Training Camp Report Day 13

Labs and Tom preview the Steelers upcoming preseason game with Houston and hear from Coach Tomlin. Russell Wilson caught up with the media following practice yesterday and we listen in, and former Steeler John Banaszak joins the show

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
He's no training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Steeler are going to play a football game against another
team tomorrow night, but gotta get through one more practice
session today before we get there. Labs, welcome back to
the show too, man. I missed you yesterday. It was
a long hour and a half without you, was it?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Would you do play the one side of iron Butterflies
and I Gotta Davida? Well, you're you old enough. I
know you work at a you know, at a radio
station too, so you gotta like music. But that's a
little before your time.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
I know the song in A Gotta Davida. Don't worry,
I'm not I'm not that uneducated.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Or And there was a version of it. There was
a version of it that was an entire side of
an LP.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Where were you yesterday?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
I could have used that, and you know, I am
I do have that un vinyled by the way, But well,
that would have worked for you. You know, at least
that might not have put everybody to sleep as quickly
as you know the sound of my voice does. But
I understand you did quite the bang up jaw.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
It was fine.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Had some help from the Tomlin press conference too. So
maybe that's the Steelers' version of playing and I gottadavida
just eat up a nice nineteen twenty minutes worth.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
There you go time.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
But yesterday at practice labs, you know, I wake up
every morning in my first thought instantly quarterback. What's going
on with Russ? What's going on with Justin Fields? Well,
Russ is starting to work himself back in to the fold.
They split reps and practice two days ago, and then
yesterday you noted in your practice report kind of that
same status quo between Russ and Justin.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, I mean there's still alternating. I guess it is
a good way to put it. First team reps with
the offense, and you know, there's there's a lot of
us around Justin Fields's performance because you know, he has
gotten a lot of exposure here and he has improved.

(02:08):
I mean, I you know, props to him seriously, and
a lot of the things that you know were rumored,
And I say rumored because we really hadn't seen him,
and you know, you know mini camp and OTAs. I
mean that doesn't count. So one of a lot of
the things that have been rumored to be have been
his problems as a starter with the Bears. They they

(02:32):
cropped up a little bit early, but he has improved
on those. I mean, you know, uh, at the start
of training camp, Justin Fields was if he had a
weakness or I don't know, an area of his game
that seemed to be lacking. It was when he was
in the pocket, you know, looking around, uh, picking out

(02:56):
who should he throw to and delivering the ball on time.
You know, he holds it too much or you know
forces it some places, and you saw some of that.
But Mike Tomlin has said that, you know, since then,
one of the things that he's noticed that Justin Fields
has improved upon is his footwork. And you know, I'm

(03:18):
not enough of a quarterback guru to understand exactly how
the feat impact the way a quarterback plays, but I
have had people, a lot of people tell me that
that is important. And I'm not saying that that's the
only thing that has changed. But he is better. He

(03:40):
is much more decisive. He is much more successful in
seven shots in situations like I just excuse me, like
I just described, because you know a lot of that
is you know, you have to make a quick decision
read the coverage, know where the receiver is and get
it to him. And he's gotten much better at that. So, yes,

(04:03):
a lot of buzz about Justin Fields, and I think
that it's deserved because he has improved. But I don't,
you know, I want to pump the brakes a little
bit on this. You know, Justin Field's taken over the
starting job early in the season or at the start
of the season. The description that I continue to get
from Mike Tullblan is that Russell Wilson is in the

(04:25):
pole position. And what I've seen from Russell Wilson, even
though again, as I said, he hasn't taken over all
the first team reps with the offense when they're dividing reps,
he still has a very talented arm. He still can
make all of the throws. He's not as dynamic in

(04:47):
the pocket as Justin Fields, certainly, but he's maybe close
to ten years older, and that's certainly a factor. And
I just I really believe that, you know, Justin or
excuse me, Russell Wilson has a lot of the other things.
You know. I always used to say there was a
time in Ben Roethlisberger's career when he graduated from just

(05:11):
playing quarterback to being the quarterback, because being the quarterback
that's a whole. I won't say a lifestyle because that's
overstating it because that includes off the field. But it's
an you know, it's an aura. It's the way you
conduct yourself. It's the way your teammates on the field
see you, all of that kind of stuff, and Russell

(05:31):
Wilson is very much he is being a quarterback. So
you know, I don't want anybody to make the mistake
that I did. I'll use myself first. I did last
summer in terms of falling in love with a quarterback
based on the way he performed at training camp and
then in a couple of preseason games. So good for

(05:56):
Justin Fields. I really think that what he's showing is
that he can play the position in this league. I
just don't think he's going to be playing a position
in this league in September for the Steelers. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
No, I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
And you know, Tomlin yesterday was asked about, you know,
is this a competition between the quarterbacks, and he said
it is a competition, But you know, I took that
labs as that's just coach Tom of being coach Tomlin.
I think he genuinely believes everything is a competition up
at camp. But then the very next question was you know,
him referencing the depth chart in his answer that he
released just a couple of days ago, saying, Russell Wilson's

(06:28):
first and that is a very real thing, that depth chart. So,
I mean, it's still I think status quo was a
perfect way to put it, not only in how they're
splitting reps, but still in the you know, big picture
as far as who's going to be the starter week
one in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yeah, and you know he's not gonna of course, he's
going to say it's a competition, you know, for two
reasons that's him. Yeah. Well yeah, but I mean you
also you don't want you don't want anybody getting comfortable,
not to the point where they they think they got
it locked up. I mean, I don't believe Russell Wilson
is that kind of a guy where if the coach
had said, you know, Russell Wilson will be our opening

(07:04):
game starter, that then he would slack off and you know,
just start coasting. But you want to keep the heat
on him a little bit. And you also want to
keep Justin Field interested to the degree that you know,
the carrot is still out there. You know, if you're
spectacular and continue to be spectacular, well we're going to

(07:24):
figure something out to get you on the field. But
right now, just keep competing, keep working, keep trying to
get better every day, and things will take care of themselves.
And so that's what I think that whole it's a competition,
you know, like you said, it's the NFL. It's always
it's a competition for everyone all the time. And as
soon as you think it's not, you know, as Chuck

(07:46):
Mole always used to say, if you're thinking about retiring,
you already have. So if you think that you're you know,
when you start thinking that you've made it, then you're
probably on your way out the door.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well, Justin Fields will get the first team offense on
Friday night against Houston. Russell Wilson one of seven players
labs that will be on the sideline for the Steelers,
most of them on the defensive side of the ball.
Russell Wilson, Isaac seam all though offensively, and then you
got Cam Hayward, high Smith, Watt Queen and Minka defensively.
I mean we're gonna hear from Tomin's opening remarks in

(08:18):
just a little bit, and you'll hear them from him himself.
But I mean, it's no surprise that the names that
I listed off in his reasoning, they're guys that really
don't need much ramp up to get ready for the season.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
They know what time is right right, and they also
and the Steelers also know that, you know, there's nothing
that could happen on Friday night against the Houston Texans.
Regarding those seven players that you mentioned that we would
be talking about the next day. That is good news

