Training Camp Report - Day 2

Labs and Tom recap day 1's practice. Hear from Coach T, Justin Fields, Pat Freiermuth and Broderick Jones. Larry Brown calls in to talk to the guys as well.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
He sees no training camp report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well Labs, it took just one practice for one man's
misfortune to turn into another man's opportunity. And it just
so happens that these men that were speaking of are
the two quarterbacks. With Russell Wilson being sidelined for the
first practice of the twenty twenty four training camp. Justin
Field's running with the ones yesterday. A bit of a
surprise to everybody when they woke up on Thursday morning

(00:34):
that that was the case.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, Justin Fields was talking and we'll hear from him later,
but he said he got a text from the quarterback
coaches at about six forty five, six point thirty in
the morning telling him that, yeah, by the way, you're
going to be running with the ones today and welcome
to see will camp. Right, And we always kid around about,

(01:00):
you know how Steelers fans go crazy over quarterback anything,
So just imagine, you know, first practice it's Justin Fields.
You know, I'm sure that asked and answered, will be
you know, blowing up here soon about how's the quarterback
competition going? Is it no real competition? Is you know

(01:22):
all of this stuff, but it'll be interesting to see
how long the Steelers you know, exercise the precaution with
Russell Wilson's tight calf is how Mike Palin described it.
But yeah, Justin Field's had some moments both good and
I won't say bad. You can see why he is

(01:46):
perceived to be a guy that still needs some development.
But wow, does he have some skills.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (01:54):
Yeah, I think that was the main takeaway.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
I mean, there's obviously going to be some rust for
any quarterback in his first day of training camp practice.
So you know, some of the moments that made you go, oh,
that needs a little polish are to be expected. It's
those eye popping moments that is what everybody was attracted
to when the trade was made in the off season
and you got to see them up close and personal.
You got robbed of seeing Russell Wilson up close and personal,
but at least you got to see one of the

(02:17):
two new acquisitions of that position.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, and during one period of eleven on eleven in
the practice, and again let me continue to repeat myself here,
this was glorified mini camp. Okay, so before people, you know,
go off the deep end, or overreact or any of
that stuff. Let me just continue to make that point.
But it was an eleven on eleven period and Russell

(02:42):
or excuse me, I almost said Russell Wilson justin fields through.
It had to be about at least fifty yards in
the air, perfect pass deep down the sideline to Van Jefferson,
and he he kind of put a move. Let me,

(03:04):
let me get my roster out here. So I'm still
learning numbers. I'm sorry everyone, I'm still learning numbers for
you too.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Labs, all right, you're not a superman, okay, But I.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Don't know if it was a move or Dante Jackson,
the cornerback, just kind of lost his footing, but he
went down so as I said Van Jefferson on Vaughan Jefferson,
Van Jefferson was wide open and justin feels. As I said,
the ball traveled at least fifty yards in the air,
perfectly placed, led him perfectly, you know, imaginary touchdown they

(03:43):
say in these kinds of practices. But then a couple
of plays later he tried to fit the ball in.
It was kind of like a I would say, yeah,
thirteen to fifteen yard dig route where the receiver ran
down the sideline and then kind of cut back towards

(04:04):
the quarterback, but also back towards the middle of the field.
And you know it was I don't know what kind
of coverage it was. I'm not that good of an
expert at it, and it happened so quick, and I
don't have replay, you know, making excuses, but I'm just
trying to tell the truth. It didn't seem to be
man to man again, strict man to man's situation as

(04:26):
it was on the deep ball down the sideline and
Justin Fields tried to fit it in there and Jackson
got his hand on the ball and broke it up.
Maybe he could have made a spectacular interception.

Speaker 6 (04:41):
But he was.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
He was clearly there and made the play. Now, you
know what we had been hearing about Justin Fields was.
You know, his talent is obvious and exceptional, but the
area which he needs development is you know, reading the field.
You know, understand quickly processed, seeing the coverage versus you
know the play that the offensive play that is called,

(05:06):
and you know, making the right decision and you know,
putting the ball where it should be or maybe more
correctly avoiding throwing the ball into an area where that
could get him into trouble. So, as I said, same
same practice period, within a handful of plays, I think
you've got the whole justin fields, the book on justin field.

(05:30):
Let's put it that way right there in front of it,
on it during the first training camp practice.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Now, hopefully you can just see a little bit of
Russell Wilson sooner rather than later.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
The good news with that injury.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
And we're going to hear from Mike Tomlin speaking to
the media in just a few minutes here and he'll
mention this as well.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
It didn't seem serious at all.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
In fact, as Tomlin noted, if it were up to Russ,
Russe would have been out there practicing. But you know,
that's why coaches are there to get in the way
of players potentially harming themselves because they just you know,
they're competitors. They want to be out there and you know, hey,
it's it's day one, Russ.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
You're a thirty five year old veteran. You know how
to do this.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Let's let's just put the baseball cap on for today.
But it just seems like there's not a sense of
real worry about it. Total precautionary kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
And you know the other thing Mike Tomlan likes to
use training camp for, you know, is to a create
competitive situations and be sometimes you know, injects a man
made adversity into these practices because you know, once again
there's no scores being kept, there's these this you know,

(06:42):
obviously this doesn't count in the standings. But not only that,
I mean it's it's again a glorified mini camp practice.
But you know, you create a situation with a late
scratch of the starting quarterback and it not only creates
some adversity for you know, Russell Wilson having to deal

(07:02):
with that setback justin fields, having to deal with being
elevated late, but also the rest of the offense. You know,
you're the cadence and you know the things that you
were trying to learn and acclimate yourself the first group
with Russell Wilson throughout you know the spring. Now it's
somebody else, and it's somebody else right now. You know,

(07:24):
it's not like they you had a big a lot
of time to talk about it or you know, if
it were a game, for example, even you would have
some opportunity during pregame. You know, I don't know, maybe
have a little time with the new guy, even the center,
you know, he's snapping out of a different quarterback right

(07:45):
off the bat. So yeah, it was a it was
it was an interesting thing. And you know, I again,
first practice of training camp and all that stuff. Hopefully, uh,
you know, it turns out to be a benefit for
everybody involved.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
On the other injury front, nothing happened in practice yesterday
with anybody else going onto the injury list other than
the three players who are already there following the conditioning
test on Wednesday, those being, of course Cole Holcomb Dean
Lowry both on the pup list, and then Cordero Patterson
on the non football injury list.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
So hey, so far, so good, right.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Injuries that happen with out pads on are non contact injuries,
and those can be very devastating. So one practice down
without any significant bumps or bruises other than of course
the boo boo doo Russ's calf.

