going to be his greatest asset for the Steelers,
and it really should be at this stage in his career.
Not to say that his arm still still isn't impressive,
because he's certainly been spinning it up at training camp,
but you know, he's just gonna think the game ats
just such a different level than you've seen from the
quarterback position since number seven was back.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
There, right, And you know, you mentioned his arm. He
threw in the two men a drill he had. The
play was a dump to the in the flat to
Jalen Warren and the outside linebacker on that side, I
believe it was dj Watt, but he would have been
(06:14):
his side, but he wasn't really participating a lot of
in the team portion. But and I'm looking. I'm sitting
up here from my vantage point, and where the offense
was was pretty close to, you know, my spot up here,
and so I'm looking almost like directly down at Rogers,
(06:34):
and he dropped his arm down almost kent to Colvie
and through a sidearm pass that got through all the
arms right to Jalen Warren. Now, you know, other guys
they might have had to try and lob it over.
And if it made it over, then you know, you're
(06:54):
giving the defense a lot of time to react to that.
And Jalen Warren has to stand there and wait for
the ball, and usually bad things, you know, sometimes defenders
arrive right after the ball does and that's never pretty
for the guy trying to catch it. So but he
dropped it down and was it was seriously he looked
like a baseball pitcher right on target, Jalen Warren caught
(07:17):
the ball, turned it up field for I don't know
eight or ten yards, got a first down as the
clock was ticking in the two minute drill.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well in seven shots drill in practice, the offense was
able to get one back against the defense. They came
away with a victory yesterday, and as we mentioned the
one before that, it was a six to one dominant
win for the defense. So it's good to see that
the offense got themselves on the score. But I believe
it was five to two in favor of the offensive unit.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Right and Aaron Rodgers was three for three, you know.
He the first pass was one of those he kind
of buzzed it past the defenders year right to DK
Metcalf before he could turn around the second one. You know,
for an old man forty one going on forty two,
(08:05):
he does a pretty nice job. He's kind of nimble.
He's not a scrambler. He's not a guy who's gonna
take take off and run, I don't think, but he can,
you know, move around in the pocket a little bit
to either buy some time or create some throwing lanes
for himself. And he did that nicely on the second
one found a wide open John hus Smith for a
(08:26):
second touchdown. And then on the third play of seven shots,
the formation had three wide receivers to the one side
and to the right, and Roman Wilson was a solo guy.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
On the left.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Now that was This is a really nice play for
two reasons. When you run a formation like that, the
guy who's singled usually has to be a good route
runner and a dependable catcher of the football because that's
usually where it goes. If you know that was Antonio
(09:05):
Brown made hundreds of catches as that single guy when
the bulk of the receivers were on the other side
of the formation. So that was Roman Wilson on that play.
And Rogers put it it was low to the inside.
It was one of those ones where you throw it
(09:26):
there you're hoping your receiver is gonna make the play,
but he the position of the ball. It's either he
makes the play or nobody does, which is kind of
what you're looking for down there in that area. And
Roman Wilson went down and made the catch, secured it touchdown.
So great throw by Rogers, good read, He threw it
(09:49):
on time. It was accurate in terms of where it
had to be. And you like your second year receiver
making that play to a guy he's drafting in the
third round last year who missed all of his rookie
season because an injury. So that was a there were
two good things that happened on that play.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, And you know, I know we've talked before about
it's nice for the offense when they put the pads
on to kind of establish that they're willing to run
the ball down there. But I'm a fan of seeing
for all three of Rogers' reps in this seven shots
drill yesterday passing the football because sometimes Labs and I know,
you know, on paper, you just want to hand it
(10:27):
off to Warren or Johnson and have him plunge right in,
and it's the easy way to get it in. But
this is the NFL, and teams get real stout up
on that goal line, and sometimes it's going to need
to come from the passing game when you're down in
that area. So it's good to see Rogers be able
to be that weapon that we need him to be
in that red zone area.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Right And this is training camp, so you're it's you know,
handing the ball off. I have no doubt that Aaron
Rodgers can do that, you know, I mean, but getting
him in sync as much as possible with the receivers
and different receivers too. It's not like he's going to
(11:07):
the same guy every play. That to me is what
this is about. You know, these kinds of practices, that's
what I want to see him do. You know you
want to be able to run the ball. I get it,
But in terms of what you're looking for in terms
of quarterback play and his on a relationship with the receivers,
(11:31):
you want to maximize that this is time to take
those shots in the end zone when it's practice.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Now, you did mention that the Steelers running game probably
needs to get going a little bit more. Caleb Johnson
did get into the end zone on Mason Rudolph's first
rep of seven shots, and I saw someone else note
that he had a little bit of burst. A little
bit of ability was shown from Caleb Johnson in yesterday's practice.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
So it wasn't all bad correct from the running game?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
No, I mean, and Caleb Johnson, you know he flashes, uh,
and he's a rookie and again, uh, it's it's a process.
