August 13, 2023 • 46 mins
Labs and Tom break down the Steelers first preseason game against Tampa Bay. They discuss the first team offense, who shined on the defensive side of the ball, and we hear from Tomlin and Steelers inside backer Elandon Roberts
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
He's no training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
There was the drive orchestrated by Big Ben at the
end of Super Bowl forty three that ended with a
touchdown past the Santonio Holmes. There was the Immaculate Reception
with Franco Harris and Terry Bradshaw connecting for a big
touchdown to beat the Raiders. And then there was the
opening preseason drive of the twenty twenty three season. All
three some of the biggest drives in the history of
(00:33):
the Pittsburgh Steelers Labs.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
What have you lost your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, it feels that wag Man I got the excitement.
Kenny's out there slinging the ball over the middle of
the field. The Steelers offense is back.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I mean the uh, the key to that whole
little opening you did there, and it was extremely well crafted,
even though.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Even though it was absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah yeah, you know you mentioned the first preseason game.
Uh yeah, let let's let's I'm all for, you know,
recognizing the good things that the Steelers did on Friday
night in Tampa. But you know, all of them have
to be put in the contact with the caveat of
(01:21):
you know, the first preseason game, twenty one players Tampa
Bay Buccaneers did not play. Uh, And I don't know that.
You know, the Buccaneers are going to be in the
hunt there for that NFC championship this year. So I mean, again,
you know, it was a nice first outing in a
(01:45):
stadium for the Steelers. Certainly, Uh. Can he Picket in
the first team offense looked very good? Uh? In that
in that opening drive, they were very efficient. I thought,
I thought, really thought Picket showed a lot of things
that kind of we've been seeing a training camp on
a daily basis, put him into use during a game,
(02:10):
and a lot of the players surrounding him on that
drive also acquitted themselves very well. But again, first preseason game. Now,
you know it's and it was a very small sample
size too of that first preseason game. So you know, again,
as I said, there's a lot of good things we
(02:31):
can talk about that we saw in that game throughout
the rest of this podcast here today, and I'm more
than willing to do that, but I just would warn
and I know you're just being facetious because you like
to push my buttons, and you know, exactly where to
go with that. But you know, I'm just kind of
I want to caution fans, you know, not to get
(02:54):
too I won't say enamored, but don't think that, you know,
a small sample size in a in an early preseason
game is going to change what's been happening up here
every day for two plus weeks through almost three whole weeks.
(03:14):
Uh So, And that last comment of mine is to
all of the people who have already sent me submissions
to asked and answered, demanding, slash, suggesting, slash whatever, that
Mason Rudolph needs to be the backup quarterback now, I
mean bench Mitch Trubisky. Try to trade him, you know,
(03:35):
see whatever you can do about this, because you know,
a couple of quarters against the Buccaneers JV is certainly enough,
you know, to change everything that you know, you've been
working on four months, and you know, all of a sudden,
now again, I'm you know, I don't I don't want
(03:55):
to come across as denigrating Mason Rudolph because he play well,
but you know, this is a guy that they hated
a few months ago, and you know now they're carrying
him around on their shoulders. So Yeah, fans are fans,
and you love them because they're you know, mostly loyal,
(04:17):
and you know it's really not a it's it's it's
not the same without them, as we learned during the
pandemic year, where it's when they when teams played in
empty stadiums. But you know, have a little perspective, people,
and that's what I'm here to help you with today.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I just love fandom though. You know, last year's first
preseason game, Mason Rudolph gets booed as he enters to
the game at Akrosur Stadium. This year, we're pounding the
table to move him up the depth chart. You gotta
love the mind of the fan and all jokes aside
about that first drive of the game, Yes, there is
a long road ahead here for the Steelers offense to
turn that corner in twenty twenty three. You cannot get
(04:57):
too excited just from one small blip on the radar
that you saw against some of Tampa Bay starters but
most of their backups, to be honest with you, out
there on the field, but it is fair to say
that it's encouraging to see how that drive went.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Labs.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, they get Deontay Johnson involved early a couple
of catches that was refreshing to see. Kenny looked so decisive,
so accurate, and looks like he's got a little extra
zip on that ball as well.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
This year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
The offensive line held up protection wise, and they hit
George Pickens in the middle of the field, who then
utilized some yards after catch, some nice moves to make
a defensive back miss and getting the end zone. It
was it was really kind of exactly what you would
hope to see, despite it being just such a small
sample size.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah right, I mean, and that's to me is what
was really nice about it, you know, and I won't
say heartening, because you know, we have been seeing a
lot of this stuff here up here every day on campus,
and you know, the hope is that they're able to
transfer it, you know, from practice this into games. And
(06:02):
you know, that to me was what I was kind
of heartened about the most is that it was it
seemed like such a seamless transfer, and you know, that's
what you want to that's what you want to see.
You want you want your team to be able to
take what they're doing, you know. Mike Thomlin calls them
football like settings. Uh, you know, training camp practices, there
(06:28):
are there are some drills in camp where you know
there's tackling, yes, but it's not the same as a game,
even against another team's backups. And so you know, the
fact that Kenny Pickett played, you know, I thought a
very clean, uh first possession. And let's not forget last
(06:50):
year the times that the Steelers on their opening possession
went down the field and scored a touchdown happened twice.
So that to me was a significant development as well,
because you know, when you look at some of the
things that you know, were issues that needed to be addressed, corrected,
(07:13):
work done, whatever however you want to describe them. As
this offseason began, you know, there were a couple right away.
I mean, you know, when you when you're talking about
the offense, you wanted to see it start quicker because
you know, and then the we can extrapolate from the
only two times did the offense take its opening possession
(07:37):
and go down the field and score a touchdown to
you know, the number of first quarter points that the
Steelers scored over the whole course of the regular season.
That was certainly not an impressive number. And then, uh,
you know, the fact that you wanted to see more
chunk plays out of the offense, because you know, the
Steelers during that winning streak towards the end of last season,
(08:00):
and they were doing some good things offensively, but I
thought too often, you know, the drives were ten plays,
twelve plays. I remember a fourteen play drive for a touchdown,
and well, that's great, but you know, the chances of
being able to pull that off on a consistent basis
in the NFL are just not very high. I mean,
(08:21):
someone's gonna hold, or there's going to be a penalty called,
whether it happened or not. You know, there's just too
many opportunities for something to go bad in a fourteen
play drive that you would like to see, you know,
the offense either and well in this this these kind
of these things kind of go hand in hand. You
want to see chunk plays, or you and or you
(08:44):
want to see touchdowns scored, you know, from outside the
red zone because that's that's legal. Last time I did,
because I looked it up a couple of times last
year to make sure to double check. Yeah, just a
double check. So you know, the first touchdown was a
thirty three yarder to George Pickens get it. It was a
catch and run. But again looking at that play, which
(09:04):
you know I thought was good about it was Piketts's
delivery of that ball. There were two there were two
defenders there, you know, a cornerback and a linebacker, and
he put it between them with some zip right to
George Pickens. And that's another thing you wanted to see
from Pickett was, you know, not just protecting the ball,
(09:27):
you know, and cutting back on the turnovers, which he
did dramatically over the course of the second half of
last season, but you also want to see him be
sufficiently accurate where he delivers the ball to his receiver
in a way that allows that guy then to catch
it and do something with it. And that pass to
Pickens was perfect. He put it right on him, right
(09:52):
in his chest, well not in his chest, but right
in stride. And that gave George Pickens the opportunity, the opening,
if you will, to do his thing, you know, make
a couple of moves, out run somebody and get into
the end zone. Great. I mean, that's all of that's great.
But again, one one drive in one preseason opener against
(10:16):
a Tampa Bay team that I don't know that's gonna
They're gonna be five hundred at the end of this
NFL season. Maybe they surprise me. But not only that,
but with twenty one of their players not playing, So again,
feel good about it. But you know, let's not Look,
let's postpone the parade down the Boulevard of the Allies
(10:37):
right for another I don't know, say twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I'll keep mapping the route out in pencil for now.
Can you tell me when we switch over to Sharpe
when it's starting to look more permanent?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Okay, yeah, because we've got to pick a Grand Marshal too,
so we'll have to see who's available.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Well, you mentioned chunk plays and the Steelers needing more
of that home run kind of variety, and the chunkiest
of chunk plays on Friday night's game came from Calvin Austin,
someone we were seeing in a Steeler uniform in game
action for the first time in his career, missing all
of his rookie year last season. A sixty seven yard
touchdown bomb Rudolph to Austin's probably why Rudolph was moving
(11:13):
up the depth chart in a lot of fans' minds.
Is because of that big play. But Austin I think
was a lot of people had impact in the second
and third string offensively for the Steelers in this game,
but Austin was probably the one that really jumped out
to me. Aside from that sixty seven yard bomb, he
also had some pretty nice runs on the Jets sweep
and his athleticism really shown through.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, the thing about Calvin Austin, I mean, and this
was the hope for him even when he was drafted.