Speaker 6 (08:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
And you know, if you know, I always scan as
an example, pro football talk on the on the internet,
and they will they have a compilation a lot of
times of you know, different teams in camp. And you
know one of the things you know, I've been reading already,
guys are tearing acls. Yeah, I mean I saw at
least one of those this morning or late last night.

(09:04):
I don't remember when I looked at it. So it's
you know, other teams already. As you mentioned, there's still
in the acclamation period, still non contact and as you said,
sometimes those are the worst injuries, and so you know,
players are being lost for the season already. I mean,
and it's only July twenty sixth. Well.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Coach Tomlin spoke to the media following yesterday's practice. Let's
take a listen to what coach had to say.

Speaker 7 (09:30):
Man, great day to get started. It's just awesome to
be in this environment, in front of our fans. Man
in officially working on football here in twenty twenty four.
You know, starts aren't always ideal, but that's like life.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Man.

Speaker 7 (09:44):
Russ woke up today. Man, his calf was tight. It
was my decision to sit him down today, create a
little short term discomfort for him, not allowing a small
problem to become a bigger problem. He could be characterized
as day to day. But on the flip side of that,
it was an awesome opportunity for Justin and a challenge
for our offensive unit to deal with a little adversity
at the outset. You know, we all like to start

(10:06):
with great fluidity and clean but man, football isn't always
liked that, And so really I looked at it as
a good thing for a collective, a challenge for the
offensive unit, a challenge and an opportunity to get to
know Russ a little bit. Man, create a little short
term misery for him, opportunities for others, And so that's
the story there. On the flip side of that, Man,
we just really focused on fundamental things today, Securing the ball,

(10:29):
searching the ball, on defense, how we hustle and finish
our pre snap cleanliness on both sides of the ball,
fluidity on offense, pre snap shifts and motions being on
side on defense. Things that will get your beat where
you beat yourself at the foundational stage. So just really
glad to be here and be in this environment. Obviously, Man,

(10:50):
we just got a lot of work in front of us, Man,
but just felt like we got to train out of
the station today in a pretty good fashion. Our pause
and open it up for questions.

Speaker 8 (10:58):
Like you mentioned, creating short for Russell.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
How did he kind of take the decision?

Speaker 8 (11:02):
Did he want to get out here implay? Did he
feel like he could?

Speaker 7 (11:05):
He wanted to and he was probably capable, But I'm
getting to know him, and I just chose to create
a little misery for him in the offensive unit.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
How did you see justin, you know, step up with
the reps that he was given.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
Today and it was practice.

Speaker 7 (11:18):
He was excited about the opportunity to lead that first
group out of the huddle and take charge today. And
so we're not painting with a broad brush just yet
or making too many judgments. It was a good afternoon.
Like hel Key's communication in these first few days, especially
with some of the water changer we had with us,
it is so important that we set you know, the
floor high in that area communication offensively, formally and informally.

(11:41):
Hadn't been around a good defense that doesn't adjust fast
and communicate while doing so. And so that's that's at
the top of our list in terms of our attention
as we get started.

Speaker 9 (11:51):
Is everybody else counterfeorn to practice till with anybody else?

Speaker 7 (11:55):
Nothing else that we hadn't spoken of yesterday. Patterson and
Lowry obviously dealing with their soft tissue injuries. Other than that,
we'll see what this evening tells us from availability standpoint
in terms of things that may have happened in practice
anyone else.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
You're wearing white today.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
That seems to be a topic here.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
You always used to wear black.

Speaker 7 (12:18):
It always baffles me that people pay attention to my
outfit and things of that nature. It just really does
y'all have a great day.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Hey, we like fashion coach, right, you're a sharp dressed man,
and we like to compliment you every now and then
from it. But he gave us ten minutes yesterday, labs
only three minutes today. You weren't kidding when you said
those are about to get a launch. Shorterer with his
little sessions with the media. But right at the beginning
there he laid out what you were talking in our
opening segment here. You know not that he was excited

(12:50):
to find out that Russ was dealing with a little
bit of a sore calf yesterday morning, but he clearly
saw the opportunity in front of him to disrupt the
apple cart a little bit, as he loves to do,
and he got to do it in day one, and
he got to do it in an important position.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
Right, and you in a position really that impacts a
lot of the other Like yeah, players, but you know
you mentioned the time eleven minutes then three minutes. That's
you know, we heard how definitively to end Mike Tomlin
post practice briefing, ask him about something like the color

(13:27):
of his shirt. Seriously, That's that's why these things end quickly.
That's why sometimes he's short with people. That's you know,
if you want to know, that's why I understand you
know that it's it's it's a workday for the players

(13:47):
and coaches. It's not a fun thing, you know. I
don't know. Different media members might be looking for a
cute little something or other that they can post on
social media, you know, and he's Mike Toman's not going
to play that game. And I would say ninety five
percent of the NFL coaches are not going to do
it either. But hey, you know, nobody, they just don't

(14:12):
learn continue to do that. And you know what, tom
it's just robbing us of time on this show to
hear him talk about maybe things that or assess things
that might be of legitimate interest to the to our
listeners and the fans.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Well, I know one guy who doesn't get sick of
those questions. It's probably coach Tomlin, because, like you said,
that means then he has the green light to just
wrap up and say have a good day and leave,
and that's totally.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Fine with him.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
I did also want to touch on what he mentioned
about the fundamental aspect of things in day one. These
you mentioned how they're kind of like Ota days, maybe
a little extra juice to them because you know, the
fans are there and you're at training camp in that
setting and the season is just a month away.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
But you know, it really is like.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
A spring training esque type of thing where you're just
trying to nail down the things that you don't even
need to think about on the football field during the season,
things that you do as naturally as breathing, and just
kind of get your feet wet a little bit over
this first four day practice stretch before you're off day
and the pads come on.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Well, yeah, and you know, once we get to the
regular season, especially early oftentimes, you know into the middle
or late portions of a regular season, you'll hear a
coach or players after a game say, well, that was
a miscommunication in describing something bad that happened, maybe something
bad that happened that ended up on the scoreboard, or

(15:38):
something bad that happened that altered the outcome of the game,
and they'll subscribe it to a miscommunication. Well that's what
they were trying to work on and try and get
the players, you know, on the right track in that area.
You know, when he was Mike Tolman was talking about

(15:59):
the defense, you know, pre snap motion shifts. You know,
there was a lot of when that would happen. You
could see, uh, sometimes either defensive backs talking to each
other pointing things out. Sometimes you know, players at the
second level turning to say some things to the players
in the third level, you know, because emotion could change,

(16:21):
for example, who a defensive back is covering, you know,
based on where the motion man ends up when the
ball is snapped. You know, those kinds of things, and
you'll you'll see that a lot of times in real games.
You know, that'll happen. Maybe it's crowd noise, you know,
maybe it's just young players, maybe whatever. It might be

