August 16, 2023 • 45 mins
Labs and Tom gear up for the penultimate day of Steelers camp. They discuss 7 shots and the Move the Ball drill and hear audio from Coach Tomlin and Alex Highsmith
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Today is the penultimate day of Steelers training camp practices
open to the public. It's the penultimate Training Camp Report show.
And that's a big fancy college word for second to last.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So I was gonna say, where did you learn that?
You have to look that up.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, I have my dictionary right next to me here.
Make sure I sound a little bit smarter than I
actually am when I open up this show. But the
finish line is on the horizon for the Steelers for us.
Are you sad or are you getting a little choked
up that you're gonna have to look at Saint Vincent
in the rear view mirror here coming up?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
No, I mean, honestly, I love coming out here.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I do.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean it's you know, in terms of a training camp,
I mean it's it's it's great. It's a it's a
great setting. You know, everything is kind of contained. You know,
I like waking up and at work. You know, it's
very convenient. But as you mentioned, the sight of this
(01:09):
place in the rearview mirror when it's over is you know,
one of the highlights. You know, it's it's it's you know,
I don't I don't know that I would say it's
second or first in terms of you know, arriving or leaving.
You know which do I like better? But you know,
it's it's it's a highlight. I will say that. And yeah,
(01:31):
it's it's time. It's time to leave. It's time to
leave the old college dorm. Yeah, I'm ready to end
the sharing the bathroom with the fellas, you know, all
those kinds of things. And I can go back now
to ignoring the six thirty sports report on the DV.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Morning that you share in the dorm rooms.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, and I did learn last night. You know, Mike
pursued Jerry Doulek and I did a DVE radio show
last night from seven to nine, and so in the
process it was a break or something. And Pursuda looks
over me and goes, yeah, by the way, smart Alec,
I can hear you through the wall too.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So we pay them back. That's good, labs. You know,
an hour and a half later when we go on
the air, it's payback time.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, you know, it's EBB and flow. It's not only
on the practice fields, it's up in the dorms too.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, it's almost over, but you still got a couple
of practices to get through if you're the Steelers. And
yesterday was a practice following an off day, and Tomlin,
we'll hear from him in a little bit, but he
mentioned in his press or, you know, he liked the urgency.
The guys came out strong, and that's kind of been
the case all throughout camp. Anytime there's been a practice
before a day off, after a day off, practice after
(02:48):
a game, the urgency and the intensity has been there
for coach Tomlin. But one thing he did mention in
the negative Labs is just some sloppiness going on with
attention to detail and execution at time. And he also
put that on not just the players, but the coaching
staff and their teaching process. I think that's just a
part of this. You know, you're gonna have sloppiness, You're
(03:09):
gonna have execution problems as you start training camp after
an off season apart you bring the team together, you're
trying to gel. But I don't think it's a coincidence
that Tomlin wanted to mention it in his opening remarks
in this pressure because as camp breaks, the second preseason
game starts, and the regular season is on the horizon,
you really want to start seeing that sloppiness and those
(03:30):
execute that execution start to really you know, get to
a good level, get to a level that he's comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, you know, and I think it's only natural, you know,
because you know, earlier we were just talking about you know,
being here and just the you know, there's good and bad.
I mean, as I was talking about everything self contained
and convenient and close, you know, but there's a drudgery
to it as well. There just is. I mean, you
(03:59):
just with the same people all the time. It's relatively
close quarters. Your days are pretty much, uh, one after
the other. Every minute is mapped out for the most part.
And so yeah, I mean that that gets that weighs
on you too, and I can you know, and I'm
(04:19):
just speaking for myself. You just you know, your your
mind kind of drifts. You're not necessarily concentrating as diligently
as you should be all the time to every little thing.
And you know, there's a lot going on for a
player on a practice field, a lot of detail you
need to be attending attending to always on your details
(04:44):
always on you know, your your the screws as they
say sometimes, So yeah, I could see where you're going
to just have days and this last little period here,
let's not forget okay, those game Friday off Saturday, practice
Sunday off Monday, then practice yesterday. So you know, you're
(05:09):
not even in the in the where you can do things,
you know, just by rote because the schedule isn't you know,
when you go through like six straight days of practice,
I think you can get into a routine and and
and just kind of robotically, you know, go through it.
And I think that helps in a lot of ways.
But when things are off and on as they have
(05:32):
been lately, you know, you're waking up in different beds
in different states. You know, it's just it's just kind
of it's just just kind of weird. And so yeah,
the sloppiness really didn't surprise me. I'm actually, if I
was surprised about anything, is that it took this long,
you know, for that to kind of hit in. And
(05:54):
but one of the things you know that Mike Tomlan
also talked about was that what do you like to
about it was or the challenging, uh point of at
the teaching point of it was that, you know, can
they then kind of adjust in the middle of the
session as opposed to you know, having to wait until
(06:15):
you know, you watch it on video, evaluate it, talk
about it, and then adjust after that, because, as he said,
in a game, you don't have that opportunity to do that.
You know, if you're sloppy in the first quarter, you know,
one of the keys is to be able to adjust
(06:35):
to that on the fly, you know, right there on
the sideline or you know, wherever it might be, and
then continue to play and hopefully get better so that
you can salvage you know, the game itself. And what
I will say is that there were there were things
(06:58):
that didn't work for one of the un It's early
that those units then you know, came back and performed
better at the end of the of the practice. And
so I'm going to assume I wasn't down there naturally
a part of it. I must. I'm going to assume
that there were some things that were you know, adjusted
to or you know, rough edges were filed off or
(07:19):
whatever it was. And you know, we saw some of
that you know EBB and flow kind of thing that
is a hallmark of a good team. So you know, again,
it just seems that this during this training camp, no
matter what happens, Mike Tullman has been turning it into
a teaching moment. If it's the weather, if it's the
(07:42):
officials here, if it's you know, whatever it might be. Uh,
he seems to be taking that and turning it into
a you know, a learning experience for the players, a
teaching moment for the coaches.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
And then you know, you push on through. So you know, again,
I don't want to be too optimistic here, but I'm
liking a lot of what I'm seeing up here. And
you know, hopefully, you know, this continues, because you know,
I think that this this team. I'm not going to
predict anything, but I think that this team has the
(08:19):
potential to be a whole lot better than a lot
of people think.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, the competition period started yesterday with seven shots, as
it often does, and this seven shots addition labs had
a little bit of Tomlin stoking those competitive fires at
the end of it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, you know, I've seen seven shots now for years
and years. I mean, well, let's not get carried away,
but you know, I've seen it a lot of times
and I've never I never saw this, and what happened was,
you know, for the for the second straight practice seven
(08:57):
shots except for the second straight drill seven shots drill
in practice, the first team offense led by Kenny Pickett,
they get four reps and then each of the last
two the only touchdown scored was a running play. So
you know it was not Kenny Pickett's finest hour in
(09:17):
either one of those. You know, the first play handoff
to Naugie Harris goes off right tackle into the endzone, touchdown.
But then the next three were passes all and all
of them fell incomplete.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
The first was again you know, it's hard for me
to judge. You know that Pat Fryarmouth cut off his
route early. Was the throw just off target? I don't know,
but you know the bottom line is it was out
of his region, was incomplete. The next play, Najie Harris
(09:57):
did a nice job, by the way, he had just
himself after the snap from one side of the quarterback
to the other to pick up a blitz. But I
think it was a back shoulder throw for Alan Robinson
that was in complete. Levi Wallace was in coverage. And
then the third pass or Yeah, the third attempt was
(10:24):
intended for George Pickens, and you know, Joey Porter Junior
just made a good play. I mean Pickens had it
in his hands, but Porter came up and just raked
the ball out. So the first team was done. The
defense had a three to one inch in the drill
so far. So then Mitch Trubisky comes in quickly, throws
(10:45):
a past Connor Hayward in the end zone for a touchdown,
throws a Darnell Washington in the end zone for another
touchdowns three to three. So here we are, now that
the tiebreaker the seventh game, when, however you want to
call it, it's tied three to three. So Mike Tomman
then did again, as I said earlier, something I had
never seen before, kind of stopped the drill and quickly
(11:07):
ordered the first unit offense and the first unit defense
back onto the field because, as he said later, you know,
he didn't want to have the drill riding on the pups.
So you put the first teams back out on the field.