We've talked about how good the defense is when Caleb
Johnson is in Usually it's with the second team offense
offensive line, and so there's that. But yeah, I like,
(12:22):
I like what he's gonna bring. You know, I don't
believe that the Steelers Arthur Smith have figured it out
exactly what he's best at and what he's you know,
when you combine what he's good at and what the
line can block. So then what plays does that leave
you in your repertoire? If you want to run the ball,
(12:44):
all that's there's time for all of that. And I
don't even know that it's gonna all be figured out
September seventh, when the regular season opens against the Jets,
because offenses take more time to develop and get sharp
than fences due so, but so it's not all bad
for Caleb Johnson, but there is a ways to go yet.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
The two minute drill was another thing of note from
practice yesterday, and the offense was really moving the ball
down the field. It looked like it was really fluid.
Just a couple of unlucky hiccups kind of derailed them,
didn't it.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, you know, the it was Aaron Rodgers first and
he was going, let's see here. Oh yeah, okay, here
it is Pat Firemouth for six, Jalen Warren for eight,
Pat Firemuth for fifteen, Jalen Warren for seven. Then there
(13:41):
was a throwaway to stop the clock. Then the next
play was a It was over the middle of Roman
Wilson again. Now Brandon Echols reached around and got his
hand on the ball. It popped up in the air
and it was intercepted. My and I'm not saying this
is what it was, but my opinion is that in
(14:04):
an NFL regular season game, the flag comes out because
they call that. You know, it's like reaching in in basketball. Yeah,
it's always a file reaching around in the NFL. In
that situation in a two minute drill with one team
trying to move the ball down the field to get
in position for a score that could win the game,
(14:26):
I don't think they're giving or I don't think they're
letting the defense do that. Again, I'm not saying that
it's right, but you can usually count on that kind
of interference call or illegal contact or they'll call some
But anyway, so that it was intercepted and that ended
that possession. So then the next group comes out and
(14:48):
it was Skylar Thompson at quarterback. And as I think
we were talking about this yesterday when what we thought
we might see in the two minute, I said, Mike
Tomlin might choose to put a quarterback out there that
he thinks thinks is going to be in that situation,
you know, at the end of the even at the
(15:08):
end of one of the halves, you know, to get
him some practice at it, because if you're you know, again,
I don't know that Aaron Rodgers is going to play
against the Jaguars. If it was up to me and
I was the head coach, I would not play him.
We'll find out probably tomorrow and Mike Tomlin has his
news conference. So anyway, but you want Aaron Rodgers doing
(15:29):
it because you know he's your guy.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
So he gets the first turn. Then.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
So what didn't surprise me that Skyler Thompson was the
next guy in because you know, if the game goes
the way you think it's going to go, he's probably
in there at the end of the fourth quarter. And
so if you need this kind of situation to unfold
for you correctly successfully, he's going to have to be
(15:54):
the guy doing it. So okay, so he was the
second guy out there. He was doing a nice job
early moving the ball. And what I noticed too was
Max Hurlman, that undrafted rookie from Notre Dame, the guy
that pursued a calls Rudy. He was It was Thompson
(16:17):
to Hurlman a bunch of times, and they're, you know,
moving the ball right down the field, so they're getting close.