(16:43):
a mental error, just a breakdown, and as I said,
sometimes it ends up on the scoreboard and sometimes you know,
that score might alter the outcome of the game, so
trying to work on cleaning that up from the very
first time guys take the field.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Seeing the new quarterbacks was obviously very attractive for the fans.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
On day one, they only got to see one out
of two.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Another thing that every fan was curious about was how
the offensive line was gonna configure itself on day one
of practice. We'll talk about how that looked next, and
we'll also hear from Broderick Jones as the Training camp
report marches on with Tom and Labs on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
The SE's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
The offensive line and who is going to be the
five starters is of peak interest in all of Steelers Nation.
Their first two draft picks of the twenty twenty four
draft class were spent on offensive lineman. Their first draft
pick last year was spent on an offensive lineman. With
Broderick Jones Labs, we got our first look at the
first unit, and for those that were wanting rookies to

(18:00):
jump in immediately.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
They were a little disappointed yesterday.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, I mean, the first offensive line really shouldn't be
a surprise to anyone. But you know, I'm sure that
it still was a surprise to some. Left to right.
I'm giving to you that way. Dan Moore junior left tackle,
Isaac Camalu left guard, Nate Herbig at center, James Daniels

(18:29):
right guard, and Broderick Jones right tackle. So anyone who
was hoping for one of two things, would you see
the rookie with the first team right away? Would you
see Broderick Jones at left tackle right away? The answer
to both of those was no.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
And I don't think that this is any reason to,
you know, hit the panic button if you're a fan
that wants to see those rookies play right away. Just
drawing back from what Tomlin spoke to the media yesterday
and said when asked about or you treat, you know,
the rookies this year the same as last year's class.
It's it's not a cookie cutter type of thing. It's
an individual type of thing. And the fact is Fraser

(19:10):
and Fautanu, I mean, those are fifth year starters at
their schools. They've played multiple seasons at big time Division
one programs.

Speaker 5 (19:19):
Well, I mean, West Virginia, whatever. But personal bias is
about that.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
But you know what I mean, like they got a
lot of experience at the college level where Progerck Jones
won a national championship and was a big factor for
Georgia when he did, he only had like fifteen sixteen
games under his.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Belt, right, And you know, I just most of the
draft picks. You know, when you're looking at, you know,
the top of the Steelers twenty twenty four NFL Draft,
a lot of those guys are either older than their
twenty twenty three counterparts or as you mentioned, was significantly

(19:57):
more college experience. But I also I think that you know,
without hearing this or knowing this specifically or definitively, that
there is a sense a tone this training camp that
nobody's going to be handed anything or given anything, no
benefits of the doubt. Anything you get you have to

(20:21):
earn because you know, if you look at the top
four picks of the twenty twenty four NFL draft, Okay
Troy filtonom second group offensive line and at right tackle too.
So you know, again, maybe this indicates that Broderick Jones
is going to be moved to left tackle and Dan

(20:43):
Moore Junior is going to be come the swing tackle
when you know everything is said and done, but you
know right now, neither of the young guys is going
to be handed anything. The second pick of the draft,
second round pick, was as Zach Fraser. There is an
assumption that the Steelers went and picked him because they

(21:06):
had released Mason Cole earlier in the process a free
agency and everybody thought, well, you know, Nate Herbig is
a is a backup type. They're going to go draft
a plug in play center. Well maybe they they did,
Maybe it turns out that way, but Zach Fraser was

(21:28):
not with the first group, and you know, he had
an errant shotgun snap or two when he was out there.
I'm not saying that that's going to be a long
term problem or any of that kind of stuff, but maybe,
you know, that's the kind of thing that you want

(21:49):
him to realize while he's also trying to work his
way up the depth chart. The third pick of the draft,
the first pick in the third round, wide receiver Roman Wilson.
You know, another guy after the trade of Deontay Johnson.
It was assumed, you know, this guy is going to
come in and compete for a starting position. Yeah, Well

(22:12):
he was with the second group of receivers. I didn't
really notice him do anything good or bad, But again
I'm not privy to was he in the right spots,
was he running the correct routes, you know, all that stuff.
But he didn't make any spectacular catches and he didn't
drop any balls at him right in the hands either.

(22:33):
So you know, we'll have to see the fourth pick
of the twenty twenty four draft, who happened to be
the Steelers second pick of the third round, Inside linebacker
Peyton Wilson. Now there's a lot of buzz about this guy.
You know, his physical skill set, you know, is what
I've been told off the charts for a player at

(22:55):
that position. Bill Cower has talked about him already because
you know, Peyton Wilson went to NC State, as did
Bill Kauer. But you know, when the first team defense
were in out there, it was a Landon Roberts and
Patrick Queen at inside linebacker. And when the first unit
excuse me, you know, sub package defenses were out there,

(23:18):
it was some combination of those two same inside linebackers,
whether it was Nickel or dime, you know, depending that
dictates how many of them are out on the field.
So you know, maybe Peyton Wilson becomes something. Maybe Peyton
Wilson becomes a guy who it elevates or earns his
way onto one of the first groups in some of

(23:39):
the sub packages. But again, first day of training camp
here at Sant Fencent College was it was that was
not the case.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
I just you know, from some internet footage that I
saw from yesterday, it's so clear the burst that Peyton
Wilson has. And you know what can you tell at
a position like that on days where they don't have
pads on, well, burst is one of them speed, that
kind of thing, and he just has it. And I'm
really excited to see his progression this year that that

(24:08):
could really turn out to be a diamond in the
rough type of pick for the Steelers.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah. I mean, and you're always looking for those kinds
of players at that position. I mean, inside linebacker. You know,
you used to be able to get by with Levaughn
Kirkland and those you know, who is an amazing athlete
in his own right, but you know, more of run stuffing,
you know, to sixty two seventy inside linebackers whose first

(24:38):
step was always forward, you know, towards the offense. Trying
to get in the backfield or take on a block
or something. You know, you can't do that anymore. I mean,
that's not necessarily what is required for the position. It's
not the you know, offenses don't don't cooperate with you

(25:04):
that way. You know, if they see you're trying to
put too many run stuffing or run defending defenders on
the field, excuse me, they'll just throw the ball. And
position on the field doesn't matter. Down in distance doesn't matter.
You know, offenses have really gone to whatever the defense

(25:26):
might show them in terms of a personnel grouping just
do the other thing. And there are a lot of
offensive players both in the league and coming into the
league who allow offenses to do that. So defenses have
to be able to compensate or counteract that with players
who are all down, all situation kind of players. Defensive

(25:48):
backs have to be able to run, support and tackle,
and inside linebackers have to be able to run and cover.
And you know, the Steelers haven't had you know, legitimate,
all situation, all down inside linebackers since Ryan Shazier, you know,