(11:27):
Pikett went to Deontay Johnson. He made the catch, uh
for a touchdown. He beat well, I won't say beat,
but Joey Porter Junior was in coverage. So you know,
the offense, they had their moment.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You know, I don't know what was for dinner last
night or if that was even you know, hanging in
the balance, but the offense after the first team group
of the offense, after not looking very good, came back
and delivered in the clutch and wanted for their unit
quarter three.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, and I know he wanted to see best on best,
you know, to get that tiebreaker. But I also wonder
if Tom and wanted to see how that first unit
on offense would bounce back to such a struggle in
their first four attempts and seven shots, you know, having
that short memory and bouncing back to.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Win a drill.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You know, i'llah winning a game late in the fourth
quarter that you struggle in the first three quarters.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, And you know it wasn't It wasn't just yesterday too,
because as I said, Sunday's practice, Yeah, Sunday, I got
to keep my days right here, right, Sunday's practice was
the same thing. The only touchdown that the you know,
first offense scored was a running play, So yeah, it
was it was a couple of bad drills in a row.
(12:46):
For the first team offense. But again in crunch time
when it needed it, it got what it needed.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Coach Tomlin stopped buying chatted with the media following practice yesterday.
Let's take a listen to what coach had to say.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Really good day for us to run out of a
off day, and I thought they did that.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
I thought they brought energy and urgency.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
We got some coaching, teaching and learning to do as
far as execution and detail at times a little bit
sloppy on both sides. But that's that's a component of
it too.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
More importantly than that when that happens, I'm looking at
our ability to rally in the midst of it. Can
we flip it in the middle of practice, because that's
kind of reflective of way things transpire in stadiums. You know,
if things aren't going our way, what is our ability
to flip it in stadium as opposed to you know,
acknowledging it and fixing it in the in the upcoming week.
(13:35):
And so sometimes we have a day like that, it's
good to make that point. It's good to challenge them
in those ways, players and coaches to make necessary schematic
adjustments to gather ourselves to refocus in and effort to
finish practice and the way that we desire. And I
saw semblances of that, and so that's good. Those that
are not healthy enough to participate, things are are moving
(13:58):
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
We're getting more participation from.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Some of those guys who who miss time, Benton, Porter Junior,
the two safeties KZ and Neil, and so it's reasonable
to expect those things to continue. And as we get
closer the game time, we'll we'll look closer than at
how we divide the labor up and who plays and
how much they play. But right now, we just appreciate
(14:22):
these days, the work that's here, this atmosphere, the support
that we get from still a nation.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Just we appreciate it. All questions, defense is pretty louder
if you they would get into it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Huh, yeah, they were in man. We do some things
to stimulate competition. We move the ball and fun stuff. Uh,
good competition things.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Mike, what are you singing the competition between Nick Kurbig
and Broderick Jones And what do you think that's stilling
for each of them?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
How that match? I think I think we're all a
big winner.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
When you get two young guys that have some talent
and they're competing against each other, regardless of who wins
the reps, we win because it's an iron on iron principle.
It's fun to watch them do it. Both got tremendous
upside and and so they're good dance partners.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Like building after that, he talked at rank last year
about the continent unity, the offensive line, how.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Healthy you guys were built up the depths, and you
also brought on some veteran influence there too.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Have you noticed that being the same this year, And
just as both guilded in that regard to.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
This season, you know, not comparing it in any way
to last year. I just like the trajectory of the group.
I like the mix of talent, experience and inexperience. I
like the depth and competition. We're positioned to to take
a step with that group, and and and we're excited
about it.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
What went in your decision?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Let's play seven trunks and the.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Stoke It was three three just to stoke the competition,
get those guys back out there and and and let
them compete and and and be leaders for the other groups,
and and so you know, you hate to have the
drill riding on on the pups and and so we
put the put the the starters back out there.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
What have you seen out of vib Watts elidated reps?
Although he's not's not young, he's new to you.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Got he's an NFL player. You could tell he's been
in an NFL environment. He's available consistently every day. He'll
be even given an opportunity to state state a case
for himself for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Have you seen so far from Spencer Anderson?
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And what about him?
Speaker 7 (16:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Do you think the center was with his possibility?
Speaker 5 (16:25):
He did all those things in college and and so
you know, if you show versatility, it helps his cause
in hours. And he appears to be a young guy
at least intellectually that's capable of handling it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
The more we give him reps will be revealed whether
he's physically capable of handling it. So far, so good,
but just a bat dame and Marcus Golden took care
of him.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Larry ogin joke, helsing moving closer.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Coach Thomas speaking to the media following practice yesterday. Loud
just touching on his injury report before he hit the
brake here nothing really specific, but he did just say,
you know, anybody who are not healthy enough to participate,
our moving in the right direction. So that's a positive.
And then you saw some participation yesterday from guys that
have missed time. Keanu Benton was a limited participant in practice,
(17:09):
Joey Porter Jr. Was out there Demonte Casey, and Keanu Neil. So,
as Tomlins said, it's reasonable to expect those things to continue,
and it looks like the team is getting healthier despite
not having many, you know, debilitating injuries to begin with.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, and from now on, we're not allowed to talk
about that anymore because you know, it's like saying beatlejuice
three straight times.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I've been saying it a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I'm just yeah, I'm just kidding, tempting fate, whatever. But yeah,
it does seem to be trending in the right in
the right way. You know. Joey Porter Junior. Of the
people that were mentioned, well, yeah, Devonte Casey to Casey,
they were full participants. You know. As an example, Keanu Benton.
(17:56):
If if yesterday was a regular season practice and the
team had to file the practice report under the parameters
that with which you do that during the season, he
would have been listed as a limited participant. I mean
he took part in the individual things, but not none
of the eleven on eleven. He was out there the
(18:16):
entire time, So that would that would qualify as limited
participant during a regular season practice. Joey Porter Junior. However,
de Monte case, they were full participants. I mean they
took took part in the eleven on eleven stuff, and
it seemed that throughout the eleven on eleven they were
(18:40):
just part of the regular rotation. You know, no one's
out there all the time. Obviously, you got ninety million rosters,
a lot of personnel groupings and stuff, but they seemed
to be with their group throughout the entire afternoon.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
The Steelers added something new to the practice script yesterday.
We'll get into that competition period drill next, and we'll
also hear from Alex Highsmith as the training camp report
rolls on on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
He sees the training camp report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Move the Ball.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Pretty self explanatory new drill that the Steelers implemented in
training camp. It's the last week of camp and they're
putting new wrinkles into the practice script labs. And this
was something you know, a little bit I don't want
to say unique. I think it called on elements from
other drills that you've seen in the past, but it
was new and it was something you know, fresh that
these guys could participate in.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, with a little wrinkles on a few different things.
It was a tackling drill for the most part. And
you know what it entailed was, you know, the offense
got the ball first and ten at the thirty yard line.
So if you're on offense, you keep the ball as
(20:08):
long as you continue to move the sticks. You know,
it's different from two minute where there was a clock
you know involved and timeouts and you know that kind
of thing. So there wasn't any of that, and so
you move. If you're on offense, you keep the ball,
You stay on the field as long as you continue
to you know, get first downs for the defense. The
(20:29):
object is, you know, to prevent the first down, force
a quote unquote punt or turn it over on downs,
depending upon you know where the offense was at the time,
and that's how you end the drill. So, yeah, there
were three periods of this as it turned out, and
it was it was lively, not so much for you know,
(20:54):
the hitting, the violence, but I mean, seriously, you know,
these are professionals, They've been here a long time. You know,
this is a again, it's a drill towards the end
of a training camp. I mean, I can, as we've
talked about this already so far, in this particular hour,
(21:15):
you know how looking forward I'm getting to, you know,
packing up and leaving, right, I can only imagine what
the players are going through in that respect. But they
were into it. I mean there was a lot of
talking and chirping at you know, defense guys on the
sideline talk talking and chirping at the offense. Offense guys
(21:41):
on the sideline talking and chirping at the defense. I
mean it went back and forth, and you know, it
looked like they were having fun, you know, in terms
of you know, what you would call fun at the
end of a two and a half hour, two hour
practice in the third week of this camp or whatever
it is. But yeah, it was, it was. It was
(22:05):
fun to watch too. I I enjoyed it. You know,
there are there are drills that kind of moved the
needle on the interest scale. And as I said, I
had never heard of this before, but this was this
was okay, and you know, you you look at it,
uh in terms of the results. You know, the offense,
(22:26):
you know, put cut their stuff together and won seven shots. Okay,
So now moved the ball. The first repetition, the offense
goes three and out. Okay, Uh, Kenny pickt on third down.
He threw an incomplete pass on third and two from
the thirty eight yard line. So that was it forced
to punt quote unquote, and so then that ended that
(22:51):
repetition and the defense was very happy about that second rep.
You know, Mitch Trubisky came on the second offense. He
gained a couple of first downs without facing a third down,
but then it was from the defense's thirty nine yard line.
(23:13):
Jalen Warren gained a yard. Then Trubisky threw two incomplete passes.
In other words, when I say the defense is thirty
yard line, thirty nine yard line, the offense had crossed
the fifty. I mean they moved that far. So after
so first intent from the thirty nine, Jalen Warren gains
the yard and then Trubisky throws back to back incomplete passes.
