Training Camp Report Day 6

Labs and Tom recap the first padded practice. Note Darnell Washingtons' impact, hear from Coach Tomlin and Russel Wilson, and are joined by Louis Lipps

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The season training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
The weather cooperated with the Steelers yesterday. The first padded
practice was a success. Two trains, one track labs. We
got backs on backers. We had a lively portion of
seven shots. It felt like football at Saint Vincent College.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, and you know the thing that turns backs on backers.
That was equal parts interesting and a little frustrating because
you also, at the same time, on different areas, you
had defensive backs against wide receivers going one on one
in terms of you know, throwing, covering, and catching, and

(00:50):
then on another area on an adjacent field, you had
offensive linemen and defensive linemen going through you know, pass blocking,
pass protection. So you know, it was kind of yeah,
I mean, and I did get lucky because you know,

(01:12):
up here in the press box of Chuck Noldfield, I'm
sitting in one section of it, and the section right
next to me is is where Max Starks and Craig
Wolfy were doing, you know, in the locker room. So
you know, you could hear those guys through the walls.
I mean, it's not that hard, very quiet, no, Well,

(01:34):
and you know, This isn't a you know, it's it's
a nice place and everything, but it's not soundproof. And
so but I was so I was getting a little
bit of running commentary from those two guys about what
was going on with the linemen. And so, you know, occasionally,
you know, you flip the binoculars just from one area

(01:56):
of the field to you know, another area where the
action was going on. And you know, Craig Wolfley and
his wonderful usage of words, he referred to all those
three things going on as a chacutere board of football action,
which you leave it to wolf to bring the food
element into it. But yeah, there was, you know, and

(02:19):
when you think about it, however briefly it, you know,
there was. It was a variety, you know, different things
for different tastes, whatever you might have been interested in.
I think the fans who were here were most interested in,
or at least reacted the most to the receivers and

(02:41):
defensive backs, because you get a lot of oohs and
aws for those reps backs on backers. You know, when
Darnell Washington was just down there dominating people.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, let's get to that right away, Labs. I saw
that in your training camp report. That's impressive to see.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, And you know, last year in that very drill,
he kind of announced his presence by you know, battling
t J. Watt to a steelmate, you know, which is
pretty good for a rookie against the reigning NFL Defensive
Player of the Year. And he got a few, well,

(03:24):
each of them had a few opportunities to go against
each other last year. And you know, it wasn't a
dominating performance by Darnell Washington by any means, but like
I said, he held his own and you know, as
I said, he got a steelmate in terms of the

(03:45):
number of reps, you know, when you scored them as
an overall, you know, composite thing. He won some. T J.
Watt won some, but it wasn't those you know, oh
my god kind of things where he just kicked his
butt on that or just he didn't even get a
hand on him, or you know, those kind of things

(04:05):
that TJ. Watt is capable of. But yesterday Darnel Washington dominated.
I mean, they couldn't run around him because he was
too nimble and running through him is just I mean,
what do you kidding me? Luck? Yeah, Yeah, So this

(04:29):
guy is. You know, I don't really know what to
predict for him, because, you know, just sticking with the
Darnell Washington thing. Later in the practice, it was an
eleven on eleven. I think he ran this what was

(04:50):
described to me as a deep drag route, which you know,
when a tight end runs a drag route, he kind
of releases, not necessarily sprinting off the line of scrimmage,
but kind of releases, goes downfield a little bit and
then kind of angles across the field. And in this

(05:11):
particular instance, Washington's were out took him about twenty yards
away from the line of scrimmage. But when you you know,
you take in the angle, he was, you know, farther
away from the quarterback than that. You know, you who
are a geometry expert, I'm sure you can understand what.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Was more algebra, but yeah, geometry.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Sure, okay. And you know, justin Fields put a really
pretty pass out there, and Darnell Washington reached out and
caught it with his hands, you know, just like I
don't know Travis Kelsey would have. Right now, I'm not
predicting that, you know, Darnell Washington is Travis Kelsey in

(05:53):
terms of you know, a receiving tight end. I don't
know that the Steelers are interested in him in that role,
you know. And you every now and then you hear
not so much from the team, but you hear mumbling about,
you know, they should make them a tackle because you know,
the Steelers did that successfully with Larry Brown forty years

(06:14):
ago and a lot of times. You know, sure, if
they did it with Larry Brown, why not do it
with this guy too. I mean it's you know, it's
like playing mad and you just flip the switch on
the joy. Yeah, Larry go Pole, So you know, And
I don't know if if he has any Darnel Washington
has any interest in that. I don't know if the
Steelers have any interest in that. But you know, one

