August 11, 2025 • 45 mins
Tom and Labs recap the Steelers win over Jacksonville, hear from Coach Tomlin and look at the amount of snaps certain Steelers played.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
iHeartRadio's live coverage job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers Training
Camp is presented by Padex where Now meets Next and
also brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health System,
by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente Pizza
and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto, Laurel,
(00:27):
Highlands Visitors, Bureau, Remax, Select Realty, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop,
and by US steel.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Aferman and Bob
Labriola and Labs. I know it doesn't count really for
anything as far as an actual game is concerned, but
Steelers thirty one Jaguars twenty five sure felt good to watch,
and hey, it's better to have that happen than it
is to look like a lot of things maybe struggling
to get going or a lot more things to work
on in these next two preseason games. Not to say
(00:57):
there isn't that, but boy, it's felt good to see
that offense really play well.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah. And the other thing was that was good is
very very little slappiness, and by slappiness I mean burning
timeouts because you can't handle the play clock, false starts.
Just that kind of discombobulated look slash feel sometimes you
(01:23):
get from a team that is making its first appearance
away from its training camp in a real game with
real rules and real officials and you know all that
kind of stuff. Not a lot of turnovers. You know,
the Steelers were only penalized. They were penalized six times.
(01:46):
You know. One of them was a roughing the passer
that took off an interception, which I'm gonna need that
one explain to me. And then you know another one
was uh and off side when Braden Fojoco got his
helmet ripped off and nobody saw it or called it
(02:08):
or you know whatever it is. But I mean there
weren't a lot of you know, like blocking the back things,
just those kind of place rice right, and so yeah,
as I said, not a lot of slappiness. The offense
was three or four in the red zone, you know,
(02:28):
sixty one point on third down, so you know, the
offense had a chance to sustain itself its presence on
the field, get to some plays, do some things. And
I know that preseason openers really probably any no preseason
games really involved game planning specifically uh for the opponent.
(02:49):
But I really liked what Arthur Smith did on offense
by coming out with a lot of quick, short passes,
and that I think that took a little bit of
the sting out of the Jaguars defense. You know, they're
an athletic, fast attacking group, and when you start doing
(03:11):
that to a defense, throwing those quick passes, you know,
you think they're dinking and dunking and all that kind
of stuff. But that is effective beyond the yardage that
it gains or the way that it moves the chains
and allows the offense to possess the ball. But it
also tires those guys out on defense. I mean, because
you know, you run, you're trying to attack the quarterback
(03:34):
and you come off the ball really hard. You take
four steps and it's gone. Then you turn around and chase.
And they also use a little bit of pace too,
the Steelers offense did. So you force them to get
back up on the line of scrimmage and you keep
doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it. Then they
get tired. And so you know that serves to maybe
allow you and some allow you to do some things
(03:57):
on offense, and it also allows you to continue to
evaluate these people because if you're trying to evaluate just say,
you know, tight ends in or wide receivers, and you're
three and out all the time, you're really not getting
anything accomplished in that evaluation thing. So yeah, it was
it didn't count, right, And that's that's the thing that
(04:19):
I think is maybe the most significant about it. It
doesn't count. You know, cam cam, the kicker cam little right,
doesn't count. I mean he made it and everything, but
it's not going in the record exactly what I mean. Okay,
So the fact that it doesn't count is you know,
(04:41):
above and beyond everything else. But in terms of you know,
looking at it in the context of where we are
in the NFL calendar and the process that you're trying
to go through as a team from you know, the
start of training camp now at the start of the preseason,
as you're building towards you know, the start of the
(05:01):
regular season. It was a very nice let me say this,
It should have made for a very nice flight home
from Jacksonville for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, you mentioned this slappiness, the lack thereof on the
offensive side of the ball laps. Do you think that's
because or maybe in large part due to the fact
that you've got two quarterbacks that are veterans in this league.
Mason Rudolph and Skyler Thompson have both started a playoff
game in the NFL. Rudolph against the Bills a couple
of years back with Pittsburgh and funny enough, Skyler Thompson
(05:31):
against the Bills as well, a couple of years back
with the Miami Dolphins. So I think that goes a
decent amount of length when it comes to your offense
and how buttoned up they were, is that you've got
experience there in the backups.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, yes, that is part of it, but you know
a lot of that isn't necessarily just the quarterback, Like
the receivers have to know what personnel grouping they're in.
A lot of that is what leads to burning timeouts.
As an example, if the right people aren't on the field,
you know, the play clubs comes in the clocks running
(06:07):
and the quarterback looks around and probably notices it because
he is a veteran, as you just mentioned, then you
got problems, okay, time out that kind of stuff. So, yes,
having quarterbacks with actual NFL experience is that big help
in what you said, but it also avoiding slappiness goes
(06:28):
beyond just that quarterback position, is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Now, The one thing I was really intrigued with was
the offensive line play. That's what I was looking forward
to really the most, because I knew the Jags are
going to play their first team on defense for at
least the start of the game, and the Steelers are
going to play their first team offensive line minus Isaac Camalu,
who got the night off. He's a vet, he knows
what he's doing. I'm cool with that. Troy Fatanu and
Roger Jones, there's a huge spotlight on these tackles. Labs
(06:55):
and Trayvon Walker and josh Heines Allen. There are no
slouches on the other side of the ball, and I
thought Johnson Fatana both did a really good job in
this first game action of the season.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Let me say this, I didn't notice them. It's perfect right,
right exactly. I mean, you didn't hear you didn't see
the Jacksonville defenders abusing them. A lot of times you
catch that on replay, you know, with sacking the quarterback
or you know, those kinds of negative plays that you know,
(07:26):
quick athletic defensive linemen are prone to make, and there
weren't a lot of They weren't hearing their names and
numbers announced by the referee, you know, holding, false start,
you know whatever, it might be, illegal hands to the face.
I mean, there wasn't just a lot of those kinds
of things that drew attention to the Steelers offensive line. Now,
(07:50):
let me say this, the running game. There were some
spurts where it had some success. But you know when
I'm noticing so far, so far, and again it's one
preseason game, the Steelers don't get a lot of push
with their offensive line against the defensive line when you're
(08:11):
when you have fourth and short and you want to
go for it, that's fine, but you can't think that
you're gonna line up and just blows the other team
off the ball and get the first down that way,
the touchdown that way, or whatever kind of short yardage
situation you're in. Now, I'm not saying you give up
(08:32):
on it, you don't try to get better at it,
but right now, what I saw and what we've seen
here a training camp, in these kind of short yardage
running situations, the offensive line does not get a lot
of push. I think that you know that that's going
to need to improve a little bit or you're going
to tax the creativity of your play caller.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, I no doubt, I agree completely. That wasn't apparent
in the game either with the push in the running
game against Jacksonville. But hey, you got to take I
guess I don't want to call them baby steps. But
let's build this thing up one block at a time.
That's why we're playing in August before these things actually
count in September. But the pass protection, though, I mean,
(09:16):
and that was all the way down the line last night.
It wasn't just the first unit, you know, second unit,
third unit did a really good job of keeping Rudolph
and Thompson upright all game long and giving them time
to operate out of the pocket. And you mentioned how
you know, sometimes you can see DNS edge rushers abuse
your tackles. In the instant replay, there was a couple
of times that I saw the opposite. I saw Roderick
(09:38):
Jones kind of just catching Josh Allen into his chest
a couple of times and just kind of like, you know,
walling him off, and who knows how alan how seriously
Allan was taking it, but it looked really impressive. It
looked like a first round pick that you would trade
up for. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, I mean, or at the very least, it didn't
look like someone that you were going to have to
rea play. Yes, you know, and again, as I said,
this is the kinds of things I think you're looking
for from some individuals, and the preseason opener isn't nearly
(10:13):
the same kind of thing you're going to be looking
for from individuals once the regular season opens. So yeah,
nice start on the road. You know. That's and that's
Jacksonville is a place that has not been kind to
this franchise since the Jaguars entered the league in nineteen
ninety five. I could tell you that I was there
(10:33):
for a lot of that stuff. You know, when the
entire stadium in nineteen ninety six the opener not only
did they beat the Steelers, but they all sang all
the fans sang Happy Birthday to Tom Coughlin, just to
you know, rub it in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
So now the jackson the Steelers have a weird history.
Labs A couple back. We obviously know the playoff game
at Heinz Field. That didn't know this, like, it's a
weird one. You know, Steelers have a yeah, seems have
a good history against most of the NFL for being
such a young franchise. Jacksonville has had some success against us.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well, right, And you know when we had Mike Logan
on this show last week sometime, you know, he started
out as the second round pick of the Jaguars and
I asked him about that, and he said that as
soon as he got there, Tom Coughlin, that staff, their
whole program was Okay, this is this is who we want.