(08:48):
because if they all do what they normally do, you
kind of don't even notice them in the first of
three preseason games. You know, you're still a month away
from the regular season. So yeah, anything that any news
regarding those guys that we just talked about him by news,
I mean, you know, not he had a dice day

(09:09):
at seven shots, that's not news. The other kind of news,
you know, like the news that you got that one
afternoon it was called heinz Field that time in a
preseason game against Green Bay when Marquise Pounds he sustained
a non contact, season ending knee injury. That's news. That's

(09:31):
not the kind of news you want coming out of
the preseason or or from a preseason game involving your
key core players. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
And you know, with Patrick Queen and Russell Wilson there
two newcomers. Russell Wilson still working back from injury, but
Queen's healthy. So maybe people out there saying, oh, why
not throw Patrick Queen out there get his feet wet
as a Steeler lives, I don't really need to see
Patrick Queen if he's out there without Minka, Hi Smith,
Watt and Hayward.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
I want to see Queen out there with the real defense.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, and I also don't want to necessarily, I don't
need to see Patrick Queen playing football in you know,
before August fifteenth. I just don't. You know, my preference
is not to I understand, you know, fans get excited
and they want to see these guys and how he
fits in and blah blah blah blah blah. But even

(10:19):
if they put him on the field, you wouldn't know
how he's fitting in. They're not playing anything that they're
going to be playing against Atlanta. So again, I understand
the excitement to some degree. I'm excited too. You know,
it's something different than you know, sitting here Chuck Nolfield
watching the same drills by the same guys against the
same opponents. But you know, you have to understand put it,

(10:45):
put things in perspective, and and again I'm guilty of
blowing things out of perspective myself. I'm trying really hard
this summer, you know, to be a good boy and
you know, keep my keep it real as kids say.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
We keep it real on this show all the time. Labs,
You're doing a great job there.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Mike Tomlin spoke to the media before practice yesterday delivered
his Mike Tomlin press conference ahead of a game, that
game being Friday against Houston at Akroscher Stadium.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Here's coach Tomlin's opening remarks.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
Good morning, Really excited about having an opportunity to get
this group in the stadium in and you know, take
that step in development. Really excited about playing the Texans.
Is really good from a developmental perspective. That they've already
been in the stadium. To compete against somebody that's already
had endgame stadium experience is an awesome challenge that helps

(11:40):
our development. They have a commitment I saw to playing
some of their starters, and so that's exciting as well.
To get an opportunity to see some top tier talent
is really good for development. I outline a few things
mindsets that we have and agendas that we have regarding

(12:00):
this game, and then I'll open it up for questions.
First of all, you know, I'm really more concerned about
how we perform in some fundamental things as opposed to
strategy and schematics. I think it's important that we handle
pre snap football at an acceptable level on both sides.
Cleanliness in terms of penalties, fluid shifts and motions, offensively,

(12:26):
adjustments and communications appropriately on defense, things of that nature.
We can't be a group that's highly penalized. We want
to set a nice high floor in terms of some
of those things. We want to put our conditioning on
display and continue to develop it. I'm really excited about
fundamental things blocking and tackling, and ball searching and ball security,

(12:46):
things that have been kind of the foundation of the
beginnings of our development. In this setting, I want to
see people make routine plays routinely. You know, oftentimes we
spend a lot of time or energy focused on the spectacular.
There's a baseline expectation, particularly first time out, and I'll

(13:07):
be excited about watching guys make routine plays routinely. In
terms of player availability, have about seven guys that that
that I'm scheduled not to utilize in this game, Isaac
and the offensive line, Cam Hayward, t. J. Watt, Alex
Highsmith along the defensive front. We'll get those guys ready

(13:30):
to play. Are those guys are veteran guys, they know
what they're doing. They don't have any intentions of playing
them in this game. But equally as important, it's just
gonna provide additional opportunity for others that I know less
about and maybe need more runway from a preparation standpoint,
and so we're gonna, you know, go with that group.
In terms of watching, there's been some guys that have

(13:53):
dealt with dealt with minor training camp injuries and things
of that nature that's limited them some they won't participate
paid it as well. Talking about some established guys Russ Wilson, Minka,
Patrick Queen, those seven guys that don't have any intentions
of utilizing in the game. Everybody else, man, I'm gonna
have a inclusive mentality about some of the guys are

(14:15):
dealing with minor training camp uh injuries and so forth
that limit them in some way. I'm gonna leave the
light on for everyone else. I'm hopeful that everyone else
have an opportunity to participate. But obviously we've got some
football between now and then. We gotta padd it practice
h later on this morning. That could alter that. And
so those seven guys I'm scheduled not to play, I

(14:37):
got an inclusive mentality about all others and really excited
about it. We've inn fused some some developmental components in
our work this week, play clock, et cetera. We're really
focused on some some two minute segments. It's for game ready.
It's not necessarily with the with the quote unquote ones,
because those guys won't be in the game at the
end of the half or the end of the game,

(14:59):
but the twos and threes, their readiness relative the situational
football and specifically two minute has our attention as we
prepare today, and again I just think I think that's
a mindset that needs to be reflected as well. These
days are precious. We got a lot of work in
front of us today. We're still very much Stealers versus

(15:21):
Steelers today. As I mentioned, schematics and strategy is less
important to us, and so we won't even begin to
address Houston and what they might do and some of
the things that we might be teeing up regarding them
until tomorrow. We got another good Stealers versus Steelers' day
in the effort to continue to sort the ninety, allow

(15:42):
them to develop skills relative to their positions and show
their capabilities. And so that process has been fun. Got
some evaluation things to do, but obviously things aren't waited
the same. The in stadium opportunity that's waiting on this
Friday is a big win, and so we're excited about that.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Coach Tomlin's opening remarks from his weekly press conference that
was held yesterday morning before practice. Obviously, we're excited to
to get to the game on Friday, but got to
do our due diligence labs bring the people up to
speed on what happened at practice yesterday. And that's a
practice that featured, of course, seven shots and also another
installment of the two minute drill.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Yeah, and the two minute tril. Mike Tomlin alluded to
it in the sound bite. We heard that he used
the way he described him the two's and the threes
in the two minute drill, because those are the guys
that are going to most likely be on the field
at the end of the first half and at the
end of the game, right, So they were the ones

(16:42):
that got the reps yesterday and practice. So you know,
the names I'm going to be thrown out here. Some
people might say, you know, who is he? Why is
he out there? That's why because these guys needed a
little bit of time doing that because they're probably going
to be on the field then, and you know, you
want to give him some opportunity to succeed John Reese.