(23:38):
The first one was incomplete for Miles Boykin because he
was under pressure, and the second one was incomplete also
because he was under pressured outside linebacker David Perrelli's for
standing incompletion. Okay, so that's another win for the defense.
So then go back to the first units, back to
(23:58):
the thirty yard line, and this was you know, now
you're starting to see, I don't know, things that you
really want to see by the people you really want
to see them from. I guess it's a good way
to put it. So the first pass or the first
play of the third repetition, you know, Pickett goes a
little bit farther down the field for George Pickens, cutting
(24:21):
towards the sideline, Minka Fitzpatrick comes out of nowhere, and
that's the ball away. Okay. Lots of chirping, lots of chirping.
So you know, because George Pickens, you know, likes to
remind the defensive players when he makes a great play,
and that has happened fairly regularly out here, and so
(24:42):
Cam Hayward and some of the other defensive players were
pointing out that Mincoln knocked the ball away from them. Okay.
So then second and ten, Kenny Pickett's pass went through
Deontay Johnson's hands. It was high and hard. Maybe he
should have caught it. You know, I'm sure that if
(25:03):
it was in a game, there would be some moaning
about it. But from the fan base, who knows. I
might have even classified it as a drop, you know,
one of those you should have had it. Third and ten,
Kean O'Neil came through on a blitz and he just
forced another throw toward Deontay Johnson and that one's batted
(25:24):
away by Levi Wallace.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
And you know.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Cam Hayward was. He was doing a lot of talking
after that. I mean they all all the defensive guys.
I mean they they were letting the offense know that.
You know, three reps. You didn't really move the ball.
You didn't live up to the name of the drill.
So again, as I said, I enjoyed watching it. I
personally liked that back and forth. I mean it never
(25:51):
escalated to the point of fights, you know, or pushing
or shoving or anything. You know, they're just they're talking
to each other and.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
They call it the competition carried for you got to
get out.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
There, Yes, I get it right and well. And I
think it's also justified during the competition period if you
win the competition period, to remind the other side that
you won the competition period. So and then that was
the end of the practice. And as I said, I
I was entertained. And you know, as we've mentioned many
times on this hour previously, my personal entertainment should be,
(26:26):
you know, one of the key points of every day
out on the field for the team.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That's why Toman looks at you every time before a
drill starts, like a gladiator the Emperor. The thumbs up
or the thumbs down. You have a fun or you're
not labs. If it's the thumbs down, we'll switch things up,
we'll get it a little bit more excited.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Or as Joe Pesci said in Goodfellows, I amuse you.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
You know, well, one thing that was amusing and entertained you,
I'm sure is you got to see that ebb and
flow that you've talked about on this training camp report
repeatedly throughout this camp process. You know, you don't want
to see the offense just dominate in the competition periods,
you don't want to see the defense just overwhelm in
these competition periods, you want to see balance, and I
(27:06):
think yesterday was just a perfect example on the micro
of that. You saw seven shots where the offense got
the better of the defense, and then the defense responds
by getting the better of the Offense's that's what you
want to see. That's what good teams present in these
camp settings, is a natural back and forth and not
just one overwhelmingly one sided result.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
And one of the things I've noticed though, and this
is from years and years of coming to training camp,
the fans cheer when the offense makes a great play,
Like the fans didn't cheer when Minka broke up that time.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
So the defense becomes public enemy number one out there.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Well, you know, I don't know why that is. And
as I said, that's been going on, you know, two
coaches ago. It was always and I remember Lee Flowers
lost his mind one time at that because you know,
the defense was having a good practice or a good session,
(28:05):
or a good period of a practice, whatever it was.
I don't really remember specifically, but you know, every time
the offense did something, the fans would cheer, and every
time the defense did something good, it was it was
silent and you know, leaf flowers. He was. He was
kind of a boisterous you know a personality. Yeah, yeah,
(28:28):
an a personality, I guess you would say. And he
started yelling at the you know, y'all never cheer for
us or whatever he said. I mean, it wasn't anything
profane or but it was, you know, he was he
was emotional a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
It wasn't exactly all ing, is what you're saying. There
was some seriousness to it.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, it was. It was similar to the after the
And don't ever bring this up to Mike Tomlin either,
because I did once and I can tell you that
it's kind of still still a touchy subject. The two
thousand and one game the Steelers played in Tampa against
the Buccaneers, and that was at a time when Tampa
Bay was constantly a preseason pick, you know, to either
(29:14):
go to the super Bowl or win the super Bowl,
you know whatever. It was.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
That was doungee right that back then, that would have
been Gruden. I think Gruden would have come in.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
No, No, no, that was that was yeah. That was
Dunge's last year two thousand and two. They actually won
the Super Bowl r two thousand and one. So the
Steelers go down there and spank them bad. I mean,
it wasn't a big margin on the scoreboard, but Jerome Bett,
it's just ran over everyone. Yeah, and Lee Flowers he
(29:45):
started after the game, he's calling him paper champions. Buccaneers
are paper champions, paper champions. And so, you know, one
time I thought, you know, hey, I have a good
relationship with the head coach. I'm gonna ask him about
the paper champions game. No sense of humor, none, none, none.
So yeah, don't bring that up around Mike Tom. He
(30:08):
will not react to it favorably. And you know, I
can't really blame him, because you know, what I think
is funny, he lived it from the other side, and
so he still doesn't think it's funny. Two Super Bowl
rings later.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I was gonna say I won the ring the
next year.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, but anyway, but yeah, so that that's you know,
I kind of went off on a tangent there. But
that's one of the things that I've noticed in coming
to all these training camps all these years is fans
like offense, and that's what they cheer for. And so
I do think that maybe some of that seeps in
(30:44):
to the defense's mentality and when they do something, since
they're getting a lot of cheers from the crowd, sometimes
they generate their own enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Well, one guy who hasn't been hearing the crowd cheers
has been Alex high Smith, but he's stop by to
chat with Missy Matthews and Craig Wolfley following practice yesterday
and talked about the defense's success in that move the ball,
competition period, and much more. Let's take a listen to
Steelers outside linebacker Alex Heismith.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Alex, before we talk a lot of things, especially about
that first preseason game, explain the last team period you
guys just went through and how it ended for the defense.
Speaker 8 (31:21):
Yeah, you know, I feel like get into good force.
You know, That's what I love about the practices that
we have. And you know, how coach, how Coach Tomlin
organizes our practices is they're meant to be competitive, and
I think, you know, today it got very competitive, especially
towards the end, and so I think, you know, by
him doing that, you know, it helps us to become,
you know, competitors and to be successful. To win in
(31:41):
this league, you have to be so competitive. This is
the ultimate competitors game, and so that's what I love
about it. And the competition was definitely out today, Alex.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
The beautiful thing about it is you look across from Echo.
You've been against Danny Moore and Roderick Jones, all these guys,
teammates and everything. But then when you get to the
competitive period, all of a sudden, it's like I don't
even know you. And that's where the competition derives, because
now it's one on ones. It's you know, minor we modeling.
You have at it, but that's what really keeps the
sword sharp, does it not?
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Oh for sure? And so Iron Sharpen and ire you know,
going against those guys every day and make each other
better and just like you said, you know, just so
you always want to win. So having that competitive ed
you know, like I said, Chach Tom was always there,
especially during the past rush one on ones. He's always
there watching us and driving the competition. I know you
see it too, So just him being there and he
just really you know, he'll he demands you know that
(32:29):
you compete and that you that you give you all.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
And so that's what I love about it, Alex.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
I know some starters didn't play on Friday night in
Tampa Bay. You didn't play a ton either, But when
you guys went back and watched the film, what did
you guys learn as a unit?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Yeah, I think, uh, just no matter how we play,
there's always ways we can improve, you know. Ultimately, you know,
we came up with the victory, and that's what matters most,
and that's always what's gonna matter most. No, it's no
matter if it's preseason nor regular season. Uh, getting the
victories is first and foremost. But just like I said,
you know, there's a little things you can improve on,
but you know, overall, it's just starting seeing you know,
a lot of young guys out there making plays and
(33:02):
stuff on those really cool and just being out there,
you know, defensively, you know, getting our communication down and
stuff like that. Like I said, you know, we've got
a lot of ways we can improve, but overall, it
was a good first start.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
Well let's see now, in particular, you got the ghost move,
you got the Spinnerowski, you got the one hand stab
on the inside. What do we add into the arsenal
that you can reveal without you know, having to kill
me or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
It'll make for a short interview.
Speaker 8 (33:27):
I'm trying to perfect those and I think I'm gonna
keep everything get close to the best. Yeah, Coast the chefs.
I'm not trying to reveal too much, but I'm at
the same time, I'm trying to perfect what I have already.
Just can't continue to get.
Speaker 7 (33:40):
Better in that way, Alex, when Nick Herbig came in,
he played a lot of special teams in Tampa, but
then we saw him on defense and what he was
able to do to do in a limited number of snaps.