You know, this was even before he came to training
camp as a rookie and then sustained that injury, that
foot injury that ultimately sabotaged his entire rookie season. But
the speed and the explosiveness that he brought, and you know, again,
(11:57):
if we would go back a little more than a
calendar year ago from where we are right now, I
certainly was among those who was thinking that this was
a guy who could not only impact this team, possibly
as an extra receiver, because you really don't think that,
you know, a rookie's gonna come in and you know, dominate,
(12:20):
you know, the starting lineup as a receiver, as a
return guy. I thought, Hey, this guy, he can help
there too, and we've seen that with a lot of
over the years, a lot of players who became very
good receivers for the Steelers started out being pretty dynamic
return guys. Lynn Swann was a great punt returner. Louis
(12:43):
Lips was a great punt returner. Antonio Brown was a
great returner both punts and kickoffs. So you know when
you're watching When we were watching Calvin Austen and last,
you know, as a rookie, it was a lot of
it was you know, ot as in mini camp because
once the training camp started, he he was on the
(13:05):
practice field for a few days, right, and then injured
his foot the day before the preseason opener and then
we never saw him again. So, but you can see
the burst because there's no tackling or anything, and a
lot of it's in shorts and no help or no pads.
But you know, speed is something that you know, you
can you can gauge pretty easily on a football field
(13:27):
when everybody's running. And Calvin Austin has speed, he has burst,
He's quick to speed and we saw some of that
against the Buccaneers too.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Coach Tomlin stopped buying chatted with the media following the
game against Tampa Bay on Friday. Here's what coach had
to say about the Steelers win over the Buccaneers.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
It's good to learn lessons while doing what you need
to do. But beyond that, I thought we just saw
some things that we wanted to see tonight. First unit offense. Uh,
Kenny spread the ball around, kept himself clean, moved the
moved the group, and we were able to, you know,
check that box. And in terms of getting them a
quality rep at the process, you know, the things that
(14:12):
they did at the hotel, the procedural things leading.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Up to play.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
That collective of guys, they're young guys, but they have
some experience now, and so we asked them to maybe
step outside of themselves and and and the lead up
to performance and get a feel for the group, what
is the process of the group's preparation looks like. And
so enjoyed that I think get teed up.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
The performance that you saw had some other guys, you know,
show some good things. Uh, Calvin Austin, Aunt mac Herbic
on defense, Benton on defense with young guys that I
thought they kind of stood out. But there's a lot
of teaching and learning that needs to happen based on
(14:55):
the result of what just happened. It It just is
I think it's reasonable to expect us to be significant
better next week. This experience of having been in a
stadium and in an environment like this, Man, if we
don't use it as a catalyst to to work next
week and get better than shame on us. And so
we're excited about that. Had some endgame injury deuced. Russell
(15:15):
at linebacker had a knee that's gonna be evaluated. Kuitdakowski
had a shoulder. Uh, Duke Dawson's got a need Those guys,
you know, need to be evaluated. Don't have a lot
of information there. We had a few guys that that
had minor injuries and so forth. In the eleventh hour
leading up to participation, we chose to exercise some precaution
(15:36):
and not allowed them to participate, guys like Larry Ogan,
Joby and Joey Porter Jr. We'll see the totality all
of that when we get back to town and and
put together a good plan for next week. Again, we
don't spend a lot of time talking about the guys
that do not play. There's a lot of guys that
played tonight and and got some tape to analyze and
learn from and and made a good accounting to themselves.
(15:59):
And so, uh, we're gonna comm through that in a
very professional.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Way, Ardor And you know what, what was that experience? Like?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
What does it mean? You know, you know, I don't
know if I can put it into words what he
means to me. We came together at an awesome age,
and we were probably great for each other. I know,
I enjoyed the challenge of coaching somebody as smart and
competitive and productive as him.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
I never wanted to let him down. I never wanted
to let Lynch down. And those guys played ball. And
so you know, together man, we ate and fed our
families and had a good time. And last weekend was
really kind of you know, a culmination of that. And
you know, can't put it into words to be a
part of that, his story, his journey. So thankful for it, Uh,
(16:59):
which all what we needed to see. It's a good step,
but we'll keep pushing.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
What's fun front SI step here.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
You know, he's a veteran guy. He he knows what
he's doing. He brings the energy, he's highly competitive. I'm
sure it's easy to be competitive in these circumstances you
step in the bowls and and stuff. He but he's
highly competitive in the ADI energy bringer in and in
practice situations day to day. And I appreciate that with
(17:29):
your initial.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Evaluation of Warner Jums, youmbout playing.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Nina gave gave him a big exposure. I like his demeanor,
I like how he finished. We'll comb through it specifically
and look at hand usage and and how he mixed
up his protections and some of the things that are
very technical that are a major component of this level
of play.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Talk a lot about the oftimes that you were supposed
to her attending momentu stoles and see.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
Why into those plays. In any success, we're not gonna
wear our hands out patting ourselves on the back of
this juncture. We had a good night to night in
some areas. Back to work, Steed Conan with quirement that
intriguing game, whether you hadn't want to do. You know,
everybody knows those guys can move and run, and that's
why we're excited about seeing what they're capable of doing.
(18:15):
But you know, it goes beyond just the you know,
the flatline speed man those guys are developing skills relative
to their position know how and at this level, when
it's good on good, speed doesn't win. It's speed and
combination with with know how and skills relative to your position.
And like the trajectory of both guys in that area.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah, there's one other thing I just want to interject
here based on what Mike Thomlins said about Pickett's performance,
and it had to do with Kenny Pickett keeping himself clean,
you know, and reading some of the other write ups
of some of the other preseason games, the Carolina Panther
(19:00):
preseason game. Uh, the judgment of Bryce Young was what
a good job he did because he took several big
hits and was able to get up from them. Well,
you know, that's that's nice, and that's a good way
to look at it. I guess. No, I'm not being
you know, I'm not being sarcastic for a change. But
(19:24):
another thing that I thought Kenny Pickett did very well
was he didn't he didn't put himself into those positions
to take big hits.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And that again shows a level of development, a little
bit of maturity, a kind of you know, expansion of
his game. Yes, because you're looking for a guy. You know.
One of the other things we heard a lot about
Kenny Pickett last year was, you know, the concussions, the concussions,
(19:53):
the concussions, Well, the best way to avoid that is
to not get hit, and there are some things that
quarterbacks can do to protect themselves. And I thought Kenny
Pickett did a nice job of that last night or
not last night Friday night in Tampa, and again when
we're looking at his overall performance and pointing out things
(20:17):
that were good about it, I just didn't want that
to go unnoticed.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, no question. I also have to give a little
bit of a hat tip to that first team offensive
line as well. When you say, I mean first real
experience with those five guys gelling together as a unit.
And I know that there was some JV on the
other side of the line of scrimmage for the Buccaneers,
but they really controlled things, especially in that first drive.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, everything that you know that Matt Canada called, I
thought was executed pretty well. And I think that, you know,
one of the things that people also should realize or
understand was, since everybody knew, at least among the Steelers
that you know, Kenny Pickett was going to see a
very limited period of time on the field. You know,
(21:04):
they didn't want him to just hand the ball in
Naugie Harris ten times. So you're trying to get you know,
get him some actual work in some of the areas
that you know you're going to depend upon him as
these preseason games continue and then morph into the regular
season games. And so that's why there were so many
passes called. And you know in that in that respect,
(21:25):
that makes sense to do it that way. And yeah, again, uh,
everything about it. All of the position groups, at least
from what I could see, you know, watching the game,
h acquited themselves very well on that first possession.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
We will turn our gaze towards the defensive side of
the ball when we come back, talk about some young
players that made an impact on that side of things,
and we'll hear from Steelers inside linebacker Land and Roberts.
It's all on the way on the Training Camp Report
on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
He's Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
With grass Play Action, Big Big Rush. He's hit, He's
sacked back and died.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
The thirty five yard line Nick Herbig. Two big plays
in a row.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
One of two sacks from Nick Herbig and his first
action in the NFL Friday against the Buccaneers Labs. Some
usual suspects got the night off on the defensive side
of the ball for the Steelers, so that made way
for some young guys to make an impact, and her
Big certainly made his impact. Felt you heard Coach Tomlin
and his press conference we played in the last segment
(22:42):
mentioned Herbig as well as one of these young guys
that you took the opportunity and really ran with it.
