August 7, 2025 • 39 mins
Tom talks QB and plays Rodgers and Skylar Thompsons comments with the media. Tim Worley former Steelers RB joins the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
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 Kulucy Chevrolet,
iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors, by
SNT Bank, Remax Select Realty, by Tom's Appliances, the Pittsburgh
(00:34):
Steelers Pro Shot by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control,
and by US steel.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
If you're headed up to training camp practice today, this
is probably the last chance you'll have until next Monday's
practice to see Aaron Rodgers out there in Steeler's uniform.
He will not be participating in Saturday's preseason game. Coach
Mike Tomlin said that earlier in his press conference, I
guess he might not participate in practice day. I'm just
assuming there, but I bet you he's out there and pads,
(01:04):
gets some work in and then has the next few
days off. Steelers only have three training camp practices left
open to the public. Today's Monday and Tuesday. So if
you haven't gotten up there yet and you want to,
you can't procrastinate much longer. Get up to Saint Vincent College.
Even though Aaron Rodgers is not going to play in
(01:25):
this first preseason game against Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
He spoke to the media yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I believe before practice and anytime QB one speaks, you
should always listen. So in case you missed that, here's
Aaron Rodgers' conversation with the media.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Here's a luzzy this week.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I don't I wouldn't say it was ever fuzzy. I
might have said the image was fuzzy. But the players
are rolling off good and I feel good about the
offense much better than last week.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Mike shut he thought you were in command yesterday two minute.
You have a silver feeling.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah, we just got to get the refs back out
there so we can get that call.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Did yesterday feel like things were clicking a little bit
more for the offense, like maybe that was a moment
where their paint was kind of turning?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Well, I mean, I think we've been we've been clicking
the last three or four days much better. Our defense,
you know, it's obviously we added a lot of pieces
to it. Always early in camp with the Pats go on,
the defense seems to have the upper edge, and then
the second week it starts to turn a little bit.
So I feel like we've been playing better Uh the
(02:27):
last week and a half.
Speaker 7 (02:28):
Roman said that he really appreciate, appreciated like working with
you and learning and how to get better with you.
Speaker 8 (02:33):
What if you see in him and.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Just how he works and working to get better when
you get the pair.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I would say Roman, just like cal Uh and really
all our guys, they really care about it.
Speaker 9 (02:42):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
I noticed that when they came out out West, just
to see their their attention to detail and their willingness
to learn. So Row, you know, I just gotta get
a Row out of his head a little bit, you know,
because I think he's he's he's such a good kid.
He cares so much about whether it's my approval or
he's doing it right. And he's just got to trust
(03:03):
himself because he's so damn talented.
Speaker 8 (03:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
The more he can play free and not not think
out there, the better he's gonna play.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So the more he.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Can just trust what he's got and then just go
out and react, the better he's gonna play.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Karon, what what he fight?
Speaker 9 (03:17):
He knows about playing the song.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
It's really the relationship with with Arthur, you know, to
have a guy that we say yesterday for like two
and a half hours, you know, just talk and ball
and it's not all like X's knows. It's you know,
it's storytelling from time to time. But he's he's not
a rigid guy at all, you know. So anything that
ideas that I have or ideas that you know, some
(03:43):
of the receivers are given to me to give to him.
You know, everything is taken into consideration, which I really appreciate.
And and and we're installing it. I mean, the last
few days we've installed stuff that I've gone back and
looked at from the past or other guys have had,
you know, similar ideas. Because we have a little open
forum in my room. Anytime you want to come in
(04:03):
and suggest something or get on the same page about something,
let me know because I'll take it right to art.
But I'm just really enjoying him a lot of persons
and just the way he leads in front of the room.
And it's been been a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
So ar you want any advice too, well, now that
he's kind of losing.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
An opportunity in the preseason most likely and working as
a doctor Andrey, yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
I mean it sucks. It sucks for him for sure,
but because he had such a nice camp as a
young player, and then watching him in mini camp and
just seeing his you know, command of the offense, and
then but this year is a growth year for him.
It's a year to to watch and learn and obviously
better himself. This would just be a minor setback for him.
(04:47):
You know, it would have been great.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
To see him get some live reps in the preseason.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
But I'm not sure when he's going to be back.
Hopefully he's back in time to take maybe the second
or third game. Put either way, you know, this is
a year for him to grow and learn and get
his body the way he wants to get it and
get ready to be the guy for a long time.
Speaker 7 (05:05):
Aaron, would you want some reps some preseason it did
something where you think of personal value for you with
with the new team.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Yeah, I mean that's a interesting conversation. I think Mike
and I have that at some point. I'm not I
don't think it's in the plan for me to play
this week, But whatever Mike wants to do, I'm fully onboard.
If he wants me to go out there and play,
I'll play. If not, I know, won't. I've said a lot.
You know, with all due respect, then I can say
(05:33):
whatever I want. Preseason football is not necessarily real football
because the defenses just don't do a whole lot and
the offenses don't either. So you go out there with
a very limited playbook against the defenses playing one eye zone,
one ieman or two I zone and there's not much pressure.
There's oftentimes communication between the coaches about hey, we're not
(05:53):
going to pressure this week, or hey we need to
see a little bit of pressure.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
It's really about the operation now.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
That is where you can act gained something when the
preseason is you got forty seconds, right, there's a play
clock out here, but it's not always adhere to. So
you have forty seconds to call the play, to get
the line scrimmage, to get us in the right situation,
and to go out and do it. I think there's
something to be gained for that. But as opposed to
kind of when I got in the league, I would
say there's less schematic stuff that you're going to see
(06:22):
in the regular season, even.
Speaker 8 (06:23):
You feel like you're at it.
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Gillon procept, picking the event and what goes into that
both on and off the field.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Yeah, I mean there's a conversation I think is the
most important thing. So talking through every issue. Hearts to
a nice job of allowing me to take some time
in some of the meetings to kind of go through
the film of the guys. And they all have position coaches,
which is important to get coached up by the position coach.
But you know, as parents, right, sometimes you tell you
(06:50):
get a bunch of stuff and they only get it
when somebody else says it and you're over there, like
I've been saying this forever. That's kind of out as
for a position go sometimes. So they tell them the
right thing all the time, but it might not be
into the here for me or hear from your part
where it actually kicks in. And that's just the nature
of life and in our business. So it's good for
me to speak up from time to time. And also
(07:10):
you pull them aside and locked room and pull them
side the field, and then you got to open for
them in my room or or one of their rooms
after practice.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Aaron, when you trobab to go to Wolfing on that
play or did that covered kick take up where throwing
the ball.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Like that was a coverage dictator?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That one?
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Yeah, you like you're getting pre season football is in
real football? Are you able to kind of supplement that
with the joint practices? Does that Is that more of
a benefit than preseason football?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yes, I believe so.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
For they for the.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
First because the teams are especially most of the joint practices,
I would say, you're not going to play that team
in the regular season, so they're less worried about showing
things that they want to work on. And even though
they're usually are cameras there and it's filmed, uh, they're
less skittish about running the stuff they've been running off
camp they're going to try and do in the regular
(08:02):
season against uh, another team they're not gonna play in
the regular season. So I find I've found those beneficial
as long as there's not a lot of fights. I
think they're they're a good work day.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
For the first for the first team, two more guys,
two more.
Speaker 8 (08:16):
You're doing the right amount of work this camp. As
far as the reps, I think you've only had one
day off when you feel forgetting what you need.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
I love that one day off. Thank you Mike for
that one. Uh, But we really got two days off
if you look at it, because we've got rained out
that one day and did a walk through, so I
feel good. You know, I'm not begging for for off days,
but anytime Mike wants to lighten my load, I won't.
I won't complain.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Last one guy's good. You mentioned that you open your
door for your teammates.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
Have you've seen a lot of guys take advantage of
that feel comfortable coming.
Speaker 8 (08:49):
To you with with questions.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah, I have, I have.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
I think that's an important part of it, just letting
those guys know that there's no dictatorship here. It's not
arts dictatorship or mine. It's we want to talk about
all the issues and all the things you're seeing, and
whether it's a text message or come into my room
and having a conversation like those are invaluable times to
get on the same page with the guys because when
I'm out there, I don't want anything to be left unsaid.
(09:14):
So I'd rather hit it on the front end and
if then something comes up in the practice, hit on
the back end instead of trusting, you know, to get
figured out on its own. So it's been a good
process for us. Ben is the one that comes in
the most. He doesn't really knock anymore. But that's Been's personality.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It's starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers yesterday before practice started, and
he would not be playing in the preseason opener against
the Jags. That is expected, Mike Tomlin confirming that at
his press conference earlier today. Curious to see if Aaron
Rodgers will get any playing time at all in this
preseason portion of the schedule. I would guess Tampa Bay
(09:56):
at home, not this Saturday, but the following one. I
think that can of be that dress rehearsal game for
the Steelers, and then at Carolina. It's just a bunch
of guys down the depth chart, you know, fighting for
maybe a couple last spots, fighting for special team spots
playing that game. Skyler Thompson maybe starting the entire starting
in finishing the game. Don't know if Well Howard will
(10:16):
be back by then. I guess it's not ruled out
at being a few weeks away at Carolina, but I
don't know if I would hold my breath for Howard
getting back before that final preseason game. But anyway, I
just think it makes sense maybe for Rogers to slide
in for a series or two against Tampa Bay. Although
he referenced that joint practice that they're going to have
(10:38):
with the Buccaneers next Friday before the game Saturday at
Akrasure Stadium, and maybe that's all he needs, you know,
maybe there's you know, a conversation have between he and
Mike Tomlin and you know, do you need some reps?
