August 17, 2023 • 46 mins
Labs and Tom talk about the run heavy competition period of practice yesterday, preview the final day of practice and the Bills preseason game.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
He's the training camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The last day is finally here, Labs, I feel like
a kid looking at that last day of school before
summer vacation starts. I'm sure the players feel the same way.
And you know, my question off the bat is when
I was playing sports growing up, a lot of times
my coach, in the last practice of the season, last
practice of a camp, have a little fun with it.
You know, maybe we're playing a little dodgeball, maybe we're
(00:33):
throwing some water balloons at each other, a little water gunfight.
You think Coach Tomlin's gonna oblige that in this practice
here today, a little fun loosen it up.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Sure, yeah right. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that.
This has not been that kind of camp. They've been
hitting a lot. They've been in pads at times where
you would think, you know, he's going to he's going
to eat back today. But that's that just has not
(01:04):
been the case. I mean, I cannot remember an instance
where you know it was supposed to be pads and
you go out and there not wearing pads. I mean,
and to me, the shining example or the glaring example
of that was Friday night lights. I mean that didn't
(01:24):
end until after nine, and then the next day they're
back in pads at one, so you know, it's just
family night. They were in pads. So yeah, it's it's
scheduled to be a pad of practice today. That's what
(01:46):
I would expect. Maybe, you know, it's not as much banging,
but you know, because there's also a little bit of
a ramp down in terms of the banging as you
get closer to a game, and this I think this
game is one, Yeah, the dress rehearsal. Maybe there's only
(02:10):
three preseason games. You know, I don't think I don't
think you want to beat them up the last one.
But then hey, who knows, because you know, there's that
long break. There's like almost two weeks between the end
of the Steelers final preseason game, which is on a Thursday,
and then they don't play until because the last preseason
(02:33):
game of the calendar date is August. The opener is
September the tenth, so there's a lot of there's a
lot of days in between. You know, we're just kind of,
I don't know, easing into this thing where you have
a bye to start the week or start the season
(02:55):
has been in place, yeah, right, since they really shortened
you know, the preseason and uh, and you know it's
it's going to be it's going to be like this now.
I mean, the television networks do not want football the
week Labor Day weekend, they don't. You don't get good ratings.
People are doing other things.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
For summer, right, they're on vacation. There's other important things outside, right.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So that's never good that genie's out of the bottle.
I mean that one's gone because the networks that the
NFL's broadcast partners pay way too much money not to
get something as simple as that and as a you know,
a give back or a kickback or whatever however you
want to describe it. So that's going to be like that.
(03:47):
And then you know, Hall of Fame weekend. You know,
the Hall of Fame is part of the NFL, and
they really like, you know, the big celebration the first
weekend in August is how Hall of Fame weekend. Also,
now you start doing the math, you only have three games.
I don't think they're gonna Coaches would not go for
(04:09):
you know, extending the preseason like having a game every
other week just to fill the time more evenly. I
just I just don't see that happening. So you know,
you're we're going to have that gap, and you know
a lot of teams before they shortened the preseason, you know,
a lot of teams wanted to have their last game
(04:30):
preseason game on a Thursday, and then you kind of
had like a not a bye week or not a
full buy week, but maybe a nine day gap in
between your last preseason game in the first regular season game.
But now it's an extra week less, So yeah, who knows,
(04:50):
maybe maybe the final preseason game now is going to
start turning into more of a regular preseason game as
opposed who just glorified walk through for your real players
and you know the rest of the guys have to
eat up all those snaps.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, let Steelers have their second preseason game on Saturday
against the Bills. We'll get into that a little bit
later during the training camp report today, but back to
you know, the physicality that Tomlin has during his training camps.
It's a reputation that is well known across the NFL.
This is one of the more physical training camps.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
In the league.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
But have you noticed even more so of that this year, Labs,
or is it just a case of, you know, after
waiting an entire season and offseason in camp starts again,
I forget how physical these practices are. I have a
hunch that it might have even ratcheted up a little
bit for Tomlin's sake this camp.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I also think though, that there has been a conscious
effort to get the kind of players who like to
play physical.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
One of the things that I've noticed for sure is,
you know, I remember, I don't know if it was
last year or the year before, but the previous couple
of years, you know, Mike Tomlin during the season would
not complain about it, but point out that, you know,
he was looking for At the time, the question was
about inside linebackers, and he said he was looking for
(06:18):
guys you know, and they the pile wouldn't fall forward
all the time, you know. So you know, you get
a guy like Juan Alexander, you know that's he's just
playing that way. You know, he he likes he runs around,
he's banging people. So you know, when you bring in
people like him and you have a padded practice, you know,
(06:39):
it's it's going to be physical.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So I think that there's you know, Landon Roberts is
another guy. So I think that what has happened is,
you know, the Mike Tomlin physical kind of training camp
practice coupled with some of the people that they've brought in.
You know, it's it's conducive to what we're seeing out
on the field. I don't know that he is person
(07:05):
specifically trying to ratchet it up, you know. I think
that as you know, and this is another Mike tomin saying,
I'd rather say woe than sick. Yes, So you know,
I think that the attitude, the philosophy, whatever you want
to call it, is there, the foundation of it is there,
(07:27):
and then you add these kinds of players, and this
is what you end up with. You know, Cam Heyward,
he'll mix it up to I mean, so you know,
you have a lot of guys like that on the team. Uh,
and they're either leading by example or maybe there's actual
you know, conversations going on among the players. You know,
(07:47):
you're up here at camp and living away from home,
and you know there's a lot of off times, so
to speak, quote unquote oft time where you can commiserate
with each other, you know, and it's competitive and goes
back and forth, and you know, I don't know. I
just think all of those things have combined to create
(08:10):
the situation that we're seeing as opposed to it coming specifically,
you know from the coach.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Another popular Tomlin saying, if you want to box, you
have to spar, and he applied that towards seven shots
yesterday during practice. You know, usually you see maybe one
run trickled in their labs, and most of it is
passing the ball. But yesterday, Tomlin wanting to focus on
the physicality and the line of scrimmage of the run game.
It was basically just a running drill. Seven shots was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, it was like goal line, you know. I mean
usually when you know, goal line is usually put the
ball to one. Seven shots is at the two. But yeah,
you know, you figure, okay, run one, and then they
ran to in a row and you think, okay, they're
done with that now. But I mean just kept going
back to it, and you know, the defense was up
(09:04):
to the task. You know, kudos to the defense, but
the Steelers were not going to be deterred, or as
Bill Cowery used to say he tiered, and you know
it just kept running it, running it, running it, running it,
and then you know it's it was another the second time.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Again.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
We talked about this yesterday. How you know, putting the
regulars back in for the tie break? Right it was
three three again. You know, Mitch Trubisky, he's kind of
like that long reliever in baseball. You know, he comes in,
does the job, and then when it gets time, you know,
the for either get a save or a win or something,
(09:48):
then they put the other guy in. But yeah, because
it was three to one when Kenny Pickett, when his
four snaps were over, Trubisky in bang bang two touchdowns
and then okay, put the first units back in and
then you know, at this point, you know you get
(10:09):
the idea. Even me, I was sitting watching this practice thinking, Okay,
they're not gonna run this one. They're not gonna run
this one. So then they got to the seventh one,
I'm thinking they're gonna run this one. So the defense
was packed in in the box and you know, Pickens
was split wide. You know, Patrick Peterson was in man coverage,
(10:29):
no inside help. I mean, you know it was stealing.
You know, he just did a quick move inside. There's
no help, and he had that whole area to work with,
you know, just picket. Pickett just put it on him
and you know you can't do anything about it. I mean,
you know, Pickens has a big body. He's got you
(10:50):
on his you know, on his hip or on his back,
whatever you want to say. It's like basketball rebound. You know,
he boxed you out. Either either made a penalty or
he you know, hope he drops it. But the ball
was thrown in a spot where you know you couldn't
get to it. And you know, Pickt's not the kind
(11:11):
of excuse me, Pickens isn't usually the kind of guy
that'll bobble it or give you a free you know,
when when it's caught, you know he's he you say,
secure the catch. But with Pickings, you know, it's big hands.
He has that that kind of secures it automatically. And
that's what it was, you know, pitch and catch, touchdown
(11:33):
win for the offense in seven runs, I mean seven shots,
four to three, and.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I love hearing that the offense, you know, kept the
defense guessing on that last one, kept you guessing on
that last rep of seven shots. Run run, run, run, run,
and then you hit them with that pass. I mean,
you got to have that kind of change of pace,
keep the defense on their heels, offensive strategy to be
successful in today's NFL.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, and you know, I think that you know, the
emphasis was on you know, as what Mike Tomman called it,
uh line physicality in the line of scrimmage run game.