(06:37):
of the things it kind of makes you think about,
or makes you hopeful about, is you know, this hammer
and uh, I don't know what you call a receiving
tight end, combination of tight ends. You know, New England
won a couple of Super Bowls with that, Gronkowski and
Aaron Hernandez. So you know, you can use that in

(07:01):
an offense or employ that as part of an offense
that can be really successful. I don't know if that's
Arthur Smith's plan. You know, I don't know any of
this stuff, but you're just when you're watching this kind
of stuff during the first practicing pads of a training camp,
you know, your mind can wander and you start thinking
about these things. But it's clear to me that Darneld

(07:24):
Washington was a good draft pick. He might be the
guy when it's all said and done, when you're really
looking at the entirety of the twenty twenty three draft,
he might be the guy you point to and say,
this is the pick that put this entire draft class,
you know, over the top, so to speak. There's plenty

(07:45):
of time for that. We're going to have to see.
It was one practicing camp. I mean, I don't want
to blow this out of proportion, but you know, as
I said, we're you're watching a training camp practice first
one in pads for the season. It's something you got
to write about and talk about, and it's just it's
stuck out. I mean, it was obvious, and as I said,

(08:09):
he was he was an impressive He was impressive in
that drill. But I also I want to give Jalen
Warren his props in that drill because.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
He can be in that area, and several other NFL
players from other teams do as well. In the league
office even find him a couple of times last year
for his tenacious run blocking or pass blocking.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yeah, and you know the thing about Jalen Warren is
he's a the word that they often use because you
don't want to call a guy small. He's diminutive, but
he is very willing. And that to me is you
cannot underestimate how important that is because there are going

(08:54):
to be situations where you know a physical matchup is
just not in your favor, or where you're going to
be overmatched from a physical standpoint, but you know your
willingness to do what is necessary and I don't mean holding,
but do what is necessary to get the job done.
To keep your body between your quarterback and the guy

(09:18):
who's trying to do him harm is very critical and
very important for an offensive team in the NFL, a
back has to be able to do more than run
the ball. I mean, you cannot just be a runner
of the football and expect to have a job in
the NFL unless you're I don't know, even Barry Sanders

(09:42):
could you know, would stick his nose in there sometimes,
so you have to have you have to bring some
other elements to the position because if you don't, your
team is going to be hesitant to put you out
on the field because you're a liability in terms of
when you want to throw the ball, and the defense

(10:05):
will come after the quarterback if they think that you're
the weak link in terms of the pass protection, they
will find a way to attack you, and either by
confusing you with who's coming and who's not, maybe get
you to a lot of times, what's the key to
a sack is the running back will make way maybe

(10:28):
one false step to one side thinking the pressure is
coming from that side, and then it comes from the
other side really fast and the guy can't get across
in time to make his block. So defenses can do
that by confusing you or attack a guy like that,
either by confusing him or overpowering him. And as I said,

(10:49):
Jalen Warren's willingness to do the dirty work there is
you know, it's important for him and his future in
this league, and it's also very important to the Steelers
and their hopes for a good, successful offense that you know,
doesn't get its quarterbacks killed. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
I mean that so often can keep a very talented
college running back off of the field in the pros
is that they're not willing to pass protect. But Warren
had no qualms with that. In fact, it's kind of
how he cut his teeth to get his start in
the NFL, and then the playmaking kind of came after
that for him. One thing I wanted to touch on
with Darnell real quick before we get to coach Tomlin
and what he had to say yesterday Labs is, you know,

(11:32):
when he was picked in the third round in twenty
twenty three, you know, I think some people might have
been saying, that's a little bit of a luxury pick there,
But what you described today, some of the flashes you
saw last year. Hopefully he builds on that and grows
this year, and it looks like it's off to a
great start. You can tell why they wanted to pick
him when he was still on the board of the
ninety third overall slot in twenty twenty three, and you

(11:53):
were saying, you know, you don't really know how he
kind of fits into this puzzle, and I don't either,
to be honest with you, but thankful there are people
on that college campus that are paid a lot more
money than you and I to figure that out.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, and you know he was part of, you know,
a championship team and you know that's that's.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's yeah, that's and I in the SEC, you love
it well.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
But you know you also, yes, love the SEC because
of the level of competition that he's going against on
a regular basis. And you know, I argue with Pursuito
about this all the time. You know, he's a big
ten guy, and so that makes me even more of
an SEC guy, just you know, to be to be contrary.