(17:03):
Plumbley was the quarterback for example. You know, with no
Russell Wilson playing against the Texans, I can't imagine Justin
Fields is going to get more than a series or two.
So Kyle Allen and Plumbley are probably going to get
most of the playing time in that preseason opener. And
you know, as I said, Plumbley was the quarterback. He

(17:24):
started out by completing three or four passes, a couple
of first downs, moved the offense. Let's see twenty six
yards first and ten at the thirty four and then
I won't say the wheels came off, but then he
threw four in complete passes in a row. Camp Sutton
was out on the field for the defense. In that drill,

(17:48):
he almost had an interception in a diving attempt of
a ball that was a little overthrown. It flipped off,
it clicked off the end of his fingertips. But the
way Camp Sutton is being used is as a guy
who the Steelers understand is not going to be available
at the start of the regular season, so he's not

(18:08):
getting a lot of reps, not so much, well a
combination of because they know what they have in him
as a player, and they don't want to take time
away from you know, Beanie Bishop and Grayland Arnold and
you know some of these other guys that are competing
for spots. You know, you want to give them as
much time as possible so you can make accurate evaluations
of those guys. So you know, again, there wasn't really

(18:33):
anything that the defense held because plumbe through four and
complete passes in a row after those couple of first
downs down to the you know, the other team's thirty
four yard line. I don't know how the defense is
thirty four yard line. So that's how that that's how
that series that two minute they only did it once.

(18:54):
Usually they do two reps of that, but they only
did it once. Seven shots. Again, Russell Wilson and Justin
Fields alternated with the first team, and as usual, the
running game was you know, a part of it, you know,
Russell Wilson handed off to Nausey Harris again, big hole

(19:17):
that the Steelers having a lot of success with the
lead full back, this Jack Coleto. I mean, for his sake,
he's looking really good at fullback. I hope he can
show some other things, maybe some special teams. You know,
if he has had the ball thrown to him once
or twice. He doesn't look real smooth doing that. You know,

(19:40):
it would be nice if not that he's going to
become a receiver, but you know, catch it when it's
thrown to you, you're wide open in the flat, those
kind of things. Then Justin Fields, uh again was showing
his accuracy through a touchdown pass to Calvin Austin. Russell

(20:01):
Wilson had an incomplete pass down there in the red zone,
but Van Jefferson it was incomplete because he didn't get
his head turned around in time. I mean it was
one of those you know, quick reads, quick throws. I
was right on target. If he turns around and sees it,
I think it's a touchdown. So you know, I had
I scored the offense as a five to two winner.

(20:24):
There's always some debate on these things when the NFL
officials aren't here, because you don't get definitive calls and
there's a lot of arguing. There's a tendency. You know,
if you call it a touchdown, the defense is complaining.
If you don't call it a touchdown, the offense's complaining.
Usually if there's you know, NFL officials here, there might

(20:47):
be some complaining. But at least you know what it is.
So that was seven shots. Let me just throw this
in too, because also in the Mike tolmans Son, like
we heard about the guys who weren't playing. He was
old holding out and Mike Polman said he's going to
hold an open door mentality for everyone else, all the
bumps and bruises. I think that rules out Roman Wilson.

(21:10):
This is my opinion. He had that you know, ankle spraying.
He's out of the booth. Though now, and you know
he's not wearing the boot anymore. It's taped. But I
don't think they're going to try and push that and
get him in the preseason opener. If I would get
re injured set him back, that wouldn't be a good

(21:31):
thing at all. So I would rule out Roman Wilson.
I don't expect to see him for Friday Night. Excuse me,
I can't remember the day Friday Night against the Texans.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
All right, Well, Labs has to step out in this
commercial break. He needs to consult his radar meteorologist. Labs
will talk to us to open up the next segment.
We'll get the weather scoop for Latrobe today, and then
we're also going to hear from Russell Wilson, who had
a really nice chat with the media yesterday following practice.
That's all on the way on the Training Camp Report
on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Hec's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Whether you're the Steelers on the field or you're headed
up as a fan to watch practice, the weather at St. Vincent,
the weather at Latrobe can always be a factor, and
that's why we have the best meteorologists on the radio
in the game meteorologists labs. Please, the floor is yours.
Let us know what we have ahead of us weatherwise today.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well let me start out with this, you know, with
the way that the fields are situated and the press
box is configured. At this time of the day, the
sun is usually shining in the windows here at chuck
Nole Field, it is not. It's overcast pleasantly seventy three degrees.

(22:55):
There is rain in the forecast, but it's not supposed
to come around till after two. Practice will be over,
autograph sessions will be done, so if you're coming out
to practice, don't worry about it. You know, it's a
comfortable eighty three percent humidity. And for the smart Alex
back at the studio, who don't think that you know,

(23:15):
I'm actually doing this with any research. The barometric pressures
to twenty nine point nine to five. The due point
is sixty eight degrees fahrenheit ten mile visibility in case
whoever that is there might want to be flying his
private plane into Arnold Palmer Airport. So things look good

(23:37):
here at Saint Vincent College. We are kind of in
the home stretch aren't we young, Tom?

Speaker 5 (23:44):
We are?

Speaker 3 (23:46):
How many more of these are we doing? Three or four?

Speaker 4 (23:48):
I think I think there's only three left.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, because Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three of these training camp
reports left, three practices four including today's practice Saint Vincent College. Yeah,
players can see the finish line for sure. And I'll
keep knocking on wood like I have for so many things,
for the injuries, for the weather back here, but it's
been pretty good weatherwise.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
This camp very cooperative.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
And I think another important thing that you should have
added in there for the fans is that the pier
at Sharky's is still open rain or shine, So don't
worry about a little rain in the afternoon.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
There you go, and it's open for lunch too, So
right after you're done here watching practice, you can shoot
over there. It's pretty close. You know. If Jerry Dulac
was on with us, he might say it's a three
wood away.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Maybe for Jerry, I need like a driver, then another driver,
and then maybe a seven iron to get there. Russell Wilson,
you won't see him on the field Friday against the
Houston Texans, but you can hear him right here, right now.
He caught up with the media following practice yesterday. A
really nice lengthy chat. Let's hear from QB one orright raster.

Speaker 7 (24:52):
How are you feeling after these last few days.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
Yeah, I'm feeling great.

Speaker 8 (24:55):
Just to be fully in the practice and involved in
doing everything. I mean I've been involved doing all the
drills and everything for the past you know, you know
seven eight days have in many days it's been but
to be fully in there actually with the with the
team drills and everything else, this feels great.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Ten or desire to play in the preseason, yeah, always,
I always want to play.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
I mean I think.

Speaker 8 (25:15):
Anytime you get the strap on the pads, it's you know,
it's it's a blessing, you know. I remember, you know,
if it's preseason, if it's regular season, obvioser, which matters
a lot, and and postseason more importantly. So you know,
just to be out with with your teammates and everything else.
But you know, the good thing is they get to
take everything.

Speaker 5 (25:32):
In and just learn and just be in that stadium.
It's the first time. I can't wait. You know, it's
gonna be amazing.