What do you guys like about him and what can
we expect from him this rookie year.
Speaker 8 (33:53):
Yeah, you know, I think he definitely played played really
good on coming in. You know, he's got a motor,
you know, to be to be successful and to be
playing the league, you got to have that. And so
he was getting out the ball fast, he was rushing well,
and so looking forward to see how he builds on
that in the second game. But you know, he's been
rushing well all camping, so you know, he definitely came
out and had a good first showing.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Alex for yourself in particular as you face the buff
Bills coming up going into Actor. Sure, it's nice it's
a home game and everything else, But what is it
that you're looking for from your first game to maybe
the second game. Is there anything that you're kind of
look at and you go, oh, I do want to
tweak that or want to get a little better at this,
because it is always an ever evolving game of doing
something a little bit better.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
Yeah, just like I said, you know, there wasn't I
didn't only play three plays the first game, and so
really it's been me watching my filming from this from
twenty twenty two and watching ways that can get better,
you know, getting better getting out the rock, shedding blocks,
make it like just being more violent at the point
of its tack. So just trying to work on those
little things just starts here at practice. I feel like
I've been doing that and looking forward to see it
(34:53):
see it translate.
Speaker 7 (34:53):
To the game, Alex. We know what will be ultimately
up to head coach Mike Tomlin, but does the first
team in it on defense want to play together? Not
a significant amount of snaps on Saturday, but enough to
just knock off the rust and know that what you
guys are doing out here on the practice fields can
translate to game situations.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 8 (35:11):
You know, we'll see what decisions made, but you know,
it's always good to get out there and you know,
get your feet wet for the year and go out
there and get some reps and stuff like that. You know,
So we'll see when that decision is made. But you know,
it's always, like I said, even though I was only
out there three plays the other day, it was good
to get out there and just you know, get get
some plays in and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
So we're going to see steel.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Was outside linebacker Alex high Smith following practice yesterday. When
Labs and I come back on the Training Camp Report,
gonna sink our teeth a little bit into a position
battle that's potentially going on on that offensive line. And no,
I'm not referring to the left tackle spot that's on
the way next on the Training Camp Report on Steelers
Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
VC's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Kendrick Green has been a bit of a phenomenon up
at Steelers' camp in twenty twenty three, with his usage
in the full back position, lining up in the backfield,
catching some passes clear in the road for Warren and Nagy.
But Labs, you're gonna have to do more than just
you know, play a small role at an interesting fullback
position to make this team. I think you're gonna have
(36:26):
to also establish yourself as that backup center. Kendrick Green
has the first shot of that ran with the twos
against Tampa Bay, and to put it lightly, it could
have gone a little bit better for Kendrick in that aspect.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah. The one thing I will say though, in his defense,
is I've asked several people who you know, know these
kinds of things. That wasn't a holding penalty. Okay, shouldn't
have been called because the way it was explained to
me was he didn't have his hands too far outside
(37:01):
the defensive player, nor did he use his hands to
redirect him. So now I'm not saying it wouldn't be
called in a regular season game, even because you know,
as listeners to this show always know that I'm never
critical of NFL officials. Well they never make a mistake,
(37:21):
they never Well just ask him, they'll tell you so.
But yeah, so that was a bad penalty. So that
wasn't one necessarily the deserves to go on the Kendrick
Green black mark board. But you're you're right, the bun
bad snap was not pleasant. He did bounce back last
(37:44):
or yesterday. Excuse me, I almost said last night yesterday,
you know, during the practice at one point again, you know,
one of the things that I've started doing now the
last several days is, you know, a lot of times
during an afternoon practice, there will be things going on simultaneously.
(38:05):
For example, during a period that's usually seven on seven,
which is just you know, receivers running routes, a quarterback
not being under pressure, you know, it's just pitch and
catch kind of, and then simultaneously to that it will
be one on one offensive lineman versus defensive lineman past
(38:28):
pass rush, pass protection. So now what I do is,
you know, at practices, Mike Tomlin wears a white baseball cap.
He's the only one in the white baseball cap, so
it's easy to find him. So I find the white
baseball gap and wherever the white baseball cap is, that's
the drill that I watch. So yesterday it was one
(38:51):
on one pass rush pass protection, and one of the
matchups was Kendrick Green against Isaiah Laudermilk. So after the
first two reps, all the defensive guys were yelling rubber match,
rubber match, and Mike Tolman said, hey, no, rubber match.
(39:11):
He lost the first two. So Kendrick Green, you know
he Okay, let me just say this, and I can't.
You know, if you want to ask Max or Wolf,
you know, they'll give you a much more detailed assessment
of Kendrick Green's performances, how he's doing, whether it's you know,
(39:34):
his hand placement, is he dropping his hips? You know,
all that offensive lineman stuff that I don't understand. That's
why I asked them. But here's my thing. Okay. September tenth,
the regular season opens against the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Pretty good team, good defense. Who's your backup center? I mean,
(39:55):
Nate Herbig would be someone you would consider. Certainly he's hurt.
Is he going to be hurt? How much time is
he going to miss? I don't know the answer to that.
So and we're asking this question now. So what we
know right now is Nate Herbig is injured. Spencer Anderson
(40:16):
very interesting guy. Mike Thumbin talked about Okay, Mike Toumban
talked about him after in his post practice assessment, and
he mentioned, you know he's intellectually he has the ability
to play the position. Now we're going to see if
he can handle it physically. Okay, excellent. You know, Spencer
Anderson's having a good camp. But by all counts, his
(40:41):
best position is tackled. He can play them all, but
his best position is tackled.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
He didn't experience at all of them in college. Correct,
he went all over that line in Maryland.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Right, But you know, the forty nine ers are not Illinois.
You know, he was like he was a center at Maryland.
That's the Big Ten. They don't open with Illinois. They
open with a forty nine ers, So you know that's
a little bit different, not kind of not to crack.
And it's the first game, you know, so it's not like, well,
(41:13):
Spencer Anderson, he might be very good at it. Come
Halloween Center. Okay, great, but what do you do September tenth.
So to me, it's gonna be interesting to see how
the initial fifty three men roster is made up because
you got to have a backup center. I mean, I'm
not going to say backup center is as important as
backup quarterback, but it's pretty close. H So whoever you
(41:34):
have in that job or that role has to be
you have to be comfortable enough in him to put
him in in the game, and you know, expect the
offense to continue to function. So you know that, I
think that that's it's a non sexy kind of thing
to watch for fans, right, But I think it's going
(41:56):
to be interesting in terms of how the fifty three
initial fifty three men rosters made up, because I don't
think you go into the start of the regular season
without a backup center that you feel confident you can
put in a game against a team like the forty
nine ers and still be able to operate offensively.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, and you know, it's I think important to stress
that we're talking backup center here. Mason Cole has his
grips on that starting spot, but it is still important
to establish depth and at that position as well, because
you know, I've heard some people speculate, well, maybe a
James Daniels can bump inside and play center in a pinch.
I don't really want that, Labs. If Daniels is healthy,
(42:35):
I want him to stay at that right guard spot
and really establish himself there. I would much rather prefer
seeing someone like a Kendrick Green, you know, really be
able to take the reins on this number two spot.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
Yeah, And I mean here's the other thing. I mean, James, Yeah,
James Daniel. You know theoretically, you know, for the purposes
of this discussion, James Daniel can James Daniels can you know,
step in and play center in a pinch? Never saw
that steel or uniform. No, So yeah, he can do it.
Maybe he has done it, but you know, two years ago,
(43:10):
two and a half years ago, whenever it was again,
I don't know that you want to throw him in
against the forty nine ers because when will he start
practicing that? Because by my you know, overly stressed eyes,
I haven't seen it here this whole summer. So you know,
(43:34):
when you start getting them reps anytime soon. And if
you do that, as you mentioned, you're moving, you know,
you're kind of messing up two spots to fix one
or try to fix one again. I'm not banging the
drum for Kendrick Green. I'm just trying to look at
it in terms of reality. What are the options because
(43:55):
the NFL, in terms of coaching decisions, it's all about
off You know, if you have a better option, cut
them if you know you got to keep them. And
that's that's how that decision is made and how decisions
like that are made all over the league.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Every year, only two more practices open to the public
at Saint Vincent College, So if you haven't yet, get
up there and witness your Pittsburgh Steelers in their training
camp setting before it is too late. Labs and I
will be back again for our final show tomorrow morning
at eight am. Can you believe it, Labs, the final
show is finally here. It's like Christmas morning.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
So we haven't cake or what are we going to sing?
I mean, what's the celebration going to be? Thinking, well,
we know you.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Like five bucks. You can get some dunkin Donuts up
there or something before the show starts.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
That'll do it.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
That'll do it for us. Today in the Locker Room
is up next as Wolf and Starks take over on
Steelers Nation Radio.