(12:40):
But you know, just look at the number of SEC
players in the NFL. I mean it just there. That's
a fact. You can count them. And so what that
indicates to me is that the level of competition that
Darnell Washington and others in the SEC, George Pickens, Broderick Jones,
you know, these kind of people, it's just a little

(13:01):
bit higher because you know, you're playing against teams that
have NFL prospects throughout their roster, and so you know,
I think that that maybe might be something that aids
in the evaluation of these guys when they're trying to
make the jump from college football to the NFL, and

(13:22):
you know, again a lot of the things. You know,
I mentioned Darnel Washington, he was part of that Georgia
National Championship game. And I can tell you one of
the things that really enamored the Steelers about George Pickens
was the fact that he had that severe knee injury,
but he battled his way back onto the field to

(13:44):
help his team, you know, in the SEC championship game
and in the National Championship game where he had the
pedigree where he didn't need to play in those games.
He could have just packed it in and say I'm
getting ready for the draft. But when you know, that
shows a dedication to the team and the players on

(14:07):
that team that he tried to come back to help
them win. And a lot of times people get upset
or disappointed in George Pickens, when you know, he shows
gets frustrated, shows his frustration. You know, he wants to
be involved. He wants to be the difference, uh in
the game, difference in the outcome of the game for

(14:28):
his team. Well yeah, you know that's that's what you
drafted them to the game. Well yeah, and that's also
one of the things that attracted you to him, and
if you have that, you know, just imagine what had
to be going through his head as he was doing
that work to come back. I mean, that's not an
easy rehab. That hurts. It's painful, and you're doing it

(14:52):
and you're accelerating it, and you're trying to get yourself
to a point where you know you're physically capable of
help doing things and helping your team win. But you're
also putting yourself in a position where you know you
could hurt it again. I mean, it's a risk, and
you're willing to take that risk, and so you know,

(15:13):
you don't just turn that off and say, Okay, you know,
I'll be a decoy now eighty percent of the time,
so that you know that they can work other people
into the offense. I mean, you know, it's again you
you there's good and bad that comes with that, and
you have to deal with it, try to harness it,
and you know, and mold it a little bit. So, yeah,

(15:37):
it's a lot of what fans seem to complain about
with George Pickens, to me is exactly what got him
here in the first place.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
And you know, I will say this again, the first
person I ever heard complain about not getting the ball
enough was Francohead. You know, I mean speaks for you.
Let's let's bench him. You know you don't. You don't
want that in your lock.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Run trade them to Seattle at least.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
I mean. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Coach Tom and caught up with the media as he
always does following practice. Let's hear what he had to
say about the first one in pads.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
Man, first day in pads, A lot of spiritual work,
you know, certain things we really want to see in
this environment. You guys know that backs on backers is
always a featured drill.

Speaker 6 (16:28):
Really, we're just.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Trying to check the mentality and the technique of the runners. Man.
You don't you're not afforded the opportunity to warm up
the quarterback protection, and so we're always interested in how
that group represents itself in that drill. I thought they
did a really nice job. I thought it was a
good start. A lot of EBB and flow, man, a
lot of quality work. We'll keep doing that, man. This
tape is gold from a teaching and learning perspective, and

(16:52):
so I'm excited about having an opportunity to put it
on this afternoon and start that process and the effort
to to have more clarity and the performance tomorrow, and
we just keep pushing forward. I was unfortunately we had
the injury today, Man, Roman hurt his ankle on the tackle,
and so we'll have more information regarding the length of
his status in terms of how long he might be out.

(17:15):
Russ getting back to action. Today we had him in
a helmet. He played some seven on, got a little
eleven on eleven working not a lot. We'll keep progressing
with that throughout the week and moving forward, obviously with
the mindset of no steps backwards as we do so
regular bumps and bruises associated with play. Nothing new to
mention with Rodney Williams. Man, he's still out with that shoulder.

(17:38):
It's probably days, but we'll see. We'll keep monitoring it.
I know he's chopping at the bit to get back
into the fold.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Man.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
There's a finite amount of workout here. Man, it's a
it's a limited opportunity in the day's NFL, and so
availability is big.

Speaker 6 (17:53):
Guys got to get back.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
Guys have to stay up as just a component of
this time of year as they work to stay the
case for themselves and sort of I was out, I'll
pause and open it up for questions.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Mike, what do you learn.

Speaker 6 (18:03):
About Justine building pads today.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
That you haven't seen from him so far?

Speaker 5 (18:07):
You know, I don't know that you know a tire
created any new learning from a quarterback perspective in terms
of evaluating them, He's been doing a really good job
and continue today.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
So to your points, I rush no steps back, make any.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Soul lose and swoop over.

Speaker 6 (18:25):
Yeah, well we'll play it ear back.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
We'll play it day to day and play it by
ear and do what's appropriate on a day to day basis.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yes, how much is Russ able to kind of dictate
how much.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
Work he does?

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Is it something that you guys are implementing, or is
he able to raise his hand.

Speaker 5 (18:37):
In giveing Here I'm slowing down the progress, and I
think I've been pretty clear with you guys about that.