Speaker 8 (25:36):
Being actress or stadium. Uh, you know, wearing the black
and gold.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Did they kill let you play some court. Yeah, I'm
prepared to play.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
I know that.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
So it's whatever coaching decision. You know, obviously he's uh,
he's the Boston and he gets to make the decisions
on that. But I'll be ready to go. Have you
ever had a preseason when you didn't your play? Yeah,
there's been several where I haven't played. So it's nothing,
you know, nothing new, I think.

Speaker 8 (25:57):
You know, I've been fortunate to play on our home
two hundred games or something, and I don't know how
many it is now, but so I know what it
looks like.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
I know the speed of it.

Speaker 8 (26:04):
But you know, I think the best part is just
you know, you always want our practice is to feel.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
Like a game.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
You know, that's what you really want. I want anything else.

Speaker 8 (26:11):
And you get to go against each other every day,
but we get to play another team in different Jersey.

Speaker 5 (26:16):
It's just the uh, it just excites it. Not much
more so. I'm looking forward to our football team this
season and where we can go excitement. We're able to
build up that.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Relationship on your receivers, like after practice and things like that.

Speaker 5 (26:28):
What's it like to get it into those team situations.
It's been great.

Speaker 8 (26:31):
I mean, guys have been lights out. We've been making
plays left and right. We feel really confident about the
guys we have. Align's doing a tremendous job giving us space.
You're making sure that you know, we can deliver the
ball on time and on the money, and uh, you know,
that's what the part of the game is. And our
guys are making big time plays.

Speaker 5 (26:46):
So much talk about this new offense, this nele of offense,
and how you guys have been progressing. How do you
guys feel where you're at right now? What do you like?

Speaker 2 (26:54):
What do you want to keep them groving?

Speaker 5 (26:55):
Yeah, I think we're progressing in a great fashion.

Speaker 8 (26:57):
I think that you know, when we get to play
against somebody, you get to see where you really are.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
I think that that tells you a lot. And I
think that we'll be prepared and we'll be ready to
rock and roll. We have great confidence. The good thing
is we get to go against one of the best
defas in the world every day and that that really
helps us prepare for us.

Speaker 7 (27:13):
We will probably see, you know, Kyle Allen and plum
Lee out there on Friday. Just have those two guys
kind of been growing in that quarterback room.

Speaker 8 (27:20):
Yeah, well, Kyle's a vet, he's been around. He's got
a cool demeanor to him, cool swaggers him.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
J R.

Speaker 5 (27:27):
He's he's he's a savvy young rookie. He's played. You
know the thing about j R. He's played so many sports.
You know, he's a guy that's played in a high
level competition.

Speaker 8 (27:35):
Obviously a quarterback in college, but also obviously playing baseball too.

Speaker 5 (27:39):
So there's nothing too big for him. He'll do a
great job.

Speaker 8 (27:42):
And you know I was, you know, I go back
to my my rookie year, my first Preceson game. We
were talking about the story the other day, the keV
Rim and just remember playing the Tennessee Titans and through
a touchdown the Brailyn Edwards and I and I we
ran one.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Late in the fourth to.

Speaker 8 (27:55):
Win the game, and my guy Charlie Martin made a
big time block to win the game. And so I
just I just those are the moments you remember. You
remember your family coming for the first time to visit
and those things are special. And then ultimately playing with
your teammates, you know, those are lasting memories.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
And so for for JR. He'll do a great job
of that. I know Kyle will be prepared for for
sure as well. Since you guys put on the pads,
you know, there's allay to talk about the run game,
but also play action is a big part of you
guys's offense. How have you seen the.

Speaker 6 (28:20):
Early stages of how you guys have practiced and how
it's worked and against this defense you're helping.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
It all starts up front. Just a physicality upfront has
been phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
You know.

Speaker 8 (28:28):
How we've been able to you know, move off the
ball and just fire off the ball and.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
Do and do the things we need to do.

Speaker 8 (28:34):
That opens up everything, you know, and we just want
to be able to, you know, be multiple in our personalities,
multiple in our scheme, our concepts and everything. Coach Arthur
Smith's done a great job of that and all the
coaches you know coaching it up to it's it's all
complete team effort and we're looking.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Good and we're feeling confident for us.

Speaker 8 (28:50):
What kind of impact is Tom on you again?

Speaker 5 (28:53):
Yeah? Coach Arthur is you know what's great about him, He's.

Speaker 8 (28:56):
So poised, his ability to teach, his ability to communicate,
he's been a head coach before.

Speaker 5 (29:01):
He understands the game. He Obviously he's obviously played the
Nation Footall League.

Speaker 8 (29:04):
He's been around the guys like Peyton Manning and you
know and all that too. So he's a tremendous mind,
a guy that I love being around.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
He pushes this every day.

Speaker 8 (29:13):
Uh, He's got great drills, he's got great thought process.
He undersea sees the game the way the quarterback would
and so I love being in the quarterback room with
him and him teaching us.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Every day working your way back. Conversations don't like in
terms of working your way back, what's in the conversation?
Didn't like with the coaching staff and kind of like,
I guess, how do you kind of develop your workload
on a day to day basis?

Speaker 8 (29:35):
Yeah, well I think, I mean a lot of it
is just trusting the doctors and the trainers and then
obviously every morning I'm getting up super early training and
getting ready to rock and roll.

Speaker 5 (29:42):
And so you know, we try to be.

Speaker 8 (29:44):
Really smart about you know, how much I'm doing every day,
but we're pushing it too. I'm you know, I'm I'm
the kind of guy that wants to go, go go
all the time. And coach Thomas out type. We will
just flee back a little bit.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
You know.

Speaker 5 (29:53):
So I think that you know, that balance is really good.
You know, obviously it's a it's a great organization.

Speaker 8 (29:59):
With bryanderd Danning, we have a tremendous lot a lot
of great vets and they know how to deal with us. Uh,
you know, in terms of t J Cam, Minka myself,
you know, just I think that communication is really good.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
That's that's what you really want as a player, you.

Speaker 8 (30:11):
Know, you want to be able to communicate and and
give them Hey, I feel great today, and they're like, Okay,
let's go, let's let's push.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Let's also be smart.

Speaker 8 (30:18):
And I've been feeling great every day and uh, you know,
we have a plan every day and what that looks like.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
And we're definitely doing a great job.

Speaker 7 (30:25):
When Mike said that he was gonna start kind of
holding you out more in the beginning because of the camp,
he said.

Speaker 5 (30:29):
He wanted to create short term misery for you.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Are you less miserable.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
Now that you're able to Yeah, good coaches rights. You know,
I've never really missed practices much. But the good thing
is is I was able to be in practice still
getting the quarterback at work through all the drills early
online to be in it every day versus just.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Sit whole time.

Speaker 8 (30:47):
And so that was a that was that that helped
me get you know, prepared for you know, being back
out there again and everything else. We had a great
off season OTAs and I got so much work there
and the confidence with the receivers and the off season
throw into those guys really helped a lot. So I
think all that just give me great confidence coming right
back and right back into it.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
I feel really good. The balls guys are making great catches.