Do you feel comfortable enough not having to play in
the preseason. Maybe Rogers will say, we got a lot
of things done in that Friday practice that I feel
(11:02):
comfortable with, so let's not risk injuring myself in game action.
You know, I either way you play it with Aaron Rodgers,
I don't think that it's necessarily the wrong way. I
guess we'll find that out if they start slow or not.
I might hold off on playing him at all in
this preseason, but giving him a little taste a series
(11:24):
or two against Tampa Bay that might not be the
worst ideaet either. Skyler Thompson, on the other hand, will
play and play a lot against the Jags. Mason Rudolph
will get the start, and then it will be seen
how far they let him go in the game. I
honestly don't think they should let him go too too much.
(11:46):
You don't really need to see much out of Mason Rudolf.
You already know he's your number two. Like your number
one is set and your number two is set. There's
no competition at either of those spots at the quarterback room.
So you know, series or two a quarter maybe from
Mason Rudolph than just hand things off to Skyler Thompson
for the majority of the rest of the game. If
you want to sneak Logan Woodside in there for a
little bit, if he's up to speed enough, do some
(12:07):
mop duty, that's fine. But it'll be an opportunity for
Thompson for sure. And with Will Howard here, you know,
the Steelers obviously like him, picking him in the sixth round.
They would want him, I would think to stay on
this roster for a few years to come here in
a backup role Rudolph and Rogers, or as I said, clearly,
you're number one and number two. All of a sudden,
(12:29):
you're looking at practice squad if you're somebody like Skyler Thompson,
So you got a chance to go out there put
some great film on display. For some other teams that
might be a little more thin as far as their
quarterback room is concerned and maybe you're Skylar Thompson. You
find yourself out, find yourself elsewhere. Excuse me, tongue twister.
There as another team's third string quarterback, you get to
(12:51):
dress on game.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Day and be that emergency guy.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Thompson spoke to the media yesterday before practice. Let's take
a listen to what other Thompson.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Had to say.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I need you the opportunity for reps.
Speaker 11 (13:04):
Yeah, you know, it's definitely not the way you want
an opportunity to come to get more reps. But you know,
I've been preparing this whole time as if I'm am
the guy getting the reps, So you know, really nothing's
gonna change other than me actually physically getting them now.
So you know, I'm looking forward to the opportunity and
getting out there and going to play football.
Speaker 8 (13:24):
What has this opportunity been like for you?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
What's kind of just been your experience throughout this you know,
training camp here. Yeah, no, it's been a great opportunity.
I feel like I've grown a ton.
Speaker 11 (13:32):
It's been challenging, you know, and uh, I feel like
in those times challenging times, like you you learn a
lot about yourself and you grow and I feel like
I felt myself improved and you know, some different ways
than than normal necessarily. But I've really enjoyed just being
around the guys and the team, the coaches. Like our
(13:56):
our culture here is is really special. It's been really
cool to be a part of and kind of you know,
experienced La trobe, you know, and kind of have a
off off campus camp and reaped the residuals from that
has been really cool. So I've really enjoyed that aspect
of it. What's challenging for you, you know, just uh
(14:17):
being in a position where I'm not not getting as
many reps as I have been years past, you know,
and that's uh just a different dynamic to it. You know,
there's different ways to continue to stay on top of
your stuff and still get those reps, you know, And
that's that's the biggest challenge for me up to this point,
has been getting mental reps and even though if I'm
a guy out there, still getting the rep and learning
(14:37):
from whatever I can learn from, even though I'm not
the guy necessarily in there getting the actual reps. So
that that's been uh, you know, that's been just some adjustment,
something different than kind of what I've experienced in the past.
But like I said, I feel like I've gotten the
most out of that and and have been, uh, you know,
still improving and getting better from from those reps, whether
if it's me and there or not.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Sky like you were the first.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Just and do you feel like you've got a good
grasp if you had enough time with Arthur's offense to
kind of a good feel what's going on.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, you know, absolutely definitely.
Speaker 11 (15:08):
I feel like to coming into the system, there's some
carryover and some terminology that I had in in my
offense and in Miami that kind of helped me pick
up on the system. And it's not necessarily all brand
new stuff, you know. And at the end of the day,
I mean football football and a lot of these concepts
that that we've we have here, I've I've ran in
my past.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Just have a different name for him or you know,
different tags, whatever the case may be. So it's just
reprogramming your mind a little bit and kind of you know,
getting the new stuff to stick.
Speaker 11 (15:38):
And you know, I think, like I said, having some
similarities from my past offense to this one kind of
helped make that transition for me.
Speaker 10 (15:44):
You want to talk to you talked to Will.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
How is he handling the setback? Yeah, you know, I
reached out to Will yesterday just to see how he
was doing. And you know, he's a he's a good kid.
Speaker 11 (15:54):
He's he's a strong minded individual, and I know that
he's gonna make them at this time.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's an unfortunate deal. It's a freak accident, you know,
and it's unfortunate. Never want that to happen to anyone,
you know.
Speaker 11 (16:08):
And uh, you know, so he's going to get the
most out of this time though, and not taking any
steps back for sure.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Did you see what exactly what happened? No?
Speaker 8 (16:16):
No, I didn't.
Speaker 10 (16:17):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
You go from not getting a lot of reps to
potentially playing for a half tomorrow.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
But how do you prepare yourself for you know, that
extended amount of playing time in a short amount.
Speaker 11 (16:27):
Of Yeah, Well, like I said, I feel like mentally,
I've been doing the work already, and you know, I
know this playbook, I know what what my job is
to do and how to execute what you know, what
they're asking me to do on every play So it's
just for me just banking on my past, you know,
like even though I may have not you know, haven't
(16:50):
got as many reps this camp, Like I have a
lot of a lot of reps built up in my career,
in my in my lifetime. That for me is just
banking on those and you know, trusting my muscle memory
that my body knows what to do, and just trust
my trust, my reads, trust my decision making and letting
the ball reps and don't hesitate, you know, And that's
that's gonna be my mindset going into it.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
You merged last one.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
That you have the familiarity with some of the same
concepts from playing in Miami.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
How have you seen some of those you know, Arthur
and Mike McDaniel kind of come from a similar tree
with THO out of the Shinahan kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
How have you seen those concepts for me through the NFL.
Speaker 9 (17:21):
What are some of the signature components of this offense?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, you know, I definitely think you know, Arthur has
has you know, established some of those concepts and terms.
Speaker 11 (17:34):
In this system, but also Arthur's has been kind of
branched off and you know, he has his own own
flavor to it, you know, which I think is really cool.
And he's he's very open to you know the players
and what hits our brain. You know, he's not super
stuck on calling something this or calling something that. It's
kind of what the players want, you know. And I
think that's a really cool, you know, perspective that he
(17:58):
has for this offense. And it's it's constantly just grooming it.
Speaker 8 (18:01):
You know.
Speaker 11 (18:01):
It's never like this is just one set in stone.
This is you know, install one, two, three, four, and
this is what it is every single time. You know,
It's like as we kind of go, We've we've added
some things with the justice and things that have kind
of popped up in practice that we feel like, you know,
maybe maybe we can you know.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Run this route instead of this, you know, this kind
of looks better. Let's see what it looks like, you
know type thing.
Speaker 11 (18:21):
He just opened very open minded to the players and
especially the quarterbacks, and I think that's been really cool
to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You see, what's quarterback Skyler Thompson expect to see a
lot of playing time for him in the preseason opener
against Jacksonville. With Aaron Rodgers being unavailable, Rudolph and Thompson
will probably have most of the duty. And like I said,
before we played the comments from Skyler, chance for him
to put some tape out there, chances for him to
impress another team that might be needing a quarterback further
(18:50):
down on.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Their depth chart.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
When we come back, we'll talk about the defensive side
of the ball. Got some sound from Juan Thornhill that
we'll play and we'll discuss something that he said and
kind of some talk that has been not just on
the defensive side of the ball, but in the offensive
side of the ball in regards to the hype of
the defensive units. We'll get into that, and former Steeler
running back Tim Worley's gonna sit down in the booth
(19:12):
and join me a little bit later as well. It's
Tom Aferman on the training camp report Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Network Iheartradios Live coverage job Not twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale Roofing and
(19:39):
Siding Supply Center by Don's Appliances, by Always Safe Flagging
and traffic Control by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, by
Schneider Downs by Has's Steak and Seahouse, by your Neighborhood
Forward Store, by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union,
and by US steel Tom.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Opperman on the training camp report going to be joined
by former Steeler running back Tim Whirley in just a
little bit, about ten minutes from now, So excited for that.