Speaker 7 (18:42):
Like mentioned the mentality and that you like from the
running backs and backs and backwards.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
What you see pros cons about the pause rushers.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
You know, if there's a winner, somebody's got to be
a loser. That's just the nature of this thing. And
stealers versus steelers, and so I'm not you know, overly
alarmed in that. I'm sure the next time we do
the drill or the rushers will represent themselves well in
the bounce back. It's gonna be ebb and flow in
an environment like this, and so you know, I'm less
concerned about some of those things as we stand here today.

Speaker 6 (19:10):
I was really excited.

Speaker 5 (19:11):
That's not something that the backs need to warm up to,
and that's why I was excited about their performance.

Speaker 8 (19:16):
So you look at the offensive lineing, I mean, that's ruptus.

Speaker 9 (19:19):
What have you seen in the progress and stands so far?

Speaker 5 (19:21):
They've come in really good shape, man, and ready for work,
and that's a really good place to begin. They're tireless
workers in terms of what they're willing to do off
the grass in the classroom, and I think that just
tees them up for quality reps. And so we'll just
keep rolling the ball out and getting a look at them.
But I like what they've done thus far.

Speaker 6 (19:39):
Anyone else all right, man, you know I did.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
I'll take it.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
However it comes as long as it's not lightning, because
we get an opportunity to work. If it was raining today,
then there's ball searching and ball security as an emphasis
you know, we're an outdoor sport. We're playing a lot
of circumstances, and I'm open to all of that. During
team development, did the weather and field.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Conditional effect for a number of repstress?

Speaker 2 (20:03):
All?

Speaker 4 (20:05):
Right?

Speaker 3 (20:06):
For the first satisfied?

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Where even to keep the last one, you know, satisfied
as a dangerous word this time of year, I don't
know that I can relate to that.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Coach Tomlin speaking with the media and labs, as we
heard kind of at the beginning of his session there,
he mentioned the Roman Wilson injury. But we've had some
things through camp. Obviously, Russell Wilson's calf. Rodney Williams has
been dealing with something with his shoulder that he's been
working himself back to full strength and back to the
practice field. But the Roman Wilson injury looks like that
more information that Tomlin said they'd get has started to

(20:36):
come out since then. Looks like an ankle sprain. Looks
like it might be a week to week thing, but
nothing that is super serious that he'd missed potential regular
season time.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah, I mean it is unfortunate though, because he is
a rookie, that's right, and rookies need this exposure, you know,
this kind of day to day because if you're out here,
you can only improve. You can't improve by watching. You
just can't. Not when you're a rookie. I mean, I
get the you know, mental reps staying staying involved that way,

(21:10):
and yeah, that's a nice thought, and it's it's better,
you know that than either daydreaming or you know, sleeping
through it. But uh, it doesn't it doesn't replace the
need for actual physical repetition. Uh, and not only for yourself,
but you have to be out there with the other

(21:30):
receivers so you know how you fit into the patterns
and that kind of stuff, and you have to be
out there to continue to build a rapport with the quarterbacks.
So you know, it's just unfortunate. It seemed to me anyway,
in my untrained eye, that Roman Wilson was I won't
to say he turned a corner late just before that,
but excuse me, he seemed to be you know, you

(21:55):
could see some progress and even I could see it,
so it had to be obvious. And as I said,
it's just unfortunate that it happened to him. The timing
of it. You know, we saw some of these kinds
of injuries happen last year at this time, either for example,
Corey Trice, you know, his injury was on the first

(22:18):
day of practice in pads. You know, it was a
lot more serious than Roman Wilson's ankle. But you know,
you can see these kinds of things derail a young
player's season. And so, as I said, it's it's a
good thing that it's not, you know, season ending. It's

(22:40):
a good thing that it's not something that as of
right now anyway, they don't believe is going to linger
on into the regular season. But you know, it's unfortunate
and that it takes him off the field, that removes
him physically or excuse me, it removes him from the
physical on the field kind of part of this camp.

(23:02):
And you know, it's unfortunate that it came at a
time when you thought that maybe he was starting to
you know, starting to really get on become a guy
on the rise.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
When we come back, we'll get into seven shots from
yesterday and if the offense was able to pull the
camp total scoreboard even at two a piece. We'll also
hear from Russell Wilson, who started to see his practice
time ramped up in the first day of padded practice.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
That's all on the way.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
On the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
This is the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Russell was in pads yesterday, Labs. Russ did participate more
than he ever had during training camp so far, but
when it came to seven shots, it was time for
Justin Fields to get on the field with the ones.
He had command of the offense, at least the first
team offense in that popular drill yesterday. And we heard
coach Tomlin in the last segment that's nothing about Russ