Maybe Robert Woods caught a ball and got across the
goal line or maybe not. I don't really know. I
couldn't see it well enough. I think that was one
of those situations, you know that Mike Tomlin manipulated a
(16:41):
little bit to create more snaps in the drill, and
to create more important snaps in the drill. So instead
of signaling a touchdown, the drills over. You know, he
puts it on the one yard line and you've got
to run a couple more plays to get it in.
And that's you know again, it's it's practice. This is
(17:01):
what this is the kind of thing you're you want
to work on. So on the last play, it was
fourth and goal with the one, so Skyler Thompson takes
the snap, quick throw, probably just outside the right tackle,
right in that area there hit Kenneth Gainwell right in
(17:21):
the stomach. He dropped it, and so again from the
quarterbacks point, he did what you wanted him to do.
I mean, that's he threw to the right guy. The
ball was on target. I don't think Kenneth Gainwell drops
another one of those in his career.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I mean, that's the kind of pass it was. It
just he dropped it.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Yeah, that seems more fluky to me. Yes, right, what
he has shown to do in his career.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Yes, in big games too. You know, it's not it's
not like this guy, you know, is a neophyte. So yeah, unfortunate.
But again, I think from a Mike Tomlin perspective, from
a Steelers coaching staff perspective, you've got you saw a
lot of things that well, you saw players in a
(18:15):
lot of the situations that they're gonna be in in games.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And so if you're trying to evaluate these guys who
you want to keep and who you know, it's it's
good to see them actually doing or attempting to do
those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Please don't use big words like neophyte around me. Again,
they scare me. I'm not smart enough to know what
you mean by that.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Okay, thank you movie.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Dumb it down for me. Thanks. I need that.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
When we come back, we're gonna hear from coach Mike
Tomlin and his thoughts following practice yesterday, and Labs is
going to tell you what the weather's looking like for
practice up at Saint Vincent College. Also, we got a
little bit more quarterback talk, a little bit more down
the depth trot. We got to get into what happened
to QB three, Will Howard, so all that on the way,
Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola on the Training Camp Report,
Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Iheartradios. Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training
Camp is presented by FedEx where Now meets Next and
also brought to you by CGR Wholesale Roofing and Siding
Supply Center, by Tons Appliances, by Always Safe Flagging and
Traffic controled by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, by Schneider Downs,
(19:52):
by Hassa's Steak at Seahouse, by your Neighborhood Forward Store,
by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union, and by
US Steel.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Collaps.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
I feel bad.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I feel like your weather report is just so uneventful
this year. I mean it was at the beginning of camp,
don't get me wrong, but we've just fallen into this
repetitive cycle of perfect weather for Steelers practice.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Is today going to be more the same?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
This might be a better day because there's there's some
clouds here. But all the clouds are doing there. I
think they're you know, I might try and use a
meteorological term that I've heard on TV careful first high
serious clouds, and it takes.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Me back to like tenth grade science class right now?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh really, okay, am I doing? Is that the right word?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Short?
Speaker 6 (20:44):
You sound right to me.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Well, anyway, all these clouds are doing really is providing
a nice shade. I mean it's not dark or anything,
but you're not sitting in the sun. It's not burning hot.
And because even you know, the high today is supposed
to be eighty two right now, it's only seventy three.
And I think the temperature is that low now because
(21:09):
of the clouds.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Clouds are helping things. You know.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
The humidity is very very pleasant, sixty five percent. There's
a nice little breeze. Perfect day. I mean if you've
got to be sitting out here watching practice. You know,
you can even be sitting on the metal bleachers and
I'm sure those wouldn't even hurt you, you know what
I mean in terms of getting if you got any
(21:34):
bare skin on the aluminum, you know, sometimes that can
be really hot. But this is it's a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
This is Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
If this was the way it was the whole training camp,
Mike Tomlin would have not been happy.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, it's good that he got his adversity at least
at the beginning of things when the heat was oppressive,
and he doesn't Mike Comin doesn't want practices to end early.