(11:33):
This is the franchise we want to emulate, and we
want to beat them. This is this is the the
bull's eye on our schedule. Jacksonville identified the Steelers, you know,
as the model and as a target all at once.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Of course, because back then they were in the same division.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yes, yes, and that was you know, twice a year, right,
and that had that was until two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I think I believe the Houston came aboard.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yes, because you know, Dan Rooney accepted. You know, when
they were trying when they added Jacksonville and Carolina, it
messed up the the numbers in terms of overall teams
in the league. And you know, they were trying to
figure out, who's gonna take these teams. You're gonna put
(12:23):
one in the NFC and one in the a f C. Well,
Dan Rooney said, we'll take We'll take one in our division.
I don't think he ever assumed that, you know, it
was gonna turn out to be as you know, a
bitter of a rivalry or series as it turned out
to be. But I mean that's how that's the genesis
of how Jacksonville ended up in the a f C
(12:45):
Central Division when they joined the NFL.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, as we mentioned, the passing game was sharp on
Saturday night, and Mason Rudolph was really crisp on his
first drive labs and here the touchdown pass that he
threw to Darnell Washington is something that I want to
pick on because use it the seams and having those
tight ends run up the middle of the field like
that a. I think that is something the Steelers should
absolutely utilize because they are a tight end heavy team
(13:10):
and they've got playmakers at the tight end position, including
Darnell Washington apparently, who's added a little bit to his
passing game or pass catching repertoire it appears. But those
kind of plays are the plays that I feel like
this offense has kind of been missing in the past
couple of years, and you can do a lot of
damage with those seams, a crosser over the middle, and
(13:31):
it's good to see them do that for a touchdown
on that first drive of the season.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Technically, yes, and you know, this is a situation where
I would point to the quarterback play more than anything
else because you have to that's the kind of throw
you have to be accurate and on time with, and
you have you know, it has to be you know,
(13:55):
besides accurate, it has to be placed perfectly within the
catch radius of the individual. So you know, kudos to
Mason Rudolph for making that throw. Obviously, Darnell Washington did
his job and his you know, with his hands and
then his body. I think took care of the wording
off the defender, whoever that was, I don't even remember
(14:16):
at this point, but I'll bet you Darnell heard about
it then, and i'll bet you he's hearing about it
a little bit today. About that fifteen yard penalty you
got from Duncan the ball over the crossbar, you know,
I looked it up just to see I thought the
crossbar was ten feet off the ground. I wanted to
make sure it was and it is. That's the regulation
(14:36):
distance of an NFL crossbar. So you know again, you know,
I know Mike Tolman said something to him on the sideline.
I know Alfredo Roberts, the tight end coach, said something
to him on the sideline. You know, fifteen yard penalty
on the first touchdown of a of a new you
know season kind of preseason openers is the you know,
(15:00):
the kickoff of the twenty twenty five Steelers season. So
I'm sure he heard about that. But then maybe in
the coach's locker room after, when it was just the
coaches in there, I wonder if anyone said, hey, how
about our six seven, three hundred pound guy getting off
the off the off the turf in full pads and
(15:23):
dunk in a football. You know, that's an athletic achievement
in itself.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You think coach Mike Tomlin might have channeled his interlu
Brown there, nice dunk, Washington, don't ever do it again.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Maybe maybe Hey, there.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Was a couple of things that I think that the
team needs to show a little bit of improvement in
the running game. Obviously we touched on that a little
bit that might be more so with this offensive line, though,
As you said, Labs needed to get more of a
push and less so with the talent that your running
backs have. And it's also to be noted that Jalen
Warren got the night off and Kenny g was sporadic
in his usage.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, I mean, but you know, flip it around Lou Nichols, right,
Lou Nichols. I mean, I can't tell you as I'm
watching the game, charting at play by play, you know,
and his number would come up and I'd check it,
check it on my on my sheet there, Oh yeah,
thirty five Lou Nichols, Central Michigan. Okay. Then a couple
(16:23):
more plays you see thirty five, do something else, I'd
look down again, go, oh yeah, Lou Nichols, number thirty five.
I mean, this is a guy, and I'm gonna be honest,
and I'm not you know, I'm not bragging about this.
I hardly noticed this guy at all so far at camp,
you know, I mean, and then in this game, I
mean he is. He was by far the best dealers
(16:45):
running back, most.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Productive, yes, five point two average, right.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
A fourteen yard run? Uh. He also caught a nine
yard pass, which is you know, a good gain, you know,
in a situation like that. So yeah, I mean, I'm
not I'm not banging the drum for Lou Nichols to
make the fifty three main roster. I think that, you know,
that's highly unlikely based on the fact you're only going
(17:11):
to keep three probably, but you know, kudos to him,
you know, maybe that won him a job on a
practice squad, Maybe that gets him a shot with another team.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I don't know exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Lou Nichols did well for himself on Saturday night in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And this isn't anything that the Steelers need to work
on labs because nobody was out there that's going to
be in a real game that would really mightily contribute
towards this. But the pass rush I think was a
little bit ineffective in that game. There wasn't a single
sack by the Steelers. Sawyer and Liota were the two
you know, lead dogs going out there with the quote
unquote first team defense. I'm not saying that they didn't
(17:50):
do a good job in this game, but I kind
of wanted to see, you know, a little bit more
pressure on the quarterback. That is the Steelers bread and
butter defensively, but as I noted, you know, no herbig
Heighsmiths hurt and of course no TJ.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Watt right, And I also don't think you're going to
see too much defensively what the Steelers have planned with
this new You know, first of all, in Jacksonville, nobody played.
The top three corners didn't play, as you mentioned the
edge people who didn't play, and even if they did,
(18:23):
I don't think that Tarall Austin and Mike Tomlin have
a whole lot of interest in showing you, you know,
how they may the combinations they might use with some
of the rushes and coverages.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So it was more just like a one on one
beat the.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yes, and a lot of times if you're rushing four
and they and they have five guys blocking with five,
so you're you're at a disadvantage there. So anyway, I
agree with you, but again preseason opener.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Exactly, it doesn't count at all. When we come back,
Labs and I will go over the weather report. It's
the penultimate practice to the public at Saint Vincent College.
We'll go over what we can expect weatherwise. We'll hear
from Mike Tomlin following the Jacksonville game and get to
some of the injuries or lack thereof, that the Steelers
experienced during the game. On Saturday night, it's Tom Offer
(19:18):
Minute's Bob Labriola Training Camp Report, Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp. He's presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
Kalucy Chevrolet, iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors,
(19:47):
by SMT Bank, we Max Select Realty, by Tom's Appliances,
the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shot by always Sync Flagging and
Traffic Control, and by US Steel Labs.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
The last few Steelers' practices at Saint Vincent College, it's
been starting to feel a little bit more like a
resort then it has been a training camp. With the
weather a picture perfect, not too hot, not a cloud
in the sky where it would bring in a rainstorm
or thunderstorm that would cancel practice. I mean, Mike Tomlin
might be a little uncomfortable with how comfortable some of
the players have been. Is that going to be the
(20:21):
case for today's practice.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Well, let me tell you this. The good news is
not a lot of humidity. I think everything else would
play right into Mike Tomlin's hands in terms of what
he's looking for from a training camp practice. I mean,
it's eighty one degrees now high is going to be
eighty nine. It's sunny. There is not a cloud in
(20:44):
the sky in terms of one that might give you
two seconds of shade. So, as I said, it's not
a lot of humidity, but it's hot out. There's no
question I'm glad to not be out there running around
on the field.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
So maybe Mike Tomlin will have a nice book end here. Right,
he had that oppressive heat at the beginning of his
training camp, and now he might have a conclusion of
his training camp that kind of brings that back.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, it looks like, you know, tomorrow also is going
to be hot, a little bit hotter, But it doesn't
seem like, you know, we're in that pattern where it
was good. It rained every day, rained every day. At
the same time, you know, looking ahead a little bit,
there is a you know, a chance of showers tomorrow
(21:32):
thirty percent, which a lot of times you know, and
they're spotty, scattered, you know, whatever you want to say.
So fingers crossed about that tomorrow. But it does look
like right now that the one part of the pattern
that we are out of is the daily rain.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
There's only two practices left to go, so hopefully that
that can hold off and we stay in this pattern
where there isn't daily rain for at least these next
two practices. We don't quite know what the practice script
might look like yet. We can potentially get to that
later in the show if we're made to wear. But
one thing that we can let the people know, Labs
is there will not be pads today. This is a
shell's practice helmets only.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yes, and that's kind of typical, you know procedure. I
would imagine most NFL teams, you know, do not come
off a game and hit that, nor do they go
into a game and hit So, you know, the the
game was Saturday night yesterday, Sunday was the you know,
(22:40):
mandatory day off according to the CBA. Today the Steelers
are back here going at it, but you know it
won't be it won't be full scale hitting.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
We always like to bring you Mike Tomlin's thoughts from
the practice the day before at this portion of the
training camp report. Here is what he had to say
following the game again Jacksonville, and if you need to
sit down and get some water, please do because it's
lengthy conversation with Mike Tomlin and the media.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You know, it was really a good evening's work.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
We got put in a lot of situations and got
a chance to watch people perform in them. Two minute
drive before the half kind of highlighting some of that.