Before we get to him, though, I wanted to talk
about the defensive side of the ball. Lots of confidence
on that defensive side of the ball, a lot of
vocal confidence, and I think there should be I like
having a little bit of swagger on that defense. And
Jalen Ramsey is somebody that comes in with a ton
(20:22):
of swagger on his resume already, and he's been noted
to be a chirper. But it's not just guys like
Peyton Wilson saying he thinks he's the best coverage linebacker
in the world, and God, I hope that comes to fruition.
It's not Jalen Ramsey and his reputation. It's not just
jan Thornhill, who will hear from in just a little bit,
you know. DK Metcalf has also weighed in and said
(20:43):
that that's the best defense he's ever seen, so far
in his NFL career. Now, it's only been a couple
of practices in pads, so it's hard for me to
believe that DK would come to that conclusion. But the
hype is real and the expectations are real for that
defense too. It's fair to expect them to be in
the top three, top five of this league, and they're
(21:04):
gonna have to be that if the Steelers are going
to have success this year and finally win a playoff game.
As exciting as it is for Rogers to be at
the helm on the offensive side of things, the new
weapons in the passing game, the running backs, it's going
to be on the backs of the defense if this
team is going to accomplish more than what they have
in the previous few years. Now, nobody in the secondary
(21:26):
is going to play in this preseason game except for
One Thornhill. Mike Tomlin and his press were earlier laid
out Joey Porter, Junior Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, and Deshaun
Elliott all out. So I'm excited to see what one
Thornhill does at the beginning half of this game, kind
of as the guy because, as I mentioned earlier in
the training camp report today. No offense to him, but
(21:47):
that's just one of the weaker links that other teams
are going to look at on that defense. They're gonna
look at one Thornhill and they're gonna say, well, I
would much rather try to attack him and what he's
doing on this play as opposed to Jalen Ramsey, Joey Junior,
Darius Slay.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's just obvious.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And that's not to say that one Thornhill's a bad player,
but he's just amongst a lot of potentially great players
on that defense.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And you know, Peyton Wilson, I.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Think, is somebody that at the beginning of the year
will be targeted too. That's just what other offenses do.
They look for that weak link. And if Thornhill can
just be solid, doesn't have to be a superstar, but
doesn't hurt the team on a consistent basis, then this
defense does have the ability, I think to accomplish great
(22:33):
things this year. I think it could be in that
top five in the NFL. And even if he's not,
you know, average, if he's slightly below average, I still
think they have the talent around him to kind of
ask what his deficiencies might be. But this is somebody
that has track record in this league. He's won two
(22:53):
Super Bowls, been on Kansas City, and maybe last year
just wasn't the right fit in Cleveland and that kind
of derailed a little bit of momentum that he had
in his career. He can potentially get that back here
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And it's not just up to him.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
There's Chuck Clark that could weigh into this equation too.
So interested to keep an eye on the safeties in
this preseason game, interested to see what one thorn Hill does.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Is kind of the guy.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And you can look at Peyton Wilson through that light too.
He'll undoubtedly wear the green dot at the beginning of
this game. No Patrick Queen for the defense and the
inside linebackers. How does Peyton Wilson handle be in that
quarterback of the defense? You know, you expect to have
Patrick Queen for a long time and hopefully he plays
at a high level for a long time here in Pittsburgh.
But Peyton Wilson was a draft pick just last year.
(23:43):
He's a homegrown talent. Maybe he has a future as
that green dot quarterback of the defense type of guy.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So those are two guys on.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
The defensive side of the ball that I think you
should be watching with a close eye on Saturday. And
as I mentioned to the defensive line, you won't have
Cam Hayward, but you'll have a lot of the young
guys playing a lot. I think early Keanu Benten Why
You're Black in the first round pick Derek Carmon should
get significant snaps as why You're Black and Derek Carmon
(24:12):
get their first taste of NFL action. So despite a
lot of people being out, there's still definitely a lot
of storylines to keep an eye on. Jan Thornhill spoke
to the media following practice yesterday. Let's take a listen
to what he had to say.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
Why a black is a seems to be smacking down
every ball that comes to his way. Is that something
that you all keep noticed in the seventy eight puts.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Up one of them arms handing.
Speaker 10 (24:33):
I mean, it's great when you got big guys up
front like that. You know, for a quarterback want to
throw the ball down the middle of that's I mean,
they're gonna take a big risk doing that because if
they knocked that ball up, it just gives us a
chance to make a play on the ball and it's
set thing and take away points.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
You guys have set quite a few corners the past
few days, Joey, Jerry's.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
Ramsey.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
But you guys still seem to have.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
That fluidity that you're always changing things up in the secondary.
What can you say about other guys like Brandon Echols,
James Pierre who couldn't have been filling in.
Speaker 10 (24:59):
You know, talk about like we can't take a step
back just because one guy's down. You never know what's
gonna happen. Just you play football. You know, it's a
physical sport. So one guy could go down for you know,
one plague could go down for a couple of weeks.
So the next guy just got to prepare each and
every week like a starter.
Speaker 8 (25:14):
You got to know bead well or see the game
and stuff. Yeah, you guys seem like kind of.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
A you know, he's I think he's very similar to me,
you know, like he likes to have fun out there,
high energy guy.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I love having him out there.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
You know, he's great.
Speaker 10 (25:28):
He's a smart football player, know how to disguise the
lives just gonna make us better.
Speaker 8 (25:31):
When you got smart guys.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
And a thing like that, we can we can hear
you out there a lot. We can hear you out
there on the field a lot. How much you pride.
Speaker 9 (25:39):
Yourself on communication and that was an issue for this
defense last year. How much you think you can be
part of solution going forward there? You know, I've always,
you know, to pride in like being that quarterback of
the defense. You know, you got the linebacker that's making
all the calls giving it to the safeties, but you know,
the safeties make a majority of the checks, you know,
So having a guy like me, I feel like.
Speaker 10 (25:58):
I'm I'm very well, very both and letting guys know
what we're doing. So if you know what you're doing,
you can play at a high level.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
We break down the interception on the two minute thrill.
Speaker 10 (26:06):
What you saw you were playing over the middle, literally
just reading the quarterbacks eyes. I didn't think he was
gonna throw it. He drew a ball, came to mad catch.
Speaker 9 (26:13):
It's that's something it's gonna have to clarify with them
and take which interception are you talking about?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Because how about the one yesterday?
Speaker 8 (26:19):
Then?
Speaker 10 (26:19):
Oh well, yeah, I forgot about the one yesterday. So
you know, two days in a row in a two
minute drug. I closed it out, so it was good.
It was a good felling, you know, getting my hand
on the football.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
Everyone talk to you.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Listening to Freeze the game on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Doesn't p Steak feel any different than a last year?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (26:36):
I mean, we're we're playing against someone else. It's not
your teammates. You know, like if we have live periods
and things like that against your teammate, you don't want
to take those big hits in the two dates. But
when you got another opponent in front of you with
a different colored jersey, you don't really know who they are,
you know, it's it gets a little more physical.
Speaker 8 (26:51):
So we're excited about that.
Speaker 10 (26:52):
We don't really see, you know, how fitsfal of a
defense and a team we are.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Do you think the.
Speaker 10 (26:57):
Sens can be I think it can be one of
the best of all time, really, and I'm putting that
in there now, one of the best of all time.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Do you guys talk about that as a group, because
guys seems like they've not been.
Speaker 9 (27:09):
Bashful to say they think they could be the number one.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Defense this year.
Speaker 10 (27:12):
I mean when you got literally we got pieces everywhere.
Look at the Rosster, look at who we have. It's
it's incredible, Like literally, I don't feel like there's a
weakness on the defense.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Like if you look at.
Speaker 10 (27:22):
Most scenes, you know you got you got the fish
out there, like you know that one person that's like
one or two people. It's like, I'm not sure, but
with us literally out of front, that's unbelievable. Linebackers is great,
and dbs that could cover anywhere.
Speaker 8 (27:35):
It seems like the.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
Offense, you know, is starting to find a little bit
more of their rhythm.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
What if you notice that they're doing better to get
more to complete more passes and move the ball.
Speaker 10 (27:43):
In the spot, moving motioning a lot quarterbacks, looking guys off,
making a lot of great bros.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
Is that something related?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Steelers safety one Thornhill following practice yesterday, you heard what
he said. He thinks that the Steelers defense could be
the best ever of all time in the history of
the NFL. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration,
but let's just shoot from maybe being one of the best,
if not the best, this year.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
In twenty twenty five, when we.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Come back, I'm gonna be joined by former Steelers running
back Tim Whirley. Let's keep it right here on the
training camp Report, Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seven AM and
the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Network, Iheartradios Live Coverage Job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp. He's presented by FedEx where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health
System by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente
(28:41):
Pizza and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto,
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, we Max Select Realty, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro Shop and by us Steel.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Stom off froman on the Training Camp Report, and now's
the time in the show where we always welcome a
former Staler to the broadcast hanging out at practice for
the day, and today it is former Stealer running back
Tim Worley. Tim, thanks for hanging out with us today
having me on. So what's different, Tim? You were first
training camp was nineteen eighty nine, had a couple in
the early nineties as well. Has anything changed as far
(29:15):
as the campus is concerned now that you're up there today.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Well, the first thing I would say is the golf
carts didn't have the we No, we didn't have those.