They had a little bit of that throw a wrench
into things in the first portion of camp, but things
have been really smooth sailing since and labs don't look now,
but including today, there's just four camp practices that are
open to the public. So we just need the weather
(22:12):
to cooperate for a little bit longer.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
And we're good right today, tomorrow and then next Monday
and Tuesday, so you know, and Monday right now, the
advanced forecast Sunday and hot high in near ninety one.
So maybe Mike Tomlin gets a couple of.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Days gift on the way out. Yes, but I.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Don't think Jacksonville is gonna let him down this weekend.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
No, I don't think so either. And Labs, I know
you actually won't be on the training camp report tomorrow.
You've got Mike Tomlin duties that you have to take
care of, and I get it if you want to
put me on the back burner for him. I guess
that that's allowable. But since you won't be here, I
am just curious Friday. Is that like a walk through
it all for the team too? And then they get
on the plane and get out to Jacksonville Or do
they just go right to the airport and leave.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
No, they have a walk through in the morning on
the south side though.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
Oh okay, so they won't be at La Trobe for that.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
No, you're right, No, it will be here. My mistake,
my mistake. Yeah, the buses will leave from here and
take anyone who wants to be on the buses directly
to the airport. You know, players who live in Pittsburgh
can drive themselves because then when they come home, Sunday's
(23:34):
an off day, so their cars will be at the
airport and then they can just you know, do what
they want. But then for the others, rookies who put
people who don't have a place to go. When they land,
there will be a bus to bring them back here.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
And you just stay on campus right the whole time
because you love it so much.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I got a pregame show to do.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Other than that, of course, you'll come on here and
hang out with me and do that stuff. But I mean,
you can't get enough of that dorm living.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Well, I actually I think I've I've officially gotten enough
of the dorm living for this year, but there are
a few more days left.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Mike Tomlin always talks to the media following practice. Let's
take a listen to what he had to say yesterday.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Man, a lot of really good work today. I like
the way they approached it. We didn't warm up to it,
and that was one of the things we talked about
this morning, going in and out off days.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Man, we just can't waste time.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
And I just felt the energy and an urgency in
the group in terms of how we work. We had
some really good competition. Got another shot at two minutes,
which is important.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
Man.
Speaker 8 (24:39):
We just got to keep hitting situations because at the
end of the week we'll be in the stadium and so,
you know, not enough time to cover all the scenarios.
We better stay after it. But I like what we
did today. You know, no new news on a lot
of those guys status that we've been talking about, a
lot of people working their way back. Joey Porter Jr.
(24:59):
Was a a partial participant today. For an example, I gainst.
The big news is Will Howard left with a hand
injury that's being evaluated. John lew left with some knee soreness.
Will evaluate him as well. That appears to be less significant.
But we're examining Will Howard, will see where it takes
us hurt. I think it was a c Q exchange,
(25:20):
but I didn't have direct eyes on it. Some speculating
Robert Woods of the opinion he scored at the end
of that two minutes.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
I'm sure he was because it is. Yes, it is.
Mike got he up there on high school.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
He's got a growing But I don't know the length
of time. You know, it'll be a couple of days
at least for sure. I will play it by year.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
What's your super Marion? In two minute he ran market,
you know, he's in complete command.
Speaker 8 (25:46):
I've seen some things that I've seen from the opposing
sideline over the years in terms of his ability to
take advantage of substitution changes and so forth. He's been
doing it at a high level for a long time
and so not surprised by any of that.
Speaker 9 (25:58):
On that interception to twenty six, get their.
Speaker 7 (25:59):
Little we'll take a look at the tape.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
Are you gonna start on?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Man?
Speaker 8 (26:06):
I can't see past Wednesday at this juncture, at this
stage of development, Saturday is a long way away. Seriously,
we're just trying to have good days.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Anyone else could talk about the progress that Jack Sawyer
said for He's.