I thought we did a nice job of not beating
our own butt. We kept pre snap penalties virtually to
a minimum. I think we had one. We played a
pretty clean game for the first time out. We gave
(23:31):
a lot of people a lot of opportunities, and that's
what this is about. It was good to see some
offensive players tackling on special teams, defensive players blocking on
special teams. We'll comb through that really closely. In the
top of it all, off Man, we kind of got
through the game virtually injury free. I think Cam McCutcheon
(23:52):
got taken out with a soft tissue injury, maybe a
hamstring that needs to be evaluated. But other than that,
we were pretty clean and so productive night on a
lot of fronts, and obviously we'll come through the tape
man and learn from it in a lot of ways,
both players and coaches, and hopefully be better the next
time out.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I'll Paul isn't open it up for questions.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And you want to.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
All right, thank you, labs.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I think that was probably Mike Tomlin's favorite press conference ever.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, and you know, one of the things that happens
a lot of times in NFL, you know, postgame interview situations,
is the locker room will be open at the same
time that the the head coach gives his remarks, and
a lot of times, well ninety nine percent of the
(24:44):
times now, those are done in separate areas. Uh. And
so the media had a choice to make. Did you
want to listen to Mike Tomlin or did you want
to try and get players? Uh? And anybody who's been
to practice at a training camp, Mike Tomlin speak to
the media every day.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
So so we can take care of that on Monday,
you know.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, yeah, some journalists made their decisions, you know, and
that's fine. But I watched that the video of that
interview on Steelers dot Com. They post the whole thing,
and he had a big smile on his face. Yes
at the end when he said thank you, And there
had to be people in there, otherwise he wouldn't have said,
(25:26):
I'll pause and open it up for questions, because if
there was no one in the room, you know, you
wouldn't you wouldn't say that. You might give your opening
remarks and then just yeah, thank you and leave. Yeah.
So yeah, I'll bet you that was uh, you know,
you talk about maybe the cherry on top of the
(25:47):
Sunday of playing a preseason game on the road, winning,
not having a bunch of injuries, and playing relatively clean,
no questions about it afterwards. That's as I said, I'm
sure that the whole experience Saturday night in Jacksonville contributed
(26:07):
to a very nice plane ride home back to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On the network, I take it from the Tomlin press
conference into break and have to read a sponsor for
it lab. So I get it pulled up on the
computer in our studio and it's playing, and I'm sitting
there like, you know, I got like six or seven
minutes here, right, I can settle in a little bit,
maybe get some other stuff together for my scoring drive.
And then I hear that and I'm like, oh my god,
where's the sponsor, Where's the sponsor doing the scramble drill?
It was truly unbelievable. I've never seen that, and I
(26:32):
don't think we we'll never see that moving forward. I
don't think. Maybe I won't hold my breath. Maybe in
Carolina will have a similar situation in a couple weeks,
but I bet you there'll be some people in front
of them after the Tampa game Saturday at Akrosher Stadium.
We'll get to the injury thing in just a second.
But one other thing that Tomlin did mention LABS was
the successful two minute drill that was on display with
Skyler Thompson in this game. And this is really what
(26:55):
preseason football is all about. That's what coaches want to
get into when they go to these preseason games. Is
that situational type of football in a game setting.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, and you know we saw that worked here up
at training camp by here, and Skyler Thompson did get
some reps in it. I think he took the Okay,
I'm trying to think, Okay, was Thursday was the last
practice in pads before the Jacksonville game. If my memory serves,
(27:25):
Skyler Thompson took the offense into the end zone on
the second rep of two minutes in that practice, or
if he didn't get him in the end zone, and
he looked pretty good moving him down the field. So
you know, that's why, that's how those decisions are made.
A lot of times, when you're doing like you're kind
(27:47):
of gearing your training camp practices as you're moving towards
a game to the situations that you're gonna face in
a game, you usually give the reps to the players
who are most likely going to be on the field
for you in that situation in that game. You know,
for example, it would have made no sense once Mike
(28:07):
Tomlin decided that Aaron Rodgers wasn't playing, to give Aaron Rodgers,
you know, reps in the two minute drill for a
game that he wasn't gonna play. So that's how, you know,
a lot of that stuff comes together in terms of,
you know, what's emphasized the practice and who is on
the field emphasizing it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
You know, since you brought up Aaron Rodgers and we
were talking about, you know, these kind of situational things,
it was funny to hear before you sat down with
coach Tomlin before the game on Saturday, Aaron Rodgers kind
of allude to joint practices being of more value to
him than actual preseason games because you get more reps
and it's that you can really create those situations that
(28:48):
you're trying to instead of hoping that they unfold in
the preseason game. And Mike Tomlin, when he sat down
with you Labs, didn't exactly say that Aaron Rodgers won't
play in the preseason, but boy, he was kind of
alluding to that being the case.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, I mean he mentioned, you know, Aaron Rodgers twenty
one years in the league and the you know, the
the amount of snaps that he's taking and taken in
you know, regular season and postseason games kind of puts
him in a little bit of a different level in
terms of what he has seen, you know, and what
(29:20):
he recognizes and you know all that kind of stuff,
and you know, what he might need to get himself
ready for another regular season. I think that if you've
played twenty one years in the NFL, you kind of
understand how you need to prepare your body for the
rigors of it, because you know, with Aaron Rodgers did
suffer an Achilles injury. But you know that that is
(29:42):
not an injury that happens because you're not physically prepared.
You know, for football, you can't strengthen tendance or it's
no exercise for that, or you know, they would be
strengthening Achilles tendons and acls and Pateeller tendons and all
those kinds of things that often, you know, cause a
(30:04):
guy to miss a whole season. Ben's right elbow tendon,
for example, whichever tendon that was that needed the surgery
in twenty nineteen. So yeah, I don't know. I when
he said what he said to me for the Mike
Tomlins Show, and I was watching him say it. If
(30:25):
somebody would have said to me right after that, you
think Karen Rodgers is going to play it in a
preseason I would have said, no, I do not. And
here's the other thing about you know, joint practices and
preseason games. The other thing is, yes, there will be
hitting in the joint practice, but it's still kind of controlled.
(30:51):
I'm sure there will be no hitting the quarterback and
no second quarterback.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
So you know, when a lot of times for someone
like Aaron Rodgers you know, a joint practice is better
for him to get ready. And you know the other
thing is is what we were talking about in the
very first segment, what are the good some of what
the good things were from the preseason opener, and I mentioned,
(31:22):
you know, the Dealers were good on possession downs, which
allowed them to keep their offense on the field to
continue working on some of the things you want to
work on. Well, preseason game you might go three and
out three times, you run nine plays and you didn't
do anything, I mean, and then they take you out.
And so what was accomplished in terms of you know,
readying yourself for the regular season. So that's another you know,
(31:46):
the two things that I would point to and to
kind of agree with Aaron Rodgers assessment in this way is, uh,
you know, the you know, the violence is controlled, and
you get to run so many plays, whether you know
you gained the ten yards in the first three or not.
(32:09):
And and as Mike Tomlin said though when he was
asked about it, he said, well, he really doesn't find
himself want to get into the business of comparing one
to the other. He said, the Steelers think that both
of those are valuable and they're doing both.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
We'll get into the Steelers getting through the preseason game
relatively healthy when we come back, and we'll also get
into the kind of the snap count percentages that some
players had on offense, defense, and special teams. To wrap
up this first hour, it's Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola
on the Training Camp Report Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy
AM and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I Heart Radios Live coverage 'b got twenty twenty five
Steelers Training Camp. He's presented by Fadex where Now meets
Next and also brought to you by bud Light, Independence
Health System by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino,
Calciente Pizza and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto,
(33:15):
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, we Max, Select Realty, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro Shop and Buy Us steel.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola Labs before we get to the snapcount percentage that
some of these players had for the Steelers in their
playing time. One last thing that I want to touch
on that Mike Tomlin mentioned was the lack of injuries
Cam McCutchen was the only one that he mentioned in
his postgame presser. And boy, that's so rare to have
(33:44):
that happen at this time of year, especially when you're
down in a place like Jacksonville where it's just so
oppressively hot. You know, it's gonna be a lot of
cramping going on and some maybe some like soft tissue
injuries that go down there, but nothing for the Steelers,
And that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yes, I certainly hope that by you bringing it up,
it doesn't serve to.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Be just everybody else has already so I feel.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I'm gonna blame you. I've decided, all right, fine, No,
but yes that when when you're talking about preseason games,
you know that that was one of the things we
talked about in the first segment. You know, it doesn't
com it doesn't count. Uh. And but another thing I
(34:28):
think you should always say about preseason games is when
you get out of it clean in terms of injuries, uh,
it's a win. So you know, those are the two
things I think you're really kind of looking for in
terms of a mental takeaway from a preseason game. You
(34:49):
don't want to get too high, Uh, if you win
and think that you've arrived or anything, because you really haven't.