We had to limp up the heel, and we also
had to bring our own air unit back in the day,
so it was kind of a cad Man style of
training camp.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Now, what are some of the memories?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Are some of the things that you look back at
fondly of your memories of being at Saint Vincent College.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Did you like that experience? Let's start there.
Speaker 8 (29:45):
Well, you remember my rookie year. I didn't really get
a chance to experience the full effective training camp because
I missed all the training camp except four or five
days contract negotiation. But the memory here I got to
speak of the La Trope College itself. I mean, it's
a beautiful college, beautiful campus. I'm looking at the fields,
(30:05):
I'm looking at the buildings, and I was just telling
somebody a minute ago, I can just imagine how it
feels and how it looks here when it snows up here,
and it's absolutely amazing. I'm sitting up here looking at
the fields now everything is perfectly manicured, and what a
beautiful campus Saint Vincent.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Now, you mentioned that you missed a lot of training
camp your rookie season, but you still had some big
impact your rookie year in nineteen eighty nine, Tim, you
rushed for seven hundred and seventy yards, You had five touchdowns.
How were you able to have success right away in
the NFL, especially not having a training camp under your belt.
Speaker 8 (30:41):
Well, I just believe the athletic skill that I was
given by the Good Lord, it just kicked in. It
was just a process. If you remember, you know, training
camp is key. And I want to tell the people
that training camp is very key because you're missing out
on a lot of stuff. You know, you're missing the time.
And I was always I always kept myself in conditioning,
(31:01):
physical good conditioning, but the timing of the plays being
ran and the voice of the quarterback and the different things.
You know, it takes time to catch up. And you know,
playing my first regular season game against the Cleveland Browns
and then the Cincinnati Bengals, we didn't do too much
better against them. You could tell that what that's what
was going on. So you know, it was pretty pretty rough.
(31:23):
But I made those adjustments when I learned the offense,
and all of a sudden, we turned the whole season around.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, you obviously also had some adversity throughout your career.
You dealt with some injury problems. How let's start with that,
how tough can that be as a young player to
just have the body not physically keep up.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
Well, I believe, especially the mentality of a young player.
You know, a lot of times, you know that adversity,
we don't know what to do with that. You know,
my mindset for a lot of years was my identity
was just being an athlete, and you know, there was
work that I had to do on myself to discover
other things in me. But you know, I tore I
blew my knee out my sophomore year in Georgia during
(32:02):
the fourth season of the game, and that actually knocked
me out for a year and a half. And so
I had to really fight and work hard, and and
and and struggle at the same time to come back.
But I knew I had it in me to come
back and to be even better than I was before
the injury, and so I knew how to make those
adjustments and and and just stick to what I need
(32:25):
to do to get back on the field and get healthy.
But there was other things going on in my life
too that kind of kept the injuries at par.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Now, in nineteen ninety two, you were suspended for the season.
What was that experience like going through that and then
what did you what were you able to learn from
that moving forward?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Well, it was it was a very traumatic experience. It
was very public, shameful, and a little bit of it was.
It was something that really changed my life. But at
the same time, it also gave me strength. I believe
that in verse. I believe that you know, without struggle,
(33:03):
without adversity, that you can't really strengthen yourself or become
that great person that you desire to be. But you know,
it was some negative choices that I made, and you know,
I felt like an outcast. I felt like, you know,
when you're not a part of the team, when you're hurt,
you don't feel like you're part of the team when
you can't play. But to be suspended for an entire
(33:26):
season and even miss out on a on a salary
that year, that was brutal and it woke me up
for a minute.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Now, when you were playing for the Steelers, you got
to experience some of the last years of the legendary
coach Chuck Noll. What kind of was that like playing
for somebody that you know when you got to the
Steelers team, you knew who he was. He was already
established as one of the greatest coaches ever.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
Yeah. Well, first of all, my I've always been a
Steeler fan. I was a Steeler fan growing up in
North Carolina between the ages of eight and nine years old,
and I always saw Coach Chanol on TV and guys
like me and Joe Green and just the famous people
Frank O'harris, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blunt, and so, you know,
(34:13):
when I got to the Steelers, I've had that experience
before with guys like I played in the Evince Dooley
at the University of Georgia and so they kind of
carry themselves the same way, very very soft spoken, but
carried a big stick, you know what I mean. He
was that type of coach that you really didn't want
to disappoint him and you wanted to please him. And
(34:35):
I felt that way about Coach Dooley too, and uh,
you know the type of coach that you know, going
to going to have a one on one with him
in his office is like going to the principal's office.
But but you know what one of the things that
I love and respect about Coach and all was, you know,
there was a time when I became frustrated with the
(34:56):
Steelers offense. And because you know, I came out of Georgia,
out of the I formation and just giving the ball
and get out of the way, and all of a sudden,
you put me in the split back and running traps.
You slowed me down and I had to make serious adjustments.
And at the same time, within those five years, I
had three different offensive coordinators, so that was kind of brutal.
(35:17):
But one of the things I asked Coach Nole personally,
a lot of people don't know this. I asked him,
why did you draft me if all I'm gonna do
is block all the time? And you know what Coach
Noele said. He said, because you are an excellent blocker.
I knew you could run the ball, but we needed
your blocking skills. When he said that to me, it
changed the game for me, and my respect for him
(35:40):
went through the roof.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Tim I'm always curious when it comes to X players
to ask this, do you still keep up with the
game currently? You still watch football on Sundays, You're still
keeping up with the current Steelers.
Speaker 8 (35:50):
I'm always keep up with the Steelers as far as
football as a whole. In the NFL. I don't really.
I don't race back after church to with the game,
but I always keep up with the Steelers. This is
my fourth year in a row coming to training camp.
Any any football that I that I really get into
(36:12):
is high school and college and especially my dogs. You know,
Georgia Bulldogs. The way we've been playing for the past.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Five years, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 8 (36:19):
Huh yeah, And I'm looking I'm excited about it again.
This year. We got Texas and Alabama and Athens this year.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
You said you keep up with the Steelers. What do
you think of the team?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I mean, it looks like the defense is just going
to be unreal this year, and there's some young running
backs team that they're going to try to break in,
especially the rookie Caleb Johnson.
Speaker 8 (36:35):
Yep. I was looking at the guys yesterday, me being
a former running back. The first the first position that
I'm gonna take a look at as the offensive line.
And I can see the offensive line working together and
doing a lot better than they were last year when
I came. Last year, I saw and just being honest,
just my my my opinion, they were kind of they
(36:56):
were a little out of sync and and and I
don't see that this year. I see we got some
some some some serious talent in the back field. Is glad.
I'm glad to see Jalen still here. We got some
other running backs, we got help on the outside, and
we got the man, Aaron Rodgers, who looks like he's
been reborn. I actually was watching him yesterday and up close,
(37:20):
and man, he he's he's happy to be a Steeler man,
and that means a lot. And I think all the
other players, especially the young guys, but even the veterans
there feeding off of his energy. Man.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And finally, Tim, before we let you go and you
can enjoy practice today. What are you up to these days?
Anything that you want to let the people know about.
Are you just kind of hanging out?
Speaker 8 (37:39):
Uh? No, guys, It's it's hard for some people to
believe because I was such a hell raiser when to
play for us. But guys, I'm in ministry. I'm a
traveling evangelist and I get a chance to travel around
the country, mostly the East coast and in the South,
and I shared the gospel at uh at churches and
(38:00):
at different events and lot, and I invest my gifts
in ministry to a lot of recovery centers that I
speak to a lot, and it's something that you know,
I used to think people used to think I was.
I used to think I was living when I was,
you know, playing with Steelers and all this stuff being
in the spotlight. But I didn't start living until I
(38:22):
surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
That all sounds great.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Tim, thanks for hanging out with us for the past
couple of minutes and enjoy practice today.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
Thank you man, Thank you guys for having me on.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
That Steelers running back Tim Whirley, great stuff from him.
Always enjoy when we have an next Steeler sit down
with us to wrap up the training camp report.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And that's gonna do it for me. Today.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Steelers practice is just a few minutes away, last practice
of the week before they head to Jacksonville for the
preseason opener Saturday.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
At seven.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Matt Williamson and Wes Euler are going to have the
drive next take you all the way through Steelers practice.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I'm Tom Opferman Labs, and I will be back on Monday.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
When the Steelers return to Saint Vincent for training camp
practice at our usual noon time for the training camp
on Fox Sports, Pittsburgh nine seventy a m.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
And the Steelers Audio 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 Kulucy Chevrolet,
iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors, by
SNT Bank, Remax Select Realty, by Tom's Appliances, the Pittsburgh
(00:34):
Steelers Pro Shot by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control,
and by US steel.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
If you're headed up to training camp practice today, this
is probably the last chance you'll have until next Monday's
practice to see Aaron Rodgers out there in Steeler's uniform.