Speaker 8 (26:18):
Done a nice job. He's highly competitive. I'm equally as
impressed with what he's doing in special teams because essentially
he played d n at at college and so he's
playing on his feed and playing some space and doing
a nice job all right. Else you talk about getting
guys out to look at guys behind them, it's part
of that ultra balancing offense and defense at times, trying
(26:39):
to get specific matchups in play.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
No, that's less significant for me.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
You know, you can spend a lot of time trying
to control matchups this time of year. We just put
guys in groups and work and understand that sometimes people
are gonna be in tough matchups, sometimes they're gonna be
an easy ones.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
A Steelers coach Mike Tomlin following practice yesterday and LABS,
he talked about the injury that Will Howard suffered. That's
obviously on the mind of a lot of people in
Steelers Nation. Mike Tomlin when he was talking to the
media there didn't have all of the info privy to him.
We now know that it looks like it's going to
be more like a three week injury, essentially knocking him
out of all of the preseason and boy, that's a
(27:15):
tough blow for the rookie.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Ian Rappaport reported last night around I don't know, eight
nine o'clock, maybe that you know, Will Howard has a
small bone broken in his right hand and he banged
it on what Rappaport didn't say. Mike Tomlin mentioned he
(27:40):
thought it was on an exchange with the center. But
maybe we'll find out a little bit more about that
details after practice. Howard is said to be going to
have more tests surgery. According to Rappaport At this point
is not indicated, but you know it's it's not a
(28:03):
good thing for a quarterback to injure his throwing hand
at this stage of the process. You know, the Steelers
are just about to start their preseason, and so you know,
it's not a good time. It's not it's not a
good time for Will Howard. It's not really not a
good time for the team either, because you know, you
(28:24):
still have a lot of reps and practices. Uh, let
me say, yes, you still have four practices that are
open to the public, and there's a few more walkthroughs
than those kinds of things, and there's a lot of
drills within those practices. And you don't want to wear
out Aaron Rodgers, that's for sure. You know, you don't
(28:44):
want to overuse him to the point where you know
he may have he develops a tired arm or something,
but I don't know. Maybe you know he has taken
care of that himself in the off season, but you
want to be cautious with that. You can't really bring
in anybody for camp.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
I'm just gonna ask you that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
A quarterback at this time, if he's on the street,
I'm not saying that they all stink. But if he's
on the street, you can't even teach him. What are
you gonna you know, how quickly can he learn? Because
if he doesn't know the offense or the plays or
you know, what good is he he's an arm?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Right?
Speaker 6 (29:27):
But then Will comes back in three weeks and then
what you don't need him?
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, but I'm just saying to get you through three
weeks of.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Practice, I see what you mean. Yeah, he wouldn't even
know how to really do it right.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So uh yeah, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
As I said, it's it's not a good situation for
the team either. I don't think that it's realistic that
you would, you know, just go and try and rent
an arm for three weeks, because, as I said, the
guy wouldn't be up to speed on any of your
plays or your players. So, as I said, not a
good thing for Will Howard, not a the thing for
(30:00):
the Steelers. Maybe we'll find out a little bit more
today about how the team proceeds, and maybe we'll find
out a little bit more about you know, Will Howard
in this course of treatment.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, we'll hear what Mike Tomlin had to say after practice,
of course, and then he has his press conference tomorrow
as well, which I'm sure we'll be full of updates
and we'll carry that for you live here on Fox
Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy and the Steelers Audio Network. You know,
looking at it from Will Howard's perspective, this is a
lot more snaps for Rudolph and maybe even more so
for Skyler Thompson now to get them through at least
(30:33):
this first preseason game in Jacksonville, and really most of
the preseason Rogers won't play very much, I have to imagine,
but this is really the only chance that if things
go right for the Steelers, Will Howard would have had
to go out there and actually play NFL football. And
I'm not saying that that means that the Steelers would,
you know, puol the plug on him potentially being a
backup down the road for them or being a Steeler
(30:53):
for four or five more years here. But boy, that's
just it's always tough to see a rookie get this
opportunity rob from them right away.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
You just never know when you're gonna get it again.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Yeah, And if I mean, if you really want to
get down and the jump down the rabbit hole with
this whole situation. You know, the cutdown day is here.
I'm gonna find this real quick. It's in August. It's
a Tuesday in August. It is August twenty sixth. Okay,
(31:25):
so here's the deal. You know, three weeks. We're now
in August sixth, so three weeks twenty one days is
the twenty seventh. So technically, and this is all ifs.