And uh, you also want to get out of it
as healthy as possible.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
When you take a look at the playtime percentage for
the Steelers, the starters on the offensive side of the ball,
the quote unquote first team for this preseason game, with
a ton of real first teamers being inactive labs, they
played around fifteen snaps. Rudolph in the first team offensive
line clocked in at twenty two percent of the offensive
snap percentage. Some guys maybe clocking in a little bit less,
(35:21):
like a Roman Wilson, a Darnell Washington, but just a
couple of series for the first team offense.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Right Usually in a game, regular season game, when you
get the snap counts the next morning, for the offense,
there's six people that have played every snap. There'll be
the five offensive linemen and your quarterback pretty much everyone else.
You know, the way offense is played now with all
the personnel packages, you just don't play that many snaps
(35:52):
or all of them. Let me say that, I won't
say that many. You don't play all of the snaps defense.
You know, for the Steelers, for example, like last year,
the guys who played all the snaps were Minka Patrick Queen.
I'm trying to you don't play your defensive lineman every snap,
(36:12):
all the snaps because you know you're rotating them into
Keating Fresh. The same thing with your edge rushers. You're
doing that your other the inside linebacker next to Patrick Queen,
who is the green doc guy, meaning he was the
you know, the defensive quarterback. That's that person is usually
subject to personnel packages as well. You know, for zan
(36:33):
and Landon Robins, for example, he wasn't on the field
in obvious passing situations. If it was Peyton Wilson, you know,
he wasn't on the field for obvious rundowns running situations.
So yeah, that's the snap counts in the regular season.
Those are the people who usually play them all. But
(36:53):
when you look at the Steelers, you know their offensive
linemen were three at the top three thought top three spots.
All of a sudden, my tongue just got really thick
in my mouth. You know. Max Sharping, a backup guard,
played seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
I'm just looking here, fifty four snaps total.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Right, Doug Nester offensive tackle he played fifty four snaps
as well, and Um what's the other.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Name, Williams, the guard Williams played fifty four snaps to those.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Four snaps two yes, so uh there's that. Oh, special teams.
We got to talk about special I was just.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Gonna get to that. That's probably the one area that
you get clued in the most. You didn't see your No,
your usual contributors Ben Scronic or Miles Kilibrew got the
night off there. Kilber played a lot of safety though
on the defensive side of the ball. But yeah, labs
like some of the guys like Echuliota or how much
is Jack Sawyer playing on special teams or how much
is Carson Brunner playing on special teams? You can really
(38:05):
get a good inkling on how the Steelers are viewing
those players by how many reps they got on that
side of the wall.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Yeah, and then you also, what I like to do
too is kind of cross reference it with the production
that's reflected in the game book. Now for tackles, special teams, tackles,
and defensive tackles, you know what you get in the
game book. Those statistics are just compiled by the on
(38:33):
site stats group, and all due respect, you know, it's
not necessarily the gospel truth. So the coaches go over
that the video and then they re kind of redo
some of the tackles in terms of who gets a
solo tackle, you know, assisted tackle, you know those kinds
(38:55):
of things. So understand that the numbers I'm giving you
or have not been proofed by the coaching staff. Okay,
Carson Bruner played twenty three special team snaps. He was
credited with two solo tackles. He was in on three
tackles total. That's pretty darn good special teams production. In
(39:20):
on three tackles in a game on special teams kudos.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Well, let's be honest too, labs, like, that's the only
path for Carson Brunner to make this team barring injury.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Yes, I mean the situation at inside linebacker there yet, right, Yeah,
not that he is a stiff by any means on defense.
It's just that you're looking at a group of inside
linebackers for the Steelers that have a lot of NFL
A regular season game experience in this league, and you know,
(39:53):
you maybe keep four, maybe a fifth one if he
is a special team stud. So yeah, right, it's it would.
I don't think it's realistic for Carson Brunner to be
expected to crack the fifty three meter roster as a
rookie as an inside linebacker. Correct, Yes, but some of
(40:17):
the other special teams numbers. Devin Harper also twenty three
snaps on special teams, He had one solo tackle, was
credited with one assist. Max Hurlman, who I thought had
a pretty good game. Yeah, he played thirty five snaps
on offense, four on special teams and in addition to
(40:38):
his production, you know on offense, which you know.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
He had a couple of catches twenty nine yards, he
had Addy got a touchdown pass from Skyler Thompson.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, he he played thirty five snaps on offense, four
on special teams and had a tackle. So again I
think that you know, Max Harlman, and I don't know
which would be tougher for him to make either as
a wide receiver or a running back, because the guy
(41:09):
is capable of lining up at both spots. But if
you're looking at the making the fifty three million roster
at running back, it's going to be difficult, and a
wide receiver it's going to be difficult for Max Herlman.
But again, the guy had a good start to his
NFL career with what he did now. Trey Sermon also
(41:30):
is a guy who had a nice game. You know,
he had seven yards rushing on three carries. He also
had a would you call it a tuddy A tuddy?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, exactly, that's what we call it these days.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Yeah, is it what we call it? But yeah, four
catches for twenty eight yards and eleven yard touchdown. But
he also was in on In addition to his fourteen
offensive snaps, he played eleven snaps on special teams and
made two tackles. So that there's another guy who is
(42:05):
showing that he is more than just a positional player,
could be an asset to a team at the bottom
of a depth chart in terms of like a running
back position or a wide receiver position. He's not a
wide receiver, but what I mean is at the bottom
of the depth chart at positions like wide receiver, running back,
(42:26):
defensive back, maybe maybe even tight end. If you're a
special teams guy, you know, if you have Danny Smith
in your corner when they're doing getting input for who
they want to keep at the fifty three man roster,
(42:46):
cut doesn't hurt to help Danny to have a special
teams guy, special teams coordinator beating the drum for you.
Now again it's only he can only have some congestions
or requests or any of that kind of stuff. But
as I said, if you have somebody like that in
(43:08):
your corner, it certainly doesn't hurt.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No doubt. And as we've mentioned before on this show, Labs,
there's thirty one other teams out there, and you know,
the Steelers were kind of in a similar position last
year to maybe another team will be this year where man,
we just have nobody on special teams, like we got
nobody to be in a gunner spot and arrived Ben
Scronic last year and now he's great and the Steelers
don't really have to worry about that. Steelers are a
(43:31):
deep team, Labs, and not everybody in the NFL has
that luxury.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Right, And you know you were mentioning, you know the
importance of special teams. Miles Boykin made himself a pretty
nice NFL career, and even before that, for anyone you know,
close to my age, there was a guy in the
nineteen nineties Steelers named Fred McAfee. Fred McAfee was he
(44:00):
was a find the ball, get the guy on the
ground with the ball, kind of special teams player, and
he was good at it to the point where he
would actually, you know, you can want to make a
tackle on special teams. You can try to make a
special tackle on special teams. But Fred McAfee when it
(44:22):
came like to the end the last couple of games
of the preseason, he would do that, you know, purposefully
be able to go down and make tackles to be recognized,
to remind the coaching staff, I can do this, keep
me around. And he, as I said, he had a
pretty nice career in the NFL because of that. I
(44:46):
remember back in the days at Three Rivers Stadium hearing
you know a lot of the running backs, Eric p
Gram and other guys, they would always tease Fred McAfee
a out what the draft books said about him when
(45:06):
they were evaluating the guys that are at every position,
you know, the mel Kiper Book and the doel Bush
Bomb Book and all those books that used to come
out before the draft. They would always give McAfee a
hard time about it, saying, hey, I don't see your
name in the top ten running backs or whatever. And
he said, yeah, but you'll see my name on the
roster because I goanana make tackles on special teams and
(45:28):
that is very real.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Well, lads and I come back. We will hear from
some of the sound that was coming out of the Steelers'
locker room following their win against the Jags on Saturday night.