Put some really good tape on film for coaches to
look at and evaluate them through this process.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, Nick Herbig was one of those guys again that
kind of fit the theme of how I viewed the
preseason an opener and what was good about it because
you know, we had been seeing Nick Herbig at training camp,
you know, being really quick off the ball, looking good,
if not dominating at times in backs on backers, one
(23:16):
on one pass wash rush drills. He has held his
own very well in a lot of those repetitions, and
you know, he took what he had been doing up
here and transferred it to a game and those are
the things you like to see. Especially again, the guy's
a rookie, you know, so he's showing you these kinds
of things right away, and so you know, it gives
(23:40):
you a lot of hope for not only his career
as it unfolds, but also in ways that he might
be able to contribute to this team, you know, as
a rookie. One of the things last year that really
kind of derailed the Steelers season was TJ. Watts pectoral injury,
you know, and they through geez, I mean how many
(24:02):
we were talking about it on the pregame show. You
know how the Steelers tried to deal with that, and
they tried to deal with it in a lot of
ways on a one to one kind of basis. You know,
you lose t J. Wattson you try to find someone
to put in two. I won't say replace him because
that's a stretch for a guy who was the defensive
(24:23):
player of the Year the year before that, but you know,
you just put one person in and you know, leave
everyone else alone kind of this year, should that happen,
you know, hopefully that doesn't, but if it does, I think,
you know, the Steelers have some options and you know,
(24:44):
Nick Herbig would be one of them. And you know, again,
he did come off the ball very nicely against the Buccaneers,
as he has been doing up here training camp, and
he finished because a lot of times that's what's missing
from some of these young players. You'll see. Let's just
(25:04):
use pass rusher, you know, as an example, because that's
kind of what we're talking about here. You'll see a
good get off the line of scrimmage, good quickness, maybe
make a nice move to defeat the blocker or at
least put himself in a position where you know, he
can get at the quarterback and then he either misses
him or the guy gets outside of him, or you
(25:24):
know whatever. But Herbig was finishing too, which is again
I don't want to understate this. I mean, that's such
a good sign to see that so quickly from you know,
such a young player. And you know, Missy Matthews was
working the sideline for the telecast of the preseason opener
(25:44):
and she reported that, you know, one point after a
Herbig sack and the defense came off the field. You know,
those guys were sitting on the bench since it was
a little warm there that Friday night. Then you know,
getting water or something, and Mike Tomlin came over and
as a way of complimenting Nick Herbig in front of
(26:04):
a lot of his teammates, Tomlin spoke to the other
players and said, any of you guys have a younger
brother too, you know, as a reference to Nick Herbig
being Nate Herbig's younger brother. And the impact that this
guy has had so quickly on this team. So yeah,
good start for him, certainly, and I believe that his performance.
(26:29):
You know, so far we've talked about Kenny Pickett, Calvin Austin,
and Nick Herbig is another one of those guys I
think on the top line of good, good things that
happened for the Steelers in that preseason opener.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, let me throw another one out at you. It
didn't end exactly on a great note with this guy,
but I think this is another example of somebody who's
had a very strong camp and having it translate over
into the game. It's another member of this rookie class.
Keanu Benten. Now I know he left the game with
an injury. Hopefully it's not too serious and he'll be
able to get back into the fold. Because lbs I've
been hearing from a lot of people up at camp,
(27:05):
even before camp, saying, this guy has starter capable things
written all over him. I know it's rare for a
Steelers mid round draft pick to come in and start,
especially at that position, but this guy might be able
to do it. And I got to be honest with you,
seeing him in a game situation for the first time,
I understand why so many people felt that way about him.
I know it was against some stiffs in Tampa Bay
(27:27):
wasn't exactly the starters there, but like the great tounch
Ilkin used to say, Labs, if you can't beat the stiffs,
you are the stiffs. And he was beating them like
crazy on the field on Friday.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yeah. And the thing that Keanu Benton has, you know
what made him the draft pick that he was, which
was forty ninth overall, you know, he's he will forever
be known maybe as the other second round draft pick
of the twenty twenty three draft class, because you know,
Joey Porter Junior being the thirty second, you know, pick
(27:58):
of the draft. But Benton, you know, he's three hundred
and nine pounds, you know, give or take, and he
has nose tackle size, but he and again, you know,
we've done this before on these podcasts, you know, try
(28:19):
not to throw out names of comparison. Then that ends
up labeling a poor guy for the rest. We don't
like that, but hey, the preseason has started, so it's
time for me to just throw that away at least
for the next half an hour or so. But Keanu
Benton is the hope is that he has some Javon
Hargrave in him, which means he is a guy that
(28:43):
you can put in there and is capable of being
tough at the point of attack for your run defense.
But if the offense decides that they want to throw
the ball, you know, without a lot of personnel changes,
he can contribute to the pass rush too because he
has some athletic ability, some quickness, and so you know,
(29:06):
and if you can find a guy like that, you know,
these all situations defensive players at various positions. Usually we
refer to these all situations defensive players being so important
inside linebacker, but if you have defensive linemen who are
that as well, that's really really valuable too. So Keanu
(29:29):
Benton showed some ability, some athletic ability. Even within his
helping against the run. You know, there was there was
a fourth and one at midfield in the second quarter,
and you know, Benton didn't make the play on this,
(29:50):
but he blasted into the defense, into the offensive backfield
and really kind of blew up the play. Keyshawn Vaughan,
the run back who took the handoff, you know, had
to deal with Benton almost immediately after he got the handoff,
and so you know, that allowed Isaiah Loudermilk to make
the play. It was a three yard loss, turned the
(30:12):
ball over for the offense. I mean, and yes, louder
Milk made the tackle and he was an important part
of that. But in my mind, Benton made that play
by what he did, you know, coming right off the snap,
so you know, and then he made another tackle in
the backfield for a loss. So you're talking about a
nose tackle interior defensive lineman who stuffed a fourth and
(30:35):
won and then had a tackle for loss on a
running play. I mean, that's that's a pretty good contribution
for a rookie in a short period of time, in
his very first game like action. So yeah, I was
really really impressed and heartened by what we saw from
Benton against the Buccaneers. But like you, I kind of
(30:58):
got a little sick to my stomach when I saw
him limping off the field, you know, with what has
been described as an ankle injury, and as you said,
we don't know how serious it is. You know, I'm
a guy who normally loves in his fears, but when
I was watching that, I was looking for a silver
lining and the only one I could come up with
(31:18):
was he was limping off the field on his own
instead of being driven off on a cart. So I mean,
maybe that turns into something. Maybe it's just me, you know,
whistling past the graveyard. But keep a good thought, because
I think that he's a player who can give the
Steelers some things that they didn't necessarily have last season
(31:41):
or since Javon Hargrave cashed a big check as an
unrestricted free agent went to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Inside linebacker is a position that everybody has their eyes
trained on. All new guys in the mix this year
competing for that Joe. I shouldn't say that Mark Robinson
is still here, but you know what I mean. They
bring in three veterans to throw into the fuld, Holcome
Roberts and Kwan Alexander Atlanton, Roberts spoke with the media
following the game on Friday, and his first action as
(32:08):
a Pittsburgh Steeler would take a listen to the first three.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Season gave me.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Honestly, like, coming into the game, it just felt real
good to be in the Pittsburgh uniform. You know, I'm
just be very honest with you. Uh, putting the jersey
on the day felt real good. But once the game
got started, obviously, like you said, limited snaps, but for me,
it was basically trying to get in game ode from
(32:39):
a study standpoint, adjustment standpoint, So when I wasn't in,
was able to go to the sideline, get with the linebackers,
get with the defense, seeing the type of adjustments that
we're making, seeing staying engaged in the game, seeing what
type of day Tampa wanted it to be and whatnot.
Just just getting him out the routine of a game
time situation. And like I said, I mean, action wise,
(33:04):
was limited snaps, but just being engaged, taking a lot
of mental reps. I was entuned in the game into
the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
The people her form on one.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
End and Rother, huh is it a.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Deep ball up form on my endy?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Not at all? Okay, not at all. How did you
feel like bigging when you were in the games?
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Figure you saw when we was figuring out the the
operations things.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
You remember get only line back group, you were just
getting all of them all getting guy's line up on me, right,
But do you feel like, yeah, v it was very calm.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
You know, one thing about us three, even including the
other ones, you know, everybody's kind of been in the situation.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
One thing that uh Mike t and the coaching staff
do a great job of, it's putting us in them
situations in practice. So once the game time kind of came,
it was just it was just fluid. It was just
real fluid and whatnot. And uh, like I said, uh,
we all have to be calm and we all have
to do our job communicate well, cause that's that's first
(34:07):
and foremost. We got to get the call in. Gotta
communicate well so all the other guys can play fast
because they dependent on us.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
You got at Mota, did that or anything like that?
Or it was just a lit more than they eat?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Serious?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That was hot?
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Yeah, it was I it was hot.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Uh, I'm a Texas guy. Uh I trained in off
season in Texas. Uh. I mean, obviously, I played in
Miami for three years, so I was kind of used
to it. I I knew what that feel was gonna
feel like and whatnot. But uh, I mean, you just
got to prepare for it. You know you you're gonna
have games like that. And like I said, I I think, uh,
the couple of days that we did have uh in
(34:46):
training camp like that that players was able to embrase
it and just grind through it. And that mean it
is what it is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I know coach Tomlin was enjoying that heat down in Tampa.