(24:10):
and nothing about his injury or recovery. It's solely coach
Tomlin holding him back.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, And you know, uh, I just want to caution
fans that, you know, I think some fans are either
they've either watched they have either been here at training
camp or been reading about it and you know, hearing
about it, or you know, seeing highlights of some of
the things and they're coming to the conclusion that you know,

(24:40):
there's some that the starting job is really up for grabs,
and it is not. It's not. I mean, I'm not
saying that, you know, Russell Wilson is a locker or anything,
but the pole position thing is a significant distinction that
Mike Tomlin makes in terms of this. They it's one

(25:01):
in numbers one and two quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
So I'm not sure you're not surprised at this because
it's national media. But like there's never been more of
a disconnect between like everyone locally, you Me, wolf Max,
Jerry Dale, Persuda, all of us. We know there's no battle.
We know it's Russ Wilson. Yet nationally you can't turn
on ESPN without Greeny throwing this position battle in your face.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Well, I mean, you know, consider the source, and you know,
and I do believe that it's it's ratings, it's clickbait,
it's you know, they feel they have to say something,
and you know, to say that. You know, the Steelers
are just taking it slow with Russell Wilson because Mike

(25:47):
Tomlin doesn't want a small problem to become a big problem.
I mean, that doesn't that doesn't move the needle on
Get Up or whatever that show is that the Jets
fan you nailed it every day, yeah right, you know,
and some of that other stuff. I mean, you know,
you see these you know, pouring through the clips daily

(26:12):
and everybody's an insider and this former GM and this
X quarterback and this, you know, all of these guys
who are now media people. They're trying to attract attention
to themselves because they want to hold onto their jobs.
I mean, if you're a you know, someone who's not

(26:32):
I won't say stirring up controversy, but at least uh
taking a contrary viewpoint on a lot of things, They're
going to find someone who will. And you're you're out
of a job, right so, you know, as as they
an animal house at the end, you know, during the parade,

(26:52):
you know, the Kevin I think it was the Kevin
Bacon character is screaming during the you know all the mayhem,
you know, be calm all as well, you know, and
then let me that's do that. Let's try that for
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Well, even though Fields had to be thrust into QB
one for seven shots and it made all of everybody
on the national media side with their pants again about
the battle. The offense was down two to oh to
start training camp with seven shots. They lost the first
two sessions. They won on the last day of acclamation
data to bring the total to two to one, and

(27:28):
then they won again yesterday Labs and this was the
first one with pads on, so it kind of meant
a little bit more, don't you think.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (27:34):
And I also think that it, you know, it was
interesting to me, uh the Arthur Smith's play selection because
you know, I understand that it's just a practice in
pad in pads though, and I understand that, you know,

(27:56):
it's not necessarily, uh A a definitive forecast of what
the offense is going to be. But you know, I
think what we've seen is that Arthur Smith is willing
and able to call running plays down there, and so

(28:22):
you know, you look at the the play selection. First
play was a running play that there was there was
another running play. The first play, there was another running play.
The fourth play was a running play, The fifth play
was a running play. The last play, the tie breaking play,
was a running play. The one that Roman Wilson was

(28:46):
injured on was a jet sweep, but that's also a
running play. You know that the Steelers are not married
to the idea that every time they're down in the
deep red zone that they're going to throw the ball,
even in personnel packages that might indicate to the defense
that that's the way they're leaning. So you know, I

(29:08):
like that. I think that it's important to establish not
only with your team, but with the opponents that you're
going to meet. You know, starting with the preseason that
when the Pittsburgh Steelers get close to the goal line,
if you think they're not going to power the ball
into the end zone with the running game, you might
as well just start lining up for the extra point

(29:29):
because that's a real factor. And they do believe that
they have the personnel both in the backfield and the
line of scrimmage to do that.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
And so yeah, I like that.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
I like the the attitude that that instills, and I
like the attitude by the coordinator that he is trying
to instill in his team that you know, we are
going to be a physical football team on any area
of the field.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
And as Toman loves to do during this drill, when
it gets to a game seven, sorry, Kyle Allen, I
need to see my first team offense in my first
team defense back out here to see who gets the
decisive seventh game winner. And it was justin fields with
one of those running plays with that Reid option into
the end zone, calling his own number so.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Things.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
You know, again, we're not blowing anything out of proportion
starting to say that there's an actual battle happening here,
But there has been flashes of things that you saw
why Justin Fields was attractive to the Bears with their
first round pick and why the Steelers were attracted to
bringing him in this year.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Well let me say this too. I mean that's you
know a lot of times and I'm as guilty of
this as as anyone. The focus is on what the
offense does or does not do in seven shots, it's
also a drill for the defense. True, And let me
say this, I'm an Alex Heismith fan. You know, I
like him as a player. I think it's an important