So you know, again, I'm sure that there's some sort
of you know, everybody's got a script, right, you know,
(12:22):
with the plays and you know they're all in close
proximity there. There's not a lot of you know, camouflage
and stuff. I mean, you know, Matt Canada has called
him the offensive place or you know in the backfield
almost maybe a few yards behind, you know, in the backfield,
and he's using the walkie talkie, and you know, I
(12:42):
would think that all of the defensive players at this
point you know what the offensive plays are. I mean,
it's been every day out here and it's not like
there's a lot of rookies on defense either, so you know,
you kind of hearing what's going on, you probably have
a pretty good idea. You know, if it's a run
or pass, you look at the formation, you you know,
(13:08):
gauge the tempo of the thing, the way it's trending,
and again, like you said, and then it's that and
then you uh call a pass there and it's wide
open and it works, and you know, you hope that
that's going to be the kind of thing that happens
in the game too, where you know, if you want
to be a good red zone team, uh, a gold
(13:29):
good goal to go team, you've got to be able
to run the ball down there, and you've got to
make the defense realize and understand that you will run it.
And when you do run it, you're pretty good at it,
and then that opens up that things like that last
play to George pickens Well.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Coach Tomlin shared his thoughts following yesterday's practice with the media.
Let's take a listen to what coach had to say.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Man, another really good day of work.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Man.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I just wanted to focus on physicality and the line
of scrimmage, run game. We did so in the early
portions of practice, team run and so forth. Just really
appreciate the competes we got some you know, late comers,
new running backs and so forth, and give them an
environment where they can show, uh what they're capable of
while at the same time ready in themselves for the
stadium opportunity this weekend. But really good day, another good
(14:19):
training camp Stealers versus Steeler's day. Things are progressing from
an injury standpoint, getting a lot of guys at least
working their way back to us in some capacity. I
think Trey Norwood is one in particular. They got some
partial work today. I think Larry Ogan Joby's moving back
close to the participation, and Nate Herbert probably just needs
a few days. We'll get him back out here as well.
(14:41):
Uh pausing opening up for questions, coach, how do you
value the spree League like the XFL, like the USFL.
That's how that keep seen here on Canus this season.
You know, I'm appreciative of opportunity for guys to continually
develop skill. People finish their college as eligibility, they're not
necessarily finished products. Leagues such as those bout an opportunity
for guys who continually improve, and then they get to
(15:03):
show those improvements when they get in environments like this.
We respect any man out here, we don't care about
what means they get here, and appreciative of the game
readiness of some of those guys that are coming off seasons. Uh,
it's been a good thing for us, Mike.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
If you get ready to wind down your stay here
alproductively these last few weeks.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Day, it's been really awesome. Can't say enough about it, man,
the intangible component of a destination camp. We realize that
we're in the minority in today's game, but we just
kind of value a component of team and the and
the awesome things that happened in environments like this, and
so we're gonna soak it up and we realize the
real world is waiting on us here in a short
(15:40):
number of days, Mike.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Before the Titans preseason game last week, Mike Freebel gave
the keys to his assistant to be everything head coach
and talk to the media, game playing all that stuff.
Is that something that you would.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Ever consider doing?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Not at this juncture, Teacher, teacher.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
A want to do?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Start a practice the first day.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
The camp mentioned you wanna see a supposed to fifteen
to fifty foot offense Stephens on every snap as possible.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
How close is that?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Man? Interest do you realize and have you see like
seven shots year to say it's.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
This kind of place, you know, I hadn't. I hadn't
looked at it in that way. In an environment like this,
units are gonna have good days, the other unit is
gonna have the appropriate response and bounce back. That's just
the ebb and flow associated with team development. When you
got that, you probably got the makings of a of
a good group. But we're not looking for comfort in
in that regard. We're just gonna continually grow and know
(16:30):
that we better be continually better and assume that those
that we compete against are doing the same.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Okay, he only neil fit him into that three safety
and you look what now that even getting a KH
year at T year.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
You know, we just looking at some packages. It's it's
a component of what we do. We've done it in
the past. It's it's nothing new there. He's a veteran player, man,
he's a quick study. He's got a skill set. We
like some of the matchups, particularly versus two tight end
personnel groups and stuff. So that's old hat for us.
We're excited about seeing it. Like your thoughts, I'm working
with her and hurry for the first year and when
(17:02):
he's brought set do a lot that here. Man. I
like his energy I like his attention to detail. I
like his field presence. I like the development of the group.
And so we're just gonna continually work. You know, we'll
get to know each other, particularly when it gets real.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
How complex is the decision decision gonna be for that
tight end.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Room to narrow down? They're all complex, but but you
know when we do it right. They are talking about Perrys.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is Denzel Martin then is different now in his elevated
role or is he.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
The same guy with a different title. I don't know, man,
that's Denzel now. He coaches in a great spirit. Then
we're not defined by titles.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
We got coaches out here, man, and that's what we do.
We coach.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
We don't hide behind positions. We we just take ownership
of what happens out here, and and we cross coach.
And that's just the appropriate way to do it. But
it's the nat herbig injury contributed to Green being pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Community job to tide.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I'm not doing the quarterback stuff, you know, I'm not
gonna talk to you guys every day about the fullback stuff.
You guys really get enamored with things. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Very appropriate way to wrap up the last Tomlin audio
SoundBite we'll play during our training camp reports up at camp.
But alab before we hit the brake here. One thing
I did want to make the listeners aware of is
that you will get a full coach Tomlin press conference
today at eleven thirty five. This will be much like
the in season press conferences that he gives on Tuesdays.
(18:28):
You're gonna find out pretty much what you want to
know about who's going to be playing, maybe how long
they'll be playing, the gist of the plan for Buffalo
on Saturday. Tune in at eleven thirty five on all
of our platforms Steelers dot Com, Twitter, YouTube channel, Steelers
Nation Radio right here, and we'll have Tomlin for you.
And this is something that will be a little bit
more in depth than the post practice ones we hear
(18:50):
every day.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hopefully make sure you never know what that It's been
a long training camp for a lot of people, and
I think that you know, we're starting to see now, uh,
the impact of talking to the media every day. You know,
the things are getting shorter and shorter and shorter, and
he's getting tired of certain questions. So doctor Fullback, one,
(19:18):
would you would you turn over you know all of
your responsibilities, uh, to a to an assistant coach, like
Vrabel did in Tennessee. You know, things like that. Who knows,
maybe somebody will ask him if he's thinking about taking
a college job. You know, we can go back to that.
So you know again, uh, it's yes, theoretically what you described,
(19:45):
but maybe not, you know, because he didn't really you know,
in the in the last full blown news conference, like
one of the he's coming up today, which was before
the Tampa Bay game, he didn't he didn't really give
you a lot about who was going to play and
how much you know, everyone who's healthy is a candidate
(20:08):
to play, however he phrased it. And then you know
there were a bunch of guys, you know, veterans who
didn't play, Cam Hayward and you know some of those people.
So yeah, I think that there's a sense among the
coaching staff how it's going to go. But whether Mike
Tolman is in the mood to you know, lay it
all out on the table in detail, we'll see. I
(20:32):
frankly would be surprised if he does, because he hasn't
shown an eagerness to do that kind of thing so far.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We'll tune in on all of our platforms at eleven
thirty five and here for yourself what coach Tomlin has
to say in his presser. When we come back, Labs
and I are going to continue to break down the
goings ons of practice yesterday, and we're going to hear
from Captain Cam Hayward. That's all on the way on
the training camp report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Hec's done Training camp report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Before we get to the move the ball drill from yesterday,
the second occurrence of that drill in twenty twenty three
training camp. And here from Captain Cam Hayward, just a
little update on the injury report. You heard Tomlin at
the end of our last segment there talking about you know,
guys getting you know, at least working their way back
to us in some capacity. The guys that were injured.
Trey Norwood was one guy that he named in particular
(21:31):
who had some partial work going yesterday or in practice.
Larry Okunjobi moving closer back to being a participant as well,
and it looks like Nate Herbig just needs a few
days and then they'll see him back out there. So
that's encouraging. We were talking about that backup center spot
and yesterday's training camp report LAB so nice to see
that Herbig's injury might not be long term.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Well, it's not going to require I think. I don't
believe it's going to require any kind of procedure or anything,
you know, which is always a good sign. But you know,
a few days, you know, that's this is training camp talk.
A few days. I mean, you know how long is
that going to be. I'm still rather concerned, you know,
(22:11):
living in my fears as I usually do, about the
backup center job for the September tenth game against the
forty nine ers. Who's it going to be? I mean,
because you know Nate Herbig, you know, fine, but you
know he his history as a center was usually in
pre season games. Okay. It's not like you know, he
(22:35):
played it a lot for either the Eagles or the Jets.
He didn't line up there, and you know it was
in preseason games, okay, So you know he's never done
it here in any kind of game. And if you
just remove him from it, you know, a shoulder thing,
you know, you can't really put him in there and practice,
(22:57):
and so you got to have a cup center for
the first game of the year. What are you going
to do for the first game of the year. You know,
the whole Spencer Anderson thing, seventh round pick, you know
these position flexible, you know, blah blah blah. You know
the forty nine ers are a good team.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's a lot of risk.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Yeah, so I just don't know who it's going to be.
And I don't know that it's it can be settled.