He will not be participating in Saturday's preseason game. Coach
Mike Tomlin said that earlier in his press conference, I
guess he might not participate in practice day. I'm just
assuming there, but I bet you he's out there and pads,
(01:04):
gets some work in and then has the next few
days off. Steelers only have three training camp practices left
open to the public. Today's Monday and Tuesday. So if
you haven't gotten up there yet and you want to,
you can't procrastinate much longer. Get up to Saint Vincent College.
Even though Aaron Rodgers is not going to play in
(01:25):
this first preseason game against Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
He spoke to the media yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I believe before practice and anytime QB one speaks, you
should always listen. So in case you missed that, here's
Aaron Rodgers' conversation with the media.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Here's a luzzy this week.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I don't I wouldn't say it was ever fuzzy. I
might have said the image was fuzzy. But the players
are rolling off good and I feel good about the
offense much better than last week.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Mike shut he thought you were in command yesterday two minute.
You have a silver feeling.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah, we just got to get the refs back out
there so we can get that call.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Did yesterday feel like things were clicking a little bit
more for the offense, like maybe that was a moment
where their paint was kind of turning?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Well, I mean, I think we've been we've been clicking
the last three or four days much better. Our defense,
you know, it's obviously we added a lot of pieces
to it. Always early in camp with the Pats go on,
the defense seems to have the upper edge, and then
the second week it starts to turn a little bit.
So I feel like we've been playing better Uh the
(02:27):
last week and a half.
Speaker 7 (02:28):
Roman said that he really appreciate, appreciated like working with
you and learning and how to get better with you.
Speaker 8 (02:33):
What if you see in him and.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Just how he works and working to get better when
you get the pair.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
I would say Roman, just like cal Uh and really
all our guys, they really care about it.
Speaker 9 (02:42):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
I noticed that when they came out out West, just
to see their their attention to detail and their willingness
to learn. So Row, you know, I just gotta get
a Row out of his head a little bit, you know,
because I think he's he's he's such a good kid.
He cares so much about whether it's my approval or
he's doing it right. And he's just got to trust
(03:03):
himself because he's so damn talented.
Speaker 8 (03:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
The more he can play free and not not think
out there, the better he's gonna play.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So the more he.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Can just trust what he's got and then just go
out and react, the better he's gonna play.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Karon, what what he fight?
Speaker 9 (03:17):
He knows about playing the song.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
It's really the relationship with with Arthur, you know, to
have a guy that we say yesterday for like two
and a half hours, you know, just talk and ball
and it's not all like X's knows. It's you know,
it's storytelling from time to time. But he's he's not
a rigid guy at all, you know. So anything that
ideas that I have or ideas that you know, some
(03:43):
of the receivers are given to me to give to him.
You know, everything is taken into consideration, which I really appreciate.
And and and we're installing it. I mean, the last
few days we've installed stuff that I've gone back and
looked at from the past or other guys have had,
you know, similar ideas. Because we have a little open
forum in my room. Anytime you want to come in
(04:03):
and suggest something or get on the same page about something,
let me know because I'll take it right to art.
But I'm just really enjoying him a lot of persons
and just the way he leads in front of the room.
And it's been been a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
So ar you want any advice too, well, now that
he's kind of losing.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
An opportunity in the preseason most likely and working as
a doctor Andrey, yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
I mean it sucks. It sucks for him for sure,
but because he had such a nice camp as a
young player, and then watching him in mini camp and
just seeing his you know, command of the offense, and
then but this year is a growth year for him.
It's a year to to watch and learn and obviously
better himself. This would just be a minor setback for him.
(04:47):
You know, it would have been great.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
To see him get some live reps in the preseason.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
But I'm not sure when he's going to be back.
Hopefully he's back in time to take maybe the second
or third game. Put either way, you know, this is
a year for him to grow and learn and get
his body the way he wants to get it and
get ready to be the guy for a long time.
Speaker 7 (05:05):
Aaron, would you want some reps some preseason it did
something where you think of personal value for you with
with the new team.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Yeah, I mean that's a interesting conversation. I think Mike
and I have that at some point. I'm not I
don't think it's in the plan for me to play
this week, But whatever Mike wants to do, I'm fully onboard.
If he wants me to go out there and play,
I'll play. If not, I know, won't. I've said a lot.
You know, with all due respect, then I can say
(05:33):
whatever I want. Preseason football is not necessarily real football
because the defenses just don't do a whole lot and
the offenses don't either. So you go out there with
a very limited playbook against the defenses playing one eye zone,
one ieman or two I zone and there's not much pressure.
There's oftentimes communication between the coaches about hey, we're not
(05:53):
going to pressure this week, or hey we need to
see a little bit of pressure.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
It's really about the operation now.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
That is where you can act gained something when the
preseason is you got forty seconds, right, there's a play
clock out here, but it's not always adhere to. So
you have forty seconds to call the play, to get
the line scrimmage, to get us in the right situation,
and to go out and do it. I think there's
something to be gained for that. But as opposed to
kind of when I got in the league, I would
say there's less schematic stuff that you're going to see
(06:22):
in the regular season, even.
Speaker 8 (06:23):
You feel like you're at it.
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Gillon procept, picking the event and what goes into that
both on and off the field.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Yeah, I mean there's a conversation I think is the
most important thing. So talking through every issue. Hearts to
a nice job of allowing me to take some time
in some of the meetings to kind of go through
the film of the guys. And they all have position coaches,
which is important to get coached up by the position coach.
But you know, as parents, right, sometimes you tell you
(06:50):
get a bunch of stuff and they only get it
when somebody else says it and you're over there, like
I've been saying this forever. That's kind of out as
for a position go sometimes. So they tell them the
right thing all the time, but it might not be
into the here for me or hear from your part
where it actually kicks in. And that's just the nature
of life and in our business. So it's good for
me to speak up from time to time. And also
(07:10):
you pull them aside and locked room and pull them
side the field, and then you got to open for
them in my room or or one of their rooms
after practice.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Aaron, when you trobab to go to Wolfing on that
play or did that covered kick take up where throwing
the ball.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Like that was a coverage dictator?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That one?
Speaker 6 (07:28):
Yeah, you like you're getting pre season football is in
real football? Are you able to kind of supplement that
with the joint practices? Does that Is that more of
a benefit than preseason football?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yes, I believe so.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
For they for the.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
First because the teams are especially most of the joint practices,
I would say, you're not going to play that team
in the regular season, so they're less worried about showing
things that they want to work on. And even though
they're usually are cameras there and it's filmed, uh, they're
less skittish about running the stuff they've been running off
camp they're going to try and do in the regular
(08:02):
season against uh, another team they're not gonna play in
the regular season. So I find I've found those beneficial
as long as there's not a lot of fights. I
think they're they're a good work day.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
For the first for the first team, two more guys,
two more.
Speaker 8 (08:16):
You're doing the right amount of work this camp. As
far as the reps, I think you've only had one
day off when you feel forgetting what you need.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
I love that one day off. Thank you Mike for
that one. Uh, But we really got two days off
if you look at it, because we've got rained out
that one day and did a walk through, so I
feel good. You know, I'm not begging for for off days,
but anytime Mike wants to lighten my load, I won't.
I won't complain.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Last one guy's good. You mentioned that you open your
door for your teammates.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
Have you've seen a lot of guys take advantage of
that feel comfortable coming.
Speaker 8 (08:49):
To you with with questions.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah, I have, I have.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
I think that's an important part of it, just letting
those guys know that there's no dictatorship here. It's not
arts dictatorship or mine. It's we want to talk about
all the issues and all the things you're seeing, and
whether it's a text message or come into my room
and having a conversation like those are invaluable times to
get on the same page with the guys because when
I'm out there, I don't want anything to be left unsaid.
(09:14):
So I'd rather hit it on the front end and
if then something comes up in the practice, hit on
the back end instead of trusting, you know, to get
figured out on its own. So it's been a good
process for us. Ben is the one that comes in
the most. He doesn't really knock anymore. But that's Been's personality.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It's starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers yesterday before practice started, and
he would not be playing in the preseason opener against
the Jags. That is expected, Mike Tomlin confirming that at
his press conference earlier today. Curious to see if Aaron
Rodgers will get any playing time at all in this
preseason portion of the schedule. I would guess Tampa Bay
(09:56):
at home, not this Saturday, but the following one. I
think that can of be that dress rehearsal game for
the Steelers, and then at Carolina. It's just a bunch
of guys down the depth chart, you know, fighting for
maybe a couple last spots, fighting for special team spots
playing that game. Skyler Thompson maybe starting the entire starting
in finishing the game. Don't know if Well Howard will
(10:16):
be back by then. I guess it's not ruled out
at being a few weeks away at Carolina, but I
don't know if I would hold my breath for Howard
getting back before that final preseason game. But anyway, I
just think it makes sense maybe for Rogers to slide
in for a series or two against Tampa Bay. Although
he referenced that joint practice that they're going to have
(10:38):
with the Buccaneers next Friday before the game Saturday at
Akrasure Stadium, and maybe that's all he needs, you know,
maybe there's you know, a conversation have between he and
Mike Tomlin and you know, do you need some reps?