Roosevelt Nicks is also scheduled to stop. He can certainly
weigh in on some of that special team stuff that
we have been talking about. So a lot to look
forward to. On the training camp reports, It's Tom Opferman
and Bob Labriola on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy am
(45:52):
and the Steelers Audio Network.
iHeartRadio's live coverage job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers Training
Camp is presented by Padex where Now meets Next and
also brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health System,
by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente Pizza
and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto, Laurel,
(00:27):
Highlands Visitors, Bureau, Remax, Select Realty, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop,
and by US steel.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Aferman and Bob
Labriola and Labs. I know it doesn't count really for
anything as far as an actual game is concerned, but
Steelers thirty one Jaguars twenty five sure felt good to watch,
and hey, it's better to have that happen than it
is to look like a lot of things maybe struggling
to get going or a lot more things to work
on in these next two preseason games. Not to say
(00:57):
there isn't that, but boy, it's felt good to see
that offense really play well.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah. And the other thing was that was good is
very very little slappiness, and by slappiness I mean burning
timeouts because you can't handle the play clock, false starts.
Just that kind of discombobulated look slash feel sometimes you
(01:23):
get from a team that is making its first appearance
away from its training camp in a real game with
real rules and real officials and you know all that
kind of stuff. Not a lot of turnovers. You know,
the Steelers were only penalized. They were penalized six times.
(01:46):
You know. One of them was a roughing the passer
that took off an interception, which I'm gonna need that
one explain to me. And then you know another one
was uh and off side when Braden Fojoco got his
helmet ripped off and nobody saw it or called it
(02:08):
or you know whatever it is. But I mean there
weren't a lot of you know, like blocking the back things,
just those kind of place rice right, and so yeah,
as I said, not a lot of slappiness. The offense
was three or four in the red zone, you know,
(02:28):
sixty one point on third down, so you know, the
offense had a chance to sustain itself its presence on
the field, get to some plays, do some things. And
I know that preseason openers really probably any no preseason
games really involved game planning specifically uh for the opponent.
(02:49):
But I really liked what Arthur Smith did on offense
by coming out with a lot of quick, short passes,
and that I think that took a little bit of
the sting out of the Jaguars defense. You know, they're
an athletic, fast attacking group, and when you start doing
(03:11):
that to a defense, throwing those quick passes, you know,
you think they're dinking and dunking and all that kind
of stuff. But that is effective beyond the yardage that
it gains or the way that it moves the chains
and allows the offense to possess the ball. But it
also tires those guys out on defense. I mean, because
you know, you run, you're trying to attack the quarterback
(03:34):
and you come off the ball really hard. You take
four steps and it's gone. Then you turn around and chase.
And they also use a little bit of pace too,
the Steelers offense did. So you force them to get
back up on the line of scrimmage and you keep
doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it. Then they
get tired. And so you know that serves to maybe
allow you and some allow you to do some things
(03:57):
on offense, and it also allows you to continue to
evaluate these people because if you're trying to evaluate just say,
you know, tight ends in or wide receivers, and you're
three and out all the time, you're really not getting
anything accomplished in that evaluation thing. So yeah, it was
it didn't count, right, And that's that's the thing that
(04:19):
I think is maybe the most significant about it. It
doesn't count. You know, cam cam, the kicker cam little right,
doesn't count. I mean he made it and everything, but
it's not going in the record exactly what I mean. Okay,
So the fact that it doesn't count is you know,
(04:41):
above and beyond everything else. But in terms of you know,
looking at it in the context of where we are
in the NFL calendar and the process that you're trying
to go through as a team from you know, the
start of training camp now at the start of the preseason,
as you're building towards you know, the start of the
(05:01):
regular season. It was a very nice let me say this,
It should have made for a very nice flight home
from Jacksonville for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, you mentioned this slappiness, the lack thereof on the
offensive side of the ball laps. Do you think that's
because or maybe in large part due to the fact
that you've got two quarterbacks that are veterans in this league.
Mason Rudolph and Skyler Thompson have both started a playoff
game in the NFL. Rudolph against the Bills a couple
of years back with Pittsburgh and funny enough, Skyler Thompson
(05:31):
against the Bills as well, a couple of years back
with the Miami Dolphins. So I think that goes a
decent amount of length when it comes to your offense
and how buttoned up they were, is that you've got
experience there in the backups.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Well, yes, that is part of it, but you know
a lot of that isn't necessarily just the quarterback, Like
the receivers have to know what personnel grouping they're in.
A lot of that is what leads to burning timeouts.
As an example, if the right people aren't on the field,
you know, the play clubs comes in the clocks running
(06:07):
and the quarterback looks around and probably notices it because
he is a veteran, as you just mentioned, then you
got problems, okay, time out that kind of stuff. So, yes,
having quarterbacks with actual NFL experience is that big help
in what you said, but it also avoiding slappiness goes
(06:28):
beyond just that quarterback position, is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Now, The one thing I was really intrigued with was
the offensive line play. That's what I was looking forward
to really the most, because I knew the Jags are
going to play their first team on defense for at
least the start of the game, and the Steelers are
going to play their first team offensive line minus Isaac Camalu,
who got the night off. He's a vet, he knows
what he's doing. I'm cool with that. Troy Fatanu and
Roger Jones, there's a huge spotlight on these tackles. Labs
(06:55):
and Trayvon Walker and josh Heines Allen. There are no
slouches on the other side of the ball, and I
thought Johnson Fatana both did a really good job in
this first game action of the season.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Let me say this, I didn't notice them. It's perfect right,
right exactly. I mean, you didn't hear you didn't see
the Jacksonville defenders abusing them. A lot of times you
catch that on replay, you know, with sacking the quarterback
or you know, those kinds of negative plays that you know,
(07:26):
quick athletic defensive linemen are prone to make, and there
weren't a lot of They weren't hearing their names and
numbers announced by the referee, you know, holding, false start,
you know whatever, it might be, illegal hands to the face.
I mean, there wasn't just a lot of those kinds
of things that drew attention to the Steelers offensive line. Now,
(07:50):
let me say this, the running game. There were some
spurts where it had some success. But you know when
I'm noticing so far, so far, and again it's one
preseason game, the Steelers don't get a lot of push
with their offensive line against the defensive line when you're
(08:11):
when you have fourth and short and you want to
go for it, that's fine, but you can't think that
you're gonna line up and just blows the other team
off the ball and get the first down that way,
the touchdown that way, or whatever kind of short yardage
situation you're in. Now, I'm not saying you give up
(08:32):
on it, you don't try to get better at it,
but right now, what I saw and what we've seen
here a training camp, in these kind of short yardage
running situations, the offensive line does not get a lot
of push. I think that you know that that's going
to need to improve a little bit or you're going
to tax the creativity of your play caller.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, I no doubt, I agree completely. That wasn't apparent
in the game either with the push in the running
game against Jacksonville. But hey, you got to take I
guess I don't want to call them baby steps. But
let's build this thing up one block at a time.
That's why we're playing in August before these things actually
count in September. But the pass protection, though, I mean,
(09:16):
and that was all the way down the line last night.
It wasn't just the first unit, you know, second unit,
third unit did a really good job of keeping Rudolph
and Thompson upright all game long and giving them time
to operate out of the pocket. And you mentioned how
you know, sometimes you can see DNS edge rushers abuse
your tackles. In the instant replay, there was a couple
of times that I saw the opposite. I saw Roderick
(09:38):
Jones kind of just catching Josh Allen into his chest
a couple of times and just kind of like, you know,
walling him off, and who knows how alan how seriously
Allan was taking it, but it looked really impressive. It
looked like a first round pick that you would trade
up for. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, I mean, or at the very least, it didn't
look like someone that you were going to have to
rea play. Yes, you know, and again, as I said,
this is the kinds of things I think you're looking
for from some individuals, and the preseason opener isn't nearly
(10:13):
the same kind of thing you're going to be looking
for from individuals once the regular season opens. So yeah,
nice start on the road. You know. That's and that's
Jacksonville is a place that has not been kind to
this franchise since the Jaguars entered the league in nineteen
ninety five. I could tell you that I was there
(10:33):
for a lot of that stuff. You know, when the
entire stadium in nineteen ninety six the opener not only
did they beat the Steelers, but they all sang all
the fans sang Happy Birthday to Tom Coughlin, just to
you know, rub it in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
So now the jackson the Steelers have a weird history.
Labs A couple back. We obviously know the playoff game
at Heinz Field. That didn't know this, like, it's a
weird one. You know, Steelers have a yeah, seems have
a good history against most of the NFL for being
such a young franchise. Jacksonville has had some success against us.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well, right, And you know when we had Mike Logan
on this show last week sometime, you know, he started
out as the second round pick of the Jaguars and
I asked him about that, and he said that as
soon as he got there, Tom Coughlin, that staff, their
whole program was Okay, this is this is who we want.