I'm sure that was a god send for him. But
laves Landon Roberts got his first run as whe so
did Cole Holcom, so did Kwan Alexander in the preseason game.
And the one guy that I think stood out from
all the rest. And again this is preseason game one,
so I'm not going to anoint someone as linebacker one
right off the jump here, but man, Kwan Alexander flies
(35:16):
all over that field, and we just heard from a
Landon Roberts. He's a thumper for sure, and he made
his presence felt a couple of times. But I kept
feeling like I kept looking up and seeing number twenty
six out there making plays while he was on the field.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, kwan Alexander. I mean he kind of as soon
as he reported to training camp at Saint Vincent College
and you met the media, he kind of established himself
or described himself as someone who's physical and he has
been that in practice pretty much every day since the
(35:51):
Steelers signed him, and he was that Friday night in
Tampa in the preseason opener. Yes, I agree with you.
Let me just say this. I thought that was a
BS pass roughing a passer call on him, that fifteen
yard penalty. I didn't think that that really rose to
the level of what or maybe they called it unnecessary roughness,
(36:13):
whatever they called. I didn't think that that was helmet
to helmet contact.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
It's so rare for the league to get a call
like that wrong too, that never happens.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Well, you know, I guess the preseason opener for officials too.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But the Midas four with that one, So.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Hey man, those are supposed to be my lines. Don't
be stealing my stuff about officiating. But anyway, Yeah, I
liked his approach to the game, his demeanor. I mean,
there was no half stepping it for Kwan Alexander, not
that I thought that there would be, but you know,
sometimes veterans in preseason games, maybe they don't view it
(36:57):
as seriously as some of the younger people trying to
make an impression or you know, earn a spot or
earn a job, or you know, whatever it might be.
But no, he he has one speed. It's full speed
all the time. And yeah, he showed that again against
the Buccaneers. Let me just say this a name that
(37:17):
we really hadn't mentioned much in terms of this particular topic. Uh,
this at this time Mark Mark Robinson, almost called Mark
Alexander Mark Robinson. Uh had six was in on six tackles,
which was second on the team behind James Pierre. And yeah,
he was, he was around. He he was doing you
(37:38):
know Mark Robinson kind of things. I mean, he was involved,
he was, you know, banging people, he was doing the
things that he does. Now again, we'll have to see.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
In my opinion, let me let me start with them.
In my opinion, he makes the roster. Yes, to understand
that there are some people that don't necessarily agree with that,
but in my opinion, he makes the roster. So we're
gonna have to see what kind of role he might
be able to carve out for himself in this coming season.
(38:15):
But you know, Mark Robinson, the things that he did
well in his limited exposure last regular season and the
things that he has done well in this training camp.
He did well in the preseason opener, and again I
take that as a good sign.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, I think Mark Robinson is going to carve himself
out the spot on this roster as well. He's shown
a lot of flashes at the inside backer spot, and
of course there's always that special teams avenue that a
player like himself can take to find himself on the
fifty three man roster. When we come back, we'll talk
about practice today and wrap things up on the Training
Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
He's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steel's Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Coach Toman always likes to find these little tests for
players during this camp experience, and today, I think is
another one in bringing your own energy and having the
right mindset, the professional mindset during a practice. You know,
Tomlin's spoke in the past of when we've had practices
before a day off and we have practices after a
day off. I want to see that same level of
(39:23):
intensity and focus out of these guys well lapse. Today's
practice is smackedab in the middle of a day off
on both ends of the spectrum. You were off yesterday
and you're off tomorrow, So I'm sure Coach Tomlin is
pretty curious to see if maybe a player or two
might take their foot off the gas a little bit
here now that you know, you got this little random
day of practice that I'm sure everybody would rather do without.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Yeah, and I'm just really happy that you brought the
energy today to this little exercise we're doing right now.
I'm assure that at some point, you know, Mike Tomlin's
going to listen to this podcast is really to make sure,
right to make sure that we brought sufficient energy because
(40:06):
yesterday was a day off for this podcast and tomorrow
is a day off for this podcast. So you know,
kudos to you for being a professional that being a
professional that you are. You know, this is kind of
a weird week too. You know, you mentioned a day
off yesterday, practice today, then tomorrow Mondays. That's the players
(40:27):
manday to day off throughout this training camp, so they're
off that day too, And then you know there is
a home game, home preseason game this coming Saturday at
Akroshuer Stadium. Six point thirty is kickoff against the Buffalo Bills.
And so you know there's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday up here.
(40:50):
And then you know, breaking camp day is kind of
listed on the schedule now is Friday, because you know,
the players stay in a hotel the night before a game,
and so I didn't think that it was going to
be likely that they would break camp Thursday and spend
(41:11):
two nights in a hotel. So I think that based
on the original schedule, and what we know about the
original schedule during a training camp is sometimes it's not
worth the paper it's printed on because things change based
on you know, the reality of the moment. And so,
but the original schedule calls for the Steelers to practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
(41:37):
All of those practices are open to the public. Tuesday
and Wednesday's normal time one fifty five. Now right now, Thursday,
the practice is scheduled for ten thirty, just in helmets.
So again we're going to see if that holds, you know,
(41:59):
or if it stays at ten thirty. As I mean
holding or if they adjusted a little bit, or if
it's changed into you know, I don't know the one
fifty five or maybe adjusted a little bit. Maybe it's noon,
I don't know. So what I would say to fans is,
you know, stay light on your feet for Thursday if
(42:23):
you were planning on coming out. But Tuesday and Wednesday
I think are going to be days or regular kind
of days in pads, and this afternoon one fifty five
on the schedule practice in pads. We'll see what it
ends up being.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, and you know that carrot is kind of dangling
out in front of them too, as far as this
being the last week of training camp that they're about
to embark on. So there's another one of those little
tests that I'm sure Tomlin is interested in, is finishing
strong and seeing that these guys, you know, put as
much effort into these last three days of camp practice
as they did in those first three days of camp practice.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah, and you know, the carres right there for me
and you too, buddy, So let's grab on to that
bad boy and go for it, because you know, I personally,
you know, I haven't heard anything for sure, but I
think we've had a heck of a camp.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Oh yeah, I mean I was planning on the last
day Thursday, I was just gonna do a whole hour
of patting ourselves on the back. So maybe we saved.
We can save that for that episode. But Tomlin did
mention not patting themselves too hard on the back after
the Tampa Bay game, and hopefully we're better against Buffalo.
But I gotta be honest with you, labs. The tone
that he had in that press conference that was as
about as close as Tomlin probably saying he was very
(43:34):
pleased with his efforts from his team without actually saying it.
Focus on next week. We got to get better. We
got to get better. But I think you could kind
of tell that as far as that first game goes,
it couldn't have gone better in his mind.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Well, yeah, I think I think that a lot of
that will get tempered. You know, there was a there
was a whole plane ride back from Tampa and then
all day on Saturday to find things, you know, to
work up a little bit of uh, I won't say anger,
but you know, displeasure, and I'm sure that you know
those have been found. Hopefully one of those is not
(44:10):
about Keanu Benton's ankle. But you know, we'll we'll see
what it is.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yeah, there wasn't a whole lot for me to be
disappointed in in that game. Uh again, we saw it,
so excuse me. So many things I thought that were
good first steps in the process.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
And now what I really, really really think is critical
is that there's no backsliding, because I do believe that
in terms of the Buffalo Bills, the degree of difficulty
and just what is presented by the opponent will increase considerably.
You know, you're talking about a Buffalo team that you know,
(44:58):
wouldn't surprise me at if the Bills ended up in
the Super Bowl as the AFC representative. That may not happen,
And I would have been comfortable saying that at this
point in any of the previous couple of seasons as well.
You know, the Bills are one of those really legitimate contenders.
They've got a really good roster, you know, all of
(45:19):
that stuff. So and it's the second preseason game, so
I wouldn't expect Buffalo, as an example, to hold out
twenty one of their players as Tampa Bay did. I
think you're going to see more of the Bills than
we saw of the Buccaneers. I think we're going to
see more of the Bills for longer than we saw
(45:41):
of whatever we saw of the Buccaneers. But you know,
on the flip side, I don't think there's gonna be
thirteen Steelers that are held out of the game either,
just based on you know, outside of whatever injuries might
you know mandate. So yeah, the game Saturday at Akroschure Stadium,
(46:03):
I think is going to be a much more i
won't say realistic test, but a much more stern test
of this team and the things that it is trying
to develop during its time up here at training Camp.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Steelers practice today is at one fifty five. No practice tomorrow,
so Labs and I will be back again at eight
am on Tuesday for another edition of the Training Camp Report.