(30:58):
part of the defense. He's someone that you know, he's
not a t. J. Watt or a Minka Fitzpatrick in
terms of, you know, a lynch pin where if he's
not there, you know your chances of winning are reduced significantly.
But I'm here to tell you that Justin Fields gets

(31:20):
alex Heithsmith just about every time on that play, just
about every time. And when you're in a division that
contains Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson, you cannot crash down
as an outside guy. You can't do that. That is
a mistake. You're leaving an entire flank of the defense
exposed to a player who is very capable of taking

(31:45):
advantage of it and will. So, you know, if Alex
Highsmith is crashing down and you know, or biting on
fakes or those kinds of things hard like he has
been doing a little bit in my opinion, too long
off and up here a training camp, Lamar Jackson will
eat that defense alive. And so what we're seeing is,

(32:08):
you know, people will say, boy, you know, justin fields,
that was a real slick move that you know he
made and get got outside on the fake hand off
or the read option or you know, whatever kind of
play you want the way you want to describe it, Well,
how about this look at the other you know, look
at the other side of the ball for once and see,
you know, maybe what needs to be worked on, you know,

(32:31):
is is that from a defensive perspective, because one of
the Steelers keys to success against those quarterbacks that I
just mentioned is that they don't get they don't put
themselves in position where they leave their defense exposed to
those quarterbacks. To beat them. You know, you cannot allow

(32:54):
vertical seams in your defense, and you also cannot allow
those quarterbacks to flank you. So that's the way I've
been looking at this a lot, is that you know,
that needs to get cleaned up on defense, not justin fields,
needs more playing time, because again, I just don't think
that there is as much of a quarterback competition as

(33:19):
the national media might think or might want to you know, generate.
But I do believe that that's a problem that the
defense is currently having and needs to get it corrected.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Yeah, that's a great point. I'm glad that you went
that way with it. And you know, fields is such
a useful tool in this training camp, in practice setting
to get ready for quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson. So hopefully
the defense can use this month ahead and fix some
of those things so they don't get torched when Baltimore
comes to town, or they have to go to Baltimore
or Cleveland comes to town, or vice versa. Russ Wilson,

(33:52):
slowly ramping himself back into the swing of things, has
done more and more each day. We expect that to
continue to be the trend. Today, he did update the media,
though with what's going on yesterday. Let's hear what he
had to say following practice.

Speaker 6 (34:04):
I feel good. I feel good getting better every day.

Speaker 10 (34:06):
The trading staff is doing a tremendous job, and just
we're working really hard every morning. And uh it's just
good to be back out here again with the guys
putting the helmet on. Uh, you know, really getting this
getting in the work today, getting all the quarback drills,
the fundamental work, some of the handoffs, and just being
in there with.

Speaker 6 (34:21):
With the fellas uh is is always the best part.
And so it was a good day today for sure.
It was hard being on a pitch account like that.
Uh No, it's good.

Speaker 10 (34:28):
I mean, I just I'm watching every rep and watching
everything if I'm not in there. But then also getting
the reps today was really good, you know for me,
just to be able to do seven on seven and
be in the mix that that was the plan the
whole time, and just to be able to get as
many reps in seven on seven as I could, And
that was really good stuff today.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
To here just to be a full complete participating, just.

Speaker 10 (34:46):
Taking one one day at a time. There's one day
at a time, you know, I'll be ready to go.
One's time sort of.

Speaker 6 (34:51):
An acclamation process for you sure to step up into
being able to do that.

Speaker 10 (34:55):
Yeah, I think more than anything else, it's just trying
to be smart as possible. You know, we got we
got a long way. It's not even in August, yep,
we're beginning of July or into July, I mean and then,
uh so, just trying to be extremely smart. You know,
we got seventeen games plus hopefully four more. Uh So,
you know that's that's the mentality.

Speaker 6 (35:11):
If you and Justin completed a high piping both of
your passes today, what can you say about the.

Speaker 7 (35:15):
Progress if you guys as a quarterback room and just
understanding what's playbooking and working.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
With your team.

Speaker 10 (35:19):
Yeah, the guys are doing a great job, the receivers,
the tight ends, the running backs, you know, really understanding
the concepts getting open. Offensive line obviously too as well.
They're doing a great job of keeping us protected and
against a really good defense. So the thing is is
that's always a working progress. We're always working every day
and it's a constant obsession with how we want to be,
how we want to go, the intensity of practice.

Speaker 6 (35:39):
You know, that's why I tried to bring every day
to practice.