Do you feel comfortable enough not having to play in
the preseason. Maybe Rogers will say, we got a lot
of things done in that Friday practice that I feel
(11:02):
comfortable with, so let's not risk injuring myself in game action.
You know, I either way you play it with Aaron Rodgers,
I don't think that it's necessarily the wrong way. I
guess we'll find that out if they start slow or not.
I might hold off on playing him at all in
this preseason, but giving him a little taste a series
(11:24):
or two against Tampa Bay that might not be the
worst ideaet either. Skyler Thompson, on the other hand, will
play and play a lot against the Jags. Mason Rudolph
will get the start, and then it will be seen
how far they let him go in the game. I
honestly don't think they should let him go too too much.
(11:46):
You don't really need to see much out of Mason Rudolf.
You already know he's your number two. Like your number
one is set and your number two is set. There's
no competition at either of those spots at the quarterback room.
So you know, series or two a quarter maybe from
Mason Rudolph than just hand things off to Skyler Thompson
for the majority of the rest of the game. If
you want to sneak Logan Woodside in there for a
little bit, if he's up to speed enough, do some
(12:07):
mop duty, that's fine. But it'll be an opportunity for
Thompson for sure. And with Will Howard here, you know,
the Steelers obviously like him, picking him in the sixth round.
They would want him, I would think to stay on
this roster for a few years to come here in
a backup role Rudolph and Rogers, or as I said, clearly,
you're number one and number two. All of a sudden,
(12:29):
you're looking at practice squad if you're somebody like Skyler Thompson,
So you got a chance to go out there put
some great film on display. For some other teams that
might be a little more thin as far as their
quarterback room is concerned and maybe you're Skylar Thompson. You
find yourself out, find yourself elsewhere. Excuse me, tongue twister.
There as another team's third string quarterback, you get to
(12:51):
dress on game.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Day and be that emergency guy.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Thompson spoke to the media yesterday before practice. Let's take
a listen to what other Thompson.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Had to say.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I need you the opportunity for reps.
Speaker 11 (13:04):
Yeah, you know, it's definitely not the way you want
an opportunity to come to get more reps. But you know,
I've been preparing this whole time as if I'm am
the guy getting the reps, So you know, really nothing's
gonna change other than me actually physically getting them now.
So you know, I'm looking forward to the opportunity and
getting out there and going to play football.
Speaker 8 (13:24):
What has this opportunity been like for you?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
What's kind of just been your experience throughout this you know,
training camp here. Yeah, no, it's been a great opportunity.
I feel like I've grown a ton.
Speaker 11 (13:32):
It's been challenging, you know, and uh, I feel like
in those times challenging times, like you you learn a
lot about yourself and you grow and I feel like
I felt myself improved and you know, some different ways
than than normal necessarily. But I've really enjoyed just being
around the guys and the team, the coaches. Like our
(13:56):
our culture here is is really special. It's been really
cool to be a part of and kind of you know,
experienced La trobe, you know, and kind of have a
off off campus camp and reaped the residuals from that
has been really cool. So I've really enjoyed that aspect
of it. What's challenging for you, you know, just uh
(14:17):
being in a position where I'm not not getting as
many reps as I have been years past, you know,
and that's uh just a different dynamic to it. You know,
there's different ways to continue to stay on top of
your stuff and still get those reps, you know, And
that's that's the biggest challenge for me up to this point,
has been getting mental reps and even though if I'm
a guy out there, still getting the rep and learning
(14:37):
from whatever I can learn from, even though I'm not
the guy necessarily in there getting the actual reps. So
that that's been uh, you know, that's been just some adjustment,
something different than kind of what I've experienced in the past.
But like I said, I feel like I've gotten the
most out of that and and have been, uh, you know,
still improving and getting better from from those reps, whether
if it's me and there or not.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Sky like you were the first.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Just and do you feel like you've got a good
grasp if you had enough time with Arthur's offense to
kind of a good feel what's going on.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, you know, absolutely definitely.
Speaker 11 (15:08):
I feel like to coming into the system, there's some
carryover and some terminology that I had in in my
offense and in Miami that kind of helped me pick
up on the system. And it's not necessarily all brand
new stuff, you know. And at the end of the day,
I mean football football and a lot of these concepts
that that we've we have here, I've I've ran in
my past.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Just have a different name for him or you know,
different tags, whatever the case may be. So it's just
reprogramming your mind a little bit and kind of you know,
getting the new stuff to stick.
Speaker 11 (15:38):
And you know, I think, like I said, having some
similarities from my past offense to this one kind of
helped make that transition for me.
Speaker 10 (15:44):
You want to talk to you talked to Will.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
How is he handling the setback? Yeah, you know, I
reached out to Will yesterday just to see how he
was doing. And you know, he's a he's a good kid.
Speaker 11 (15:54):
He's he's a strong minded individual, and I know that
he's gonna make them at this time.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's an unfortunate deal. It's a freak accident, you know,
and it's unfortunate. Never want that to happen to anyone,
you know.
Speaker 11 (16:08):
And uh, you know, so he's going to get the
most out of this time though, and not taking any
steps back for sure.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Did you see what exactly what happened? No?
Speaker 8 (16:16):
No, I didn't.
Speaker 10 (16:17):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
You go from not getting a lot of reps to
potentially playing for a half tomorrow.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
But how do you prepare yourself for you know, that
extended amount of playing time in a short amount.
Speaker 11 (16:27):
Of Yeah, Well, like I said, I feel like mentally,
I've been doing the work already, and you know, I
know this playbook, I know what what my job is
to do and how to execute what you know, what
they're asking me to do on every play So it's
just for me just banking on my past, you know,
like even though I may have not you know, haven't
(16:50):
got as many reps this camp, Like I have a
lot of a lot of reps built up in my career,
in my in my lifetime. That for me is just
banking on those and you know, trusting my muscle memory
that my body knows what to do, and just trust
my trust, my reads, trust my decision making and letting
the ball reps and don't hesitate, you know, And that's
that's gonna be my mindset going into it.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
You merged last one.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
That you have the familiarity with some of the same
concepts from playing in Miami.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
How have you seen some of those you know, Arthur
and Mike McDaniel kind of come from a similar tree
with THO out of the Shinahan kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
How have you seen those concepts for me through the NFL.
Speaker 9 (17:21):
What are some of the signature components of this offense?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, you know, I definitely think you know, Arthur has
has you know, established some of those concepts and terms.
Speaker 11 (17:34):
In this system, but also Arthur's has been kind of
branched off and you know, he has his own own
flavor to it, you know, which I think is really cool.
And he's he's very open to you know the players
and what hits our brain. You know, he's not super
stuck on calling something this or calling something that. It's
kind of what the players want, you know. And I
think that's a really cool, you know, perspective that he
(17:58):
has for this offense. And it's it's constantly just grooming it.
Speaker 8 (18:01):
You know.
Speaker 11 (18:01):
It's never like this is just one set in stone.
This is you know, install one, two, three, four, and
this is what it is every single time. You know,
It's like as we kind of go, We've we've added
some things with the justice and things that have kind
of popped up in practice that we feel like, you know,
maybe maybe we can you know.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Run this route instead of this, you know, this kind
of looks better. Let's see what it looks like, you
know type thing.
Speaker 11 (18:21):
He just opened very open minded to the players and
especially the quarterbacks, and I think that's been really cool
to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You see, what's quarterback Skyler Thompson expect to see a
lot of playing time for him in the preseason opener
against Jacksonville. With Aaron Rodgers being unavailable, Rudolph and Thompson
will probably have most of the duty. And like I said,
before we played the comments from Skyler, chance for him
to put some tape out there, chances for him to
impress another team that might be needing a quarterback further
(18:50):
down on.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Their depth chart.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
When we come back, we'll talk about the defensive side
of the ball. Got some sound from Juan Thornhill that
we'll play and we'll discuss something that he said and
kind of some talk that has been not just on
the defensive side of the ball, but in the offensive
side of the ball in regards to the hype of
the defensive units. We'll get into that, and former Steeler
running back Tim Worley's gonna sit down in the booth
(19:12):
and join me a little bit later as well. It's
Tom Aferman on the training camp report Fox Sports Pittsburgh
nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Network Iheartradios Live coverage job Not twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp is presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale Roofing and
(19:39):
Siding Supply Center by Don's Appliances, by Always Safe Flagging
and traffic Control by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, by
Schneider Downs by Has's Steak and Seahouse, by your Neighborhood
Forward Store, by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union,
and by US steel Tom.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Opperman on the training camp report going to be joined
by former Steeler running back Tim Whirley in just a
little bit, about ten minutes from now, So excited for that.