Speaker 8 (31:10):
Uh, you know, the guys are doing a great, great
job of being on time and all that.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
So it looks really good with full confident about it.

Speaker 7 (31:16):
Sunday on Sunday, you threw a pass and it is
your first pass in a team period. It looked like
maybe you audible at the line there are you supposed
to throw a pass in that drill or are you
supposed to still just be handing up?

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Kind of what what happened?

Speaker 8 (31:27):
You know, you know, uh, you know it was it
was a play that we could get to Georgia. The
good job and making touchdown bout the first pass, you know,
being back in.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
The team drill. So that was that was cool?

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Russ.

Speaker 5 (31:37):
You're asked a minute ago about play action. The other
component of that is just the deep ball. That's something
you've been known throughout your career. How did you develop
that or make that such an essential part of what
you do?

Speaker 8 (31:47):
Yeah, you know, I think God give your gift to
throw a ball. He gave me big hands to throw it,
and uh, you know, I think a lot of baseball
and me and all that too, But I think it's
just everybody talks about ten thousand reps, you know, and
just you know, all the times you throw and all
the times you you know, when you're a young kid practicing.
I had my brother who was a receiver. I had
my dad who was a receiver.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
You know.

Speaker 5 (32:09):
They wake me up early in the morning, at five thirty
in the morning to throw.

Speaker 8 (32:11):
And so I remember throwing deep post routes when I
was eight years old, you know, and deep go routes
to my brother. And even though he was you know,
six seven years older.

Speaker 5 (32:19):
Than me, you know, we were always working.

Speaker 8 (32:21):
And so I think that those reps as a young
kid and just being outside, you know, like that's why
I always, you know, try to have my son around,
just him being around us training and everything else in
the off season and everything else, just because it's good
to be outside.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
You learn a lot, you know, you have to learn
a lot from you know, I got to learn a
lot from my brother. You got to learn a lot
from my dad.

Speaker 8 (32:39):
So then you take all that and then you get
to college and you get to be around some really
talented you know, you know, receivers in college, and you
give the guys a chance, you know, and let them
make a play.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
And I think, you know, the deep ball is one of.

Speaker 8 (32:52):
Those things that you know, it's it's one of those
things that the guys on the receiving end, they they
they make you look special, you know, and you just
you try to get my shait, so, you know, I
try to try to put up to the moon and
let him go get it.

Speaker 7 (33:03):
With with some of the some of this speed that
you guys have with Calvin Austin and tws and so forth,
and then also guys with attatchers.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
Like George Pickens. What kind of a spark do you
think you guys can add with that deep.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
Ball on the season.

Speaker 8 (33:14):
Yeah, I just think it's a who's far of our offense,
you know, Crystability to be explosive on certain plays. And
you know you've got playmakers, you know, guys that can
really you know, Calvin's got tremendous speed. You know, Vans
got tremendous speed. Qus Watkins tremendous speed. Obviously, George Pickotts.
You know, Pickens has got tremendous speed and just radius
as you know, he can catch anything, you know, solid

(33:34):
catch he did one handed today. H you know, just
you know, he's he's got special traits or one of
the kind. And so you know, I think that we
got a really good chance. And let's not forget a out.
Scotty Miller. You know, he's a guy who's played in
the playoffs, has done some things running by people, like
in the Green Bay game, you know, and Tom through
the deep ball, go ball to him to take you know,
at the right before half.

Speaker 5 (33:54):
You know, those things are real, you know, and those aren't.
Those don't just happen. You got talent and those guys
can make this stuff happened. Two more, Are you developing
the confidence that George.

Speaker 8 (34:04):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I noticed that in George
obviously watching the film and.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Watching him over the years. I think also to being out.

Speaker 8 (34:12):
Here with him, you know, his ability to to see
what's around him, spatial awareness, his ability to go up
and catch the football, his ability to get open in
different moments is really phenomenal.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
Last one here, what's the biggest thing you've seen Justin
improve on in camp?

Speaker 8 (34:27):
So both well, I think he's always been a great player,
you know, and he's always had a tremendous talent and
everything else. I think, you know, as as he continues
to grow and every day his ability just to take
each play, you know, and just take it, take that
play in that's the only thing to play that matters,
you know, And that's that's thinking about the quarterback position.
He get seventy five plays a game. You want to

(34:48):
make seventy five of them really good, you know, if
not great, And so.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
How do you do that?

Speaker 8 (34:51):
And so that consistency is really key and he's done
a great job of that. He's you know, I've gotten
to play against Justin before. He's he's a tremendous football player,
and you know, it's it's cool that we get to be.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
On the same team.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Russell Wilson having a nice lengthy chat with the media
as he's made a bit of a habit of doing
so far in his Steelers' tenure. Always great to hear
from Russell Wilson. Always has a lot to say and
always very forthcoming with his answers. When we come back
to wrap up the first hour, LABS and I will
look at special teams. That kickoff rule is going to
be under a microscope on Friday night when the Houston

(35:24):
Texans come to town, so we'll talk about what they've
been doing in practice and LABS might have a little
insight on what Tomlin might be doing during the game
for that kickoff rule. That's all on the way on
the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
This season Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
The new kickoff rule is going to be a great
intrigue Friday night, seven o'clock first kickoff of the preseason
for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Houston Texans at Akroscer Stadium,
and LABS you noted in your practice report they again
utilize their two special teams periods at camp practice yesterday
to practice return and one and kickoff coverage in the other.

(36:10):
So starting to see an increase of that at camp practices,
and then of course you get your first actual game
film of your team doing it if you're the Steelers
coaching staff on Friday night.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, And I have a feeling that there could be
some disappointment from the fans perspective in terms of what
they're going to see, because I just don't believe that
teams are comfortable enough with this new rule that they're
going to be trying things, you know, as Mike Tomlins said,

(36:44):
this was his analogy when I asked them about what
we might how he might treat kickoffs in the preseason opener,
and he said, you know, we're going to hit it
right down the middle of the fairway. You know, you
want to keep it in play, not going to get
too aggressive too, because I think job one, or the

(37:04):
first step maybe is a better way to put it
to dealing with this new rule is to make sure
the players understand it, all of the different variations and
computations and all the things, you know, landings on this
and what's a touchback and when you have to down
the ball, and what happens if it goes into the

(37:26):
end zone on a fly, what happens if it bounces
into the end zone. I mean, and it's not only
the like the return guys, but the kickers have to
know what it is and then the other ten players
or nine players. If some teams are going to use
two return guys back deep, some teams not only have
one guy a return guy back deep, and they're still

(37:51):
kind of tinkering with the distribution of personnel and the
other ten guys. Like I think we talked about the
first time the Steelers use their two special teams period
on kickoff kickoffs, all of the on the return team
or excuse me, on the coverage team, they were all
defensive guys, mostly linebackers and defensive backs and maybe the