(26:10):
when Shasier had that catastrophic injury. You know, the Steelers
been trying to replace that and him in their defense
both from draft picks Devin Bush, you know, signing people,
adding people, and you know they have not been able
to replace that. So they think they got one in

(26:32):
Patrick Queen in terms of a veteran, and they're hoping
they got another with their second pick in the third
round and Peyton Wilson.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Is there anything of note or something that made you
raise your eyebrows with Troy Fotani with the second team
offensive line playing that right tackle spot instead of maybe
doing some work at the left tackle spot.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
Or do I just need to calm down and it's
only day one.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Well, you can get excited, but what I would suggest
is either wait for me to talk to Craig wolf
Lie and Max Starts to find out or you ask
them directly, because I am just not well versed enough
an offensive line play to know uh and and a

(27:14):
lot of times even when it seems obvious to me
when someone did something bad, you know it's somebody didn't
hear a call or a miscommunication you know, by someone else,
or so yeah, I just don't feel qualified to make
any assessment. And since there was no pads, you know,

(27:37):
there were no pancakes situations either where you know, you
see a guy come off the ball, go get a
linebacker or a defensive lineman and just put him on
his back. So my answer to that is no, but
I also admit that I'm not qualified to make that assessment.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well, before we hear from Broderick Jones, want to essent
that you did note in your practice report on Steelers
dot com and labs post one every day that there's practice.
Go to Steelers dot com and read his write up.
But rookie free agent running back Dejon Edwards out of Georgia. Again,
like Peyton Wilson with the burst, this kid showed that
he's got NFL type of speed, NFL type of agility.

(28:19):
But it's that next step now where let's have some
contact and see how he handles that right, you know.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
You know, again it was a non contact practice, so
there was no hitting or any of that stuff. But
what I did notice about him, or a couple of
running plays, he very aggressively hit a scene and burst
through the you know, the original the line of scrimmers

(28:47):
saying in the second level of the defense. He got
through that quickly, and then once at the second level
he was able to accelerate and run away from the pursuit.
Let's put it that way, which is, you know, a
nice kind of thing. I'm not putting him on the
fifty three man roster or anything yet, because you know,
there's more to play in running back in the NFL

(29:09):
than just running the football. And you know, if Dejon
Edwards continues to show that kind of burst during these
acclamation days, it wouldn't surprise me at all that he
got a chance to maybe go against gets a chance
maybe to go against Patrick Queen or somebody in backs
on backers, and there's gonna be a quick assessment made

(29:32):
of his ability to step up and pass block and
his willingness if he isn't really good at it, but
his willingness to try, because you don't have to be
really good at it right off the bat, but you
have to be really willing right off the bat. And

(29:53):
we'll see. I'm not saying he's not a tough guy
by any means, but you know a lot of times
college running back don't do that. Uh they haven't been
trained to do it, they haven't practiced it, they aren't
used that way. You know, I don't know how often
Georgia ever kept this guy into block. You know, he

(30:14):
might have been just strictly a ball carrier. So yeah,
that's that's one of Mike Tomlin's moves. You know, as
he has said to people, I have heard it, you know,
standing down on the field for these kinds of things
that I've phrased it. You know, have the willingness uh

(30:35):
to step up in there. Uh. You know, Mike Tomin
will call it. Get your butt kicked with dignity. You
know you're not going to be able to block James Harrison,
but you know, do you duck your head, do you
turn your your body? So you try and like, you know,
kind of side side.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
Uh Roger dorn O bull crap right.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yeah, as the manager said, hey dorn don't give me
that old ay. And it was an R rated movie.
So yeah, but yeah, that's the kind of thing you're
looking for. So again, flashed today or yesterday. We'll see
if that continues, and then once the pads go on,

(31:21):
we'll find out even more well.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
The rookies in the twenty twenty fourth class got their
first taste of Steelers training camp, running with the second team.
The top of the twenty twenty three draft class is
all too familiar with that and earning his starting spot
on the field. Proger Jones, entering year two, caught up
with the media following yesterday's practice.

Speaker 10 (31:40):
No, overall, as a unit, I feel like we got
better today, you know. I feel like we pushed one another,
and you know, we just got to continue to build
and continue to just put.

Speaker 6 (31:49):
Our best foot forward speaking and moving around. Do you
expect to be moving around that line or do you
think it's gonna be.

Speaker 10 (31:54):
Honestly, I really still don't know. You know, I'm just
coming out here every day trying to get one percent.
Ain't better even if it's had left or right. You know,
I'm just trying to, you know, do my part. You
know what my name is called on either side. You know,
I just want to be prepared.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
When you look back to the last season, do you
think he began starting at the break time or do.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
You think he could have handled it.

Speaker 10 (32:14):
Kaing Morton, I feel like I started at the right time.
I feel like I needed a couple of weeks, you know,
to actually just sit and watch and just learn and
listen and take everything in before I was just able
to go out there and you know, just do what
I do what I can. So I feel like me
being able to sit down those first couple of weeks
really helped me. I really feel like it helped me

(32:36):
holding on my skills, and you know, at the end
of the day, I feel like it working out for
the best.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
You end up playing both sides.

Speaker 10 (32:42):
If the King do uh switching mid season this year,
could you do it? Yes, sir, without a doubt. You know,
I feel like I'm a virtual player. I could play
on either side. You know, I've been doing it my
whole life. You know, I practice at it each and
every day, just so I'm always getting repped on both
sides because you know, like you said, you know, I
never know. Coaches really probably still don't know. So you know,

(33:04):
we just gotta let Tom tell and just continue to
just get one from.

Speaker 6 (33:08):
Talk about this new offense.

Speaker 8 (33:11):
But how do you guys feel like yesterday one you're
starting to come together with the look you guys at
what in many camp ogs.

Speaker 10 (33:16):
Yeah, I feel like the offense is coming together really well,
you know, just like with OTAs and stuff, and you know,
like rookie mini camp with those guys, the rookies being
able to get in and you know, get the extra
learning curve, you know, just coming in and being able
to sit down and just take coaching, you know, one
on one because you know, like that's their time. You know,

(33:38):
we don't take that time from them. So I just
feel like for those guys, that's a really big push
right there. You know, it's good that we they came
into a new system, so I feel like, you know,
with the older guys, it really doesn't make a difference,
you know.

Speaker 6 (33:52):
You know, we just try to.