(11:33):
This is the franchise we want to emulate, and we
want to beat them. This is this is the the
bull's eye on our schedule. Jacksonville identified the Steelers, you know,
as the model and as a target all at once.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Of course, because back then they were in the same division.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yes, yes, and that was you know, twice a year, right,
and that had that was until two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I think I believe the Houston came aboard.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yes, because you know, Dan Rooney accepted. You know, when
they were trying when they added Jacksonville and Carolina, it
messed up the the numbers in terms of overall teams
in the league. And you know, they were trying to
figure out, who's gonna take these teams. You're gonna put
(12:23):
one in the NFC and one in the a f C. Well,
Dan Rooney said, we'll take We'll take one in our division.
I don't think he ever assumed that, you know, it
was gonna turn out to be as you know, a
bitter of a rivalry or series as it turned out
to be. But I mean that's how that's the genesis
of how Jacksonville ended up in the a f C
(12:45):
Central Division when they joined the NFL.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, as we mentioned, the passing game was sharp on
Saturday night, and Mason Rudolph was really crisp on his
first drive labs and here the touchdown pass that he
threw to Darnell Washington is something that I want to
pick on because use it the seams and having those
tight ends run up the middle of the field like
that a. I think that is something the Steelers should
absolutely utilize because they are a tight end heavy team
(13:10):
and they've got playmakers at the tight end position, including
Darnell Washington apparently, who's added a little bit to his
passing game or pass catching repertoire it appears. But those
kind of plays are the plays that I feel like
this offense has kind of been missing in the past
couple of years, and you can do a lot of
damage with those seams, a crosser over the middle, and
(13:31):
it's good to see them do that for a touchdown
on that first drive of the season.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Technically, yes, and you know, this is a situation where
I would point to the quarterback play more than anything
else because you have to that's the kind of throw
you have to be accurate and on time with, and
you have you know, it has to be you know,
(13:55):
besides accurate, it has to be placed perfectly within the
catch radius of the individual. So you know, kudos to
Mason Rudolph for making that throw. Obviously, Darnell Washington did
his job and his you know, with his hands and
then his body. I think took care of the wording
off the defender, whoever that was, I don't even remember
(14:16):
at this point, but I'll bet you Darnell heard about
it then, and i'll bet you he's hearing about it
a little bit today. About that fifteen yard penalty you
got from Duncan the ball over the crossbar, you know,
I looked it up just to see I thought the
crossbar was ten feet off the ground. I wanted to
make sure it was and it is. That's the regulation
(14:36):
distance of an NFL crossbar. So you know again, you know,
I know Mike Tolman said something to him on the sideline.
I know Alfredo Roberts, the tight end coach, said something
to him on the sideline. You know, fifteen yard penalty
on the first touchdown of a of a new you
know season kind of preseason openers is the you know,
(15:00):
the kickoff of the twenty twenty five Steelers season. So
I'm sure he heard about that. But then maybe in
the coach's locker room after, when it was just the
coaches in there, I wonder if anyone said, hey, how
about our six seven, three hundred pound guy getting off
the off the off the turf in full pads and
(15:23):
dunk in a football. You know, that's an athletic achievement
in itself.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You think coach Mike Tomlin might have channeled his interlu
Brown there, nice dunk, Washington, don't ever do it again.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Maybe maybe Hey, there.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Was a couple of things that I think that the
team needs to show a little bit of improvement in
the running game. Obviously we touched on that a little
bit that might be more so with this offensive line, though,
As you said, Labs needed to get more of a
push and less so with the talent that your running
backs have. And it's also to be noted that Jalen
Warren got the night off and Kenny g was sporadic
in his usage.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, I mean, but you know, flip it around Lou Nichols, right,
Lou Nichols. I mean, I can't tell you as I'm
watching the game, charting at play by play, you know,
and his number would come up and I'd check it,
check it on my on my sheet there, Oh yeah,
thirty five Lou Nichols, Central Michigan. Okay. Then a couple
(16:23):
more plays you see thirty five, do something else, I'd
look down again, go, oh yeah, Lou Nichols, number thirty five.
I mean, this is a guy, and I'm gonna be honest,
and I'm not you know, I'm not bragging about this.
I hardly noticed this guy at all so far at camp,
you know, I mean, and then in this game, I
mean he is. He was by far the best dealers
(16:45):
running back, most.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Productive, yes, five point two average, right.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
A fourteen yard run? Uh. He also caught a nine
yard pass, which is you know, a good gain, you know,
in a situation like that. So yeah, I mean, I'm
not I'm not banging the drum for Lou Nichols to
make the fifty three main roster. I think that, you know,
that's highly unlikely based on the fact you're only going
(17:11):
to keep three probably, but you know, kudos to him,
you know, maybe that won him a job on a
practice squad, Maybe that gets him a shot with another team.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I don't know exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Lou Nichols did well for himself on Saturday night in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And this isn't anything that the Steelers need to work
on labs because nobody was out there that's going to
be in a real game that would really mightily contribute
towards this. But the pass rush I think was a
little bit ineffective in that game. There wasn't a single
sack by the Steelers. Sawyer and Liota were the two
you know, lead dogs going out there with the quote
unquote first team defense. I'm not saying that they didn't
(17:50):
do a good job in this game, but I kind
of wanted to see, you know, a little bit more
pressure on the quarterback. That is the Steelers bread and
butter defensively, but as I noted, you know, no herbig
Heighsmiths hurt and of course no TJ.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Watt right, And I also don't think you're going to
see too much defensively what the Steelers have planned with
this new You know, first of all, in Jacksonville, nobody played.
The top three corners didn't play, as you mentioned the
edge people who didn't play, and even if they did,
(18:23):
I don't think that Tarall Austin and Mike Tomlin have
a whole lot of interest in showing you, you know,
how they may the combinations they might use with some
of the rushes and coverages.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So it was more just like a one on one
beat the.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yes, and a lot of times if you're rushing four
and they and they have five guys blocking with five,
so you're you're at a disadvantage there. So anyway, I
agree with you, but again preseason opener.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Exactly, it doesn't count at all. When we come back,
Labs and I will go over the weather report. It's
the penultimate practice to the public at Saint Vincent College.
We'll go over what we can expect weatherwise. We'll hear
from Mike Tomlin following the Jacksonville game and get to
some of the injuries or lack thereof, that the Steelers
experienced during the game. On Saturday night, it's Tom Offer
(19:18):
Minute's Bob Labriola Training Camp Report, Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage job Dot twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp. He's presented by Fadex where Now meets Next
and also brought to you by First National Bank, by
Kalucy Chevrolet, iron Workers Union Number three, by Easy Home Exteriors,
(19:47):
by SMT Bank, we Max Select Realty, by Tom's Appliances,
the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shot by always Sync Flagging and
Traffic Control, and by US Steel Labs.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
The last few Steelers' practices at Saint Vincent College, it's
been starting to feel a little bit more like a
resort then it has been a training camp. With the
weather a picture perfect, not too hot, not a cloud
in the sky where it would bring in a rainstorm
or thunderstorm that would cancel practice. I mean, Mike Tomlin
might be a little uncomfortable with how comfortable some of
the players have been. Is that going to be the
(20:21):
case for today's practice.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Well, let me tell you this. The good news is
not a lot of humidity. I think everything else would
play right into Mike Tomlin's hands in terms of what
he's looking for from a training camp practice. I mean,
it's eighty one degrees now high is going to be
eighty nine. It's sunny. There is not a cloud in
(20:44):
the sky in terms of one that might give you
two seconds of shade. So, as I said, it's not
a lot of humidity, but it's hot out. There's no
question I'm glad to not be out there running around
on the field.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
So maybe Mike Tomlin will have a nice book end here. Right,
he had that oppressive heat at the beginning of his
training camp, and now he might have a conclusion of
his training camp that kind of brings that back.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, it looks like, you know, tomorrow also is going
to be hot, a little bit hotter, But it doesn't
seem like, you know, we're in that pattern where it
was good. It rained every day, rained every day. At
the same time, you know, looking ahead a little bit,
there is a you know, a chance of showers tomorrow
(21:32):
thirty percent, which a lot of times you know, and
they're spotty, scattered, you know, whatever you want to say.
So fingers crossed about that tomorrow. But it does look
like right now that the one part of the pattern
that we are out of is the daily rain.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
There's only two practices left to go, so hopefully that
that can hold off and we stay in this pattern
where there isn't daily rain for at least these next
two practices. We don't quite know what the practice script
might look like yet. We can potentially get to that
later in the show if we're made to wear. But
one thing that we can let the people know, Labs
is there will not be pads today. This is a
shell's practice helmets only.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yes, and that's kind of typical, you know procedure. I
would imagine most NFL teams, you know, do not come
off a game and hit that, nor do they go
into a game and hit So, you know, the the
game was Saturday night yesterday, Sunday was the you know,
(22:40):
mandatory day off according to the CBA. Today the Steelers
are back here going at it, but you know it
won't be it won't be full scale hitting.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
We always like to bring you Mike Tomlin's thoughts from
the practice the day before at this portion of the
training camp report. Here is what he had to say
following the game again Jacksonville, and if you need to
sit down and get some water, please do because it's
lengthy conversation with Mike Tomlin and the media.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
You know, it was really a good evening's work.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
We got put in a lot of situations and got
a chance to watch people perform in them. Two minute
drive before the half kind of highlighting some of that.