(38:16):
Marvin Leal. Now we're seeing what we saw in this
last rendition as fitzpatrick back up receiver. He was the
only white jersey among the yellow jerk old jerseys on
the kickoff coverage unit. So you know, I think they're now,

(38:38):
you know, working some players, more players in there. Maybe
they've seen something from from Fitzpatrick that they've liked in
you know, some of the gunner jammer drills that they
do because you know, with no Miles Boykin that the
primary gunner on the punt team is that job is
wide open. And we've talked about how backup running backs

(38:59):
and wide receivers better be good at special teams or
contributing something significant on special teams if they want to
have a good chance to make this roster. So there's that.
In terms of the return, what I've been seeing is
I think most of the returns we're going to see
not only in Friday's Friday Night's game, but also maybe

(39:21):
through the early part of the season. Once the returner
catches the ball, it seems to me that the path
of least resistance or the path of greatest potential success
seems to be running the ball out and then getting
over the numbers and hitting that seam up there. They're
not going really wide to the sideline, and it's much

(39:44):
too congested between the hash marks. So again, that might
be something to pay attention to a little bit see
how that evolves.

Speaker 9 (39:53):
But you know, again, nobody knows, and I'm down to
the specific rules, and you need your players to at
least have a working knowledge of some of these rules
and be comfortable with them before you can expect them

(40:13):
to perform with any degree of efficiency.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, and you know, I like common saying, you know,
I just want to keep the ball right down the
middle of the fairway.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
You kind of got to walk before you run.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
I know, there's a lot of people that like to
dream up these crazy things you can do where you
have a quarterback back there for some teams, and they
can throw the ball across the field and you know,
all these different cool gadget things that you might be
able to work into getting a better field position or
even scoring a touchdown on this play. But before you
get to that point, you got to figure out that
you can just do the baseline operation of at first.

(40:45):
And that's I think what a lot of teams in
the NFL are going to take these three preseason games
to do.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah, and you know, do you have a safety kicking
the ball off? Because maybe a safety is you know,
and I'm by that I mean a defensive back, right,
Maybe he's an asset because if the returner breaks through
the initial you know, line of defenders, you have somebody
back there who can make a tackle. Well, you know
that sounds good in theory too, but you know, as

(41:11):
we've mentioned a bunch of times, this isn't mad. I mean,
they Mike Tomlin may play it, you know, to try
and see some of the configurations and how things unfold
a little bit, since there's no real video to watch yet.
But there's still flesh and blood human beings doing this,
and I don't know, like I may be able to

(41:37):
understand the rules in a nice, climate controlled room sitting
in a comfortable chair, but when you're out on the
field and stuff's flying around, you know in your instant
a lot of this stuff is against your instincts that
you've honed or been exposed to throughout every level of

(41:59):
football you're entire life. You know, a lot of these
guys played midget football. I mean the kickoffs were kickoffs.
I mean, it's all been the kind of the same way,
basically the same way for them all their lives. Now
they're in the NFL and you're saying, well, you can't
do this, and you've got to do this, and if
the ball bounce is here, you know you can't run
it out and you've got to wait till it's in
the landing zone. I mean, you know again that maybe

(42:24):
it turns out to be exciting, but to me, it's
going to be interesting to see if this rule is
even reinstated after it's one year trial, because that's what
the owners did in March. They approved it for one year.
So next year at the owners meetings in March whenever
they are late March, sometimes they're going to go over
this again. And if they don't like it, they could

(42:45):
scrap the whole thing. They could adjust it, they could
go back to the original kickoff. Who knows, So you know,
we'll see.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
Yeah, that's a good point, and I will mind people.
You know, they tried this with the past interference review
rule fore oh progress, but.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
That was the owners then meeting a year later LABS
and saying we got to scrap this. So I mean
they're open to hitting the abort button if they have
to when it comes to a new rule change. One
last note that I wanted to mention Corderrell Patterson. He's
expected to be involved with this kickoff return team. One
of the big reasons of Steelers brought him in. Starting
to work his way back, right, I think I saw
on your practice report from two days ago doing some

(43:21):
individual stuff, starting to run a little bit, trying to
work that hamstring back into shape.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Yeah, but I mean he's still on the non football
injury list, so nothing can happen with him until he's
taken off that list, and then I'm sure, because it's
a hamstring, you know, there's going to be some acclamation
time required before he is ready to, you know, go
out there and start planting that leg and driving off it.

(43:47):
So yeah, I don't you know, I don't expect to
see him back anytime soon in terms of being ready
to contribute on kickoff return.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
When we come back, we'll take a look at the
Steelers wide receiver room. There's a lot of talk about
that position and a potential link between a player and
the Steelers, But we want to talk about the guys
that are in house right now. They had a good
day yesterday, They've had a solid camp. We'll hear from
Van Jefferson as well, and John Vanazac will join us
at ten fifteen today, So a lot to look forward to.
On the Training camp report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
This SE's done Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Just about twenty nine minutes away from the Steelers taking
the practice field to Chuck Nolefield at Saint Vincent College,
Day thirteen of practice for the Steelers. They get ready
for the preseason game coming up tomorrow at Akroscher Stadium
against Houston. Look, you'd have to be living under a
rock to not hear about the Steelers and Brandon Ayuk
this and that and honestly, Labs, it's getting kind of

(44:51):
sickening for me. Every time I open my Twitter, it's
this new report or this new source and just do
it or don't already honestly what I'm that.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
But I don't want to talk about Brandon Ayuk.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
I don't want to speculate on anything that isn't official yet.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
I want to talk about the guys that.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Are in house because you know, I'm sure they hear
a little bit of that noise too, and guys like
Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin, unfortunately Roman Wilson getting hurt. They've
had some pretty good camps that I think people might
have let go under the radar.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Yeah, and you know the other factor is and I'll
I'll get to those you know, wide receivers you know
in house in a second here. But you know, the
the the wildcard to me is Arthur Smith's offense. We
don't know how how it's going to look like or
how it's going to evolve, and you know how much

(45:43):
multiple wide receiver stuff is he going to want to
employ in what areas of the field. How might the
a physical, effective running game impact what opposing defenses feel
that they can do in terms of taking their big
guys off the field and putting little guys on the field,

(46:04):
because you know, receivers they're a lot better when there
aren't a lot of defensive backs roving around and they're
part of the field trying to cover them. If yeah,
so if for example, if you know a team finds
itself unable to stop the run in its nickel package

(46:25):
or you know some of their sub package defenses, you
know they're gonna put linebackers out there, defensive linemen out there.
When that happens, well, then that creates different coverage possibilities
in terms of what the defense can show whoever the
quarterback is on the field and the receivers who are

(46:46):
on the field. So you know, there's this is all
it's all speculation. I understand that it's it's fun for
fans and you know, interests the media, but there's really
nothing definite. If you can say, yes, they need him,
they need to trade for a receiver. No, they don't

(47:06):
need to trade for receiver. You know, flip a coin.
You know, your guests could be as good as mine.
It could be right, it could be wrong, but everybody
has to understand right now, it's still a guess. So
now when you know, when you're talking about the receivers
who are currently you know, on the roster and practicing
here every day. You know, George Pickens, I don't think

(47:30):
we need to say anything about more about him, right,
I mean I will just say, yeah, pretty established. And
not only is he established, but I mean he does
a couple of unbelievable things. It seems every day.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
It just like sense being a Steeler, right, like training
camps kind of become the George Pickens Show the past
three years.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Yeah, and I don't know, I'm I'm seeing different kinds
of oh wow, you know. And in the beginning when
he was a rookie, it was a lot of oh
while combat catches deep down the field, that kind of stuff. Now,
I mean, he just does things I won't say routinely,
but it's more of a matter of fact kind of thing.