Speaker 10 (35:41):
Is that level of intensity, a level of focus, that
level of detail I think is really critical to be
successful and we're working on it every day that you
had to Connor Hayward, he called it a moon ball
where good field able to Yeah, that was sweet. Connor
made a huge, big time play exposed to play down
the field. Just he had a great reaction, was able
to launched it down the field to him. He called

(36:02):
it the moon bike.

Speaker 6 (36:02):
He came with me.

Speaker 10 (36:03):
Thanks for telling me the moon ball, you know, but
just it was it was a good play by him.
He did a great job.

Speaker 8 (36:08):
Is that a trust that you were able to build
with him through some of those off season workouts and
he came.

Speaker 9 (36:11):
Out to the West Coast.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
Yeah, yeah, thousands percent.

Speaker 10 (36:13):
I think the biggest thing is is we just spent
a lot of time together, me Connor, the guys uh
ohta is getting.

Speaker 6 (36:19):
The extra work before practice, after.

Speaker 10 (36:20):
Practice, all those all that time is is time well spent,
you know, and it shows up in a play like that,
you know, And it was really good job by him,
and and there's a lot more, you know, I think guys, uh,
you know, Ques Watkins made a big play down the
field and the go ball.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
Different guys made great plays.

Speaker 10 (36:37):
I thought, I thought that Calvin did a really good
job earlier in the day really routing his guy up
and breaking.

Speaker 6 (36:42):
Outside and I kind of put it over the top
of the guy anything. He just has a great feel
for the game.

Speaker 10 (36:46):
So these guys are working their tails off, and it's
all things that we practice and they spend a lot
of time.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
On Who were you able to learn from the four days?

Speaker 10 (36:54):
You're constantly learning, You're constantly watching, you constantly watching, you know, growing,
going with your teammates and everything else. I think the
best thing is the cool part, is the leadership part
of it and just being with the guys and spend
that time and just that's been the best part about
being La trobe Right.

Speaker 9 (37:07):
You talk the other day about when you find out
who's who can play and new camp when that happens.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
So I mean, even on first do you watch other
guys to see the pole?

Speaker 10 (37:15):
Oh yeah, a thousand percent. I think, you know, watching
Nase run today was pretty special. I mean, this guy's
alongside remember watching them in college. I remember watching him
and obviously the pros, he's had some great stiff arms,
some great things he's done.

Speaker 6 (37:27):
You know, I really love him as a back. He's
just so physical.

Speaker 10 (37:30):
The thing about nase it's been really cool, is his
time that he wants to spend together, you know, his
time that he came out here. Him and Jalen came
out here with me when you know, one night and
just they went through they want they wanted to join
and walk through just go through plays with me, And
that kind of time is really critical.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
I think just that obsession with the game.

Speaker 10 (37:48):
That's the good part about being out here in the
trope and just being in the mix of just training
camp and learning every day and.

Speaker 6 (37:53):
And so the physicality showed up today.

Speaker 10 (37:55):
I think you know, you saw that from Nasee, you
saw that from Jalen. My offensive line, where are you
looking for in the film later today? You know, I
always think about, you know, timing accuracy all the money.
I think we did a good job of that today.
Guys getting open and there's always things to learning and
find out, you know, every day. So I'm gonna get
in there and watch the film and see what, uh,
what we did really well and what we can get better.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
At compare to Denver and Seattle for training they're all good.
They're all really good.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
You know.

Speaker 10 (38:23):
For me, though, you know, this is exciting, this is
different for me. The biggest reason is just being they're
all great fans. But the biggest thing, and this makes
us special, is we're out, we're outside here and now
we're outside of Pittsburgh and it's it's football, It's just football,
and all these fans here, you know, really come here
for that, for that moment of time, you know, for
that you know, three hours of practice for whatever it is,

(38:43):
and that's really special. I think the other part that's
different is, yeah, it's just the time well spent together bonding.
You know, we call on the porch out here late
at night and and laugh and playing Uno. And you know,
we were having a great game at un know for
about an hour and a half the other day, you know,
just kept the games just kept going over, you know,
and just those moments are really really special.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
But I'm just grateful.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
I you know, I've been.

Speaker 10 (39:04):
I've been grateful to to be where I've been, and
I'm grateful where I am right now, where my feet are,
and just I thank God every day I get to
learn from coach Tom One every day, you know, I
take mad notes on his just his every time he
goes into a meeting.

Speaker 6 (39:15):
And his speeches and the things he has. So it's
been a good it's been a good you know, moment.

Speaker 5 (39:20):
Of time so far to hear Calf what's kind of
the recovery or the things that you have to do from.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Now until just make you don't take a step that.

Speaker 10 (39:27):
Yeah, I just think being smart, I don't really go
into details, you know, I don't go into medical details.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Again.

Speaker 10 (39:32):
Uh, I know y'all want you guys all want to know,
but that's just I've never really gone to that great
detail with that. But I just I think the biggest
thing is just listening to trainers and following what they
have for me.