Speaker 10 (33:54):
Continue to stay prepared to play in you know, just
always listening to what coaches tell you because at the
end of the day, they really can't. It's excellent o.
You know, football is football, so you know you just
got to go out there and give.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
A hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
It's impossible to not be high on Broderick Jones. Last year,
a great rookie season, great career at Georgia. You know,
but after you hear him talk two labs, I just
get more and more impressed with him.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
He's he says all the right things.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
You know, whether he wants to be on the left
or the right side, you'll never know it from him.
I mean, sure, maybe he'll hint you with you and say, yeah,
you know, I am a little more comfortable on the left,
but he doesn't care. He's going to play both sides.
He puts him work at both sides. And I mean
he just is taking the steps down the path to
really becoming a long term stealer.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
I mean, I don't want to hang this on him
so early in his career, But for me, in the
areas that you just just described, I see a lot
of Mark Keith Pouncey in this guy. I mean, over
the course of his rookie season, listening to him talk,
hearing him talk, you would pick up certain Mike tomlinisms

(35:09):
he would like unconsciously or subconsciously work them in. You know,
Broderick Jones started referring to the offense as the collective. Now, seriously,
you know, who have you ever heard say that referred
to the unit or a team as a collective before
Mike Tomlins started doing it. So you know, that to

(35:30):
me tells me that this guy is listening intently when
the head coach talks. Okay, so then that makes him
kind of a mouthpiece for the coach when the coach
isn't around among the other players. And that's very valuable
to have. The other thing about him that I think
is ponciesque is if anybody on the other team needs

(35:55):
a little attitude adjustment for some misbehavior during game, he
is very willing to, you know, administer, as Wolfley would say,
some frontier justice. Uh. And that that is invaluable too. Uh.
You need to get across to the other teams, the

(36:16):
other defenses that we're not going to stand around for
this mess.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
You know, the Steelers haven't had that since Pouncy. And
uh that again, that's another invaluable thing. You know, you
don't want anyone taking liberties with your quarterback or running
back or receivers or you know, any of that kind
of stuff. And you know, Marquis Poncey was famous, uh,
you know for being the sheriff coming to Mason Rudolph's

(36:45):
rescue when Miles Garrett committed that crime in Cleveland. So
you know, again, I'm not trying to hang this on
him early. You know, make compare that this guy's going
to have to carry around or that becomes a burden
for him in the early seasons of his career. But

(37:06):
I think he's moving along in that direction, and to me,
that's every bit as impressive as the way he has
actually performed.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, and I just love his humble answer to to
Presuda's question about do you think you started at the
right time last year? Would you like to start it
a little bit earlier? I mean, he had a great
rookie season. He could have easily said, you know, I
probably felt like I was ready earlier and not you know,
set it in a smart way, but in a diplomatic way.
But you know, he just completely said, yeah, I needed
time to polish up my game. The coaches made the

(37:36):
right decision. The time frame of me starting was exactly
what it needed to be. So all around, just really
refreshing to hear that and excited to see Roderick Jones
take another step in his NFL career in year two.
When we come back to wrap up the first hour,
justin Fields, it was all about him. Yesterday it was
his day taking QB one reps. He spoke to the media.

(37:59):
We'll hear from him to wrap things up on hour
one of the Training Camp Report with Tom and Labs
on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
DC's The Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steeler's Nation radio.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Justin Fields grabbed all the headlines yesterday of day one
of Steelers' training camp as he took over QB one
for Russell Wilson, who was sidelined with a calf injury.
Fields then caught up with the media after his day
of practice, and here's how he said it went.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
The advantage of.

Speaker 6 (38:34):
These reps when you get to go with the ons.

Speaker 9 (38:35):
No, it's definitely, you know, most definitely, I think you know,
I was definitely trying to take advantage of each and
every red that I got today and you know, like
I said, just looking forward to getting better tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
At the first team.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
He's been stycap what have you been able to mean.

Speaker 11 (38:50):
So far about some of the media guys and they
won't win into the seconds ever like Jackson?

Speaker 6 (38:55):
Yeah, I mean design, I mean you felt his presence.

Speaker 9 (38:57):
Though on the OCAs I think he's getting graded this
to the DEEF. He brings a lot of energy, he's
he's juiced up and he's a great player. So I
can't wait to get the pads on because I think
he's pretty physical too. So on you know, I played
against him a little bit when I.

Speaker 6 (39:09):
Was just icagoing he was in Detroit.

Speaker 9 (39:10):
So, uh, I kind of played against him a couple
of times, but I mean he's a great player, and
you know, he's has been great so far.

Speaker 8 (39:16):
What kind of input did you get from Russ kind
of throughout practice with him watching as you were, god
through some of the team drills and even just individual throwing.

Speaker 9 (39:23):
Oh yeah, I mean Russ is always you know, any
question I have, I can always go to Russ and
ask him for advice. You know, he's gonna you know,
get his uh you know, his knowledge to me. Of course,
he's been in the league for a long time, so
you know, any advice he asked for me, I'm always
open and willing to take that.

Speaker 6 (39:36):
But he was really just you know, trying to follow
a long practice.

Speaker 9 (39:38):
He had to script in his hands, and William was
just trying to play the practice mentally, so as we
all are as quarterbacks.

Speaker 8 (39:44):
So yeah, you know, did you find out that that
Russ wasn't gonna be practicing this morning? Said that he
wanted to pay for it.

Speaker 9 (39:51):
Yeah, I found out right when I woke up this morning. So,
you know, last night just looking over the players.

Speaker 6 (39:57):
But this morning, uh, our quick.

Speaker 9 (40:00):
Part of right close just text me stuff be ready
to take some reporting on today but this morning. But
it's good, you know, to face you know, some short
term mmy from a virtue and some stuff that's you know,
not expected, you know, because we're gonna tat things and
games that aren't expected. So it's about how we react
to those situations and how we adjust.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
So you start, how early were you?

Speaker 9 (40:19):
I think it was at like six up to six o'clock,
so I walk around six thirty.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
But yeah, so I think, you know.

Speaker 9 (40:26):
Six or round six o'clock to.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Change your approach at a dressing?

Speaker 6 (40:28):
Did I tell you about though off the little or not?

Speaker 4 (40:32):
Really?

Speaker 9 (40:33):
You know, I just tried to, you know, do my
job for my teammates, and but I'm not really changing anything.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
I try to come my head the same guy every day.
Let's trying to get the pension. I thought it's all right,
you know. Of course it wasn't perfect. There's always jumble
on through it. But I felt I felt all.

Speaker 8 (40:47):
Right, you know, you know, mis.

Speaker 6 (40:50):
Jory, I got prodible too. I'm not gonna talk about
that refre.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
But I felt all right overall, God, I got got.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
Some good repsent to that.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
For sure.

Speaker 6 (40:58):
It seemed like you guys emphasized targeting the tight ends
a lot. How did you how's how's it been working
with that friar ruth and what does he make it
easier in your job? Yeah?

Speaker 9 (41:05):
I mean pat One thing about Patty he's really savvy, smart.

Speaker 6 (41:08):
I mean he also has a great hands too.

Speaker 9 (41:11):
So when you you know, get all those attributes in
a tight end, uh, it makes him a great way of.