(48:11):
For example, there was a screen pass and you know,
sometimes things break down and I even forget who the
quarterback was, and he just kind of like floated it
up towards the sideline for the screen pass, and then
George Pickens went up and grabbed that like an NBA
power forward with a rebound. One hand went up and

(48:34):
then just kind of scooped it down and you know,
cradled it in his one arm like you would have basketball,
and it's just, you know again, it's that's, you know,
George being George, as the players are now starting to say, so, Okay,
he's in my opinion, a number one receiver in his
league because by any definition, he fits that with the

(48:58):
most significant thing be and he is the god that
every opponent circles in their meeting in terms of who
do we have to stop in the passing game? This guy? Okay,
now you're talking about compliments to him. I think Calvin
Austin has had a nice camp. He has a good
short area quickness. He creates some separation, you know, he

(49:23):
makes He's nifty in you know, some of the shorter areas.
But he also has speed to get deep on you.
So if you fall asleep on him and think every
route he's gonna run is going to be one of
those you know, slot receiver Antwine randollel kind of routes
that we remember from twenty years ago. Some of us

(49:43):
remember from twenty years ago. Uh, you know, he can
cut it up field and run past you too. So
there's that Van Jefferson. Excuse me, Van Jefferson is a
pro and we cut a lot of passes for the
l A Rams.

Speaker 10 (49:56):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
This guy has has you know, bona fides on his resume.
He's an NFL player, started a lot of games in
this league, played for Sean McVay, so he's been exposed
to some pass offense concepts and things like that.

Speaker 10 (50:14):
Right.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
You know, again, I'm not saying that he's a threat
to make the Pro Bowl, but again, you know he can.
He does some things in different areas of the field too.
I don't think you need to you know, slot him
and this guy can't get deeper, this guy can't run
routes or you know, they have some skills in all

(50:37):
different areas. And you know, Van Jefferson, Quez Watkins, and
Scottie Miller all played on teams that were in the
Super Bowl. Point and they were so they played in
the Super Bowl. And I'm not saying that they were
the determining factor in the outcomes of those games. But
I do think that there is a level of talent

(51:00):
and understanding and experience that is necessary for a player
to be a part of a team that goes to
the you know, last game of the year and to
be on the roster. He is on, you know what
I mean, he was there, he was in uniform, so
you know, you have to be contributing at a certain
level just to be carried that far. So uh, you know, again,

(51:25):
I'm not gonna say they don't need a receiver. I'm
not going to say they do. And we talked about
Roman Wilson. He's still working his way back. What's his
role going to be? What's his you know, it seemed
to me that he was just kind of starting to
get it and maybe turn a corner a little bit
from college to the NFL when he brained that ankle.

(51:47):
We'll see how long it takes him to get back
and then get you know, reacclimated to football kind of things.
But you know, this guy has some some skills too.
And the way that the quarterback have been playing, you know,
justin fields and Russell Wilson I don't know. I'm not

(52:07):
saying that I don't know. I I like the way
the quarterbacks are playing, both of those guys who've been
accurate and on time. Again, it's training camp, So every
every time I see something good or say something good,
I always want to temper it with well, it's just
training camp. But I don't know right now that I

(52:28):
feel that they desperately need to make a move for
a trade and bring somebody in. And you know it's
a it's fans need to understand that. You know, it's
not a The forty nine ers are not just waiting
to make this deal to benefit the Steelers and satisfy

(52:49):
their fans. I mean you have to. They want they
have an asset, and they consider themselves a legitimate super
Bowl contender this year. Okay, so they're not going to
give this guy away. And the other thing that the
forty nine ers might believe is, well, if we don't

(53:10):
really get knocked over by a trade thing proposal, if
we keep him and the season starts and he is
on a team that could win a super Bowl this year,
is he really going to not play at all and
risk that, you know, because that could be a once

(53:31):
in a lifetime career, once in a career, lifetime thing,
and you're figuring as a as a forty nine Ers executive,
he's not doing himself any favors in terms of his
future open market thing, you know, because then well this
is a why would I want to sign this guy
to this big contract? He didn't even want to play

(53:51):
for a team that was going to the super Bowl
last year. So, you know, as I said, it's not
as easy as it seems. Teams are not interested in
giving the Steelers the kind of deal that their fans,
you know, believe they should get. Yeah, let's throw a
fifth round pick and you know, third number four wide

(54:14):
receiver and you know, seeing signed Brandon Ayu to a
team friendly contract. Wouldn't that be great?

Speaker 10 (54:20):
You know?

Speaker 3 (54:20):
I mean, that's that's just not the real world.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
They should do that, though.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
They should try to do that though. That would be awesome.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Yeah, it would be awesome. And then we could talk
about it here. You know. I hope they get it
done before you know, our four shows are over or
whatever you said, we have left, you know, so we
could kill some time doing that. But I just, I mean,
I don't see the incentive for the forty nine Ers
two cave off their demands for what they want in

(54:51):
to trade in terms of what can help them this
year further their chances of being a super Bowl championship team.
And then you know Brandon Ayuk, what's in his best
interest in terms of what he wants out of a contract.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Yeah, I think all that was really well said. Apologies
to Van Jefferson. We'll play your audio maybe in another
show down the road that we have here running up
against it here, so we got to hit the brake.
John Banazak going to be our Steelers alumni that joins
us today. Always a pleasure to chat with some Steelers
alumn who have the ability to make some time for
us before witnessing camp practice. So John Banazac on the way.

(55:30):
Next on the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Fox VC's Done Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Always love when we have a chance to chat with
some Steelers alumni to wrap up our show, and today
we are joined by John Banazac. John, thank you so
much for giving us labs and myself some time today.

Speaker 10 (55:56):
Hi, You're quite welcome.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
I want to take you back to you know, the
summer in nineteen seventy five was your first visit to
this campus. You arrived as a rookie defensive lineman from
Eastern Michigan, and you know, that summer you were trying
to make a team that was the defending Super Bowl
champions and you were trying to make the team in
a position that the starters were Joe Green, Elsie Greenwood,

(56:22):
Dwight White, and Ernie Bolmes. Was that a little intimidating
for a guy from Eastern Michigan.