You know, it's all.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
Speculations.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thank you, I got you with neophyte and then speculation
just at least.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Oh I told you to dumb it down. Maybe maybe
not that much.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
But anyway, So this is all speculation. So twenty one
days from today is the twenty seventh. So this is
These are your options. If you put a player on
injured reserve before the rosters are cut to fifty three,
he's done for the year, and done for the year
(32:13):
means can't practice, right, okay, But if you want to
try and sneak him onto the practice squad or something,
you got to expose them to waivers. You don't want
to do that either, especially if you like the guy,
and I'm pretty sure they do. Then the other option
(32:34):
is you're kind of rolling the dice and hoping that
you don't need them because it's going to take him.
I would imagine three more weeks, maybe a month to
get back to where he was, you know, two snaps
before he hurt himself, right, So, I mean, I don't
(32:57):
know what you do. I really don't. The thing to
me is, since he's he's a rookie. You know, it's
not a lot of money, So you could put him
on IR for the year and just eat the salary
and protect him, but then he loses a whole you know,
there may not be a lot of practice reps for
(33:21):
third string quarterbacks, which is probably what he was going
to be, But there's no practice for a guy on IR.
You know, you can't work with your teammates all. The
only thing you could do would be rehab. So there's
no throwing with receivers that are on the team or
(33:41):
on the practice squad. So yeah, it's it's a it's
a it's not a good thing for Will Howard in
a lot of different ways, on a lot of different levels.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Potentially, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, it's just basically all rehabit mental reps. If that
were going to be the case for him going on IR.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, mental reps.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I mean they're beneficial, but you got to go out
there and throw the ball right.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
And you know mental reps I mean Roman Wilson asked
Roman Wilson about the value mental reps. Really, Calvin Austin third,
he did the same thing, ask him about that. You know,
mental reps are good for players who have some experience
with physical reps and then they can follow it mentally
because they have some muscle memory about actually doing it.
(34:27):
A rookie doesn't really have any of that muscle memory yet,
so you know, it's probably a lot easier for him
to learn.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
It than it is to you know, hone it.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Because, as I've said to you before, I could learn it,
but I guarantee you they don't want me understand.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
When we come back, we got a special treat to
close out the hour.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Watt spent a good amount of time talking to the
media yesterday after practice, So we'll play the thoughts from
Steeler's former defensive Player of the Year, Ed Rusher TJ.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
Watts.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
It's Tom Aframan Bob Labriola on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy am and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Network Iheartradios Live coverage Job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
Kalucy Chevrolet, iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors,
(35:29):
by S and T Bank, we Max Select Realty, by
Tom's Appliances, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop, by Always Safe
Flagging and Traffic Control, and by us Steel.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Tom off Froman and Bob Labriola on the Training Camp Report.
Gonna hear from Steelers addresser TJ. Watt in just a
second laps he got a pretty decent raise. I guess
I would say this offseason the last time he got
a big time raise, signed a contract extension with the Steelers.
All he did was go out and time Michael Strahan
single season sack record and win the Defensive Player of
(36:03):
the Year. I'm not gonna put the bar there because
that's insanely high, but I do expect TJ. Watt to
come out after signing that contract with a little bit
of hunger. He has that chip on his shoulder when
it comes to never having a playoff win, and I expect,
if health permits it, a huge year from mister Watt.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah, I'm you know, TJ.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Watt is someone who you know, he's a self motivator.
And I believe that that contract, if I remember correctly
reading it, made him the highest paid non quarterback in
NFL history. So I think that he's going to want
to live up to that with a performance that shows that,
you know, he was worth every nickel.
Speaker 7 (36:44):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Watt, as I said, had a lengthy chat with the
media yesterday after practice.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Let's hear what he had to say.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
The time we've been doing it, it's something that we're
doing every single day. I think we're picking days kind
of work on it. I'd rather work on one.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Side for that day, just get more reps at a
was you going over there for a rep? Here? There
something that we're gonna continue to do. What are the
challenges that were the differences when.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
You're flipping sides?