Wolf and Starks are up next. We're going in the
locker room on Steelers Nation Radio.
He's no training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
There was the drive orchestrated by Big Ben at the
end of Super Bowl forty three that ended with a
touchdown past the Santonio Holmes. There was the Immaculate Reception
with Franco Harris and Terry Bradshaw connecting for a big
touchdown to beat the Raiders. And then there was the
opening preseason drive of the twenty twenty three season. All
three some of the biggest drives in the history of
(00:33):
the Pittsburgh Steelers Labs.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
What have you lost your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, it feels that wag Man I got the excitement.
Kenny's out there slinging the ball over the middle of
the field. The Steelers offense is back.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I mean the uh, the key to that whole
little opening you did there, and it was extremely well crafted,
even though.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Even though it was absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah yeah, you know you mentioned the first preseason game.
Uh yeah, let let's let's I'm all for, you know,
recognizing the good things that the Steelers did on Friday
night in Tampa. But you know, all of them have
to be put in the contact with the caveat of
(01:21):
you know, the first preseason game, twenty one players Tampa
Bay Buccaneers did not play. Uh, And I don't know that.
You know, the Buccaneers are going to be in the
hunt there for that NFC championship this year. So I mean, again,
you know, it was a nice first outing in a
(01:45):
stadium for the Steelers. Certainly, Uh. Can he Picket in
the first team offense looked very good? Uh? In that
in that opening drive, they were very efficient. I thought,
I thought, really thought Picket showed a lot of things
that kind of we've been seeing a training camp on
a daily basis, put him into use during a game,
(02:10):
and a lot of the players surrounding him on that
drive also acquitted themselves very well. But again, first preseason game. Now,
you know it's and it was a very small sample
size too of that first preseason game. So you know, again,
as I said, there's a lot of good things we
(02:31):
can talk about that we saw in that game throughout
the rest of this podcast here today, and I'm more
than willing to do that, but I just would warn
and I know you're just being facetious because you like
to push my buttons, and you know, exactly where to
go with that. But you know, I'm just kind of
I want to caution fans, you know, not to get
(02:54):
too I won't say enamored, but don't think that, you know,
a small sample size in a in an early preseason
game is going to change what's been happening up here
every day for two plus weeks through almost three whole weeks.
(03:14):
Uh So, And that last comment of mine is to
all of the people who have already sent me submissions
to asked and answered, demanding, slash, suggesting, slash whatever, that
Mason Rudolph needs to be the backup quarterback now, I
mean bench Mitch Trubisky. Try to trade him, you know,
(03:35):
see whatever you can do about this, because you know,
a couple of quarters against the Buccaneers JV is certainly enough,
you know, to change everything that you know, you've been
working on four months, and you know, all of a sudden,
now again, I'm you know, I don't I don't want
(03:55):
to come across as denigrating Mason Rudolph because he play well,
but you know, this is a guy that they hated
a few months ago, and you know now they're carrying
him around on their shoulders. So Yeah, fans are fans,
and you love them because they're you know, mostly loyal,
(04:17):
and you know it's really not a it's it's it's
not the same without them, as we learned during the
pandemic year, where it's when they when teams played in
empty stadiums. But you know, have a little perspective, people,
and that's what I'm here to help you with today.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I just love fandom though. You know, last year's first
preseason game, Mason Rudolph gets booed as he enters to
the game at Akrosur Stadium. This year, we're pounding the
table to move him up the depth chart. You gotta
love the mind of the fan and all jokes aside
about that first drive of the game, Yes, there is
a long road ahead here for the Steelers offense to
turn that corner in twenty twenty three. You cannot get
(04:57):
too excited just from one small blip on the radar
that you saw against some of Tampa Bay starters but
most of their backups, to be honest with you, out
there on the field, but it is fair to say
that it's encouraging to see how that drive went.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Labs.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, they get Deontay Johnson involved early a couple
of catches that was refreshing to see. Kenny looked so decisive,
so accurate, and looks like he's got a little extra
zip on that ball as well.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
This year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
The offensive line held up protection wise, and they hit
George Pickens in the middle of the field, who then
utilized some yards after catch, some nice moves to make
a defensive back miss and getting the end zone. It
was it was really kind of exactly what you would
hope to see, despite it being just such a small
sample size.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah right, I mean, and that's to me is what
was really nice about it, you know, and I won't
say heartening, because you know, we have been seeing a
lot of this stuff here up here every day on campus,
and you know, the hope is that they're able to
transfer it, you know, from practice this into games. And
(06:02):
you know, that to me was what I was kind
of heartened about the most is that it was it
seemed like such a seamless transfer, and you know, that's
what you want to that's what you want to see.
You want you want your team to be able to
take what they're doing, you know. Mike Thomlin calls them
football like settings. Uh, you know, training camp practices, there
(06:28):
are there are some drills in camp where you know
there's tackling, yes, but it's not the same as a game,
even against another team's backups. And so you know, the
fact that Kenny Pickett played, you know, I thought a
very clean, uh first possession. And let's not forget last
(06:50):
year the times that the Steelers on their opening possession
went down the field and scored a touchdown happened twice.
So that to me was a significant development as well,
because you know, when you look at some of the
things that you know, were issues that needed to be addressed, corrected,
(07:13):
work done, whatever however you want to describe them. As
this offseason began, you know, there were a couple right away.
I mean, you know, when you when you're talking about
the offense, you wanted to see it start quicker because
you know, and then the we can extrapolate from the
only two times did the offense take its opening possession
(07:37):
and go down the field and score a touchdown to
you know, the number of first quarter points that the
Steelers scored over the whole course of the regular season.
That was certainly not an impressive number. And then, uh,
you know, the fact that you wanted to see more
chunk plays out of the offense, because you know, the
Steelers during that winning streak towards the end of last season,
(08:00):
and they were doing some good things offensively, but I
thought too often, you know, the drives were ten plays,
twelve plays. I remember a fourteen play drive for a touchdown,
and well, that's great, but you know, the chances of
being able to pull that off on a consistent basis
in the NFL are just not very high. I mean,
(08:21):
someone's gonna hold, or there's going to be a penalty called,
whether it happened or not. You know, there's just too
many opportunities for something to go bad in a fourteen
play drive that you would like to see, you know,
the offense either and well in this this these kind
of these things kind of go hand in hand. You
want to see chunk plays, or you and or you
(08:44):
want to see touchdowns scored, you know, from outside the
red zone because that's that's legal. Last time I did,
because I looked it up a couple of times last
year to make sure to double check. Yeah, just a
double check. So you know, the first touchdown was a
thirty three yarder to George Pickens get it. It was a
catch and run. But again looking at that play, which
(09:04):
you know I thought was good about it was Piketts's
delivery of that ball. There were two there were two
defenders there, you know, a cornerback and a linebacker, and
he put it between them with some zip right to
George Pickens. And that's another thing you wanted to see
from Pickett was, you know, not just protecting the ball,
(09:27):
you know, and cutting back on the turnovers, which he
did dramatically over the course of the second half of
last season, but you also want to see him be
sufficiently accurate where he delivers the ball to his receiver
in a way that allows that guy then to catch
it and do something with it. And that pass to
Pickens was perfect. He put it right on him, right
(09:52):
in his chest, well not in his chest, but right
in stride. And that gave George Pickens the opportunity, the opening,
if you will, to do his thing, you know, make
a couple of moves, out run somebody and get into
the end zone. Great. I mean, that's all of that's great.
But again, one one drive in one preseason opener against
(10:16):
a Tampa Bay team that I don't know that's gonna
They're gonna be five hundred at the end of this
NFL season. Maybe they surprise me. But not only that,
but with twenty one of their players not playing, So again,
feel good about it. But you know, let's not Look,
let's postpone the parade down the Boulevard of the Allies
(10:37):
right for another I don't know, say twenty minutes.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I'll keep mapping the route out in pencil for now.
Can you tell me when we switch over to Sharpe
when it's starting to look more permanent?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Okay, yeah, because we've got to pick a Grand Marshal too,
so we'll have to see who's available.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Well, you mentioned chunk plays and the Steelers needing more
of that home run kind of variety, and the chunkiest
of chunk plays on Friday night's game came from Calvin Austin,
someone we were seeing in a Steeler uniform in game
action for the first time in his career, missing all
of his rookie year last season. A sixty seven yard
touchdown bomb Rudolph to Austin's probably why Rudolph was moving
(11:13):
up the depth chart in a lot of fans' minds.
Is because of that big play. But Austin I think
was a lot of people had impact in the second
and third string offensively for the Steelers in this game,
but Austin was probably the one that really jumped out
to me. Aside from that sixty seven yard bomb, he
also had some pretty nice runs on the Jets sweep
and his athleticism really shown through.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, the thing about Calvin Austin, I mean, and this
was the hope for him even when he was drafted.