I thought we did a nice job of not beating
our own butt. We kept pre snap penalties virtually to
a minimum. I think we had one. We played a
pretty clean game for the first time out. We gave
(23:31):
a lot of people a lot of opportunities, and that's
what this is about. It was good to see some
offensive players tackling on special teams, defensive players blocking on
special teams. We'll comb through that really closely. In the
top of it all, off Man, we kind of got
through the game virtually injury free. I think Cam McCutcheon
(23:52):
got taken out with a soft tissue injury, maybe a
hamstring that needs to be evaluated. But other than that,
we were pretty clean and so productive night on a
lot of fronts, and obviously we'll come through the tape
man and learn from it in a lot of ways,
both players and coaches, and hopefully be better the next
time out.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I'll Paul isn't open it up for questions.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And you want to.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
All right, thank you, labs.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I think that was probably Mike Tomlin's favorite press conference ever.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, and you know, one of the things that happens
a lot of times in NFL, you know, postgame interview situations,
is the locker room will be open at the same
time that the the head coach gives his remarks, and
a lot of times, well ninety nine percent of the
(24:44):
times now, those are done in separate areas. Uh. And
so the media had a choice to make. Did you
want to listen to Mike Tomlin or did you want
to try and get players? Uh? And anybody who's been
to practice at a training camp, Mike Tomlin speak to
the media every day.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
So so we can take care of that on Monday,
you know.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, yeah, some journalists made their decisions, you know, and
that's fine. But I watched that the video of that
interview on Steelers dot Com. They post the whole thing,
and he had a big smile on his face. Yes
at the end when he said thank you, And there
had to be people in there, otherwise he wouldn't have said,
(25:26):
I'll pause and open it up for questions, because if
there was no one in the room, you know, you
wouldn't you wouldn't say that. You might give your opening
remarks and then just yeah, thank you and leave. Yeah.
So yeah, I'll bet you that was uh, you know,
you talk about maybe the cherry on top of the
(25:47):
Sunday of playing a preseason game on the road, winning,
not having a bunch of injuries, and playing relatively clean,
no questions about it afterwards. That's as I said, I'm
sure that the whole experience Saturday night in Jacksonville contributed
(26:07):
to a very nice plane ride home back to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On the network, I take it from the Tomlin press
conference into break and have to read a sponsor for
it lab. So I get it pulled up on the
computer in our studio and it's playing, and I'm sitting
there like, you know, I got like six or seven
minutes here, right, I can settle in a little bit,
maybe get some other stuff together for my scoring drive.
And then I hear that and I'm like, oh my god,
where's the sponsor, Where's the sponsor doing the scramble drill?
It was truly unbelievable. I've never seen that, and I
(26:32):
don't think we we'll never see that moving forward. I
don't think. Maybe I won't hold my breath. Maybe in
Carolina will have a similar situation in a couple weeks,
but I bet you there'll be some people in front
of them after the Tampa game Saturday at Akrosher Stadium.
We'll get to the injury thing in just a second.
But one other thing that Tomlin did mention LABS was
the successful two minute drill that was on display with
Skyler Thompson in this game. And this is really what
(26:55):
preseason football is all about. That's what coaches want to
get into when they go to these preseason games. Is
that situational type of football in a game setting.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, and you know we saw that worked here up
at training camp by here, and Skyler Thompson did get
some reps in it. I think he took the Okay,
I'm trying to think, Okay, was Thursday was the last
practice in pads before the Jacksonville game. If my memory serves,
(27:25):
Skyler Thompson took the offense into the end zone on
the second rep of two minutes in that practice, or
if he didn't get him in the end zone, and
he looked pretty good moving him down the field. So
you know, that's why, that's how those decisions are made.
A lot of times, when you're doing like you're kind
(27:47):
of gearing your training camp practices as you're moving towards
a game to the situations that you're gonna face in
a game, you usually give the reps to the players
who are most likely going to be on the field
for you in that situation in that game. You know,
for example, it would have made no sense once Mike
(28:07):
Tomlin decided that Aaron Rodgers wasn't playing, to give Aaron Rodgers,
you know, reps in the two minute drill for a
game that he wasn't gonna play. So that's how, you know,
a lot of that stuff comes together in terms of,
you know, what's emphasized the practice and who is on
the field emphasizing it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
You know, since you brought up Aaron Rodgers and we
were talking about, you know, these kind of situational things,
it was funny to hear before you sat down with
coach Tomlin before the game on Saturday, Aaron Rodgers kind
of allude to joint practices being of more value to
him than actual preseason games because you get more reps
and it's that you can really create those situations that
(28:48):
you're trying to instead of hoping that they unfold in
the preseason game. And Mike Tomlin, when he sat down
with you Labs, didn't exactly say that Aaron Rodgers won't
play in the preseason, but boy, he was kind of
alluding to that being the case.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, I mean he mentioned, you know, Aaron Rodgers twenty
one years in the league and the you know, the
the amount of snaps that he's taking and taken in
you know, regular season and postseason games kind of puts
him in a little bit of a different level in
terms of what he has seen, you know, and what
(29:20):
he recognizes and you know all that kind of stuff,
and you know, what he might need to get himself
ready for another regular season. I think that if you've
played twenty one years in the NFL, you kind of
understand how you need to prepare your body for the
rigors of it, because you know, with Aaron Rodgers did
suffer an Achilles injury. But you know that that is
(29:42):
not an injury that happens because you're not physically prepared.
You know, for football, you can't strengthen tendance or it's
no exercise for that, or you know, they would be
strengthening Achilles tendons and acls and Pateeller tendons and all
those kinds of things that often, you know, cause a
(30:04):
guy to miss a whole season. Ben's right elbow tendon,
for example, whichever tendon that was that needed the surgery
in twenty nineteen. So yeah, I don't know. I when
he said what he said to me for the Mike
Tomlins Show, and I was watching him say it. If
(30:25):
somebody would have said to me right after that, you
think Karen Rodgers is going to play it in a
preseason I would have said, no, I do not. And
here's the other thing about you know, joint practices and
preseason games. The other thing is, yes, there will be
hitting in the joint practice, but it's still kind of controlled.
(30:51):
I'm sure there will be no hitting the quarterback and
no second quarterback.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
So you know, when a lot of times for someone
like Aaron Rodgers you know, a joint practice is better
for him to get ready. And you know the other
thing is is what we were talking about in the
very first segment, what are the good some of what
the good things were from the preseason opener, and I mentioned,
(31:22):
you know, the Dealers were good on possession downs, which
allowed them to keep their offense on the field to
continue working on some of the things you want to
work on. Well, preseason game you might go three and
out three times, you run nine plays and you didn't
do anything, I mean, and then they take you out.
And so what was accomplished in terms of you know,
readying yourself for the regular season. So that's another you know,
(31:46):
the two things that I would point to and to
kind of agree with Aaron Rodgers assessment in this way is, uh,
you know, the you know, the violence is controlled, and
you get to run so many plays, whether you know
you gained the ten yards in the first three or not.
(32:09):
And and as Mike Tomlin said though when he was
asked about it, he said, well, he really doesn't find
himself want to get into the business of comparing one
to the other. He said, the Steelers think that both
of those are valuable and they're doing both.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
We'll get into the Steelers getting through the preseason game
relatively healthy when we come back, and we'll also get
into the kind of the snap count percentages that some
players had on offense, defense, and special teams. To wrap
up this first hour, it's Tom Opferman and Bob Labriola
on the Training Camp Report Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy
AM and the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I Heart Radios Live coverage 'b got twenty twenty five
Steelers Training Camp. He's presented by Fadex where Now meets
Next and also brought to you by bud Light, Independence
Health System by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino,
Calciente Pizza and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto,
(33:15):
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, we Max, Select Realty, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro Shop and Buy Us steel.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola Labs before we get to the snapcount percentage that
some of these players had for the Steelers in their
playing time. One last thing that I want to touch
on that Mike Tomlin mentioned was the lack of injuries
Cam McCutchen was the only one that he mentioned in
his postgame presser. And boy, that's so rare to have
(33:44):
that happen at this time of year, especially when you're
down in a place like Jacksonville where it's just so
oppressively hot. You know, it's gonna be a lot of
cramping going on and some maybe some like soft tissue
injuries that go down there, but nothing for the Steelers,
And that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yes, I certainly hope that by you bringing it up,
it doesn't serve to.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Be just everybody else has already so I feel.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I'm gonna blame you. I've decided, all right, fine, No,
but yes that when when you're talking about preseason games,
you know that that was one of the things we
talked about in the first segment. You know, it doesn't
com it doesn't count. Uh. And but another thing I
(34:28):
think you should always say about preseason games is when
you get out of it clean in terms of injuries, uh,
it's a win. So you know, those are the two
things I think you're really kind of looking for in
terms of a mental takeaway from a preseason game. You
(34:49):
don't want to get too high, Uh, if you win
and think that you've arrived or anything, because you really haven't.