This is the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio Labs.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Today is the penultimate day of Steelers training camp practices
open to the public. It's the penultimate Training Camp Report show.
And that's a big fancy college word for second to last.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So I was gonna say, where did you learn that?
You have to look that up.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, I have my dictionary right next to me here.
Make sure I sound a little bit smarter than I
actually am when I open up this show. But the
finish line is on the horizon for the Steelers for us.
Are you sad or are you getting a little choked
up that you're gonna have to look at Saint Vincent
in the rear view mirror here coming up?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
No, I mean, honestly, I love coming out here.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I do.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean it's you know, in terms of a training camp,
I mean it's it's it's great. It's a it's a
great setting. You know, everything is kind of contained. You know,
I like waking up and at work. You know, it's
very convenient. But as you mentioned, the sight of this
(01:09):
place in the rearview mirror when it's over is you know,
one of the highlights. You know, it's it's it's you know,
I don't I don't know that I would say it's
second or first in terms of you know, arriving or leaving.
You know which do I like better? But you know,
it's it's it's a highlight. I will say that. And yeah,
(01:31):
it's it's time. It's time to leave. It's time to
leave the old college dorm. Yeah, I'm ready to end
the sharing the bathroom with the fellas, you know, all
those kinds of things. And I can go back now
to ignoring the six thirty sports report on the DV.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Morning that you share in the dorm rooms.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, and I did learn last night. You know, Mike
pursued Jerry Doulek and I did a DVE radio show
last night from seven to nine, and so in the
process it was a break or something. And Pursuda looks
over me and goes, yeah, by the way, smart Alec,
I can hear you through the wall too.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So we pay them back. That's good, labs. You know,
an hour and a half later when we go on
the air, it's payback time.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, you know, it's EBB and flow. It's not only
on the practice fields, it's up in the dorms too.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, it's almost over, but you still got a couple
of practices to get through if you're the Steelers. And
yesterday was a practice following an off day, and Tomlin,
we'll hear from him in a little bit, but he
mentioned in his press or, you know, he liked the urgency.
The guys came out strong, and that's kind of been
the case all throughout camp. Anytime there's been a practice
before a day off, after a day off, practice after
(02:48):
a game, the urgency and the intensity has been there
for coach Tomlin. But one thing he did mention in
the negative Labs is just some sloppiness going on with
attention to detail and execution at time. And he also
put that on not just the players, but the coaching
staff and their teaching process. I think that's just a
part of this. You know, you're gonna have sloppiness, You're
(03:09):
gonna have execution problems as you start training camp after
an off season apart you bring the team together, you're
trying to gel. But I don't think it's a coincidence
that Tomlin wanted to mention it in his opening remarks
in this pressure because as camp breaks, the second preseason
game starts, and the regular season is on the horizon,
you really want to start seeing that sloppiness and those
(03:30):
execute that execution start to really you know, get to
a good level, get to a level that he's comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, you know, and I think it's only natural, you know,
because you know, earlier we were just talking about you know,
being here and just the you know, there's good and bad.
I mean, as I was talking about everything self contained
and convenient and close, you know, but there's a drudgery
to it as well. There just is. I mean, you
(03:59):
just with the same people all the time. It's relatively
close quarters. Your days are pretty much, uh, one after
the other. Every minute is mapped out for the most part.
And so yeah, I mean that that gets that weighs
on you too, and I can you know, and I'm
(04:19):
just speaking for myself. You just you know, your your
mind kind of drifts. You're not necessarily concentrating as diligently
as you should be all the time to every little thing.
And you know, there's a lot going on for a
player on a practice field, a lot of detail you
need to be attending attending to always on your details
(04:44):
always on you know, your your the screws as they
say sometimes, So yeah, I could see where you're going
to just have days and this last little period here,
let's not forget okay, those game Friday off Saturday, practice
Sunday off Monday, then practice yesterday. So you know, you're
(05:09):
not even in the in the where you can do things,
you know, just by rote because the schedule isn't you know,
when you go through like six straight days of practice,
I think you can get into a routine and and
and just kind of robotically, you know, go through it.
And I think that helps in a lot of ways.
But when things are off and on as they have
(05:32):
been lately, you know, you're waking up in different beds
in different states. You know, it's just it's just kind
of it's just just kind of weird. And so yeah,
the sloppiness really didn't surprise me. I'm actually, if I
was surprised about anything, is that it took this long,
you know, for that to kind of hit in. And
(05:54):
but one of the things you know that Mike Tomlan
also talked about was that what do you like to
about it was or the challenging, uh point of at
the teaching point of it was that, you know, can
they then kind of adjust in the middle of the
session as opposed to you know, having to wait until
(06:15):
you know, you watch it on video, evaluate it, talk
about it, and then adjust after that, because, as he said,
in a game, you don't have that opportunity to do that.
You know, if you're sloppy in the first quarter, you know,
one of the keys is to be able to adjust
(06:35):
to that on the fly, you know, right there on
the sideline or you know, wherever it might be, and
then continue to play and hopefully get better so that
you can salvage you know, the game itself. And what
I will say is that there were there were things
(06:58):
that didn't work for one of the un It's early
that those units then you know, came back and performed
better at the end of the of the practice. And
so I'm going to assume I wasn't down there naturally
a part of it. I must. I'm going to assume
that there were some things that were you know, adjusted
to or you know, rough edges were filed off or
(07:19):
whatever it was. And you know, we saw some of
that you know EBB and flow kind of thing that
is a hallmark of a good team. So you know, again,
it just seems that this during this training camp, no
matter what happens, Mike Tullman has been turning it into
a teaching moment. If it's the weather, if it's the
(07:42):
officials here, if it's you know, whatever it might be. Uh,
he seems to be taking that and turning it into
a you know, a learning experience for the players, a
teaching moment for the coaches.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
And then you know, you push on through. So you know, again,
I don't want to be too optimistic here, but I'm
liking a lot of what I'm seeing up here. And
you know, hopefully, you know, this continues, because you know,
I think that this this team. I'm not going to
predict anything, but I think that this team has the
(08:19):
potential to be a whole lot better than a lot
of people think.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, the competition period started yesterday with seven shots, as
it often does, and this seven shots addition labs had
a little bit of Tomlin stoking those competitive fires at
the end of it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, you know, I've seen seven shots now for years
and years. I mean, well, let's not get carried away,
but you know, I've seen it a lot of times
and I've never I never saw this, and what happened was,
you know, for the for the second straight practice seven
(08:57):
shots except for the second straight drill seven shots drill
in practice, the first team offense led by Kenny Pickett,
they get four reps and then each of the last
two the only touchdown scored was a running play. So
you know it was not Kenny Pickett's finest hour in
(09:17):
either one of those. You know, the first play handoff
to Naugie Harris goes off right tackle into the endzone, touchdown.
But then the next three were passes all and all
of them fell incomplete.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
The first was again you know, it's hard for me
to judge. You know that Pat Fryarmouth cut off his
route early. Was the throw just off target? I don't know,
but you know the bottom line is it was out
of his region, was incomplete. The next play, Najie Harris
(09:57):
did a nice job, by the way, he had just
himself after the snap from one side of the quarterback
to the other to pick up a blitz. But I
think it was a back shoulder throw for Alan Robinson
that was in complete. Levi Wallace was in coverage. And
then the third pass or Yeah, the third attempt was
(10:24):
intended for George Pickens, and you know, Joey Porter Junior
just made a good play. I mean Pickens had it
in his hands, but Porter came up and just raked
the ball out. So the first team was done. The
defense had a three to one inch in the drill
so far. So then Mitch Trubisky comes in quickly, throws
(10:45):
a past Connor Hayward in the end zone for a touchdown,
throws a Darnell Washington in the end zone for another
touchdowns three to three. So here we are, now that
the tiebreaker the seventh game, when, however you want to
call it, it's tied three to three. So Mike Tomman
then did again, as I said earlier, something I had
never seen before, kind of stopped the drill and quickly
(11:07):
ordered the first unit offense and the first unit defense
back onto the field because, as he said later, you know,
he didn't want to have the drill riding on the pups.
So you put the first teams back out on the field.
(11:27):
Pikett went to Deontay Johnson. He made the catch, uh
for a touchdown. He beat well, I won't say beat,
but Joey Porter Junior was in coverage. So you know,
the offense, they had their moment.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You know, I don't know what was for dinner last
night or if that was even you know, hanging in
the balance, but the offense after the first team group
of the offense, after not looking very good, came back
and delivered in the clutch and wanted for their unit
quarter three.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, and I know he wanted to see best on best,
you know, to get that tiebreaker. But I also wonder
if Tom and wanted to see how that first unit
on offense would bounce back to such a struggle in
their first four attempts and seven shots, you know, having
that short memory and bouncing back to.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Win a drill.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You know, i'llah winning a game late in the fourth
quarter that you struggle in the first three quarters.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, And you know it wasn't It wasn't just yesterday too,
because as I said, Sunday's practice, Yeah, Sunday, I got
to keep my days right here, right, Sunday's practice was
the same thing. The only touchdown that the you know,
first offense scored was a running play, So yeah, it
was it was a couple of bad drills in a row.