Before we get to him, though, I wanted to talk
about the defensive side of the ball. Lots of confidence
on that defensive side of the ball, a lot of
vocal confidence, and I think there should be I like
having a little bit of swagger on that defense. And
Jalen Ramsey is somebody that comes in with a ton
(20:22):
of swagger on his resume already, and he's been noted
to be a chirper. But it's not just guys like
Peyton Wilson saying he thinks he's the best coverage linebacker
in the world, and God, I hope that comes to fruition.
It's not Jalen Ramsey and his reputation. It's not just
jan Thornhill, who will hear from in just a little bit,
you know. DK Metcalf has also weighed in and said
(20:43):
that that's the best defense he's ever seen, so far
in his NFL career. Now, it's only been a couple
of practices in pads, so it's hard for me to
believe that DK would come to that conclusion. But the
hype is real and the expectations are real for that
defense too. It's fair to expect them to be in
the top three, top five of this league, and they're
(21:04):
gonna have to be that if the Steelers are going
to have success this year and finally win a playoff game.
As exciting as it is for Rogers to be at
the helm on the offensive side of things, the new
weapons in the passing game, the running backs, it's going
to be on the backs of the defense if this
team is going to accomplish more than what they have
in the previous few years. Now, nobody in the secondary
(21:26):
is going to play in this preseason game except for
One Thornhill. Mike Tomlin and his press were earlier laid
out Joey Porter, Junior Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, and Deshaun
Elliott all out. So I'm excited to see what one
Thornhill does at the beginning half of this game, kind
of as the guy because, as I mentioned earlier in
the training camp report today. No offense to him, but
(21:47):
that's just one of the weaker links that other teams
are going to look at on that defense. They're gonna
look at one Thornhill and they're gonna say, well, I
would much rather try to attack him and what he's
doing on this play as opposed to Jalen Ramsey, Joey Junior,
Darius Slay.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's just obvious.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And that's not to say that one Thornhill's a bad player,
but he's just amongst a lot of potentially great players
on that defense.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And you know, Peyton Wilson, I.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Think, is somebody that at the beginning of the year
will be targeted too. That's just what other offenses do.
They look for that weak link. And if Thornhill can
just be solid, doesn't have to be a superstar, but
doesn't hurt the team on a consistent basis, then this
defense does have the ability, I think to accomplish great
(22:33):
things this year. I think it could be in that
top five in the NFL. And even if he's not,
you know, average, if he's slightly below average, I still
think they have the talent around him to kind of
ask what his deficiencies might be. But this is somebody
that has track record in this league. He's won two
(22:53):
Super Bowls, been on Kansas City, and maybe last year
just wasn't the right fit in Cleveland and that kind
of derailed a little bit of momentum that he had
in his career. He can potentially get that back here
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And it's not just up to him.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
There's Chuck Clark that could weigh into this equation too.
So interested to keep an eye on the safeties in
this preseason game, interested to see what one thorn Hill does.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Is kind of the guy.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And you can look at Peyton Wilson through that light too.
He'll undoubtedly wear the green dot at the beginning of
this game. No Patrick Queen for the defense and the
inside linebackers. How does Peyton Wilson handle be in that
quarterback of the defense? You know, you expect to have
Patrick Queen for a long time and hopefully he plays
at a high level for a long time here in Pittsburgh.
But Peyton Wilson was a draft pick just last year.
(23:43):
He's a homegrown talent. Maybe he has a future as
that green dot quarterback of the defense type of guy.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
So those are two guys on.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
The defensive side of the ball that I think you
should be watching with a close eye on Saturday. And
as I mentioned to the defensive line, you won't have
Cam Hayward, but you'll have a lot of the young
guys playing a lot. I think early Keanu Benten Why
You're Black in the first round pick Derek Carmon should
get significant snaps as why You're Black and Derek Carmon
(24:12):
get their first taste of NFL action. So despite a
lot of people being out, there's still definitely a lot
of storylines to keep an eye on. Jan Thornhill spoke
to the media following practice yesterday. Let's take a listen
to what he had to say.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
Why a black is a seems to be smacking down
every ball that comes to his way. Is that something
that you all keep noticed in the seventy eight puts.
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Up one of them arms handing.
Speaker 10 (24:33):
I mean, it's great when you got big guys up
front like that. You know, for a quarterback want to
throw the ball down the middle of that's I mean,
they're gonna take a big risk doing that because if
they knocked that ball up, it just gives us a
chance to make a play on the ball and it's
set thing and take away points.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
You guys have set quite a few corners the past
few days, Joey, Jerry's.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
Ramsey.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
But you guys still seem to have.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
That fluidity that you're always changing things up in the secondary.
What can you say about other guys like Brandon Echols,
James Pierre who couldn't have been filling in.
Speaker 10 (24:59):
You know, talk about like we can't take a step
back just because one guy's down. You never know what's
gonna happen. Just you play football. You know, it's a
physical sport. So one guy could go down for you know,
one plague could go down for a couple of weeks.
So the next guy just got to prepare each and
every week like a starter.
Speaker 8 (25:14):
You got to know bead well or see the game
and stuff. Yeah, you guys seem like kind of.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
A you know, he's I think he's very similar to me,
you know, like he likes to have fun out there,
high energy guy.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I love having him out there.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
You know, he's great.
Speaker 10 (25:28):
He's a smart football player, know how to disguise the
lives just gonna make us better.
Speaker 8 (25:31):
When you got smart guys.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
And a thing like that, we can we can hear
you out there a lot. We can hear you out
there on the field a lot. How much you pride.
Speaker 9 (25:39):
Yourself on communication and that was an issue for this
defense last year. How much you think you can be
part of solution going forward there? You know, I've always,
you know, to pride in like being that quarterback of
the defense. You know, you got the linebacker that's making
all the calls giving it to the safeties, but you know,
the safeties make a majority of the checks, you know,
So having a guy like me, I feel like.
Speaker 10 (25:58):
I'm I'm very well, very both and letting guys know
what we're doing. So if you know what you're doing,
you can play at a high level.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
We break down the interception on the two minute thrill.
Speaker 10 (26:06):
What you saw you were playing over the middle, literally
just reading the quarterbacks eyes. I didn't think he was
gonna throw it. He drew a ball, came to mad catch.
Speaker 9 (26:13):
It's that's something it's gonna have to clarify with them
and take which interception are you talking about?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Because how about the one yesterday?
Speaker 8 (26:19):
Then?
Speaker 10 (26:19):
Oh well, yeah, I forgot about the one yesterday. So
you know, two days in a row in a two
minute drug. I closed it out, so it was good.
It was a good felling, you know, getting my hand
on the football.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
Everyone talk to you.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Listening to Freeze the game on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Doesn't p Steak feel any different than a last year?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (26:36):
I mean, we're we're playing against someone else. It's not
your teammates. You know, like if we have live periods
and things like that against your teammate, you don't want
to take those big hits in the two dates. But
when you got another opponent in front of you with
a different colored jersey, you don't really know who they are,
you know, it's it gets a little more physical.
Speaker 8 (26:51):
So we're excited about that.
Speaker 10 (26:52):
We don't really see, you know, how fitsfal of a
defense and a team we are.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
Do you think the.
Speaker 10 (26:57):
Sens can be I think it can be one of
the best of all time, really, and I'm putting that
in there now, one of the best of all time.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Do you guys talk about that as a group, because
guys seems like they've not been.
Speaker 9 (27:09):
Bashful to say they think they could be the number one.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Defense this year.
Speaker 10 (27:12):
I mean when you got literally we got pieces everywhere.
Look at the Rosster, look at who we have. It's
it's incredible, Like literally, I don't feel like there's a
weakness on the defense.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
Like if you look at.
Speaker 10 (27:22):
Most scenes, you know you got you got the fish
out there, like you know that one person that's like
one or two people. It's like, I'm not sure, but
with us literally out of front, that's unbelievable. Linebackers is great,
and dbs that could cover anywhere.
Speaker 8 (27:35):
It seems like the.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
Offense, you know, is starting to find a little bit
more of their rhythm.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
What if you notice that they're doing better to get
more to complete more passes and move the ball.
Speaker 10 (27:43):
In the spot, moving motioning a lot quarterbacks, looking guys off,
making a lot of great bros.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
Is that something related?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Steelers safety one Thornhill following practice yesterday, you heard what
he said. He thinks that the Steelers defense could be
the best ever of all time in the history of
the NFL. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration,
but let's just shoot from maybe being one of the best,
if not the best, this year.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
In twenty twenty five, when we.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Come back, I'm gonna be joined by former Steelers running
back Tim Whirley. Let's keep it right here on the
training camp Report, Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seven AM and
the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Network, Iheartradios Live Coverage Job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp. He's presented by FedEx where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health
System by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente
(28:41):
Pizza and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto,
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, we Max Select Realty, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro Shop and by us Steel.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Stom off froman on the Training Camp Report, and now's
the time in the show where we always welcome a
former Staler to the broadcast hanging out at practice for
the day, and today it is former Stealer running back
Tim Worley. Tim, thanks for hanging out with us today
having me on. So what's different, Tim? You were first
training camp was nineteen eighty nine, had a couple in
the early nineties as well. Has anything changed as far
(29:15):
as the campus is concerned now that you're up there today.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Well, the first thing I would say is the golf
carts didn't have the we No, we didn't have those.