Speaker 10 (56:29):
It was very intimidating when I first met those guys. Yeah,
I knew that they were the defending Super Bowl championship
football team. I'd never played on a championship football team.
And you know, part of the reason why I chose
them was because of that. I wanted to find out

(56:50):
what it was like in my thought process in signing
with the Steelers over four other teams that had time
not signed but offered me a contract. They didn't have that.
I mean, the Detroit Lions back then were awful, you know,

(57:13):
the Patriots weren't very good, the Bills and the Giants,
and I said, well, you know, let me, let me
try the Steelers, and what he wouldn't offer was very
instrumental in me choosing the Steelers. He was at Eastern
Michigan my freshman year, and what he told me, he said,

(57:35):
look it. He said, well, we'll keep you in camping
until at least the College All Star Game, which was
two weeks. And so I'm thinking, if I can't film
what I can do in two weeks, I don't belong
there anyway. So that was the thought process. And I
just worked hard every day and got better every day

(57:58):
as a defensive lineman. And when the most important thing
was that when they included me, when they started to
see that I could play and I could help the
team by playing special teams, that's when they started to.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Include me, you know, to complete the story, you know,
it has a happy ending. You made the team, you
played seven seasons, you won three Super Bowl rings, and
you started in two of them. So what was it
like playing for Chuck Noll and also being member being
a member of that very famous defensive line.

Speaker 10 (58:35):
Well, yeah, we were also coached by George Perlis, who
was really, you know, a very very good technical guy,
and he's anyway, I'm sorry about that, and yeah, you know,
obviously Coach Noll had total command of the you know,

(59:00):
the field and practices were so intense. It was amazing,
and it gave me an opportunity to get better because
of the competition out there. You know, when you go
against John cold or Jerry Mullins or you know, any

(59:21):
of those great offensive linemen that we had, you practice
against them and you try new techniques and you learn
an awful lot about the you know, our position as
defensive linement by working with the very talented offensive line
by coach by Dan Radakovitch bad Rat Okay.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Yeah, you Steelers fans all know Rocky Bliers served in
the military and was wounded in Vietnam. But you were
an active duty Marine from nineteen sixty nine through seventy one,
and then you were in the Marine Reserve from seventy
one through seventy How did that service impact your life?

Speaker 10 (01:00:04):
Well, when I joined the Marine Corps in January of
nineteen sixty nine, the very first night I spent at
Cherry at Jeez, I run it. The very first day
I was in the Marine Corps changed my life forever,
and I knew that it was going to be something

(01:00:29):
that I had that I needed at that time. I
needed some discipline and I certainly got it at Paris Island,
South Carolina. I can tell you that was the most
difficult thing that I've ever gone through in my life,
including training camp at Saint Vincent. So I used that background, okay,

(01:00:49):
to push me through every single practice that we had
up there and back then. Bob, you knew that we
had double sessions on every single day, full pads, live
contact every day, offensive line, defensive line, and fighting each
other across the ball and getting better. And I just

(01:01:13):
was able to convert that all of the lessons that
I learned from Joe green and Elsie Greenwood, Dwight Waite,
Nerdie Holmes, watching them and studying things that they did
to rush a quarterback or to stop the run. So
I used my teammates as an advantage for me.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
No, Chuck Chuck Noll always talked about a player's time
after football as his life's work. Your life's work included
coaching football locally, first at Washington and Jefferson and then
at Robert Morris from twenty fourteen to twenty seventeen. Did
playing for Chuck Noll and seeing him work how he
worked influenced the kind of coach you became.

Speaker 10 (01:01:58):
Yeah, I thought there was enough lot of Chuck Nolan me.
You know, I expected an awful lot from my players,
and my message to them was that myself and our
coaching staff is going to work extremely hard to make
us a good football team. And that's all I expect

(01:02:20):
out of you. I want you to go to class
every single day. Okay. I've already promised your parents that
in four years you're going to graduate college. And I
held that up to him and it Yeah, there's an
awful lot of Coach Nolan me, because you know, I

(01:02:40):
would just put my hand an arm around a guy,
and you know that that is struggling, and you know
that when you're nineteen years old and away from home
for the first time, that's a difficult transition. And I
wanted to be the guy that could smooth things out

(01:03:02):
for eighteen and nineteen year old men that needed that
kind of attention. And that's what Chuck did. But Chuck
had the and I don't know if I ever reached
that level where Chuck No would just look at you
and melt you okay, whether or not you did something

(01:03:23):
good or you did something wrong. Okay, his stare would
absolutely melt it. And I don't know if I ever
got to that level of coaching, but I certainly tried to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Okay, John, we'll get you out of here on this.
Not all coaches can play and not all players can coach,
but your life in football prove that you could do both.
I'm going to assume winning three Super Bowl rings councils
your greatest playing achievement, but what might you consider your
greatest coaching achievement?

Speaker 10 (01:03:55):
Yeah, being on three championship teams super Bowl championship team
certainly was something that is very special. There's only two
of us that played on three of those teams. That's
a trivia question of who the other three or the
other player was, and it's Roy Jerella. Royd Gerrolo played nine, ten,

(01:04:18):
and thirteen and I played ten, thirteen and fourteen. And
you know, I think that the best thing that I had,
and I had the opportunity again yesterday one of my
kids that I recruited from Shaker Heights, Ohio, was in
town and had lunch with Timmy Hawkins and Timmy Hawkins

(01:04:45):
when I was at WNJ is the only four year
player that I had that did not graduate. There were
sixty five four year football players for me at w
and Timmy was the only one that did not graduate.
And I asked him again to call the school, telling

(01:05:08):
me you only need one more one more class and
get your degree. And the same thing held true at
at Robert Morris football. For those kids there, there were
a few that got tryouts, I can tell you that,
but the majority of them are playing their last football

(01:05:30):
game their senior year. And it's very important to be
able to walk out of those schools and have your
degree and have your future. And that's what I that
I take away as being very proud of being able
to make that, as as the the reason for going

(01:05:53):
to college and the reason for playing football.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
John, this was great stuff. Thank you so much for
giving us some time out of your morning and your
time up at camp today.

Speaker 10 (01:06:02):
Okay, hey, thanks, I appreciate Sorry about the phone calls.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
Okay, oh, don't even sweat it at all. We appreciate
your time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
There's John Banazac, three time Super Bowl champion with the
Pittsburgh Steelers, going to be up at camp today. A
lot of Steelers alumni always hanging around camp. It's a great,
great atmosphere at Saint Vincent College. We will head up
there to join Mike Persuda and Max Stark's next training camp.
Live right around the corner, practice, right around the corner,

(01:06:30):
players on the field now, just a couple of minutes
until Day thirteen of practice gets underway. And then of
course you got the preseason game tomorrow against the Houston
Texans Labs. And I will be back for another training
camp report on Sunday at nine am, so we'll talk
to you then on the training camp report on Steelers
Nation Radio.