Speaker 9 (37:07):
I mean, I've talked about this a bunch.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
I think it's just something that's not as comfortable, but
working on getting it to be more comfortable.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You've been on a lot of the kounts have just
gone through this process for several years here training camp
for this.
Speaker 9 (37:17):
That's the defense we've been a part of so far.
It's too early to tell.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
Everybody looks good this time of year, until we get
new stadium with another team, until we allow the offense
to continue to make more adjustments to attack us. Definitely
allow us to make more adjustments to see how many
guys are willing to tackle. All of those things are
still yet to be determined.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Will there be a point in practice where you do
flip from side to side within the same practice to
simulate like you might do in a game.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
Oh, very likely. I mean that's don't rule that out.
Did Jack as stimulating himself into the Oh, he's a
big guy.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
A guy that has been a sponde. He's asking all
the right questions and see continue improving from him. He's
been a great rookie so far. And I think he
has a very high ceiling, right you seen the curb.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
And kind of makes some jokes and know train to
do a little bit in the off season. Will be
the wing all last year's where have you seen him?
Speaker 9 (38:05):
Grows of argument, He's he's so hungry.
Speaker 7 (38:07):
He really is.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
He's a very hungry individual, asking the right question still
to this day, and just constantly working. Whether it's pre
practice with nobody out there post practice, just working new moves. Uh,
he's not afraid to fail, but he doesn't fail much.
It's been fun to watch him.
Speaker 9 (38:22):
Grow DJ he told us a Mike Tomlin. It's just
a lot of greed. Gives him a lot of degree
about his around.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
Stop how much if you just see him that I
approved over his time here.
Speaker 9 (38:30):
Yeah, he's done a great job.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I think that's the biggest key to being an outside
linebacker here is you wanna be a well rounded player
and not only for yourself but for the whole team.
And you wanna be reliable. And I think he's working
his way towards that. And uh, it's a smaller body guy.
He's put on some weight. He's he's trained with me
in the off season. He's stronger than ever.
Speaker 9 (38:48):
And uh, it's been fun to see him attacked around
like he has. Who calls you guys like Patricks?
Speaker 8 (38:52):
Didn't they the side linebackers bought they they they said,
they're excited because they're blitzing a lot more.
Speaker 9 (38:57):
They're coming with them with you.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
But what does that do for you with that rusher?
Speaker 9 (39:00):
Have other linebackers with the different spots.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Also, you're locating the rushing.
Speaker 9 (39:04):
Yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 5 (39:05):
I mean, Payton's playing fast, PQ's playing fast, both of them. Second,
you're in the system, anytime you get those huggers coming
as quickly as they are, it allows us to have
those one on one pass rush opportunities, or it even
allows for a potential miss up where one of us
is running free. So the quicker those guys play, the
better it is for everybody. Jay, you said you wanted
an age like a game, or at least use them
as an example as you get order.
Speaker 9 (39:26):
How much of a focus is the power.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Board your game when you're gonna be you know, again,
it's a contract thirty four.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
And the exposure just might not be the same as
a way.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
I mean, i'd like to think the explosiveness is always
going to be there. Obviously, realistically, I don't know if
that's the case. I mean, it still is right now,
but it's just constantly finding new ways to win, evolving
with the game.
Speaker 9 (39:45):
Like coach t says, adapted Die. But at the end
of the day, if you have a fastball that works,
keep throwing the fastball along the line.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
Christmas question about the linebackers and what's it also seems
like you're bringing a lot of nickel crushers.
Speaker 9 (39:56):
What's the benefit when you have a neck like Jaylen Ramsey,
you know.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
Rushing off the edge on with you.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
I think it's one of those things where you never
know where Jalen's gonna be, You never know what he's
gonna do, and.
Speaker 9 (40:04):
The better that we disguise, the better that everybody eats.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
So I'm really looking forward to continuing to get better
and our dis guys in the back end helping them
upfront as well. Dun Bart.