(12:46):
For the first team offense. But again in crunch time
when it needed it, it got what it needed.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Coach Tomlin stopped buying chatted with the media following practice yesterday.
Let's take a listen to what coach had to say.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
Really good day for us to run out of a
off day, and I thought they did that.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
I thought they brought energy and urgency.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
We got some coaching, teaching and learning to do as
far as execution and detail at times a little bit
sloppy on both sides. But that's that's a component of
it too.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
More importantly than that when that happens, I'm looking at
our ability to rally in the midst of it. Can
we flip it in the middle of practice, because that's
kind of reflective of way things transpire in stadiums. You know,
if things aren't going our way, what is our ability
to flip it in stadium as opposed to you know,
acknowledging it and fixing it in the in the upcoming week.
(13:35):
And so sometimes we have a day like that, it's
good to make that point. It's good to challenge them
in those ways, players and coaches to make necessary schematic
adjustments to gather ourselves to refocus in and effort to
finish practice and the way that we desire. And I
saw semblances of that, and so that's good. Those that
are not healthy enough to participate, things are are moving
(13:58):
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
We're getting more participation from.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Some of those guys who who miss time, Benton, Porter Junior,
the two safeties KZ and Neil, and so it's reasonable
to expect those things to continue. And as we get
closer the game time, we'll we'll look closer than at
how we divide the labor up and who plays and
how much they play. But right now, we just appreciate
(14:22):
these days, the work that's here, this atmosphere, the support
that we get from still a nation.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Just we appreciate it. All questions, defense is pretty louder
if you they would get into it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Huh, yeah, they were in man. We do some things
to stimulate competition. We move the ball and fun stuff. Uh,
good competition things.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Mike, what are you singing the competition between Nick Kurbig
and Broderick Jones And what do you think that's stilling
for each of them?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
How that match? I think I think we're all a
big winner.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
When you get two young guys that have some talent
and they're competing against each other, regardless of who wins
the reps, we win because it's an iron on iron principle.
It's fun to watch them do it. Both got tremendous
upside and and so they're good dance partners.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Like building after that, he talked at rank last year
about the continent unity, the offensive line, how.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Healthy you guys were built up the depths, and you
also brought on some veteran influence there too.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Have you noticed that being the same this year, And
just as both guilded in that regard to.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
This season, you know, not comparing it in any way
to last year. I just like the trajectory of the group.
I like the mix of talent, experience and inexperience. I
like the depth and competition. We're positioned to to take
a step with that group, and and and we're excited
about it.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
What went in your decision?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Let's play seven trunks and the.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Stoke It was three three just to stoke the competition,
get those guys back out there and and and let
them compete and and and be leaders for the other groups,
and and so you know, you hate to have the
drill riding on on the pups and and so we
put the put the the starters back out there.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
What have you seen out of vib Watts elidated reps?
Although he's not's not young, he's new to you.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Got he's an NFL player. You could tell he's been
in an NFL environment. He's available consistently every day. He'll
be even given an opportunity to state state a case
for himself for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Have you seen so far from Spencer Anderson?
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And what about him?
Speaker 7 (16:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Do you think the center was with his possibility?
Speaker 5 (16:25):
He did all those things in college and and so
you know, if you show versatility, it helps his cause
in hours. And he appears to be a young guy
at least intellectually that's capable of handling it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
The more we give him reps will be revealed whether
he's physically capable of handling it. So far, so good,
but just a bat dame and Marcus Golden took care
of him.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Larry ogin joke, helsing moving closer.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Coach Thomas speaking to the media following practice yesterday. Loud
just touching on his injury report before he hit the
brake here nothing really specific, but he did just say,
you know, anybody who are not healthy enough to participate,
our moving in the right direction. So that's a positive.
And then you saw some participation yesterday from guys that
have missed time. Keanu Benton was a limited participant in practice,
(17:09):
Joey Porter Jr. Was out there Demonte Casey, and Keanu Neil. So,
as Tomlins said, it's reasonable to expect those things to continue,
and it looks like the team is getting healthier despite
not having many, you know, debilitating injuries to begin with.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, and from now on, we're not allowed to talk
about that anymore because you know, it's like saying beatlejuice
three straight times.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I've been saying it a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
I'm just yeah, I'm just kidding, tempting fate, whatever. But yeah,
it does seem to be trending in the right in
the right way. You know. Joey Porter Junior. Of the
people that were mentioned, well, yeah, Devonte Casey to Casey,
they were full participants. You know. As an example, Keanu Benton.
(17:56):
If if yesterday was a regular season practice and the
team had to file the practice report under the parameters
that with which you do that during the season, he
would have been listed as a limited participant. I mean
he took part in the individual things, but not none
of the eleven on eleven. He was out there the
(18:16):
entire time, So that would that would qualify as limited
participant during a regular season practice. Joey Porter Junior. However,
de Monte case, they were full participants. I mean they
took took part in the eleven on eleven stuff, and
it seemed that throughout the eleven on eleven they were
(18:40):
just part of the regular rotation. You know, no one's
out there all the time. Obviously, you got ninety million rosters,
a lot of personnel groupings and stuff, but they seemed
to be with their group throughout the entire afternoon.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
The Steelers added something new to the practice script yesterday.
We'll get into that competition period drill next, and we'll
also hear from Alex Highsmith as the training camp report
rolls on on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
He sees the training camp report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Move the Ball.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Pretty self explanatory new drill that the Steelers implemented in
training camp. It's the last week of camp and they're
putting new wrinkles into the practice script labs. And this
was something you know, a little bit I don't want
to say unique. I think it called on elements from
other drills that you've seen in the past, but it
was new and it was something you know, fresh that
these guys could participate in.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, with a little wrinkles on a few different things.
It was a tackling drill for the most part. And
you know what it entailed was, you know, the offense
got the ball first and ten at the thirty yard line.
So if you're on offense, you keep the ball as
(20:08):
long as you continue to move the sticks. You know,
it's different from two minute where there was a clock
you know involved and timeouts and you know that kind
of thing. So there wasn't any of that, and so
you move. If you're on offense, you keep the ball,
You stay on the field as long as you continue
to you know, get first downs for the defense. The
(20:29):
object is, you know, to prevent the first down, force
a quote unquote punt or turn it over on downs,
depending upon you know where the offense was at the time,
and that's how you end the drill. So, yeah, there
were three periods of this as it turned out, and
it was it was lively, not so much for you know,
(20:54):
the hitting, the violence, but I mean, seriously, you know,
these are professionals, They've been here a long time. You know,
this is a again, it's a drill towards the end
of a training camp. I mean, I can, as we've
talked about this already so far, in this particular hour,
(21:15):
you know how looking forward I'm getting to, you know,
packing up and leaving, right, I can only imagine what
the players are going through in that respect. But they
were into it. I mean there was a lot of
talking and chirping at you know, defense guys on the
sideline talk talking and chirping at the offense. Offense guys
(21:41):
on the sideline talking and chirping at the defense. I
mean it went back and forth, and you know, it
looked like they were having fun, you know, in terms
of you know, what you would call fun at the
end of a two and a half hour, two hour
practice in the third week of this camp or whatever
it is. But yeah, it was, it was. It was
(22:05):
fun to watch too. I I enjoyed it. You know,
there are there are drills that kind of moved the
needle on the interest scale. And as I said, I
had never heard of this before, but this was this
was okay, and you know, you you look at it,
uh in terms of the results. You know, the offense,
(22:26):
you know, put cut their stuff together and won seven shots. Okay,
So now moved the ball. The first repetition, the offense
goes three and out. Okay, Uh, Kenny pickt on third down.
He threw an incomplete pass on third and two from
the thirty eight yard line. So that was it forced
to punt quote unquote, and so then that ended that
(22:51):
repetition and the defense was very happy about that second rep.
You know, Mitch Trubisky came on the second offense. He
gained a couple of first downs without facing a third down,
but then it was from the defense's thirty nine yard line.
(23:13):
Jalen Warren gained a yard. Then Trubisky threw two incomplete passes.
In other words, when I say the defense is thirty
yard line, thirty nine yard line, the offense had crossed
the fifty. I mean they moved that far. So after
so first intent from the thirty nine, Jalen Warren gains
the yard and then Trubisky throws back to back incomplete passes.
(23:38):
The first one was incomplete for Miles Boykin because he
was under pressure, and the second one was incomplete also
because he was under pressured outside linebacker David Perrelli's for
standing incompletion. Okay, so that's another win for the defense.