It has to be Kendrick Green if you ask me,
I don't. I don't really see another way around it
for that early portion of the season, is what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Well, Tuesday introduced a new drill during the competition period
called move the ball, returned during yesterday's practice, but with
a new wrinkle to it, labs. It was weighted heavily
in favor of the offensive side of things. They started
on the defensive twenty five yard line, so short, a
short field for the offense to get into the end zone.
Maybe you know that's drilling, you know, defense, your own
(23:53):
offense having a turnover in their own territory. Defense having
to hold up against a short field bend not break.
There's multiple things you could drill in there same way
on the other side of the coin with the offense,
you know, quick strike when your defense gets a turnover,
making sure you capitalize by getting the end zone on
the short field.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, I mean you could have maybe renamed it the
version that the Steelers went through yesterday red zone. Okay,
you know, because you want the offense to be able
to get the ball in from the it's at the
twenty five instead of you know, the red zone. Usually
that drill starts around the twenty, maybe a little bit
inside the twenty, but yeah, it's the same kind of situation.
(24:33):
The other name you could give it is sudden change.
I've heard you know that term used. You know, sudden
change is what you just described a turnover or a takeaway,
depending upon whether you know your offense turned it over
or your defense took the ball away. And then you know,
the corresponding unit has to respond to the situation. You know,
(24:54):
you get you get thrown out onto the field instantly. Okay,
how do you rea act if you're on defense? You
know that with one of the cliches that the defensive
guys use is you can't determine how you get go
onto the field, but you can determine how you get
off the field. And so yeah, you could you can
(25:16):
call it either red zone or quick change or something,
but yeah, move. The ball was resurrected again a little variation,
and again we saw an emphasis on running the ball.
You know, the first team offense went out there the
first repetition. It started out with a pass. Can He
(25:37):
Pickett hooked up with Deontay Johnson for a twenty two
yard game. It wasn't tackling to the ground, so you know,
it was one of those situations where Mike Tomlin would
kind of quote unquote officiate and you know, put the
ball where he wanted it, I guess to create the
down that you know enhances the situation. So you know,
(26:01):
the twenty two yard game, the Deontay Johnson, so it
was first in goal to three. It's kind of like
seven shots. Here we go again, but you know, give
the ball to Nausea Harris and he got into the
end zone this time, or as as opposed to the
first two snaps of seven shots where he did not,
(26:25):
or you can look at it. The defense held up.
You know, again, when it's your offense against your defense.
It depends what you want to focus on. You want
to focus on which team did well or which team failed,
you know, having any way you want. But that's that's
the way the first repetition went. And then you know,
(26:46):
Mitch Trubisky came on again second. This time he got pulled.
Once the ball got you know, down to scoring territory.
You know, he threw an incomplete pass to Darnell Washing
to quick throat of Jalen Warren. Another quick throat of
Jalen Warren, you know, first down to ten, and then
(27:10):
you know, a couple of plays didn't work. I thought
Kenny Robinson did a nice job on the attempted pass
to Zach Gentry in the end zone because when Gentry
tried to, you know, make his move, Robinson was there
and he kind of bodied him without it being past interference.
You know, he just kind of he just sabotaged what
(27:31):
Gentry wanted to do. The ball had to be thrown,
so it was incomplete. Another running play, Anthony McFarlane was
stopped for no gain. So when I was third and
ten at the eleven and Trubisky threw a nice pass
again we've been talking about this guy more than occasionally.
(27:52):
Rodney Williams a tight end. You know, I don't know
that he can crack this group. Yeah, his name is
coming up a lot. You know, he would be a
nice if you're able to keep him on the practice squad,
that would be a nice situation for the team because
in the event that you you know, you have a
(28:12):
situation at tight end during the regular season where you
need someone, you know, to fill in for injury or whatever.
This guy would know the plays, familiar with the offense
because he'll be practicing every day if he's on the
practice squad, and you know, he's shown some good good
(28:32):
things out here at training camp. So yeah, Rodney Williams
made the catch, nice catch one yard deep in the
end zone for the touchdown. So on both repetitions the
offense scored well.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I can't think of a better player to hear from
in our final player interview that we play back during
twenty twenty three's training camp reports than captain Cam Hayward.
He stopped by and chatted with the media before practiced yesterday,
kind of talked about his feelings of camp up to
this point and a little preview of the Buffalo game
as well. It's Cam Hayward here on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
You made a just camped here, stay in the union.
We just started camp with trop Ports about over. There's
still more camping will happened? What did you get done
out of here?
Speaker 5 (29:16):
You know, I think guys got acquainted. I think there's
still a lot of work to be done. We still
have a couple more preseason games, but uh, you know,
I like where we're at so.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Far specific to the work that still needs to get done.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Continue to just keep getting better at the little things,
whether it's tackling on defense, get more acquainted on offense
with a lot of different personnel guys, but defense, we
just got to continue to get working on the communication.
We've only had one game to really work on that
communication front and trying to get better at that.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Anything surprising in a good way about what you're saying
out here.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
A lot of young guys that can play, you know,
whether it's a guy like her Big Joey Porter Jr.
Than the newer face since we've had Pat pe keanum O'Neil,
Keanu O'Neil. You know, I just think we have a
good group of guys that we brought in, so you know,
just trying to get acquainted with them.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Do you feel like it there's a little more of
a calmness or confidence from the team.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
As a whole, you know, going into the second preseason game.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Comments for some for others, we didn't get a chance
to play, so we still got to knock off some rust.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
When you talk about the communication issues, can they still
need to be worked one? Is that something that has
to happen in a game or can you do some
of that in practice?
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Work I like to happen in a game because you
get a real feel for it, uh, communicating in and
out of plays. Not that there's a lull between you know,
play to play in practice, but in a game, it
just flows more faster.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
You can deal with hurry up.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Different situations happen so faster. Uh. So we have to
be ready to communicate on the field and off the field.
So we got to work that once we get a
preseason game.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
It does feel like that's been held up a little
bit with some absences, maybe due to injury in the
secondary especially.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
No, I think it's just you only have three preseason games.
We didn't play the first one, so there's only so
much guys can do if they're not on the field.
So hopefully we get address up this week.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
How much.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Not my call, that's up the guy that makes the calls.
You make any suggestions or no. I learned my suggestions
don't matter, so I quit. I quit doing that.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Why actually talking about Hammling having with Pittsburgh playing a game,
the more Hammling.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
Oh yeah, wow, I didn't even think about that. You know,
I think it's awesome to see where he was last year,
to see him back on the field, it's very special,
very big fan of his. You know, I see the
work he's doing with his foundation, and I'm just excited
to see where he's at. I think we couldn't be
(31:52):
more excited to have a guy back on the field,
be be back with the brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Can what kind of strives has.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Over the last few weeks, and.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
I think I think the strides are you know, he's
just getting more comfortable what he's doing. You know, the
first drive, I felt like he was a little nervous,
but then he settled down a lot. So he's just
going to continue to keep going in that front. But
Keano's uh, you know, he's going to go through his
ups and downs, but I think for the most part,
he's gonna come on the right side.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Last night, it's Cam Hayward speaking with the media prior
to yesterday's practice and labs. I know this isn't really
Steelers related, but one thing he mentioned there at the
end when he was asked about Damar Hamlin and how
great it's going to be to see him come back
to Pittsburgh and play in that stadium. I mean, it's
gonna be awesome to see him play throughout the entire season.
He's going to get such a warm welcome from every
NFL stadium that he sets foot in. But yeah, I
(32:42):
have to imagine it'll be a little extra special for
him and for the fans in Pittsburgh. He's coming home
through his hometown stadium on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah right, I mean hometown guy. You know, grew up there,
went to high school at Central Catholic, went to college
at pitt So yeah, anything, uh in Pittsburgh I think
is going to be a little bit extra special. Uh,
in terms of the degree the reception that the more
Hamlin gets, or you know, the reaction to anything he
(33:10):
might do on the field. You know, because one of
the things about Pittsburgh is uh it really uh loves
its own, so to speak, and uh, it kind of
feels that it has an investment in its own, certainly
emotionally and in the mar Hamlin's case, you know, to
(33:32):
the large degree financially too. As Cam was mentioning his
foundation and you know a lot of the things that
kind of have sprung up from the incident, you know
that happened to him, you know, in terms of you know,
knowing CPR and uh, you know, there's a lot of
those classes now going around and I just think that
(33:53):
there was there has been an emphasis on knowing how
to handle an emergency situation like that and how it
really is, you know, a life and death kind of
thing and it's very quick, yes, so you know, being
prepared for it in terms of the equipment and stuff,
being prepared for it in terms of knowing how to
(34:15):
use the equipment, knowing what to do in those situations.
You know, I think that you know, a lot of
that can be traced back to the incident, and in
that way, the more Hamlin is responsible for it, and
you know, I just think that people appreciate what he
has been through. And then appreciate also the reaction to
(34:37):
what he had to endure.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, and also appreciate, you know, his drive to get
back onto the football field, E Labs. I don't know
if I'd want to get out of bed in the
morning if what happened to tomor Hamlin happened to me.