You know, this was even before he came to training
camp as a rookie and then sustained that injury, that
foot injury that ultimately sabotaged his entire rookie season. But
the speed and the explosiveness that he brought, and you know, again,
(11:57):
if we would go back a little more than a
calendar year ago from where we are right now, I
certainly was among those who was thinking that this was
a guy who could not only impact this team, possibly
as an extra receiver, because you really don't think that,
you know, a rookie's gonna come in and you know, dominate,
(12:20):
you know, the starting lineup as a receiver, as a
return guy. I thought, Hey, this guy, he can help
there too, and we've seen that with a lot of
over the years, a lot of players who became very
good receivers for the Steelers started out being pretty dynamic
return guys. Lynn Swann was a great punt returner. Louis
(12:43):
Lips was a great punt returner. Antonio Brown was a
great returner both punts and kickoffs. So you know when
you're watching When we were watching Calvin Austen and last,
you know, as a rookie, it was a lot of
it was you know, ot as in mini camp because
once the training camp started, he he was on the
(13:05):
practice field for a few days, right, and then injured
his foot the day before the preseason opener and then
we never saw him again. So, but you can see
the burst because there's no tackling or anything, and a
lot of it's in shorts and no help or no pads.
But you know, speed is something that you know, you
can you can gauge pretty easily on a football field
(13:27):
when everybody's running. And Calvin Austin has speed, he has burst,
He's quick to speed and we saw some of that
against the Buccaneers too.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Coach Tomlin stopped buying chatted with the media following the
game against Tampa Bay on Friday. Here's what coach had
to say about the Steelers win over the Buccaneers.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
It's good to learn lessons while doing what you need
to do. But beyond that, I thought we just saw
some things that we wanted to see tonight. First unit offense. Uh,
Kenny spread the ball around, kept himself clean, moved the
moved the group, and we were able to, you know,
check that box. And in terms of getting them a
quality rep at the process, you know, the things that
(14:12):
they did at the hotel, the procedural things leading.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Up to play.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
That collective of guys, they're young guys, but they have
some experience now, and so we asked them to maybe
step outside of themselves and and and the lead up
to performance and get a feel for the group, what
is the process of the group's preparation looks like. And
so enjoyed that I think get teed up.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
The performance that you saw had some other guys, you know,
show some good things. Uh, Calvin Austin, Aunt mac Herbic
on defense, Benton on defense with young guys that I
thought they kind of stood out. But there's a lot
of teaching and learning that needs to happen based on
(14:55):
the result of what just happened. It It just is
I think it's reasonable to expect us to be significant
better next week. This experience of having been in a
stadium and in an environment like this, Man, if we
don't use it as a catalyst to to work next
week and get better than shame on us. And so
we're excited about that. Had some endgame injury deuced. Russell
(15:15):
at linebacker had a knee that's gonna be evaluated. Kuitdakowski
had a shoulder. Uh, Duke Dawson's got a need Those guys,
you know, need to be evaluated. Don't have a lot
of information there. We had a few guys that that
had minor injuries and so forth. In the eleventh hour
leading up to participation, we chose to exercise some precaution
(15:36):
and not allowed them to participate, guys like Larry Ogan,
Joby and Joey Porter Jr. We'll see the totality all
of that when we get back to town and and
put together a good plan for next week. Again, we
don't spend a lot of time talking about the guys
that do not play. There's a lot of guys that
played tonight and and got some tape to analyze and
learn from and and made a good accounting to themselves.
(15:59):
And so, uh, we're gonna comm through that in a
very professional.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Way, Ardor And you know what, what was that experience? Like?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
What does it mean? You know, you know, I don't
know if I can put it into words what he
means to me. We came together at an awesome age,
and we were probably great for each other. I know,
I enjoyed the challenge of coaching somebody as smart and
competitive and productive as him.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
I never wanted to let him down. I never wanted
to let Lynch down. And those guys played ball. And
so you know, together man, we ate and fed our
families and had a good time. And last weekend was
really kind of you know, a culmination of that. And
you know, can't put it into words to be a
part of that, his story, his journey. So thankful for it, Uh,
(16:59):
which all what we needed to see. It's a good step,
but we'll keep pushing.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
What's fun front SI step here.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
You know, he's a veteran guy. He he knows what
he's doing. He brings the energy, he's highly competitive. I'm
sure it's easy to be competitive in these circumstances you
step in the bowls and and stuff. He but he's
highly competitive in the ADI energy bringer in and in
practice situations day to day. And I appreciate that with
(17:29):
your initial.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Evaluation of Warner Jums, youmbout playing.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Nina gave gave him a big exposure. I like his demeanor,
I like how he finished. We'll comb through it specifically
and look at hand usage and and how he mixed
up his protections and some of the things that are
very technical that are a major component of this level
of play.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Talk a lot about the oftimes that you were supposed
to her attending momentu stoles and see.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
Why into those plays. In any success, we're not gonna
wear our hands out patting ourselves on the back of
this juncture. We had a good night to night in
some areas. Back to work, Steed Conan with quirement that
intriguing game, whether you hadn't want to do. You know,
everybody knows those guys can move and run, and that's
why we're excited about seeing what they're capable of doing.
(18:15):
But you know, it goes beyond just the you know,
the flatline speed man those guys are developing skills relative
to their position know how and at this level, when
it's good on good, speed doesn't win. It's speed and
combination with with know how and skills relative to your position.
And like the trajectory of both guys in that area.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah, there's one other thing I just want to interject
here based on what Mike Thomlins said about Pickett's performance,
and it had to do with Kenny Pickett keeping himself clean,
you know, and reading some of the other write ups
of some of the other preseason games, the Carolina Panther
(19:00):
preseason game. Uh, the judgment of Bryce Young was what
a good job he did because he took several big
hits and was able to get up from them. Well,
you know, that's that's nice, and that's a good way
to look at it. I guess. No, I'm not being
you know, I'm not being sarcastic for a change. But
(19:24):
another thing that I thought Kenny Pickett did very well
was he didn't he didn't put himself into those positions
to take big hits.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And that again shows a level of development, a little
bit of maturity, a kind of you know, expansion of
his game. Yes, because you're looking for a guy. You know.
One of the other things we heard a lot about
Kenny Pickett last year was, you know, the concussions, the concussions,
(19:53):
the concussions, Well, the best way to avoid that is
to not get hit, and there are some things that
quarterbacks can do to protect themselves. And I thought Kenny
Pickett did a nice job of that last night or
not last night Friday night in Tampa, and again when
we're looking at his overall performance and pointing out things
(20:17):
that were good about it, I just didn't want that
to go unnoticed.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, no question. I also have to give a little
bit of a hat tip to that first team offensive
line as well. When you say, I mean first real
experience with those five guys gelling together as a unit.
And I know that there was some JV on the
other side of the line of scrimmage for the Buccaneers,
but they really controlled things, especially in that first drive.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, everything that you know that Matt Canada called, I
thought was executed pretty well. And I think that, you know,
one of the things that people also should realize or
understand was, since everybody knew, at least among the Steelers
that you know, Kenny Pickett was going to see a
very limited period of time on the field. You know,
(21:04):
they didn't want him to just hand the ball in
Naugie Harris ten times. So you're trying to get you know,
get him some actual work in some of the areas
that you know you're going to depend upon him as
these preseason games continue and then morph into the regular
season games. And so that's why there were so many
passes called. And you know in that in that respect,
(21:25):
that makes sense to do it that way. And yeah, again, uh,
everything about it. All of the position groups, at least
from what I could see, you know, watching the game,
h acquited themselves very well on that first possession.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
We will turn our gaze towards the defensive side of
the ball when we come back, talk about some young
players that made an impact on that side of things,
and we'll hear from Steelers inside linebacker Land and Roberts.
It's all on the way on the Training Camp Report
on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
He's Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
With grass Play Action, Big Big Rush. He's hit, He's
sacked back and died.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
The thirty five yard line Nick Herbig. Two big plays
in a row.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
One of two sacks from Nick Herbig and his first
action in the NFL Friday against the Buccaneers Labs. Some
usual suspects got the night off on the defensive side
of the ball for the Steelers, so that made way
for some young guys to make an impact, and her
Big certainly made his impact. Felt you heard Coach Tomlin
and his press conference we played in the last segment
(22:42):
mentioned Herbig as well as one of these young guys
that you took the opportunity and really ran with it.