And uh, you also want to get out of it
as healthy as possible.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
When you take a look at the playtime percentage for
the Steelers, the starters on the offensive side of the ball,
the quote unquote first team for this preseason game, with
a ton of real first teamers being inactive labs, they
played around fifteen snaps. Rudolph in the first team offensive
line clocked in at twenty two percent of the offensive
snap percentage. Some guys maybe clocking in a little bit less,
(35:21):
like a Roman Wilson, a Darnell Washington, but just a
couple of series for the first team offense.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Right Usually in a game, regular season game, when you
get the snap counts the next morning, for the offense,
there's six people that have played every snap. There'll be
the five offensive linemen and your quarterback pretty much everyone else.
You know, the way offense is played now with all
the personnel packages, you just don't play that many snaps
(35:52):
or all of them. Let me say that, I won't
say that many. You don't play all of the snaps defense.
You know, for the Steelers, for example, like last year,
the guys who played all the snaps were Minka Patrick Queen.
I'm trying to you don't play your defensive lineman every snap,
(36:12):
all the snaps because you know you're rotating them into
Keating Fresh. The same thing with your edge rushers. You're
doing that your other the inside linebacker next to Patrick Queen,
who is the green doc guy, meaning he was the
you know, the defensive quarterback. That's that person is usually
subject to personnel packages as well. You know, for zan
(36:33):
and Landon Robins, for example, he wasn't on the field
in obvious passing situations. If it was Peyton Wilson, you know,
he wasn't on the field for obvious rundowns running situations.
So yeah, that's the snap counts in the regular season.
Those are the people who usually play them all. But
(36:53):
when you look at the Steelers, you know their offensive
linemen were three at the top three thought top three spots.
All of a sudden, my tongue just got really thick
in my mouth. You know. Max Sharping, a backup guard,
played seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
I'm just looking here, fifty four snaps total.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Right, Doug Nester offensive tackle he played fifty four snaps
as well, and Um what's the other.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Name, Williams, the guard Williams played fifty four snaps to those.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Four snaps two yes, so uh there's that. Oh, special teams.
We got to talk about special I was just.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Gonna get to that. That's probably the one area that
you get clued in the most. You didn't see your No,
your usual contributors Ben Scronic or Miles Kilibrew got the
night off there. Kilber played a lot of safety though
on the defensive side of the ball. But yeah, labs
like some of the guys like Echuliota or how much
is Jack Sawyer playing on special teams or how much
is Carson Brunner playing on special teams? You can really
(38:05):
get a good inkling on how the Steelers are viewing
those players by how many reps they got on that
side of the wall.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Yeah, and then you also, what I like to do
too is kind of cross reference it with the production
that's reflected in the game book. Now for tackles, special teams, tackles,
and defensive tackles, you know what you get in the
game book. Those statistics are just compiled by the on
(38:33):
site stats group, and all due respect, you know, it's
not necessarily the gospel truth. So the coaches go over
that the video and then they re kind of redo
some of the tackles in terms of who gets a
solo tackle, you know, assisted tackle, you know those kinds
(38:55):
of things. So understand that the numbers I'm giving you
or have not been proofed by the coaching staff. Okay,
Carson Bruner played twenty three special team snaps. He was
credited with two solo tackles. He was in on three
tackles total. That's pretty darn good special teams production. In
(39:20):
on three tackles in a game on special teams kudos.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Well, let's be honest too, labs, like, that's the only
path for Carson Brunner to make this team barring injury.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Yes, I mean the situation at inside linebacker there yet, right, Yeah,
not that he is a stiff by any means on defense.
It's just that you're looking at a group of inside
linebackers for the Steelers that have a lot of NFL
A regular season game experience in this league, and you know,
(39:53):
you maybe keep four, maybe a fifth one if he
is a special team stud. So yeah, right, it's it would.
I don't think it's realistic for Carson Brunner to be
expected to crack the fifty three meter roster as a
rookie as an inside linebacker. Correct, Yes, but some of
(40:17):
the other special teams numbers. Devin Harper also twenty three
snaps on special teams, He had one solo tackle, was
credited with one assist. Max Hurlman, who I thought had
a pretty good game. Yeah, he played thirty five snaps
on offense, four on special teams and in addition to
(40:38):
his production, you know on offense, which you know.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
He had a couple of catches twenty nine yards, he
had Addy got a touchdown pass from Skyler Thompson.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yes, he he played thirty five snaps on offense, four
on special teams and had a tackle. So again I
think that you know, Max Harlman, and I don't know
which would be tougher for him to make either as
a wide receiver or a running back, because the guy
(41:09):
is capable of lining up at both spots. But if
you're looking at the making the fifty three million roster
at running back, it's going to be difficult, and a
wide receiver it's going to be difficult for Max Herlman.
But again, the guy had a good start to his
NFL career with what he did now. Trey Sermon also
(41:30):
is a guy who had a nice game. You know,
he had seven yards rushing on three carries. He also
had a would you call it a tuddy A tuddy?
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, exactly, that's what we call it these days.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
Yeah, is it what we call it? But yeah, four
catches for twenty eight yards and eleven yard touchdown. But
he also was in on In addition to his fourteen
offensive snaps, he played eleven snaps on special teams and
made two tackles. So that there's another guy who is
(42:05):
showing that he is more than just a positional player,
could be an asset to a team at the bottom
of a depth chart in terms of like a running
back position or a wide receiver position. He's not a
wide receiver, but what I mean is at the bottom
of the depth chart at positions like wide receiver, running back,
(42:26):
defensive back, maybe maybe even tight end. If you're a
special teams guy, you know, if you have Danny Smith
in your corner when they're doing getting input for who
they want to keep at the fifty three man roster,
(42:46):
cut doesn't hurt to help Danny to have a special
teams guy, special teams coordinator beating the drum for you.
Now again it's only he can only have some congestions
or requests or any of that kind of stuff. But
as I said, if you have somebody like that in
(43:08):
your corner, it certainly doesn't hurt.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No doubt. And as we've mentioned before on this show, Labs,
there's thirty one other teams out there, and you know,
the Steelers were kind of in a similar position last
year to maybe another team will be this year where man,
we just have nobody on special teams, like we got
nobody to be in a gunner spot and arrived Ben
Scronic last year and now he's great and the Steelers
don't really have to worry about that. Steelers are a
(43:31):
deep team, Labs, and not everybody in the NFL has
that luxury.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Right, And you know you were mentioning, you know the
importance of special teams. Miles Boykin made himself a pretty
nice NFL career, and even before that, for anyone you know,
close to my age, there was a guy in the
nineteen nineties Steelers named Fred McAfee. Fred McAfee was he
(44:00):
was a find the ball, get the guy on the
ground with the ball, kind of special teams player, and
he was good at it to the point where he
would actually, you know, you can want to make a
tackle on special teams. You can try to make a
special tackle on special teams. But Fred McAfee when it
(44:22):
came like to the end the last couple of games
of the preseason, he would do that, you know, purposefully
be able to go down and make tackles to be recognized,
to remind the coaching staff, I can do this, keep
me around. And he, as I said, he had a
pretty nice career in the NFL because of that. I
(44:46):
remember back in the days at Three Rivers Stadium hearing
you know a lot of the running backs, Eric p
Gram and other guys, they would always tease Fred McAfee
a out what the draft books said about him when
(45:06):
they were evaluating the guys that are at every position,
you know, the mel Kiper Book and the doel Bush
Bomb Book and all those books that used to come
out before the draft. They would always give McAfee a
hard time about it, saying, hey, I don't see your
name in the top ten running backs or whatever. And
he said, yeah, but you'll see my name on the
roster because I goanana make tackles on special teams and
(45:28):
that is very real.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Well, lads and I come back. We will hear from
some of the sound that was coming out of the Steelers'
locker room following their win against the Jags on Saturday night.
Roosevelt Nicks is also scheduled to stop. He can certainly
weigh in on some of that special team stuff that
we have been talking about. So a lot to look
forward to. On the training camp reports, It's Tom Opferman
and Bob Labriola on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy am
(45:52):
and the Steelers Audio Network.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!