And he's out there full participant in Bill's preseason games,
and I don't think there's any doubt that he's going
to make the roster as a depth piece like he
was before the injury happened. So very excited to see
Demoor Hamlin back in Pittsburgh in a Bill's uniform playing
(35:02):
on Saturday against the Steelers. We got one more segment.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Less Wait, wait, put the brakes on me.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Okay, okay, yes, okay. You know one of the traditions
annual things that happen to training camp is the it
used to be an actual game softball game, but now
it's home run derby.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Okay, to talk about the home run derby?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Who you got? I know who you've got? This is.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I don't want to, you know, pretend to act like
I'm a big brain guy that can just you know,
make a guess and look good. I knew it was
Kenny Picketty won back to back years. Steelers Instagram account
and they do great work on that Instagram account. If
you're not following, please go to Instagram and follow the
Steelers official team account. They posted coach Tomlin making the
speech given Kenny the championship bat and asking Kenny to
give a speech, to which Kenny took the mic and
(35:52):
just went thank you and then then walked off the field.
So sorry to spoil your fun, but I know Kenny
Pickett is our two time home run derby champ.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Well you would, you know, And this even goes back
to you know, as I said when it was a game,
because those are professional athletes, Okay, but there are you know,
the quarterbacks are always the best athletes among the professionals.
You know, you would think that you know, offensive linemen
(36:23):
or you know whatever, big built guys, really strong, but
you know, it's not it's not that kind of a deal.
I mean, when they would play games, uh, the two
best players one on each team offense and defense, the
shortstops Ben for the offense and Troy for the defense.
(36:43):
And you know, I remember Mike Tomlan talking about Troy
playing shortstop. He said, he was just so smooth. You know,
you wouldn't think, you know, he didn't play softball like
a football player, you know. And so the finalists were
in the home run derby where Mitch Trubisky and Kenny
Pickett and the specialists and the specialists because you know,
(37:09):
when you think about it, who are the best golfers,
the specialists and the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Boswell, the two long snappers, Christian Koontz and.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Rex.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, wait a minute, I got now, I got it.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Now I got his back up long snapper his due here.
It might be the only time that his name is
mentioned in this year.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Okay, but anyway, it was the too long snappers.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
The quarterbacks, you know, they sooner Haara, Rex soon, Ahara,
I have hope.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, West Virginia guy went to West Virginia, so you know,
school or he's gonna be all over that. But yeah,
it was they were the finalists and then they did
the best and then the finalists were Kenny Pickett and
Mitch Trubisky and Picket.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
One and that determined who was the starting quarterback correct
for the season.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Oh yeah, who hit the most tam runs of course, yes.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Labs and I will be back to wrap up the
training camp report and get a little preview of that
Buffalo game going. That's on the way next on the
Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
DC's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
So there, We's got one more practice open to the
public today at Saint Vincent College. Then they got a
closed practice more like a walkthrough tomorrow, and then that
second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills is on Saturday
night at Akrisure Stadium, kickoff at six point thirty pm.
We mentioned earlier in the show Tom and we'll give
his pre press or his pregame press conference today at
(39:04):
eleven thirty five previewing that Bill's game. Not sure how
much he's going to let us in on as far
as playing time is concerned, but I think it's safe
for us to both assume that Pickett will play since
he played in the first game, and probably play a
little bit more than just the one series that he
did against Tampa.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, and you know, we were listening to Cam Hayward
talk about it a little bit, talking about one of
the things that he was believing needed to happen before
the regular season starts, just to you know, iron out
some of the communication issues on defense. And he explained
how you really kind of have to do it in
a game because you know, practice is practice. There's not
(39:44):
the the urgency certainly that there's just a difference between
practice and even a preseason game. And you know, the
clock element of it is much more prevalent when you're
actually inside the stadium and it's game. So I would
imagine that a lot of the guys who didn't play
(40:05):
against Tampa Tampa Bay would be playing against the Bills.
And that's a good test, I mean, because you know,
the Bills are a Super Bowl contender. They are, they've
been one for you know the past few years, and
they have a lot of you know, pop level players
at you know, critical positions, and so you know it
(40:27):
should be a good test. I think you kind of
want to, you know, measure yourself a little bit to
some degree during the preseason again just to kind of
try and ramp up your body and your mind, you know,
for what's going to start coming at to really fast
start in September the tenth. So yeah, I think that
and it's I think it's a good place for this
(40:50):
kind of team. You know, the second preseason game, I
don't know that you want to open with the you know,
you don't want to do it the other way. You
don't want to open with Buffalo and then play Tampa
Bay because, as I said, you know, all due respect
to the Buccaneers, I just don't think you know that
they're going to be a contending team either in their
own division or in the NFC as a whole, not
(41:11):
this year. So they're kind of rebuilding, you know, getting
over the Tom Brady situation. I think they you know,
they have to re reload their thinking and personnel as
well in a lot of areas. So maybe it was
nicer to see the Buccaneers first and then the Bills
(41:33):
because you know, I think this kind of, as I said,
you kind of want to build a crescendo to the
start of the regular season, and this preseason scheduling the
first two games I think gives us Steelers a chance
to do that.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Well.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Like Cam Hayward said in the audio that we heard from,
you know, it's up to coach t who plays and
who doesn't. I'm sure people are excited to potentially see
Hayward out there for a little bit, want out there
for a little bit, just getting their feet wet. Minka
Fitzpatrick as well. Not maybe to the same extent that
the first team offenses out there, but definitely a couple
of plays on the defensive side of the ball. But
(42:09):
the one guy that I'm really interested in seeing LABS
is Joey Porter Junior in his debut in game action
for the Steelers. He couldn't go against Tampa Bay in
their first preseason game. If that was a regular season game,
maybe he's okay enough to play, but no need to really,
you know, take that risk in a preseason setting. He
practiced this week. Looks like he's got the thumbs up
(42:30):
to go against Buffalo. And I don't want to say,
like Broderick Jones getting at all the or most of
the offensive snaps in his debut, that's going to be
the exact same case with Joey Porter Junior on the
defensive side of the ball. But I bet you he
sees a lot of playing time in that first game.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, And you know, Buffalo has some players that are
going to challenge Joey Porter Junior and the other defensive backs,
and you know you reference Joey Porter Junior specifically. You know, yeah,
I think that one of the things that it's going
to kind of unlock a lot of the packages and
(43:08):
things that the Steelers may want to do with their
defense if he can play outside corner well enough to
allow Patrick Peterson to be to move either inside or
be you know, one of those chess pieces, you know,
have him facing the quarterback instead of turning and running
with receivers. At this stage of his career, I think
(43:31):
that's he's more he's more suited to the facing the
quarterback kind of thing. He had a bunch of interceptions.
He's still good, you know in the balls in the air.
That would give the Steelers two of those kinds of guys,
you know, Minka Fitzpatrick and Patrick Peterson. And then you
know a lot of this because I'm really interested to see,
(43:53):
you know, how a lot of these this defensive stuff
works out, because I'm not really sure that it's going
to be a situation. You know, we're talking about inside
linebacker frequently during you know, these shows. I don't know
that it's going to always be Cole Holcomb and a
Landon Roberts and or Kwan Alexander being responsible, you know,
(44:17):
for the the kinds of defense now that inside linebackers
have to play in the NFL. You know, you have
to both be good against the run and you have
to line up and be able to cover too, because
offenses are not going to change personnel, give you the
opportunity to change personnel if they want to throw the
ball and throwing situations, so you have to be able
(44:38):
to adapt on the fly. And maybe some of the
answers can be found with some of these defensive backs.
You know, Kean O'Neil, as Cam Hayward referenced him, He's
one of those pieces. Demonte K Cazi excuse me, Casey
is another one of those pieces. Patrick Peterson potentially is
(45:00):
one of those pieces. So you know, it's gonna be
interesting to me to see how that evolves. And I
think that a lot of it is going to hinge
on Joey Porter Junior being able to line up and
do a respectable job at outside cornerback because he's going
to be facing you know, some big names we've talked about,
(45:20):
Broderick Jones, you know, and some of the fire breathing
edge rushers that he will have to face. In the NFL,
and it's the same thing for a corner. I mean,
everybody's got a good receiver, you know, and sometimes more
than one. So yeah, this is going to be a
good opportunity to see him. I think Joey Porter Junior
(45:44):
will be able to test himself against this team, gauge
himself against this team, and you know, I think that
him doing well is going to be a critical element
to how the rest of this season unfolds.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Hopefully. Saturday night at six thirty is a very educational
experience for everybody as the Steelers take on the Buffalo
Bills in preseason game number two. As I mentioned, kick
off at six point thirty. Labs, Jerry Dulac and Mike
Persuda kick off the pregame show at four thirty on DVEE.
Thanks so much for all of you guys listening to
us ramble on early in the morning for the past
(46:19):
couple of weeks during these training camp reports. You really
enjoyed it. Labs and I will be back again next
week on Asked and Answered, our usual gig, So keep
an eye out for the latest episode there and we'll
be going into the locker room next with Wolf and
starks on Steelers Nation Radio
He's the training camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The last day is finally here, Labs, I feel like
a kid looking at that last day of school before
summer vacation starts. I'm sure the players feel the same way.