So then go back to the first units, back to
(23:58):
the thirty yard line, and this was you know, now
you're starting to see, I don't know, things that you
really want to see by the people you really want
to see them from. I guess it's a good way
to put it. So the first pass or the first
play of the third repetition, you know, Pickett goes a
little bit farther down the field for George Pickens, cutting
(24:21):
towards the sideline, Minka Fitzpatrick comes out of nowhere, and
that's the ball away. Okay. Lots of chirping, lots of chirping.
So you know, because George Pickens, you know, likes to
remind the defensive players when he makes a great play,
and that has happened fairly regularly out here, and so
(24:42):
Cam Hayward and some of the other defensive players were
pointing out that Mincoln knocked the ball away from them. Okay.
So then second and ten, Kenny Pickett's pass went through
Deontay Johnson's hands. It was high and hard. Maybe he
should have caught it. You know, I'm sure that if
(25:03):
it was in a game, there would be some moaning
about it. But from the fan base, who knows. I
might have even classified it as a drop, you know,
one of those you should have had it. Third and ten,
Kean O'Neil came through on a blitz and he just
forced another throw toward Deontay Johnson and that one's batted
(25:24):
away by Levi Wallace.
Speaker 8 (25:25):
And you know.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Cam Hayward was. He was doing a lot of talking
after that. I mean they all all the defensive guys.
I mean they they were letting the offense know that.
You know, three reps. You didn't really move the ball.
You didn't live up to the name of the drill.
So again, as I said, I enjoyed watching it. I
personally liked that back and forth. I mean it never
(25:51):
escalated to the point of fights, you know, or pushing
or shoving or anything. You know, they're just they're talking
to each other and.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
They call it the competition carried for you got to
get out.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
There, Yes, I get it right and well. And I
think it's also justified during the competition period if you
win the competition period, to remind the other side that
you won the competition period. So and then that was
the end of the practice. And as I said, I
I was entertained. And you know, as we've mentioned many
times on this hour previously, my personal entertainment should be,
(26:26):
you know, one of the key points of every day
out on the field for the team.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That's why Toman looks at you every time before a
drill starts, like a gladiator the Emperor. The thumbs up
or the thumbs down. You have a fun or you're
not labs. If it's the thumbs down, we'll switch things up,
we'll get it a little bit more excited.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Or as Joe Pesci said in Goodfellows, I amuse you.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
You know, well, one thing that was amusing and entertained you,
I'm sure is you got to see that ebb and
flow that you've talked about on this training camp report
repeatedly throughout this camp process. You know, you don't want
to see the offense just dominate in the competition periods,
you don't want to see the defense just overwhelm in
these competition periods, you want to see balance, and I
(27:06):
think yesterday was just a perfect example on the micro
of that. You saw seven shots where the offense got
the better of the defense, and then the defense responds
by getting the better of the Offense's that's what you
want to see. That's what good teams present in these
camp settings, is a natural back and forth and not
just one overwhelmingly one sided result.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
And one of the things I've noticed though, and this
is from years and years of coming to training camp,
the fans cheer when the offense makes a great play,
Like the fans didn't cheer when Minka broke up that time.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
So the defense becomes public enemy number one out there.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Well, you know, I don't know why that is. And
as I said, that's been going on, you know, two
coaches ago. It was always and I remember Lee Flowers
lost his mind one time at that because you know,
the defense was having a good practice or a good session,
(28:05):
or a good period of a practice, whatever it was.
I don't really remember specifically, but you know, every time
the offense did something, the fans would cheer, and every
time the defense did something good, it was it was
silent and you know, leaf flowers. He was. He was
kind of a boisterous you know a personality. Yeah, yeah,
(28:28):
an a personality, I guess you would say. And he
started yelling at the you know, y'all never cheer for
us or whatever he said. I mean, it wasn't anything
profane or but it was, you know, he was he
was emotional a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
It wasn't exactly all ing, is what you're saying. There
was some seriousness to it.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, it was. It was similar to the after the
And don't ever bring this up to Mike Tomlin either,
because I did once and I can tell you that
it's kind of still still a touchy subject. The two
thousand and one game the Steelers played in Tampa against
the Buccaneers, and that was at a time when Tampa
Bay was constantly a preseason pick, you know, to either
(29:14):
go to the super Bowl or win the super Bowl,
you know whatever. It was.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
That was doungee right that back then, that would have
been Gruden. I think Gruden would have come in.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
No, No, no, that was that was yeah. That was
Dunge's last year two thousand and two. They actually won
the Super Bowl r two thousand and one. So the
Steelers go down there and spank them bad. I mean,
it wasn't a big margin on the scoreboard, but Jerome Bett,
it's just ran over everyone. Yeah, and Lee Flowers he
(29:45):
started after the game, he's calling him paper champions. Buccaneers
are paper champions, paper champions. And so, you know, one
time I thought, you know, hey, I have a good
relationship with the head coach. I'm gonna ask him about
the paper champions game. No sense of humor, none, none, none.
So yeah, don't bring that up around Mike Tom. He
(30:08):
will not react to it favorably. And you know, I
can't really blame him, because you know, what I think
is funny, he lived it from the other side, and
so he still doesn't think it's funny. Two Super Bowl
rings later.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I was gonna say I won the ring the
next year.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, but anyway, but yeah, so that that's you know,
I kind of went off on a tangent there. But
that's one of the things that I've noticed in coming
to all these training camps all these years is fans
like offense, and that's what they cheer for. And so
I do think that maybe some of that seeps in
(30:44):
to the defense's mentality and when they do something, since
they're getting a lot of cheers from the crowd, sometimes
they generate their own enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Well, one guy who hasn't been hearing the crowd cheers
has been Alex high Smith, but he's stop by to
chat with Missy Matthews and Craig Wolfley following practice yesterday
and talked about the defense's success in that move the ball,
competition period, and much more. Let's take a listen to
Steelers outside linebacker Alex Heismith.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Alex, before we talk a lot of things, especially about
that first preseason game, explain the last team period you
guys just went through and how it ended for the defense.
Speaker 8 (31:21):
Yeah, you know, I feel like get into good force.
You know, That's what I love about the practices that
we have. And you know, how coach, how Coach Tomlin
organizes our practices is they're meant to be competitive, and
I think, you know, today it got very competitive, especially
towards the end, and so I think, you know, by
him doing that, you know, it helps us to become,
you know, competitors and to be successful. To win in
(31:41):
this league, you have to be so competitive. This is
the ultimate competitors game, and so that's what I love
about it. And the competition was definitely out today, Alex.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
The beautiful thing about it is you look across from Echo.
You've been against Danny Moore and Roderick Jones, all these guys,
teammates and everything. But then when you get to the
competitive period, all of a sudden, it's like I don't
even know you. And that's where the competition derives, because
now it's one on ones. It's you know, minor we modeling.
You have at it, but that's what really keeps the
sword sharp, does it not?
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Oh for sure? And so Iron Sharpen and ire you know,
going against those guys every day and make each other
better and just like you said, you know, just so
you always want to win. So having that competitive ed
you know, like I said, Chach Tom was always there,
especially during the past rush one on ones. He's always
there watching us and driving the competition. I know you
see it too, So just him being there and he
just really you know, he'll he demands you know that
(32:29):
you compete and that you that you give you all.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
And so that's what I love about it, Alex.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
I know some starters didn't play on Friday night in
Tampa Bay. You didn't play a ton either, But when
you guys went back and watched the film, what did
you guys learn as a unit?
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Yeah, I think, uh, just no matter how we play,
there's always ways we can improve, you know. Ultimately, you know,
we came up with the victory, and that's what matters most,
and that's always what's gonna matter most. No, it's no
matter if it's preseason nor regular season. Uh, getting the
victories is first and foremost. But just like I said,
you know, there's a little things you can improve on,
but you know, overall, it's just starting seeing you know,
a lot of young guys out there making plays and
(33:02):
stuff on those really cool and just being out there,
you know, defensively, you know, getting our communication down and
stuff like that. Like I said, you know, we've got
a lot of ways we can improve, but overall, it
was a good first start.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
Well let's see now, in particular, you got the ghost move,
you got the Spinnerowski, you got the one hand stab
on the inside. What do we add into the arsenal
that you can reveal without you know, having to kill
me or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
It'll make for a short interview.
Speaker 8 (33:27):
I'm trying to perfect those and I think I'm gonna
keep everything get close to the best. Yeah, Coast the chefs.
I'm not trying to reveal too much, but I'm at
the same time, I'm trying to perfect what I have already.
Just can't continue to get.
Speaker 7 (33:40):
Better in that way, Alex, when Nick Herbig came in,
he played a lot of special teams in Tampa, but
then we saw him on defense and what he was
able to do to do in a limited number of snaps.