Put some really good tape on film for coaches to
look at and evaluate them through this process.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, Nick Herbig was one of those guys again that
kind of fit the theme of how I viewed the
preseason an opener and what was good about it because
you know, we had been seeing Nick Herbig at training camp,
you know, being really quick off the ball, looking good,
if not dominating at times in backs on backers, one
(23:16):
on one pass wash rush drills. He has held his
own very well in a lot of those repetitions, and
you know, he took what he had been doing up
here and transferred it to a game and those are
the things you like to see. Especially again, the guy's
a rookie, you know, so he's showing you these kinds
of things right away, and so you know, it gives
(23:40):
you a lot of hope for not only his career
as it unfolds, but also in ways that he might
be able to contribute to this team, you know, as
a rookie. One of the things last year that really
kind of derailed the Steelers season was TJ. Watts pectoral injury,
you know, and they through geez, I mean how many
(24:02):
we were talking about it on the pregame show. You
know how the Steelers tried to deal with that, and
they tried to deal with it in a lot of
ways on a one to one kind of basis. You know,
you lose t J. Wattson you try to find someone
to put in two. I won't say replace him because
that's a stretch for a guy who was the defensive
(24:23):
player of the Year the year before that, but you know,
you just put one person in and you know, leave
everyone else alone kind of this year, should that happen,
you know, hopefully that doesn't, but if it does, I think,
you know, the Steelers have some options and you know,
(24:44):
Nick Herbig would be one of them. And you know, again,
he did come off the ball very nicely against the Buccaneers,
as he has been doing up here training camp, and
he finished because a lot of times that's what's missing
from some of these young players. You'll see. Let's just
(25:04):
use pass rusher, you know, as an example, because that's
kind of what we're talking about here. You'll see a
good get off the line of scrimmage, good quickness, maybe
make a nice move to defeat the blocker or at
least put himself in a position where you know, he
can get at the quarterback and then he either misses
him or the guy gets outside of him, or you
(25:24):
know whatever. But Herbig was finishing too, which is again
I don't want to understate this. I mean, that's such
a good sign to see that so quickly from you know,
such a young player. And you know, Missy Matthews was
working the sideline for the telecast of the preseason opener
(25:44):
and she reported that, you know, one point after a
Herbig sack and the defense came off the field. You know,
those guys were sitting on the bench since it was
a little warm there that Friday night. Then you know,
getting water or something, and Mike Tomlin came over and
as a way of complimenting Nick Herbig in front of
(26:04):
a lot of his teammates, Tomlin spoke to the other
players and said, any of you guys have a younger
brother too, you know, as a reference to Nick Herbig
being Nate Herbig's younger brother. And the impact that this
guy has had so quickly on this team. So yeah,
good start for him, certainly, and I believe that his performance.
(26:29):
You know, so far we've talked about Kenny Pickett, Calvin Austin,
and Nick Herbig is another one of those guys I
think on the top line of good, good things that
happened for the Steelers in that preseason opener.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, let me throw another one out at you. It
didn't end exactly on a great note with this guy,
but I think this is another example of somebody who's
had a very strong camp and having it translate over
into the game. It's another member of this rookie class.
Keanu Benten. Now I know he left the game with
an injury. Hopefully it's not too serious and he'll be
able to get back into the fold. Because lbs I've
been hearing from a lot of people up at camp,
(27:05):
even before camp, saying, this guy has starter capable things
written all over him. I know it's rare for a
Steelers mid round draft pick to come in and start,
especially at that position, but this guy might be able
to do it. And I got to be honest with you,
seeing him in a game situation for the first time,
I understand why so many people felt that way about him.
I know it was against some stiffs in Tampa Bay
(27:27):
wasn't exactly the starters there, but like the great tounch
Ilkin used to say, Labs, if you can't beat the stiffs,
you are the stiffs. And he was beating them like
crazy on the field on Friday.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yeah. And the thing that Keanu Benton has, you know
what made him the draft pick that he was, which
was forty ninth overall, you know, he's he will forever
be known maybe as the other second round draft pick
of the twenty twenty three draft class, because you know,
Joey Porter Junior being the thirty second, you know, pick
(27:58):
of the draft. But Benton, you know, he's three hundred
and nine pounds, you know, give or take, and he
has nose tackle size, but he and again, you know,
we've done this before on these podcasts, you know, try
(28:19):
not to throw out names of comparison. Then that ends
up labeling a poor guy for the rest. We don't
like that, but hey, the preseason has started, so it's
time for me to just throw that away at least
for the next half an hour or so. But Keanu
Benton is the hope is that he has some Javon
Hargrave in him, which means he is a guy that
(28:43):
you can put in there and is capable of being
tough at the point of attack for your run defense.
But if the offense decides that they want to throw
the ball, you know, without a lot of personnel changes,
he can contribute to the pass rush too because he
has some athletic ability, some quickness, and so you know,
(29:06):
and if you can find a guy like that, you know,
these all situations defensive players at various positions. Usually we
refer to these all situations defensive players being so important
inside linebacker, but if you have defensive linemen who are
that as well, that's really really valuable too. So Keanu
(29:29):
Benton showed some ability, some athletic ability. Even within his
helping against the run. You know, there was there was
a fourth and one at midfield in the second quarter,
and you know, Benton didn't make the play on this,
(29:50):
but he blasted into the defense, into the offensive backfield
and really kind of blew up the play. Keyshawn Vaughan,
the run back who took the handoff, you know, had
to deal with Benton almost immediately after he got the handoff,
and so you know, that allowed Isaiah Loudermilk to make
the play. It was a three yard loss, turned the
(30:12):
ball over for the offense. I mean, and yes, louder
Milk made the tackle and he was an important part
of that. But in my mind, Benton made that play
by what he did, you know, coming right off the snap,
so you know, and then he made another tackle in
the backfield for a loss. So you're talking about a
nose tackle interior defensive lineman who stuffed a fourth and
(30:35):
won and then had a tackle for loss on a
running play. I mean, that's that's a pretty good contribution
for a rookie in a short period of time, in
his very first game like action. So yeah, I was
really really impressed and heartened by what we saw from
Benton against the Buccaneers. But like you, I kind of
(30:58):
got a little sick to my stomach when I saw
him limping off the field, you know, with what has
been described as an ankle injury, and as you said,
we don't know how serious it is. You know, I'm
a guy who normally loves in his fears, but when
I was watching that, I was looking for a silver
lining and the only one I could come up with
(31:18):
was he was limping off the field on his own
instead of being driven off on a cart. So I mean,
maybe that turns into something. Maybe it's just me, you know,
whistling past the graveyard. But keep a good thought, because
I think that he's a player who can give the
Steelers some things that they didn't necessarily have last season
(31:41):
or since Javon Hargrave cashed a big check as an
unrestricted free agent went to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Inside linebacker is a position that everybody has their eyes
trained on. All new guys in the mix this year
competing for that Joe. I shouldn't say that Mark Robinson
is still here, but you know what I mean. They
bring in three veterans to throw into the fuld, Holcome
Roberts and Kwan Alexander Atlanton, Roberts spoke with the media
following the game on Friday, and his first action as
(32:08):
a Pittsburgh Steeler would take a listen to the first three.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Season gave me.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Honestly, like, coming into the game, it just felt real
good to be in the Pittsburgh uniform. You know, I'm
just be very honest with you. Uh, putting the jersey
on the day felt real good. But once the game
got started, obviously, like you said, limited snaps, but for me,
it was basically trying to get in game ode from
(32:39):
a study standpoint, adjustment standpoint, So when I wasn't in,
was able to go to the sideline, get with the linebackers,
get with the defense, seeing the type of adjustments that
we're making, seeing staying engaged in the game, seeing what
type of day Tampa wanted it to be and whatnot.
Just just getting him out the routine of a game
time situation. And like I said, I mean, action wise,
(33:04):
was limited snaps, but just being engaged, taking a lot
of mental reps. I was entuned in the game into
the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
The people her form on one.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
End and Rother, huh is it a.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Deep ball up form on my endy?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Not at all? Okay, not at all. How did you
feel like bigging when you were in the games?
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Figure you saw when we was figuring out the the
operations things.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
You remember get only line back group, you were just
getting all of them all getting guy's line up on me, right,
But do you feel like, yeah, v it was very calm.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
You know, one thing about us three, even including the
other ones, you know, everybody's kind of been in the situation.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
One thing that uh Mike t and the coaching staff
do a great job of, it's putting us in them
situations in practice. So once the game time kind of came,
it was just it was just fluid. It was just
real fluid and whatnot. And uh, like I said, uh,
we all have to be calm and we all have
to do our job communicate well, cause that's that's first
(34:07):
and foremost. We got to get the call in. Gotta
communicate well so all the other guys can play fast
because they dependent on us.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
You got at Mota, did that or anything like that?
Or it was just a lit more than they eat?
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Serious?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
That was hot?
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Yeah, it was I it was hot.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Uh, I'm a Texas guy. Uh I trained in off
season in Texas. Uh. I mean, obviously, I played in
Miami for three years, so I was kind of used
to it. I I knew what that feel was gonna
feel like and whatnot. But uh, I mean, you just
got to prepare for it. You know you you're gonna
have games like that. And like I said, I I think, uh,
the couple of days that we did have uh in
(34:46):
training camp like that that players was able to embrase
it and just grind through it. And that mean it
is what it is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I know coach Tomlin was enjoying that heat down in Tampa.