And you know, my question off the bat is when
I was playing sports growing up, a lot of times
my coach, in the last practice of the season, last
practice of a camp, have a little fun with it.
You know, maybe we're playing a little dodgeball, maybe we're
(00:33):
throwing some water balloons at each other, a little water gunfight.
You think Coach Tomlin's gonna oblige that in this practice
here today, a little fun loosen it up.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Sure, yeah right. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that.
This has not been that kind of camp. They've been
hitting a lot. They've been in pads at times where
you would think, you know, he's going to he's going
to eat back today. But that's that just has not
(01:04):
been the case. I mean, I cannot remember an instance
where you know it was supposed to be pads and
you go out and there not wearing pads. I mean,
and to me, the shining example or the glaring example
of that was Friday night lights. I mean that didn't
(01:24):
end until after nine, and then the next day they're
back in pads at one, so you know, it's just
family night. They were in pads. So yeah, it's it's
scheduled to be a pad of practice today. That's what
(01:46):
I would expect. Maybe, you know, it's not as much banging,
but you know, because there's also a little bit of
a ramp down in terms of the banging as you
get closer to a game, and this I think this
game is one, Yeah, the dress rehearsal. Maybe there's only
(02:10):
three preseason games. You know, I don't think I don't
think you want to beat them up the last one.
But then hey, who knows, because you know, there's that
long break. There's like almost two weeks between the end
of the Steelers final preseason game, which is on a Thursday,
and then they don't play until because the last preseason
(02:33):
game of the calendar date is August. The opener is
September the tenth, so there's a lot of there's a
lot of days in between. You know, we're just kind of,
I don't know, easing into this thing where you have
a bye to start the week or start the season
(02:55):
has been in place, yeah, right, since they really shortened
you know, the preseason and uh, and you know it's
it's going to be it's going to be like this now.
I mean, the television networks do not want football the
week Labor Day weekend, they don't. You don't get good ratings.
People are doing other things.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
For summer, right, they're on vacation. There's other important things outside, right.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So that's never good that genie's out of the bottle.
I mean that one's gone because the networks that the
NFL's broadcast partners pay way too much money not to
get something as simple as that and as a you know,
a give back or a kickback or whatever however you
want to describe it. So that's going to be like that.
(03:47):
And then you know, Hall of Fame weekend. You know,
the Hall of Fame is part of the NFL, and
they really like, you know, the big celebration the first
weekend in August is how Hall of Fame weekend. Also,
now you start doing the math, you only have three games.
I don't think they're gonna Coaches would not go for
(04:09):
you know, extending the preseason like having a game every
other week just to fill the time more evenly. I
just I just don't see that happening. So you know,
you're we're going to have that gap, and you know
a lot of teams before they shortened the preseason, you know,
a lot of teams wanted to have their last game
(04:30):
preseason game on a Thursday, and then you kind of
had like a not a bye week or not a
full buy week, but maybe a nine day gap in
between your last preseason game in the first regular season game.
But now it's an extra week less, So yeah, who knows,
(04:50):
maybe maybe the final preseason game now is going to
start turning into more of a regular preseason game as
opposed who just glorified walk through for your real players
and you know the rest of the guys have to
eat up all those snaps.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, let Steelers have their second preseason game on Saturday
against the Bills. We'll get into that a little bit
later during the training camp report today, but back to
you know, the physicality that Tomlin has during his training camps.
It's a reputation that is well known across the NFL.
This is one of the more physical training camps.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
In the league.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
But have you noticed even more so of that this year, Labs,
or is it just a case of, you know, after
waiting an entire season and offseason in camp starts again,
I forget how physical these practices are. I have a
hunch that it might have even ratcheted up a little
bit for Tomlin's sake this camp.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I also think though, that there has been a conscious
effort to get the kind of players who like to
play physical.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
One of the things that I've noticed for sure is,
you know, I remember, I don't know if it was
last year or the year before, but the previous couple
of years, you know, Mike Tomlin during the season would
not complain about it, but point out that, you know,
he was looking for At the time, the question was
about inside linebackers, and he said he was looking for
(06:18):
guys you know, and they the pile wouldn't fall forward
all the time, you know. So you know, you get
a guy like Juan Alexander, you know that's he's just
playing that way. You know, he he likes he runs around,
he's banging people. So you know, when you bring in
people like him and you have a padded practice, you know,
(06:39):
it's it's going to be physical.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
So I think that there's you know, Landon Roberts is
another guy. So I think that what has happened is,
you know, the Mike Tomlin physical kind of training camp
practice coupled with some of the people that they've brought in.
You know, it's it's conducive to what we're seeing out
on the field. I don't know that he is person
(07:05):
specifically trying to ratchet it up, you know. I think
that as you know, and this is another Mike tomin saying,
I'd rather say woe than sick. Yes, So you know,
I think that the attitude, the philosophy, whatever you want
to call it, is there, the foundation of it is there,
(07:27):
and then you add these kinds of players, and this
is what you end up with. You know, Cam Heyward,
he'll mix it up to I mean, so you know,
you have a lot of guys like that on the team. Uh,
and they're either leading by example or maybe there's actual
you know, conversations going on among the players. You know,
(07:47):
you're up here at camp and living away from home,
and you know there's a lot of off times, so
to speak, quote unquote oft time where you can commiserate
with each other, you know, and it's competitive and goes
back and forth, and you know, I don't know. I
just think all of those things have combined to create
(08:10):
the situation that we're seeing as opposed to it coming specifically,
you know from the coach.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Another popular Tomlin saying, if you want to box, you
have to spar, and he applied that towards seven shots
yesterday during practice. You know, usually you see maybe one
run trickled in their labs, and most of it is
passing the ball. But yesterday, Tomlin wanting to focus on
the physicality and the line of scrimmage of the run game.
It was basically just a running drill. Seven shots was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, it was like goal line, you know. I mean
usually when you know, goal line is usually put the
ball to one. Seven shots is at the two. But yeah,
you know, you figure, okay, run one, and then they
ran to in a row and you think, okay, they're
done with that now. But I mean just kept going
back to it, and you know, the defense was up
(09:04):
to the task. You know, kudos to the defense, but
the Steelers were not going to be deterred, or as
Bill Cowery used to say he tiered, and you know
it just kept running it, running it, running it, running it,
and then you know it's it was another the second time.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Again.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
We talked about this yesterday. How you know, putting the
regulars back in for the tie break? Right it was
three three again. You know, Mitch Trubisky, he's kind of
like that long reliever in baseball. You know, he comes in,
does the job, and then when it gets time, you know,
the for either get a save or a win or something,
(09:48):
then they put the other guy in. But yeah, because
it was three to one when Kenny Pickett, when his
four snaps were over, Trubisky in bang bang two touchdowns
and then okay, put the first units back in and
then you know, at this point, you know you get
(10:09):
the idea. Even me, I was sitting watching this practice thinking, Okay,
they're not gonna run this one. They're not gonna run
this one. So then they got to the seventh one,
I'm thinking they're gonna run this one. So the defense
was packed in in the box and you know, Pickens
was split wide. You know, Patrick Peterson was in man coverage,
(10:29):
no inside help. I mean, you know it was stealing.
You know, he just did a quick move inside. There's
no help, and he had that whole area to work with,
you know, just picket. Pickett just put it on him
and you know you can't do anything about it. I mean,
you know, Pickens has a big body. He's got you
(10:50):
on his you know, on his hip or on his back,
whatever you want to say. It's like basketball rebound. You know,
he boxed you out. Either either made a penalty or
he you know, hope he drops it. But the ball
was thrown in a spot where you know you couldn't
get to it. And you know, Pickt's not the kind
(11:11):
of excuse me, Pickens isn't usually the kind of guy
that'll bobble it or give you a free you know,
when when it's caught, you know he's he you say,
secure the catch. But with Pickings, you know, it's big hands.
He has that that kind of secures it automatically. And
that's what it was, you know, pitch and catch, touchdown
(11:33):
win for the offense in seven runs, I mean seven shots,
four to three, and.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I love hearing that the offense, you know, kept the
defense guessing on that last one, kept you guessing on
that last rep of seven shots. Run run, run, run, run,
and then you hit them with that pass. I mean,
you got to have that kind of change of pace,
keep the defense on their heels, offensive strategy to be
successful in today's NFL.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, and you know, I think that you know, the
emphasis was on you know, as what Mike Tomman called it,
uh line physicality in the line of scrimmage run game.