Speaker 6 (41:15):
Had a lot of We had a lot of twelve
percent out there and there. Right. Yeah, sure, as much
as you expected, more than expected.

Speaker 9 (41:21):
You know, we're a team that can do a lot
of things. You know, we have a lot of good
players on offense, so I think you can mix it
up a good way. Not really expecting any of things.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Though more than year. Right.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
That's Justin Fields talking with the media after yesterday's practice
and labs. You know, it's not easy for any quarterback
to get a text at six in the morning, who's
expecting to be QB two and say, hey, you're QB
one now in about three hours, so get ready for that.
But Justin Fields does have the distinct advantage over most
of the other backups around the NFL. As he was

(41:51):
a franchise quarterback at one point he was a starter
for the Chicago Bears in these training camp settings for
years to come.

Speaker 5 (41:57):
So although he wasn't expecting the curveball.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Right off the bat here, I don't think it was
too much trouble for him to handle it.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
It's not easy for me getting a text at six
in the more behavior, you know, and my requirements are
only getting ready for you. So you know, yeah, I
agree with you one hundred percent. And you know, he
was a top ten pick. I don't remember exactly what
it was, seventh overall something like that. So I mean

(42:28):
the guy obviously has you know, some pedigree in terms
of being an athlete and playing the position, but it's
still you know, again, as Mike Tolmans said, I wanted
to create some short term misery, and I'm sure that
there was some anxiousness. Uh you know, I won't say
that justin fields, was you know, scared or intimidated or anything,

(42:49):
but I'm sure you get butterflies. I mean it's only natural.
You know, you want to perform well, you want to
look good in what you want to do. So yeah,
there was some of that. And again, you know, you
mentioned the tight ends that was the first play of

(43:10):
eleven on eleven justin Fields, you know, throwing a quick
pass to Pat Frarmouth. You know it wasn't a checkdown either.
You know, it wasn't a situation where he was in
the pocket looking looking, looking, and then dumped it off
to the tight end. It was a tight end pass
because you know, it was a timing thing. Uh Fiarmuth

(43:32):
ran the route. Fields delivered the ball on time accurately.
It's a good thing for the quarterback to be able
to execute that, good thing for the tight end to
be able to execute that. And who knows, maybe that's
a little you know, forecast of You know with Steelers
fans were screaming for most of last season, why don't

(43:54):
you get the ball to the tight end more? And
why don't you use the middle of the field more?
And you know, our Arthur Smith's offense obviously has that
as part of its program, and you know, maybe we're
going to see a lot a lot more of it,
and maybe we're going to see it early in games too.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
See, this is why we're such a great team. You
just lead us right into our next segment so perfectly
tight ends their usage. Arthur Smith, you get your first
glimpse at his offense in training camp yesterday. I want
to get your thoughts on your early thoughts on what
you saw from Arthur Smith's offense, some of that tight
end usage. And Pat Fryermooth spoke as well and had

(44:34):
some really interesting things to say about, you know, maybe
some of the routes that he was asked to run
in yesterday's practice, things that he might not have been
asked to do in his past NFL career. So all
of that on the way, and we will talk to
Larry Brown today who is scheduled to call in at
ten fifteen in the next hour, So keep it right
here for Labs and Tom's Training camp report on Steelers

(44:56):
Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
VC's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 5 (45:07):
Labs.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
On yesterday's show, I went down some storylines on the
offensive side of the ball that I'm interested in, you know,
offensive line, quarterback, wide receiver two and I asked you
to rank those in order of what you're most interested in.
And you went off the board and you said, you're
just interested to see what this Arthur Smith offense looks like,
because it kind of encapsulates all of those position groups
that I was talking about.

Speaker 5 (45:29):
Well, you got your first taste of it yesterday.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
From what I understand, there was some pretty heavy tight
end usage out there.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
What was your early impressions.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Well, you know, again, I don't know if I was
clear enough yesterday when I mentioned that, but I don't
think we're really going to see the Arthur Smith offense
even in the preseason, because I don't think he wants
to show too much.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
You don't want to tip your hand into the game
against Houston. That doesn't count, right.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
But yeah, there's some there were some balls of the
tight ends, and again I don't know if they were
plays designed that way or you know, the quarterbacks were
going to that receiver because of other things. You know, again,
I'm not on the field knowing what the play is called,

(46:23):
what the design is, you know what the purpose is.
But as I said in the previous segment, the very
first play of eleven on eleven was a pass to
the tight end the hash mark. You know almost you know,
it's not specifically the middle of the field, but you
get the gist of it. It was not outside the numbers,

(46:44):
which was so prevalent in Matt Cannon's offense the previous
two seasons. So yeah, you know there's some of that.
And I do believe that it only makes sense or
the tight ends to be more involved because you don't

(47:05):
have a definitive, defined number two receiver.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
Yet.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
You know, I'm not saying that one of these guys
isn't going to develop. I'm also not saying that, you know,
Pat Friremouth is on the verge of having a Tony
Gonzalez Travis kelcey Kite type statistical season.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
You know, all you fantasy football players are fantasy football
league owners or participants. You know, I wouldn't necessarily run
out and you know, make Pat Firemouth first pick of
my draft or anything just yet. But you know, I
do believe that Arthur Smith, as you know, this process
is going on. Whether there's a receiver added or not,

(47:48):
we don't know, but I think that there there are
going to be some things explored or tinkered with. Maybe
is a better phrase. Two present more weapons in the
passing game to the defense. Uh. Sometimes you know, you
could you might be able to use a tight end

(48:10):
in that respect. Sometimes you know, maybe you throw more
to the backs that could, you know, be something that
he utilizes more. I don't know yet. You know, maybe
he creates some situations with formations and becomes less predictable,
and some down and distance situations as well. So you know,

(48:30):
all of these things are on the board potentials. You know,
we'll see how it evolves. But yeah, the the Arthur
Smith offense is going to be something that interests me
a lot. I mean, this guy, we don't really know
what it's going to be yet, but these are some
things uncomfortable saying right now. He's a proven NFL coordinator,

(48:57):
he's a proven NFL play caller, and there are some
things about both of those definitions or labels that I
don't think. Matt, Matt, I'm gonna said Matt Cavanell. Matt
Canada lacked, He lacked. You know, Arthur Smith is someone

(49:17):
who understands that at the NFL level, you call plays
based on your pregame, well not pregame, but leading up
to the week, preparation for that specific opponent and that
specific opponent's defense. You know, you don't just say this

(49:37):
is what we want to do and if we execute it,
we will be successful. This is the NFL you know,
there are too many good defensive players, so you have
to look at that particular opponent and that particular opponent's
defensive personnel and then say, okay, these are the things
we want to attack because these are their weaknesses. So

(50:02):
you know, that to me is significant. That is truly
I think one of the keys the winning in the NFL.
One of the big differences between college football and NFL football.
You know, in college football, you might be able to
win with quote unquote a scheme a coach can make
a difference in college In the NFL, man, it's players,

(50:27):
utilization of players. You got to have, you know, and
then you got to have the players, and then you
also have to match up your players against the other teams.
Players slash weaknesses, and I think Arthur Smith has that
and we'll bring that to this offense this season.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
Well tied in.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Pat Fryarmouth spoke to the media yesterday following practice and
shared his thoughts after day one of practice in Arthur
Smith's offense.