Speaker 10 (40:13):
Dunbar's helped with obviously Jared Allen, Kim Hayward. What kind
of things has he done to help you try to
promoe your career the way that some of those guys
have he did.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
I think taking care of us, making sure that even
if we want to practice, making us take days off,
and just being smart. I think, more than anything than
you play for Carl Dunbar and Denzel Martin, you want
to turn on the film and see physical football players
using their hands, turning their hips, making sure those things
are ready so that when it's game time we don't
have to walk up to it.
Speaker 10 (40:40):
How do you balance not practicing all the time, knowing
that you will be doing some different things this year
in the rush. I mean, is it tough to not
go out there and want to practice it all the
time and just get as familiar as you can with it.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (40:50):
I think it's a push and pull.
Speaker 5 (40:51):
I mean in twenty twenty one, I didn't practice with
the team at all and felt really good.
Speaker 9 (40:56):
Going into the season.
Speaker 5 (40:57):
There's been I mean as the years go on, I
don't practice as much, but I still feel good, and
it's just a matter of getting that individual work, working
on the right side, running hoops and doing things sometimes
almost as a benefit as opposed to wasteing that rep
and high Next, did you adjust and just feel how
much getting ready for a season had you get older?
I think it's just being more and more comfortable with
(41:19):
the system, not feeling like I have to be ready
right now, even though I feel great, it's just a
slow ramp up, a slow build to the season.
Speaker 9 (41:28):
I don't have to have my best days right now.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
I can continue to try new things and have fun
with it, me and her and and also trying this
new pass, this movement and working on all off season,
and it hasn't been working out really well. So I
think we're prior to the point of the off season.
We're like the start of the season where you ditch
that move and you get back to what you're doing.
Stuff like that is fun. This time we here attention
to sack totals as the defense. You guys were kind
(41:51):
of middle of the road last year. Do you do
you think about wanting to be top five, wanting to
be top ten and what's the ceiling for this group? Yeah,
I mean my first couple of years we were always
at the top. I think we can definitely be better.
But at the end of the day, I think splashes
is always on our mind. We talk about splash easan
every week, whether that sacks, TFLs, tip passes, picks, anything
that we can do to affect the offense and deliver
(42:11):
the ball in good field position for offenses.
Speaker 9 (42:13):
Something we're always talking about.
Speaker 7 (42:15):
TJ pol Jack.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
I might have finished this the card in the background,
But when you're going up against bout John and you're
seeing him at developing come along or he's.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Healthy, he's describing a red shirt, seasons under his belt,
how's he going into your face?
Speaker 9 (42:28):
Yeah, I think he's getting better each and every day.
I think he's a very physical, a very I should say,
a very quick tackle, very athletic. He can recover really well.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
I think he's just getting his confidence under him, trying
to give him a myriad of things where I can
bowl rush him, do his confidence in that knee, and
then also just trying to work some things. It's fun
to go up against a young guy like that who's
really athletic.
Speaker 9 (42:49):
There have been a lot of talk you have a
really good track prior to his injury last year. Have
you seen if you managed to get back back, if
not beyond he's geting healthy.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (42:57):
I think he's doing some really good things this camp,
and it's only going to get better the more and
more reps that he gets without.
Speaker 8 (43:03):
When it comes to the cornerbacks, it seems like you
guys have and we guys rams even play with Joey.
Speaker 9 (43:07):
You guys gonna be on a run a lot.
Speaker 8 (43:09):
More pressman, What is that kind of stuff on the
back end helping you guys do as pass rod?
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Yeah, Man, Russian coverage goes together and we said that
from day one, anytime that they can give us just
an extra half the second or at ten to the
second is going to be huge for us, and anytime
that week can affect the quarterbacks would be huge for
them as well.
Speaker 9 (43:24):
So we work together.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Steelers all pro ed rusher TJ. Watt a lot of
great stuff from him there. When we come back, we'll
actually hear from someone who he talked about, Jack Sawyer,
and also Derek Harmon and LABS and I are going
to talk a bit about the rookies and how they've
looked so far through their first NFL training camp. And then,
as I mentioned here that audio from Harmon and Sawyer
after practice yesterday. It's Tom Aperman, It's Bob Labriola. You're
(43:48):
listening to the Training camp Report on Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy am and the Steelers Audio Network
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