So you know, again, I'm sure that there's some sort
of you know, everybody's got a script, right, you know,
(12:22):
with the plays and you know they're all in close
proximity there. There's not a lot of you know, camouflage
and stuff. I mean, you know, Matt Canada has called
him the offensive place or you know in the backfield
almost maybe a few yards behind, you know, in the backfield,
and he's using the walkie talkie, and you know, I
(12:42):
would think that all of the defensive players at this
point you know what the offensive plays are. I mean,
it's been every day out here and it's not like
there's a lot of rookies on defense either, so you know,
you kind of hearing what's going on, you probably have
a pretty good idea. You know, if it's a run
or pass, you look at the formation, you you know,
(13:08):
gauge the tempo of the thing, the way it's trending,
and again, like you said, and then it's that and
then you uh call a pass there and it's wide
open and it works, and you know, you hope that
that's going to be the kind of thing that happens
in the game too, where you know, if you want
to be a good red zone team, uh, a gold
(13:29):
good goal to go team, you've got to be able
to run the ball down there, and you've got to
make the defense realize and understand that you will run it.
And when you do run it, you're pretty good at it,
and then that opens up that things like that last
play to George pickens Well.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Coach Tomlin shared his thoughts following yesterday's practice with the media.
Let's take a listen to what coach had to say.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Man, another really good day of work.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Man.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I just wanted to focus on physicality and the line
of scrimmage, run game. We did so in the early
portions of practice, team run and so forth. Just really
appreciate the competes we got some you know, late comers,
new running backs and so forth, and give them an
environment where they can show, uh what they're capable of
while at the same time ready in themselves for the
stadium opportunity this weekend. But really good day, another good
(14:19):
training camp Stealers versus Steeler's day. Things are progressing from
an injury standpoint, getting a lot of guys at least
working their way back to us in some capacity. I
think Trey Norwood is one in particular. They got some
partial work today. I think Larry Ogan Joby's moving back
close to the participation, and Nate Herbert probably just needs
a few days. We'll get him back out here as well.
(14:41):
Uh pausing opening up for questions, coach, how do you
value the spree League like the XFL, like the USFL.
That's how that keep seen here on Canus this season.
You know, I'm appreciative of opportunity for guys to continually
develop skill. People finish their college as eligibility, they're not
necessarily finished products. Leagues such as those bout an opportunity
for guys who continually improve, and then they get to
(15:03):
show those improvements when they get in environments like this.
We respect any man out here, we don't care about
what means they get here, and appreciative of the game
readiness of some of those guys that are coming off seasons. Uh,
it's been a good thing for us, Mike.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
If you get ready to wind down your stay here
alproductively these last few weeks.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Day, it's been really awesome. Can't say enough about it, man,
the intangible component of a destination camp. We realize that
we're in the minority in today's game, but we just
kind of value a component of team and the and
the awesome things that happened in environments like this, and
so we're gonna soak it up and we realize the
real world is waiting on us here in a short
(15:40):
number of days, Mike.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Before the Titans preseason game last week, Mike Freebel gave
the keys to his assistant to be everything head coach
and talk to the media, game playing all that stuff.
Is that something that you would.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Ever consider doing?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Not at this juncture, Teacher, teacher.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
A want to do?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Start a practice the first day.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
The camp mentioned you wanna see a supposed to fifteen
to fifty foot offense Stephens on every snap as possible.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
How close is that?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Man? Interest do you realize and have you see like
seven shots year to say it's.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
This kind of place, you know, I hadn't. I hadn't
looked at it in that way. In an environment like this,
units are gonna have good days, the other unit is
gonna have the appropriate response and bounce back. That's just
the ebb and flow associated with team development. When you
got that, you probably got the makings of a of
a good group. But we're not looking for comfort in
in that regard. We're just gonna continually grow and know
(16:30):
that we better be continually better and assume that those
that we compete against are doing the same.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Okay, he only neil fit him into that three safety
and you look what now that even getting a KH
year at T year.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
You know, we just looking at some packages. It's it's
a component of what we do. We've done it in
the past. It's it's nothing new there. He's a veteran player, man,
he's a quick study. He's got a skill set. We
like some of the matchups, particularly versus two tight end
personnel groups and stuff. So that's old hat for us.
We're excited about seeing it. Like your thoughts, I'm working
with her and hurry for the first year and when
(17:02):
he's brought set do a lot that here. Man. I
like his energy I like his attention to detail. I
like his field presence. I like the development of the group.
And so we're just gonna continually work. You know, we'll
get to know each other, particularly when it gets real.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
How complex is the decision decision gonna be for that
tight end.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Room to narrow down? They're all complex, but but you
know when we do it right. They are talking about Perrys.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is Denzel Martin then is different now in his elevated
role or is he.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
The same guy with a different title. I don't know, man,
that's Denzel now. He coaches in a great spirit. Then
we're not defined by titles.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
We got coaches out here, man, and that's what we do.
We coach.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
We don't hide behind positions. We we just take ownership
of what happens out here, and and we cross coach.
And that's just the appropriate way to do it. But
it's the nat herbig injury contributed to Green being pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Community job to tide.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I'm not doing the quarterback stuff, you know, I'm not
gonna talk to you guys every day about the fullback stuff.
You guys really get enamored with things. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Very appropriate way to wrap up the last Tomlin audio
SoundBite we'll play during our training camp reports up at camp.
But alab before we hit the brake here. One thing
I did want to make the listeners aware of is
that you will get a full coach Tomlin press conference
today at eleven thirty five. This will be much like
the in season press conferences that he gives on Tuesdays.
(18:28):
You're gonna find out pretty much what you want to
know about who's going to be playing, maybe how long
they'll be playing, the gist of the plan for Buffalo
on Saturday. Tune in at eleven thirty five on all
of our platforms Steelers dot Com, Twitter, YouTube channel, Steelers
Nation Radio right here, and we'll have Tomlin for you.
And this is something that will be a little bit
more in depth than the post practice ones we hear
(18:50):
every day.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hopefully make sure you never know what that It's been
a long training camp for a lot of people, and
I think that you know, we're starting to see now, uh,
the impact of talking to the media every day. You know,
the things are getting shorter and shorter and shorter, and
he's getting tired of certain questions. So doctor Fullback, one,
(19:18):
would you would you turn over you know all of
your responsibilities, uh, to a to an assistant coach, like
Vrabel did in Tennessee. You know, things like that. Who knows,
maybe somebody will ask him if he's thinking about taking
a college job. You know, we can go back to that.
So you know again, uh, it's yes, theoretically what you described,
(19:45):
but maybe not, you know, because he didn't really you know,
in the in the last full blown news conference, like
one of the he's coming up today, which was before
the Tampa Bay game, he didn't he didn't really give
you a lot about who was going to play and
how much you know, everyone who's healthy is a candidate
(20:08):
to play, however he phrased it. And then you know
there were a bunch of guys, you know, veterans who
didn't play, Cam Hayward and you know some of those people.
So yeah, I think that there's a sense among the
coaching staff how it's going to go. But whether Mike
Tolman is in the mood to you know, lay it
all out on the table in detail, we'll see. I
(20:32):
frankly would be surprised if he does, because he hasn't
shown an eagerness to do that kind of thing so far.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We'll tune in on all of our platforms at eleven
thirty five and here for yourself what coach Tomlin has
to say in his presser. When we come back, Labs
and I are going to continue to break down the
goings ons of practice yesterday, and we're going to hear
from Captain Cam Hayward. That's all on the way on
the training camp report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Hec's done Training camp report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Before we get to the move the ball drill from yesterday,
the second occurrence of that drill in twenty twenty three
training camp. And here from Captain Cam Hayward, just a
little update on the injury report. You heard Tomlin at
the end of our last segment there talking about you know,
guys getting you know, at least working their way back
to us in some capacity. The guys that were injured.
Trey Norwood was one guy that he named in particular
(21:31):
who had some partial work going yesterday or in practice.
Larry Okunjobi moving closer back to being a participant as well,
and it looks like Nate Herbig just needs a few
days and then they'll see him back out there. So
that's encouraging. We were talking about that backup center spot
and yesterday's training camp report LAB so nice to see
that Herbig's injury might not be long term.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Well, it's not going to require I think. I don't
believe it's going to require any kind of procedure or anything,
you know, which is always a good sign. But you know,
a few days, you know, that's this is training camp talk.
A few days. I mean, you know how long is
that going to be. I'm still rather concerned, you know,
(22:11):
living in my fears as I usually do, about the
backup center job for the September tenth game against the
forty nine ers. Who's it going to be? I mean,
because you know Nate Herbig, you know, fine, but you
know he his history as a center was usually in
pre season games. Okay. It's not like you know, he
(22:35):
played it a lot for either the Eagles or the Jets.
He didn't line up there, and you know it was
in preseason games, okay, So you know he's never done
it here in any kind of game. And if you
just remove him from it, you know, a shoulder thing,
you know, you can't really put him in there and practice,
(22:57):
and so you got to have a cup center for
the first game of the year. What are you going
to do for the first game of the year. You know,
the whole Spencer Anderson thing, seventh round pick, you know
these position flexible, you know, blah blah blah. You know
the forty nine ers are a good team.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's a lot of risk.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Yeah, so I just don't know who it's going to be.
And I don't know that it's it can be settled.