Speaker 5 (50:53):
Here's what Pat had to say.

Speaker 8 (50:55):
The energy out there with the.

Speaker 6 (50:56):
Team this year, it was awesome.

Speaker 11 (50:57):
First day out in tob is great to be you know,
It's cool to see all the fans out here early
morning practice. It's cool to see, you know, going breakfast,
fans already lined up. You know, we got the best
fans in the world and we can see it here
and it's great to practice in front of the fans
for the next couple weeks.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
The sideline route you have the catch on there.

Speaker 6 (51:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
How many times you run that in the NFL kind
of game.

Speaker 11 (51:19):
In the past, Yeah, not a whole lot. But I'm
looking forward to doing some new things this year.

Speaker 7 (51:24):
Is that is that part of what has you comfortable
out there right now and excited that you're doing different
things like that.

Speaker 11 (51:28):
Yeah, just doing different things, get used to it, get
on the same page with the quarterbacks.

Speaker 6 (51:31):
It feels great. And moving forward to this year, Ben,
how much did you guys go multi tight ended the
team today? A lot?

Speaker 11 (51:37):
Yeah, I think the majority of it was you know,
twelve thirteen, and it was great.

Speaker 6 (51:41):
To utilize all of us. You know, Crew had a
hell of a catch.

Speaker 11 (51:44):
On a stick, Nod and Darnold had a catch and
it was O'Connor and it was good to get us
all about the okay with that, of course, whatever win's
this game, what does that bring what's the traction. It
was able to make matches better against defenses, you know,
kind of pigeonhole defenses. What to do, you know, and
know what we're gonna get for a look, So we're
gonna deploy those books.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
Obviously, we exasting today how much of.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
The clothes he has been for you to get so
it's familiar and comfortable with both of those guys.

Speaker 6 (52:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (52:09):
I mean, you guys saw last year, you know, we
went through three quarterbacks, so you know, and this is
the time where we can get the extra reps in
and where our bodies feel good and they feel comfortable
with all the different quarterbacks that we have. So that's
one of the biggest things is it is getting comfortable
with each quarterback.

Speaker 6 (52:20):
We've heard about tight ends being more involved in this offense.

Speaker 5 (52:23):
You seemed to get a lot of targets today. How
appreaching was that to see that in the just the
first step of training camp.

Speaker 11 (52:27):
Yeah, it was very refreshing, real first day coming in
seeing the targets increase and it was great.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
Kay. How much did you watch maybe with Arthur get
in Atlanta or Tennessee or did you at all? Yeah?

Speaker 11 (52:38):
I watched a lot, you know, when we first got hired,
I watched Tennessee then you know, over the summer watching
Tennessee Atlanta, and obviously we had our own film from Ota.

Speaker 6 (52:44):
So it was great and you know, it's a great
office of being were started. He didn't take part in
a lot today, But what kind of road did he
play for you guys out there in the day. Yeah,
just leadership. You know, he's a hell of a leader.

Speaker 11 (52:54):
Just being around a guy like that, able to see
how he works, and you know, he was pulling up
aside to see, you know, tell us what he's and
what we did good or what we could change, and
so just be having him be out there, be vocal
as he is, and it was great.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
You guys changed run tests, you change the time and practice.

Speaker 6 (53:09):
Yeah, a lot of changes.

Speaker 4 (53:10):
Issue is that like keep you a little bit more
on edge of you don't know what's coming.

Speaker 6 (53:13):
You're not in a routpeating like you normally wear. Yeah,
we're not in a routine. Uh, switch it up.

Speaker 11 (53:18):
You know, we're trying to do everything we can to
have success in the playoffs, and so whatever changes needed
to get to get there, we willing to do whatever.
And we gotta get into the playoffs and we got
to win some games there. So whatever the change is,
we're willing to do it.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
How does the group come how does the group come
together quickly to you know, do that you.

Speaker 6 (53:33):
Know, extra meeting times, you know.

Speaker 11 (53:34):
And this coach, he said, said something really really cool too,
is the reason why we go away is so we
can get that informal time, you know, playing games and
just hanging out each other's rooms and and eating together
and eating with guys, talking to guys you don't really know,
so uh, you know, just building that relationship with the team.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
And it's been great love hearing what he said about
you know, did you ever run that route in the
past or run it off in the past to the
side end route and he just, you know, very quick
is like, no, not really in the NFL, And then
asked again later in that interview, tight end usage was
there today. That's got to be a little bit refreshing,
and he said it was. So I think he's excited.

(54:10):
I think that whole tight End room is excited to
really see their roles expanded a little bit more this year.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
Yeah, and you heard Pat firnmove referring to there was
a lot of eleven and a lot of twelve. And
what that means is that's the way NFL refers to
offensive personnel groupings. You know those numbers, like an eleven
formation means one running back, one tight end. Twelve personnel

(54:39):
is one running back, two tight ends. Thirteen personnel is
one running back, three tight ends. So when that's referred
to that way, you know, the defense will also, you know,
respond to with that kind of terminology, and a lot
of times their defensive personnel group will respond to what

(55:02):
the offense has in the huddle. Now, another thing that
an NFL coordinator can or good ones can and will
do is you might look at a formation thirteen personnel,
one running back, three tight ends, and the defensive guy
up in the box is telling the sideline thirteen personnel
in the huddle, and who's ever calling the defensive play?

(55:25):
You know, into the green dot from the sideline might
indicate that it's a running play. You might think it's
a running play. Now, a good NFL coordinator has some
other things to do out of thirteen personnel that maybe
aren't running plays. And that's why you need versatile tight ends.
You know, a number of tight ends. I think Connor
Hayward is the kind of versatile guy. He can block,

(55:49):
he can line up in the backfield. He can also
catch the ball. And you know you again, you want
to try and do what the defense doesn't expect base
on what they're personnel that they put out on the field.
That's good NFL offense now, and I think that Arthur
Smith is going to bring a lot of that this
year that we hadn't seen the previous two.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Do you think a tight end that's able to make
a transition to right tackle and still have a great
career winning for Super Bowls is known as pretty versatile.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Yeah, I would say so, especially since he won two
rings as a tight end and two is a right tackle.
So yes, Well that's so.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Our next guest is going to be Larry Brown is
going to join us on the program and get us
hyped up for day two of training camp practice that
is just about twenty minutes away.