We had to limp up the heel, and we also
had to bring our own air unit back in the day,
so it was kind of a cad Man style of
training camp.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Now, what are some of the memories?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Are some of the things that you look back at
fondly of your memories of being at Saint Vincent College.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Did you like that experience? Let's start there.
Speaker 8 (29:45):
Well, you remember my rookie year. I didn't really get
a chance to experience the full effective training camp because
I missed all the training camp except four or five
days contract negotiation. But the memory here I got to
speak of the La Trope College itself. I mean, it's
a beautiful college, beautiful campus. I'm looking at the fields,
(30:05):
I'm looking at the buildings, and I was just telling
somebody a minute ago, I can just imagine how it
feels and how it looks here when it snows up here,
and it's absolutely amazing. I'm sitting up here looking at
the fields now everything is perfectly manicured, and what a
beautiful campus Saint Vincent.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Now, you mentioned that you missed a lot of training
camp your rookie season, but you still had some big
impact your rookie year in nineteen eighty nine, Tim, you
rushed for seven hundred and seventy yards, You had five touchdowns.
How were you able to have success right away in
the NFL, especially not having a training camp under your belt.
Speaker 8 (30:41):
Well, I just believe the athletic skill that I was
given by the Good Lord, it just kicked in. It
was just a process. If you remember, you know, training
camp is key. And I want to tell the people
that training camp is very key because you're missing out
on a lot of stuff. You know, you're missing the time.
And I was always I always kept myself in conditioning,
(31:01):
physical good conditioning, but the timing of the plays being
ran and the voice of the quarterback and the different things.
You know, it takes time to catch up. And you know,
playing my first regular season game against the Cleveland Browns
and then the Cincinnati Bengals, we didn't do too much
better against them. You could tell that what that's what
was going on. So you know, it was pretty pretty rough.
(31:23):
But I made those adjustments when I learned the offense,
and all of a sudden, we turned the whole season around.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, you obviously also had some adversity throughout your career.
You dealt with some injury problems. How let's start with that,
how tough can that be as a young player to
just have the body not physically keep up.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
Well, I believe, especially the mentality of a young player.
You know, a lot of times, you know that adversity,
we don't know what to do with that. You know,
my mindset for a lot of years was my identity
was just being an athlete, and you know, there was
work that I had to do on myself to discover
other things in me. But you know, I tore I
blew my knee out my sophomore year in Georgia during
(32:02):
the fourth season of the game, and that actually knocked
me out for a year and a half. And so
I had to really fight and work hard, and and
and and struggle at the same time to come back.
But I knew I had it in me to come
back and to be even better than I was before
the injury, and so I knew how to make those
adjustments and and and just stick to what I need
(32:25):
to do to get back on the field and get healthy.
But there was other things going on in my life
too that kind of kept the injuries at par.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Now, in nineteen ninety two, you were suspended for the season.
What was that experience like going through that and then
what did you what were you able to learn from
that moving forward?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Well, it was it was a very traumatic experience. It
was very public, shameful, and a little bit of it was.
It was something that really changed my life. But at
the same time, it also gave me strength. I believe
that in verse. I believe that you know, without struggle,
(33:03):
without adversity, that you can't really strengthen yourself or become
that great person that you desire to be. But you know,
it was some negative choices that I made, and you know,
I felt like an outcast. I felt like, you know,
when you're not a part of the team, when you're hurt,
you don't feel like you're part of the team when
you can't play. But to be suspended for an entire
(33:26):
season and even miss out on a on a salary
that year, that was brutal and it woke me up
for a minute.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Now, when you were playing for the Steelers, you got
to experience some of the last years of the legendary
coach Chuck Noll. What kind of was that like playing
for somebody that you know when you got to the
Steelers team, you knew who he was. He was already
established as one of the greatest coaches ever.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
Yeah. Well, first of all, my I've always been a
Steeler fan. I was a Steeler fan growing up in
North Carolina between the ages of eight and nine years old,
and I always saw Coach Chanol on TV and guys
like me and Joe Green and just the famous people
Frank O'harris, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blunt, and so, you know,
(34:13):
when I got to the Steelers, I've had that experience
before with guys like I played in the Evince Dooley
at the University of Georgia and so they kind of
carry themselves the same way, very very soft spoken, but
carried a big stick, you know what I mean. He
was that type of coach that you really didn't want
to disappoint him and you wanted to please him. And
(34:35):
I felt that way about Coach Dooley too, and uh,
you know the type of coach that you know, going
to going to have a one on one with him
in his office is like going to the principal's office.
But but you know what one of the things that
I love and respect about Coach and all was, you know,
there was a time when I became frustrated with the
(34:56):
Steelers offense. And because you know, I came out of Georgia,
out of the I formation and just giving the ball
and get out of the way, and all of a sudden,
you put me in the split back and running traps.
You slowed me down and I had to make serious adjustments.
And at the same time, within those five years, I
had three different offensive coordinators, so that was kind of brutal.
(35:17):
But one of the things I asked Coach Nole personally,
a lot of people don't know this. I asked him,
why did you draft me if all I'm gonna do
is block all the time? And you know what Coach
Noele said. He said, because you are an excellent blocker.
I knew you could run the ball, but we needed
your blocking skills. When he said that to me, it
changed the game for me, and my respect for him
(35:40):
went through the roof.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Tim I'm always curious when it comes to X players
to ask this, do you still keep up with the
game currently? You still watch football on Sundays, You're still
keeping up with the current Steelers.
Speaker 8 (35:50):
I'm always keep up with the Steelers as far as
football as a whole. In the NFL. I don't really.
I don't race back after church to with the game,
but I always keep up with the Steelers. This is
my fourth year in a row coming to training camp.
Any any football that I that I really get into
(36:12):
is high school and college and especially my dogs. You know,
Georgia Bulldogs. The way we've been playing for the past.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Five years, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 8 (36:19):
Huh yeah, And I'm looking I'm excited about it again.
This year. We got Texas and Alabama and Athens this year.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
You said you keep up with the Steelers. What do
you think of the team?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I mean, it looks like the defense is just going
to be unreal this year, and there's some young running
backs team that they're going to try to break in,
especially the rookie Caleb Johnson.
Speaker 8 (36:35):
Yep. I was looking at the guys yesterday, me being
a former running back. The first the first position that
I'm gonna take a look at as the offensive line.
And I can see the offensive line working together and
doing a lot better than they were last year when
I came. Last year, I saw and just being honest,
just my my my opinion, they were kind of they
(36:56):
were a little out of sync and and and I
don't see that this year. I see we got some
some some some serious talent in the back field. Is glad.
I'm glad to see Jalen still here. We got some
other running backs, we got help on the outside, and
we got the man, Aaron Rodgers, who looks like he's
been reborn. I actually was watching him yesterday and up close,
(37:20):
and man, he he's he's happy to be a Steeler man,
and that means a lot. And I think all the
other players, especially the young guys, but even the veterans
there feeding off of his energy. Man.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And finally, Tim, before we let you go and you
can enjoy practice today. What are you up to these days?
Anything that you want to let the people know about.
Are you just kind of hanging out?
Speaker 8 (37:39):
Uh? No, guys, It's it's hard for some people to
believe because I was such a hell raiser when to
play for us. But guys, I'm in ministry. I'm a
traveling evangelist and I get a chance to travel around
the country, mostly the East coast and in the South,
and I shared the gospel at uh at churches and
(38:00):
at different events and lot, and I invest my gifts
in ministry to a lot of recovery centers that I
speak to a lot, and it's something that you know,
I used to think people used to think I was.
I used to think I was living when I was,
you know, playing with Steelers and all this stuff being
in the spotlight. But I didn't start living until I
(38:22):
surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
That all sounds great.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Tim, thanks for hanging out with us for the past
couple of minutes and enjoy practice today.
Speaker 8 (38:29):
Thank you man, Thank you guys for having me on.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
That Steelers running back Tim Whirley, great stuff from him.
Always enjoy when we have an next Steeler sit down
with us to wrap up the training camp report.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And that's gonna do it for me. Today.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Steelers practice is just a few minutes away, last practice
of the week before they head to Jacksonville for the
preseason opener Saturday.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
At seven.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Matt Williamson and Wes Euler are going to have the
drive next take you all the way through Steelers practice.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I'm Tom Opferman Labs, and I will be back on Monday.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
When the Steelers return to Saint Vincent for training camp
practice at our usual noon time for the training camp
on Fox Sports, Pittsburgh nine seventy a m.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
And the Steelers Audio Network.
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