It has to be Kendrick Green if you ask me,
I don't. I don't really see another way around it
for that early portion of the season, is what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Well, Tuesday introduced a new drill during the competition period
called move the ball, returned during yesterday's practice, but with
a new wrinkle to it, labs. It was weighted heavily
in favor of the offensive side of things. They started
on the defensive twenty five yard line, so short, a
short field for the offense to get into the end zone.
Maybe you know that's drilling, you know, defense, your own
(23:53):
offense having a turnover in their own territory. Defense having
to hold up against a short field bend not break.
There's multiple things you could drill in there same way
on the other side of the coin with the offense,
you know, quick strike when your defense gets a turnover,
making sure you capitalize by getting the end zone on
the short field.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, I mean you could have maybe renamed it the
version that the Steelers went through yesterday red zone. Okay,
you know, because you want the offense to be able
to get the ball in from the it's at the
twenty five instead of you know, the red zone. Usually
that drill starts around the twenty, maybe a little bit
inside the twenty, but yeah, it's the same kind of situation.
(24:33):
The other name you could give it is sudden change.
I've heard you know that term used. You know, sudden
change is what you just described a turnover or a takeaway,
depending upon whether you know your offense turned it over
or your defense took the ball away. And then you know,
the corresponding unit has to respond to the situation. You know,
(24:54):
you get you get thrown out onto the field instantly. Okay,
how do you rea act if you're on defense? You
know that with one of the cliches that the defensive
guys use is you can't determine how you get go
onto the field, but you can determine how you get
off the field. And so yeah, you could you can
(25:16):
call it either red zone or quick change or something,
but yeah, move. The ball was resurrected again a little variation,
and again we saw an emphasis on running the ball.
You know, the first team offense went out there the
first repetition. It started out with a pass. Can He
(25:37):
Pickett hooked up with Deontay Johnson for a twenty two
yard game. It wasn't tackling to the ground, so you know,
it was one of those situations where Mike Tomlin would
kind of quote unquote officiate and you know, put the
ball where he wanted it, I guess to create the
down that you know enhances the situation. So you know,
(26:01):
the twenty two yard game, the Deontay Johnson, so it
was first in goal to three. It's kind of like
seven shots. Here we go again, but you know, give
the ball to Nausea Harris and he got into the
end zone this time, or as as opposed to the
first two snaps of seven shots where he did not,
(26:25):
or you can look at it. The defense held up.
You know, again, when it's your offense against your defense.
It depends what you want to focus on. You want
to focus on which team did well or which team failed,
you know, having any way you want. But that's that's
the way the first repetition went. And then you know,
(26:46):
Mitch Trubisky came on again second. This time he got pulled.
Once the ball got you know, down to scoring territory.
You know, he threw an incomplete pass to Darnell Washing
to quick throat of Jalen Warren. Another quick throat of
Jalen Warren, you know, first down to ten, and then
(27:10):
you know, a couple of plays didn't work. I thought
Kenny Robinson did a nice job on the attempted pass
to Zach Gentry in the end zone because when Gentry
tried to, you know, make his move, Robinson was there
and he kind of bodied him without it being past interference.
You know, he just kind of he just sabotaged what
(27:31):
Gentry wanted to do. The ball had to be thrown,
so it was incomplete. Another running play, Anthony McFarlane was
stopped for no gain. So when I was third and
ten at the eleven and Trubisky threw a nice pass
again we've been talking about this guy more than occasionally.
(27:52):
Rodney Williams a tight end. You know, I don't know
that he can crack this group. Yeah, his name is
coming up a lot. You know, he would be a
nice if you're able to keep him on the practice squad,
that would be a nice situation for the team because
in the event that you you know, you have a
(28:12):
situation at tight end during the regular season where you
need someone, you know, to fill in for injury or whatever.
This guy would know the plays, familiar with the offense
because he'll be practicing every day if he's on the
practice squad, and you know, he's shown some good good
(28:32):
things out here at training camp. So yeah, Rodney Williams
made the catch, nice catch one yard deep in the
end zone for the touchdown. So on both repetitions the
offense scored well.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I can't think of a better player to hear from
in our final player interview that we play back during
twenty twenty three's training camp reports than captain Cam Hayward.
He stopped by and chatted with the media before practiced yesterday,
kind of talked about his feelings of camp up to
this point and a little preview of the Buffalo game
as well. It's Cam Hayward here on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
You made a just camped here, stay in the union.
We just started camp with trop Ports about over. There's
still more camping will happened? What did you get done
out of here?
Speaker 5 (29:16):
You know, I think guys got acquainted. I think there's
still a lot of work to be done. We still
have a couple more preseason games, but uh, you know,
I like where we're at so.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Far specific to the work that still needs to get done.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Continue to just keep getting better at the little things,
whether it's tackling on defense, get more acquainted on offense
with a lot of different personnel guys, but defense, we
just got to continue to get working on the communication.
We've only had one game to really work on that
communication front and trying to get better at that.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Anything surprising in a good way about what you're saying
out here.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
A lot of young guys that can play, you know,
whether it's a guy like her Big Joey Porter Jr.
Than the newer face since we've had Pat pe keanum O'Neil,
Keanu O'Neil. You know, I just think we have a
good group of guys that we brought in, so you know,
just trying to get acquainted with them.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Do you feel like it there's a little more of
a calmness or confidence from the team.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
As a whole, you know, going into the second preseason game.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Comments for some for others, we didn't get a chance
to play, so we still got to knock off some rust.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
When you talk about the communication issues, can they still
need to be worked one? Is that something that has
to happen in a game or can you do some
of that in practice?
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Work I like to happen in a game because you
get a real feel for it, uh, communicating in and
out of plays. Not that there's a lull between you know,
play to play in practice, but in a game, it
just flows more faster.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
You can deal with hurry up.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Different situations happen so faster. Uh. So we have to
be ready to communicate on the field and off the field.
So we got to work that once we get a
preseason game.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
It does feel like that's been held up a little
bit with some absences, maybe due to injury in the
secondary especially.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
No, I think it's just you only have three preseason games.
We didn't play the first one, so there's only so
much guys can do if they're not on the field.
So hopefully we get address up this week.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
How much.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Not my call, that's up the guy that makes the calls.
You make any suggestions or no. I learned my suggestions
don't matter, so I quit. I quit doing that.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Why actually talking about Hammling having with Pittsburgh playing a game,
the more Hammling.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
Oh yeah, wow, I didn't even think about that. You know,
I think it's awesome to see where he was last year,
to see him back on the field, it's very special,
very big fan of his. You know, I see the
work he's doing with his foundation, and I'm just excited
to see where he's at. I think we couldn't be
(31:52):
more excited to have a guy back on the field,
be be back with the brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Can what kind of strives has.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Over the last few weeks, and.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
I think I think the strides are you know, he's
just getting more comfortable what he's doing. You know, the
first drive, I felt like he was a little nervous,
but then he settled down a lot. So he's just
going to continue to keep going in that front. But
Keano's uh, you know, he's going to go through his
ups and downs, but I think for the most part,
he's gonna come on the right side.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Last night, it's Cam Hayward speaking with the media prior
to yesterday's practice and labs. I know this isn't really
Steelers related, but one thing he mentioned there at the
end when he was asked about Damar Hamlin and how
great it's going to be to see him come back
to Pittsburgh and play in that stadium. I mean, it's
gonna be awesome to see him play throughout the entire season.
He's going to get such a warm welcome from every
NFL stadium that he sets foot in. But yeah, I
(32:42):
have to imagine it'll be a little extra special for
him and for the fans in Pittsburgh. He's coming home
through his hometown stadium on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah right, I mean hometown guy. You know, grew up there,
went to high school at Central Catholic, went to college
at pitt So yeah, anything, uh in Pittsburgh I think
is going to be a little bit extra special. Uh,
in terms of the degree the reception that the more
Hamlin gets, or you know, the reaction to anything he
(33:10):
might do on the field. You know, because one of
the things about Pittsburgh is uh it really uh loves
its own, so to speak, and uh, it kind of
feels that it has an investment in its own, certainly
emotionally and in the mar Hamlin's case, you know, to
(33:32):
the large degree financially too. As Cam was mentioning his
foundation and you know a lot of the things that
kind of have sprung up from the incident, you know
that happened to him, you know, in terms of you know,
knowing CPR and uh, you know, there's a lot of
those classes now going around and I just think that
(33:53):
there was there has been an emphasis on knowing how
to handle an emergency situation like that and how it
really is, you know, a life and death kind of
thing and it's very quick, yes, so you know, being
prepared for it in terms of the equipment and stuff,
being prepared for it in terms of knowing how to
(34:15):
use the equipment, knowing what to do in those situations.
You know, I think that you know, a lot of
that can be traced back to the incident, and in
that way, the more Hamlin is responsible for it, and
you know, I just think that people appreciate what he
has been through. And then appreciate also the reaction to
(34:37):
what he had to endure.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, and also appreciate, you know, his drive to get
back onto the football field, E Labs. I don't know
if I'd want to get out of bed in the
morning if what happened to tomor Hamlin happened to me.