I'm sure that was a god send for him. But
laves Landon Roberts got his first run as whe so
did Cole Holcom, so did Kwan Alexander in the preseason game.
And the one guy that I think stood out from
all the rest. And again this is preseason game one,
so I'm not going to anoint someone as linebacker one
right off the jump here, but man, Kwan Alexander flies
(35:16):
all over that field, and we just heard from a
Landon Roberts. He's a thumper for sure, and he made
his presence felt a couple of times. But I kept
feeling like I kept looking up and seeing number twenty
six out there making plays while he was on the field.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, kwan Alexander. I mean he kind of as soon
as he reported to training camp at Saint Vincent College
and you met the media, he kind of established himself
or described himself as someone who's physical and he has
been that in practice pretty much every day since the
(35:51):
Steelers signed him, and he was that Friday night in
Tampa in the preseason opener. Yes, I agree with you.
Let me just say this. I thought that was a
BS pass roughing a passer call on him, that fifteen
yard penalty. I didn't think that that really rose to
the level of what or maybe they called it unnecessary roughness,
(36:13):
whatever they called. I didn't think that that was helmet
to helmet contact.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
It's so rare for the league to get a call
like that wrong too, that never happens.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Well, you know, I guess the preseason opener for officials too.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But the Midas four with that one, So.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Hey man, those are supposed to be my lines. Don't
be stealing my stuff about officiating. But anyway, Yeah, I
liked his approach to the game, his demeanor. I mean,
there was no half stepping it for Kwan Alexander, not
that I thought that there would be, but you know,
sometimes veterans in preseason games, maybe they don't view it
(36:57):
as seriously as some of the younger people trying to
make an impression or you know, earn a spot or
earn a job, or you know, whatever it might be.
But no, he he has one speed. It's full speed
all the time. And yeah, he showed that again against
the Buccaneers. Let me just say this a name that
(37:17):
we really hadn't mentioned much in terms of this particular topic. Uh,
this at this time Mark Mark Robinson, almost called Mark
Alexander Mark Robinson. Uh had six was in on six tackles,
which was second on the team behind James Pierre. And yeah,
he was, he was around. He he was doing you
(37:38):
know Mark Robinson kind of things. I mean, he was involved,
he was, you know, banging people, he was doing the
things that he does. Now again, we'll have to see.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
In my opinion, let me let me start with them.
In my opinion, he makes the roster. Yes, to understand
that there are some people that don't necessarily agree with that,
but in my opinion, he makes the roster. So we're
gonna have to see what kind of role he might
be able to carve out for himself in this coming season.
(38:15):
But you know, Mark Robinson, the things that he did
well in his limited exposure last regular season and the
things that he has done well in this training camp.
He did well in the preseason opener, and again I
take that as a good sign.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, I think Mark Robinson is going to carve himself
out the spot on this roster as well. He's shown
a lot of flashes at the inside backer spot, and
of course there's always that special teams avenue that a
player like himself can take to find himself on the
fifty three man roster. When we come back, we'll talk
about practice today and wrap things up on the Training
Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
He's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steel's Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Coach Toman always likes to find these little tests for
players during this camp experience, and today, I think is
another one in bringing your own energy and having the
right mindset, the professional mindset during a practice. You know,
Tomlin's spoke in the past of when we've had practices
before a day off and we have practices after a
day off. I want to see that same level of
(39:23):
intensity and focus out of these guys well lapse. Today's
practice is smackedab in the middle of a day off
on both ends of the spectrum. You were off yesterday
and you're off tomorrow, So I'm sure Coach Tomlin is
pretty curious to see if maybe a player or two
might take their foot off the gas a little bit
here now that you know, you got this little random
day of practice that I'm sure everybody would rather do without.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Yeah, and I'm just really happy that you brought the
energy today to this little exercise we're doing right now.
I'm assure that at some point, you know, Mike Tomlin's
going to listen to this podcast is really to make sure,
right to make sure that we brought sufficient energy because
(40:06):
yesterday was a day off for this podcast and tomorrow
is a day off for this podcast. So you know,
kudos to you for being a professional that being a
professional that you are. You know, this is kind of
a weird week too. You know, you mentioned a day
off yesterday, practice today, then tomorrow Mondays. That's the players
(40:27):
manday to day off throughout this training camp, so they're
off that day too, And then you know there is
a home game, home preseason game this coming Saturday at
Akroshuer Stadium. Six point thirty is kickoff against the Buffalo Bills.
And so you know there's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday up here.
(40:50):
And then you know, breaking camp day is kind of
listed on the schedule now is Friday, because you know,
the players stay in a hotel the night before a game,
and so I didn't think that it was going to
be likely that they would break camp Thursday and spend
(41:11):
two nights in a hotel. So I think that based
on the original schedule, and what we know about the
original schedule during a training camp is sometimes it's not
worth the paper it's printed on because things change based
on you know, the reality of the moment. And so,
but the original schedule calls for the Steelers to practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
(41:37):
All of those practices are open to the public. Tuesday
and Wednesday's normal time one fifty five. Now right now, Thursday,
the practice is scheduled for ten thirty, just in helmets.
So again we're going to see if that holds, you know,
(41:59):
or if it stays at ten thirty. As I mean
holding or if they adjusted a little bit, or if
it's changed into you know, I don't know the one
fifty five or maybe adjusted a little bit. Maybe it's noon,
I don't know. So what I would say to fans is,
you know, stay light on your feet for Thursday if
(42:23):
you were planning on coming out. But Tuesday and Wednesday
I think are going to be days or regular kind
of days in pads, and this afternoon one fifty five
on the schedule practice in pads. We'll see what it
ends up being.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, and you know that carrot is kind of dangling
out in front of them too, as far as this
being the last week of training camp that they're about
to embark on. So there's another one of those little
tests that I'm sure Tomlin is interested in, is finishing
strong and seeing that these guys, you know, put as
much effort into these last three days of camp practice
as they did in those first three days of camp practice.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah, and you know, the carres right there for me
and you too, buddy, So let's grab on to that
bad boy and go for it, because you know, I personally,
you know, I haven't heard anything for sure, but I
think we've had a heck of a camp.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Oh yeah, I mean I was planning on the last
day Thursday, I was just gonna do a whole hour
of patting ourselves on the back. So maybe we saved.
We can save that for that episode. But Tomlin did
mention not patting themselves too hard on the back after
the Tampa Bay game, and hopefully we're better against Buffalo.
But I gotta be honest with you, labs. The tone
that he had in that press conference that was as
about as close as Tomlin probably saying he was very
(43:34):
pleased with his efforts from his team without actually saying it.
Focus on next week. We got to get better. We
got to get better. But I think you could kind
of tell that as far as that first game goes,
it couldn't have gone better in his mind.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Well, yeah, I think I think that a lot of
that will get tempered. You know, there was a there
was a whole plane ride back from Tampa and then
all day on Saturday to find things, you know, to
work up a little bit of uh, I won't say anger,
but you know, displeasure, and I'm sure that you know
those have been found. Hopefully one of those is not
(44:10):
about Keanu Benton's ankle. But you know, we'll we'll see
what it is.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yeah, there wasn't a whole lot for me to be
disappointed in in that game. Uh again, we saw it,
so excuse me. So many things I thought that were
good first steps in the process.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
And now what I really, really really think is critical
is that there's no backsliding, because I do believe that
in terms of the Buffalo Bills, the degree of difficulty
and just what is presented by the opponent will increase considerably.
You know, you're talking about a Buffalo team that you know,
(44:58):
wouldn't surprise me at if the Bills ended up in
the Super Bowl as the AFC representative. That may not happen,
And I would have been comfortable saying that at this
point in any of the previous couple of seasons as well.
You know, the Bills are one of those really legitimate contenders.
They've got a really good roster, you know, all of
(45:19):
that stuff. So and it's the second preseason game, so
I wouldn't expect Buffalo, as an example, to hold out
twenty one of their players as Tampa Bay did. I
think you're going to see more of the Bills than
we saw of the Buccaneers. I think we're going to
see more of the Bills for longer than we saw
(45:41):
of whatever we saw of the Buccaneers. But you know,
on the flip side, I don't think there's gonna be
thirteen Steelers that are held out of the game either,
just based on you know, outside of whatever injuries might
you know mandate. So yeah, the game Saturday at Akroschure Stadium,
(46:03):
I think is going to be a much more i
won't say realistic test, but a much more stern test
of this team and the things that it is trying
to develop during its time up here at training Camp.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Steelers practice today is at one fifty five. No practice tomorrow,
so Labs and I will be back again at eight
am on Tuesday for another edition of the Training Camp Report.
Wolf and Starks are up next. We're going in the
locker room on Steelers Nation Radio.
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