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Steeler's kicking things off at Latrope for day two, so
keep it right here.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Larry Brown joins Tom's and Tom and Labs next on
the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Hec's No Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Very pleased to be joined on the Training Camp Report
now by former Steeler and four time Super Bowl champion
Larry Brown. Larry, thank you so much for giving us
some time today and Labs. With the Hall of Fame
ceremony or the Hall of Honor ceremony being tomorrow the announcement,
LABS wanted the jump in real quick with a question
about that.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
Go ahead, Labs, Hi, Larry, you know what, As Tom mentioned,
the Hall of Honor announcement will be tomorrow at one o'clock.
You are in the Hall of Honor as part of
the Class of twenty nineteen. Can you describe how you
felt when Ernie the Second called you to tell you
that you had been elected.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
Well, yeah, it was a surprise, quite a pleasant surprise,
and it took him moment, but I felt really honored,
really honored to have been selectet. Boy. It really makes
you think about your career, think about all the people

(58:01):
you played with, and so you kind of, you know,
relevent the fact that way that's really nice recognition and
appreciate it. And then soon after that you start thinking
about the other guys that you played with that you
think the boy observant of the same honor. And so
it's so nice to see guys going in, so very nice.

(58:23):
So I'm with good anticipation, you know, waiting to see
who's coming in this year. I don't know who those
guys are yet.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
You know you mentioned you were a little surprised. I'm
sure you might be surprised by this next one too,
because I got a little story for you. Once Chuck
Nole was asked which of his players he thought was
deserving of the Hall of Fame but someone he did
not think would get elected, and the first name out

(58:52):
of his mouth was yours. How does that make you feel?

Speaker 4 (58:57):
All right? That makes me feel absolutely great? And this
is the first time I heard that, and so I
temperate with that. No, I really appreciate that I had
the kind of career I did have because of Coach
no in a relationship I had with him. And so yeah,

(59:19):
I'll tell you what, I carried that with me all
the time, to have worked with them and played with him,
and for him to have that kind of regard. And
so if I have the utmost regard for him and
the impact that he'd had on my career and my life.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
You know, speaking of the impact that he had on
your career. You came to the NFL as a tight
end and then you were moved to offensive tackle. What
was your initial reaction when Chuck Mill told you about
his plan for that move?

Speaker 4 (59:56):
That was a surprise, I remember, I remember it well.
The UH during the off season, just maybe a month
or two book prior to camp, he called me in
his office. So I was went down to UH three
rivers at the time, and went in his office and
he started to explain that at the start of camp

(01:00:20):
at that time, I was still going to rehab and
hadn't fully rehabbed enough to go out and take on
the rigords of camp, and you know what it required
to play tight end. So he said, you know what
we'd liked for your first when you come back, We'd
like for you to go in and be with the
offensive line and in kind of you know, learn what

(01:00:44):
they do and so on and so on, and you know,
kind of participate in their meetings and and observed them
in practice. So I did that for a couple of weeks,
and in the meantime, the starting offensive tackle, Gordon Goodbell
was traded away, and so I guess I don't know.

(01:01:07):
I can't quite recall my impression at that moment, but
as it turned out, I must have been the heir
parent in somebody's mind, because once he was traded away,
then I would pencil in as the tackle to replace him.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
You know, you were, you were, you were.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
You're not well for me, I think, because I really did,
I think add to the longevity of my career. So
for that, I appreciate the uh, that opportunity, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
As a tight end, though, I mean, I think it's
the case can be made that you had one of
the most significant catches by a tight end in franchise history,
and that was the one, uh the touchdown in Super
Bowl nine that clinched the first championship in franchise history.
What do you remember about that play? We see a
lot of times, you know, in NFL films, highlights and

(01:02:04):
that kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (01:02:07):
Uh, I do remember it. I remember it well. The
play go line and uh so, you know, I ran
the route and as soon as I turned around, you know,
I could just see a clear shot with Terry and
I was an intended receiver and he just you know,
he just planted it right in my chest and uh

(01:02:31):
and so almost without thinking, you know, made the touchdown
and so it didn't really quite you know, settle in
until way after that. You know, the play itself, so.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
You moved the right tackle.

Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
During your time at right tackle, who is the toughest
guy you had to block? In your opinion?

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
Uh? You know what, there are a lot of tough guys. Uh,
but you know what, Uh, Gary Burley he was actually
he had played a pet and was at that time
playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. I thought he was you know,
I thought he was a tough day to play.

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
He was built such that you know, I think he
was probably two three inches or more than shorter than
I am, and really wide and quite quite athletic and
so uh and he was a powerful guy too, and
so when you played against him, uh, and he's pretty elusive.

(01:03:38):
You really did have to be at the top of
your game. And on every play, you know, run plays, uh,
pass plays and sew on and so on and so Uh. I,
if I had to pick one person, I would say him,
because you know, there were gas and o's and they
were too tall and all those guys were tough. But uh,
I'd give a nod to uh. Burley.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Okay, Larry, we'll get you out of here on this.
How closely do you do you follow the Steelers nowadays?

Speaker 4 (01:04:10):
Very much? I mean as a fan, you know, very much.
I root for them. I'm probably one of the biggest
fans and so the team's biggest fan, so h so
I followed them quite closely, well, quite closely, and root
for them quite vigorously.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Larry, thank you so much for giving Labs and I
your time today. It was awesome stuff. Enjoy today's practice
and hopefully we can catch up with you soon.

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
Thanks so much. I appreciate you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
Take care it owt There he goes.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
Four time Super Bowl champion Larry Brown. Tight end two
rings there, tackle two rings there, Labs, just a couple
of minutes here before we wrap up. Anything that you're
expecting of Day two practice.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Well, I'm watching, Uh the players are out on the field,
you know, kind of warm and uh. You know, there
are four quarterbacks on the roster. Three of them have
helmets on, a one wearing a baseball cap. So based
on what I see right now, I would say that
Russell Wilson is still going to be you know, if

(01:05:18):
he's considered day to day. This isn't his day, or
it doesn't seem to be right now.

Speaker 5 (01:05:25):
Well, that's one thing to keep an eye on.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Looks like we might have Justin Fields at QB one
for the second straight day at Steelers' training camp Labs
and I will be back again tomorrow at nine am
to wrap up Day two and preview Day three. We're
gonna hand things over to Mike Perzuda and Max Starks
for Training Camp Live.

Speaker 5 (01:05:45):
They are on the scene at Saint Vincent.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
They are giving you live look ins and analysis as
practice goes on. Steelers practice is just about to get
underway in about five minutes for LABS. I'm Tom, Thanks
for listening to our training camp report, and we'll talk
to you tomorrow on Steelers nationdio.