And he's out there full participant in Bill's preseason games,
and I don't think there's any doubt that he's going
to make the roster as a depth piece like he
was before the injury happened. So very excited to see
Demoor Hamlin back in Pittsburgh in a Bill's uniform playing
(35:02):
on Saturday against the Steelers. We got one more segment.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Less Wait, wait, put the brakes on me.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Okay, okay, yes, okay. You know one of the traditions
annual things that happen to training camp is the it
used to be an actual game softball game, but now
it's home run derby.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Okay, to talk about the home run derby?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Who you got? I know who you've got? This is.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I don't want to, you know, pretend to act like
I'm a big brain guy that can just you know,
make a guess and look good. I knew it was
Kenny Picketty won back to back years. Steelers Instagram account
and they do great work on that Instagram account. If
you're not following, please go to Instagram and follow the
Steelers official team account. They posted coach Tomlin making the
speech given Kenny the championship bat and asking Kenny to
give a speech, to which Kenny took the mic and
(35:52):
just went thank you and then then walked off the field.
So sorry to spoil your fun, but I know Kenny
Pickett is our two time home run derby champ.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Well you would, you know, And this even goes back
to you know, as I said when it was a game,
because those are professional athletes, Okay, but there are you know,
the quarterbacks are always the best athletes among the professionals.
You know, you would think that you know, offensive linemen
(36:23):
or you know whatever, big built guys, really strong, but
you know, it's not it's not that kind of a deal.
I mean, when they would play games, uh, the two
best players one on each team offense and defense, the
shortstops Ben for the offense and Troy for the defense.
(36:43):
And you know, I remember Mike Tomlan talking about Troy
playing shortstop. He said, he was just so smooth. You know,
you wouldn't think, you know, he didn't play softball like
a football player, you know. And so the finalists were
in the home run derby where Mitch Trubisky and Kenny
Pickett and the specialists and the specialists because you know,
(37:09):
when you think about it, who are the best golfers,
the specialists and the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Boswell, the two long snappers, Christian Koontz and.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Rex.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, wait a minute, I got now, I got it.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Now I got his back up long snapper his due here.
It might be the only time that his name is
mentioned in this year.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Okay, but anyway, it was the too long snappers.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
The quarterbacks, you know, they sooner Haara, Rex soon, Ahara,
I have hope.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, West Virginia guy went to West Virginia, so you know,
school or he's gonna be all over that. But yeah,
it was they were the finalists and then they did
the best and then the finalists were Kenny Pickett and
Mitch Trubisky and Picket.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
One and that determined who was the starting quarterback correct
for the season.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Oh yeah, who hit the most tam runs of course, yes.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Labs and I will be back to wrap up the
training camp report and get a little preview of that
Buffalo game going. That's on the way next on the
Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
DC's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
So there, We's got one more practice open to the
public today at Saint Vincent College. Then they got a
closed practice more like a walkthrough tomorrow, and then that
second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills is on Saturday
night at Akrisure Stadium, kickoff at six point thirty pm.
We mentioned earlier in the show Tom and we'll give
his pre press or his pregame press conference today at
(39:04):
eleven thirty five previewing that Bill's game. Not sure how
much he's going to let us in on as far
as playing time is concerned, but I think it's safe
for us to both assume that Pickett will play since
he played in the first game, and probably play a
little bit more than just the one series that he
did against Tampa.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, and you know, we were listening to Cam Hayward
talk about it a little bit, talking about one of
the things that he was believing needed to happen before
the regular season starts, just to you know, iron out
some of the communication issues on defense. And he explained
how you really kind of have to do it in
a game because you know, practice is practice. There's not
(39:44):
the the urgency certainly that there's just a difference between
practice and even a preseason game. And you know, the
clock element of it is much more prevalent when you're
actually inside the stadium and it's game. So I would
imagine that a lot of the guys who didn't play
(40:05):
against Tampa Tampa Bay would be playing against the Bills.
And that's a good test, I mean, because you know,
the Bills are a Super Bowl contender. They are, they've
been one for you know the past few years, and
they have a lot of you know, pop level players
at you know, critical positions, and so you know it
(40:27):
should be a good test. I think you kind of
want to, you know, measure yourself a little bit to
some degree during the preseason again just to kind of
try and ramp up your body and your mind, you know,
for what's going to start coming at to really fast
start in September the tenth. So yeah, I think that
and it's I think it's a good place for this
(40:50):
kind of team. You know, the second preseason game, I
don't know that you want to open with the you know,
you don't want to do it the other way. You
don't want to open with Buffalo and then play Tampa
Bay because, as I said, you know, all due respect
to the Buccaneers, I just don't think you know that
they're going to be a contending team either in their
own division or in the NFC as a whole, not
(41:11):
this year. So they're kind of rebuilding, you know, getting
over the Tom Brady situation. I think they you know,
they have to re reload their thinking and personnel as
well in a lot of areas. So maybe it was
nicer to see the Buccaneers first and then the Bills
(41:33):
because you know, I think this kind of, as I said,
you kind of want to build a crescendo to the
start of the regular season, and this preseason scheduling the
first two games I think gives us Steelers a chance
to do that.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Well.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Like Cam Hayward said in the audio that we heard from,
you know, it's up to coach t who plays and
who doesn't. I'm sure people are excited to potentially see
Hayward out there for a little bit, want out there
for a little bit, just getting their feet wet. Minka
Fitzpatrick as well. Not maybe to the same extent that
the first team offenses out there, but definitely a couple
of plays on the defensive side of the ball. But
(42:09):
the one guy that I'm really interested in seeing LABS
is Joey Porter Junior in his debut in game action
for the Steelers. He couldn't go against Tampa Bay in
their first preseason game. If that was a regular season game,
maybe he's okay enough to play, but no need to really,
you know, take that risk in a preseason setting. He
practiced this week. Looks like he's got the thumbs up
(42:30):
to go against Buffalo. And I don't want to say,
like Broderick Jones getting at all the or most of
the offensive snaps in his debut, that's going to be
the exact same case with Joey Porter Junior on the
defensive side of the ball. But I bet you he
sees a lot of playing time in that first game.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, And you know, Buffalo has some players that are
going to challenge Joey Porter Junior and the other defensive backs,
and you know you reference Joey Porter Junior specifically. You know, yeah,
I think that one of the things that it's going
to kind of unlock a lot of the packages and
(43:08):
things that the Steelers may want to do with their
defense if he can play outside corner well enough to
allow Patrick Peterson to be to move either inside or
be you know, one of those chess pieces, you know,
have him facing the quarterback instead of turning and running
with receivers. At this stage of his career, I think
(43:31):
that's he's more he's more suited to the facing the
quarterback kind of thing. He had a bunch of interceptions.
He's still good, you know in the balls in the air.
That would give the Steelers two of those kinds of guys,
you know, Minka Fitzpatrick and Patrick Peterson. And then you
know a lot of this because I'm really interested to see,
(43:53):
you know, how a lot of these this defensive stuff
works out, because I'm not really sure that it's going
to be a situation. You know, we're talking about inside
linebacker frequently during you know, these shows. I don't know
that it's going to always be Cole Holcomb and a
Landon Roberts and or Kwan Alexander being responsible, you know,
(44:17):
for the the kinds of defense now that inside linebackers
have to play in the NFL. You know, you have
to both be good against the run and you have
to line up and be able to cover too, because
offenses are not going to change personnel, give you the
opportunity to change personnel if they want to throw the
ball and throwing situations, so you have to be able
(44:38):
to adapt on the fly. And maybe some of the
answers can be found with some of these defensive backs.
You know, Kean O'Neil, as Cam Hayward referenced him, He's
one of those pieces. Demonte K Cazi excuse me, Casey
is another one of those pieces. Patrick Peterson potentially is
(45:00):
one of those pieces. So you know, it's gonna be
interesting to me to see how that evolves. And I
think that a lot of it is going to hinge
on Joey Porter Junior being able to line up and
do a respectable job at outside cornerback because he's going
to be facing you know, some big names we've talked about,
(45:20):
Broderick Jones, you know, and some of the fire breathing
edge rushers that he will have to face. In the NFL,
and it's the same thing for a corner. I mean,
everybody's got a good receiver, you know, and sometimes more
than one. So yeah, this is going to be a
good opportunity to see him. I think Joey Porter Junior
(45:44):
will be able to test himself against this team, gauge
himself against this team, and you know, I think that
him doing well is going to be a critical element
to how the rest of this season unfolds.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Hopefully. Saturday night at six thirty is a very educational
experience for everybody as the Steelers take on the Buffalo
Bills in preseason game number two. As I mentioned, kick
off at six point thirty. Labs, Jerry Dulac and Mike
Persuda kick off the pregame show at four thirty on DVEE.
Thanks so much for all of you guys listening to
us ramble on early in the morning for the past
(46:19):
couple of weeks during these training camp reports. You really
enjoyed it. Labs and I will be back again next
week on Asked and Answered, our usual gig, So keep
an eye out for the latest episode there and we'll
be going into the locker room next with Wolf and
starks on Steelers Nation Radio
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