What do you guys like about him and what can
we expect from him this rookie year.
Speaker 8 (33:53):
Yeah, you know, I think he definitely played played really
good on coming in. You know, he's got a motor,
you know, to be to be successful and to be
playing the league, you got to have that. And so
he was getting out the ball fast, he was rushing well,
and so looking forward to see how he builds on
that in the second game. But you know, he's been
rushing well all camping, so you know, he definitely came
out and had a good first showing.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Alex for yourself in particular as you face the buff
Bills coming up going into Actor. Sure, it's nice it's
a home game and everything else, But what is it
that you're looking for from your first game to maybe
the second game. Is there anything that you're kind of
look at and you go, oh, I do want to
tweak that or want to get a little better at this,
because it is always an ever evolving game of doing
something a little bit better.
Speaker 8 (34:31):
Yeah, just like I said, you know, there wasn't I
didn't only play three plays the first game, and so
really it's been me watching my filming from this from
twenty twenty two and watching ways that can get better,
you know, getting better getting out the rock, shedding blocks,
make it like just being more violent at the point
of its tack. So just trying to work on those
little things just starts here at practice. I feel like
I've been doing that and looking forward to see it
(34:53):
see it translate.
Speaker 7 (34:53):
To the game, Alex. We know what will be ultimately
up to head coach Mike Tomlin, but does the first
team in it on defense want to play together? Not
a significant amount of snaps on Saturday, but enough to
just knock off the rust and know that what you
guys are doing out here on the practice fields can
translate to game situations.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 8 (35:11):
You know, we'll see what decisions made, but you know,
it's always good to get out there and you know,
get your feet wet for the year and go out
there and get some reps and stuff like that. You know,
So we'll see when that decision is made. But you know,
it's always, like I said, even though I was only
out there three plays the other day, it was good
to get out there and just you know, get get
some plays in and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
So we're going to see steel.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Was outside linebacker Alex high Smith following practice yesterday. When
Labs and I come back on the Training Camp Report,
gonna sink our teeth a little bit into a position
battle that's potentially going on on that offensive line. And no,
I'm not referring to the left tackle spot that's on
the way next on the Training Camp Report on Steelers
Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
VC's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Kendrick Green has been a bit of a phenomenon up
at Steelers' camp in twenty twenty three, with his usage
in the full back position, lining up in the backfield,
catching some passes clear in the road for Warren and Nagy.
But Labs, you're gonna have to do more than just
you know, play a small role at an interesting fullback
position to make this team. I think you're gonna have
(36:26):
to also establish yourself as that backup center. Kendrick Green
has the first shot of that ran with the twos
against Tampa Bay, and to put it lightly, it could
have gone a little bit better for Kendrick in that aspect.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah. The one thing I will say though, in his defense,
is I've asked several people who you know, know these
kinds of things. That wasn't a holding penalty. Okay, shouldn't
have been called because the way it was explained to
me was he didn't have his hands too far outside
(37:01):
the defensive player, nor did he use his hands to
redirect him. So now I'm not saying it wouldn't be
called in a regular season game, even because you know,
as listeners to this show always know that I'm never
critical of NFL officials. Well they never make a mistake,
(37:21):
they never Well just ask him, they'll tell you so.
But yeah, so that was a bad penalty. So that
wasn't one necessarily the deserves to go on the Kendrick
Green black mark board. But you're you're right, the bun
bad snap was not pleasant. He did bounce back last
(37:44):
or yesterday. Excuse me, I almost said last night yesterday,
you know, during the practice at one point again, you know,
one of the things that I've started doing now the
last several days is, you know, a lot of times
during an afternoon practice, there will be things going on simultaneously.
(38:05):
For example, during a period that's usually seven on seven,
which is just you know, receivers running routes, a quarterback
not being under pressure, you know, it's just pitch and
catch kind of, and then simultaneously to that it will
be one on one offensive lineman versus defensive lineman past
(38:28):
pass rush, pass protection. So now what I do is,
you know, at practices, Mike Tomlin wears a white baseball cap.
He's the only one in the white baseball cap, so
it's easy to find him. So I find the white
baseball gap and wherever the white baseball cap is, that's
the drill that I watch. So yesterday it was one
(38:51):
on one pass rush pass protection, and one of the
matchups was Kendrick Green against Isaiah Laudermilk. So after the
first two reps, all the defensive guys were yelling rubber match,
rubber match, and Mike Tolman said, hey, no, rubber match.
(39:11):
He lost the first two. So Kendrick Green, you know
he Okay, let me just say this, and I can't.
You know, if you want to ask Max or Wolf,
you know, they'll give you a much more detailed assessment
of Kendrick Green's performances, how he's doing, whether it's you know,
(39:34):
his hand placement, is he dropping his hips? You know,
all that offensive lineman stuff that I don't understand. That's
why I asked them. But here's my thing. Okay. September tenth,
the regular season opens against the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Pretty good team, good defense. Who's your backup center? I mean,
(39:55):
Nate Herbig would be someone you would consider. Certainly he's hurt.
Is he going to be hurt? How much time is
he going to miss? I don't know the answer to that.
So and we're asking this question now. So what we
know right now is Nate Herbig is injured. Spencer Anderson
(40:16):
very interesting guy. Mike Thumbin talked about Okay, Mike Toumban
talked about him after in his post practice assessment, and
he mentioned, you know he's intellectually he has the ability
to play the position. Now we're going to see if
he can handle it physically. Okay, excellent. You know, Spencer
Anderson's having a good camp. But by all counts, his
(40:41):
best position is tackled. He can play them all, but
his best position is tackled.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
He didn't experience at all of them in college. Correct,
he went all over that line in Maryland.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Right, But you know, the forty nine ers are not Illinois.
You know, he was like he was a center at Maryland.
That's the Big Ten. They don't open with Illinois. They
open with a forty nine ers, So you know that's
a little bit different, not kind of not to crack.
And it's the first game, you know, so it's not like, well,
(41:13):
Spencer Anderson, he might be very good at it. Come
Halloween Center. Okay, great, but what do you do September tenth.
So to me, it's gonna be interesting to see how
the initial fifty three men roster is made up because
you got to have a backup center. I mean, I'm
not going to say backup center is as important as
backup quarterback, but it's pretty close. H So whoever you
(41:34):
have in that job or that role has to be
you have to be comfortable enough in him to put
him in in the game, and you know, expect the
offense to continue to function. So you know that, I
think that that's it's a non sexy kind of thing
to watch for fans, right, But I think it's going
(41:56):
to be interesting in terms of how the fifty three
initial fifty three men rosters made up, because I don't
think you go into the start of the regular season
without a backup center that you feel confident you can
put in a game against a team like the forty
nine ers and still be able to operate offensively.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, and you know, it's I think important to stress
that we're talking backup center here. Mason Cole has his
grips on that starting spot, but it is still important
to establish depth and at that position as well, because
you know, I've heard some people speculate, well, maybe a
James Daniels can bump inside and play center in a pinch.
I don't really want that, Labs. If Daniels is healthy,
(42:35):
I want him to stay at that right guard spot
and really establish himself there. I would much rather prefer
seeing someone like a Kendrick Green, you know, really be
able to take the reins on this number two spot.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
Yeah, And I mean here's the other thing. I mean, James, Yeah,
James Daniel. You know theoretically, you know, for the purposes
of this discussion, James Daniel can James Daniels can you know,
step in and play center in a pinch? Never saw
that steel or uniform. No, So yeah, he can do it.
Maybe he has done it, but you know, two years ago,
(43:10):
two and a half years ago, whenever it was again,
I don't know that you want to throw him in
against the forty nine ers because when will he start
practicing that? Because by my you know, overly stressed eyes,
I haven't seen it here this whole summer. So you know,
(43:34):
when you start getting them reps anytime soon. And if
you do that, as you mentioned, you're moving, you know,
you're kind of messing up two spots to fix one
or try to fix one again. I'm not banging the
drum for Kendrick Green. I'm just trying to look at
it in terms of reality. What are the options because
(43:55):
the NFL, in terms of coaching decisions, it's all about
off You know, if you have a better option, cut
them if you know you got to keep them. And
that's that's how that decision is made and how decisions
like that are made all over the league.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Every year, only two more practices open to the public
at Saint Vincent College, So if you haven't yet, get
up there and witness your Pittsburgh Steelers in their training
camp setting before it is too late. Labs and I
will be back again for our final show tomorrow morning
at eight am. Can you believe it, Labs, the final
show is finally here. It's like Christmas morning.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
So we haven't cake or what are we going to sing?
I mean, what's the celebration going to be? Thinking, well,
we know you.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Like five bucks. You can get some dunkin Donuts up
there or something before the show starts.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
That'll do it.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
That'll do it for us. Today in the Locker Room
is up next as Wolf and Starks take over on
Steelers Nation Radio.
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