Speaker 6 (39:42):
Whatever I can do extra, I'm doing it.

Speaker 10 (39:43):
You know, if I can do it on the field,
they know that, and they're just trying to make sure
that I'm smart as possible, not doing anything that's gonna,
you know, you know, make it worse. Well, So I
know you can't do all the works, but you know,
when we talk to coaches and players, they always talk
about your work, acting in your drive.

Speaker 6 (39:58):
How much you feel like that.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Can maybe in de yourself to teammates or maybe set
the example and show leadership through example.

Speaker 10 (40:03):
Yeah, you know, I really fundingly believe that if you
want to be great at anything, the processes everything. You know,
you gotta love the process of it. You gotta love
the details of practice. You gotta love the enthusiasm of practice.
You know, even even if you if you're not in
there for that rep, whether you know, even if it's
the whole day or if it's just one player or
not in there, No matter what the situation is, We're

(40:24):
always learning, were always growing, and I think they got
to take that.

Speaker 6 (40:26):
From the classroom to the walkthroughs and spending that time.

Speaker 10 (40:29):
I think the best professionals I've been around have been
able to be able to transfer that from the from
the from the classroom to the to the field and
and and be able to do on the court or
whatever it may be for walkthroughs and then fast forward,
you know, coming out on the field and actually doing
it full speed. And that that's where I think we
are really doing a really good job of that. I
think coach Arthur Smith's done a great job of that
as well. The bond of that, the communication of that

(40:50):
is really critical and uh just constantly communicating. You know,
it's a It's been really good and I'm excited about
the process. But once again, we haven't don anything yet.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
We' got a lot more work to do well.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
So you talk about the bonding process, you and Justin,
Are you guys cheering for another really bonding together as
a quarterback?

Speaker 6 (41:04):
Yeah, I think you know, more than anything else.

Speaker 10 (41:06):
We've known each other for some years now, and and
I've always tried to be a mentor in some way
to him.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
You know, we we've always texted, called whatever it may
be in the past, and the same thing now, you know.

Speaker 10 (41:15):
Just you know, I believe that when you give as
much knowledge that I have or experience or going through,
you know, it comes back.

Speaker 6 (41:23):
In return for you in the long run. You know,
He's just we're a team. We're always trying to work
to get better together.

Speaker 10 (41:28):
And uh, you know everything that that every rep that
he's taken, I'm learning, every vice versa, every rep that
I'm taking, he's learning, and and and all the other
quarterbacks as well.

Speaker 6 (41:36):
And and when we even when we're not in there
and we're.

Speaker 10 (41:38):
Just processing from the drill work, we're always talking, talking
and communicating. So I think that's a critical thing to
being successful as a team.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
That's Russell Wilson talking to the media following yesterday's practice.
Continue to look forward to him ramp up his workload
as training camp moves forward for him and your Pittsburgh
Steelers when we come back to wrap up the first hour.
Really got your first look at the offensive lineman yesterday
as the pads came on, So we'll take a quick
look at that unit. Here from Dan Moore Junior in

(42:07):
a pretty amusing SoundBite. We also have Louis Lips coming
up today at ten fifteen, So a lot to look
forward to for the remainder of the Training Camp report
on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
He sees the Training Camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Labs.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
When we were talking about seven shots in our previous segment,
we mentioned, you know, a lot of running from Arthur
Smith setting the tone that way, we're going to run
the ball in the red zone even if the defense
knows we are. And I think offensive lineman love that
love leaning into that. We're gonna hear from Dan Moore
Junior on that topic in just a little bit. But
you know this was the first day that you could

(42:50):
really see the hogs up front put in work that
can tell you what they're gonna look like come the
regular season. And they wasted no time throwing them into
the wood chipper and you know, making them do the
dirty work to get the offense to win in seven shots.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, you know, and as I said, I mean, it's
it's you talk to Craig Wolfly and Max Starks. I mean,
it's fun more fun for an offensive lineman to blog
for running plays than it is you know, pass protection.
You're delivering the contact instead of accepting it. And you know,
again it gives you an opportunity to set a tone

(43:28):
again with with with the guy who's opposite you, you know,
snap in and snap out. I mean a lot of
times games come down to winning those one on one matchups,
and you know, offensive linemen like to punch instead of
you know, I if to make a boxing analogy, they
like to punch instead of you know, always accepting the

(43:49):
first contact.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, and I just think that, you know, when it
comes to this offensive line, there's a lot with Arthur
Smith's offense, there's a lot riding on a good, strong
unit up front and having that tone setting day early
and as Dan Moore puts it so eloquently, here kind
of shutting up the defense I think is important. Here's
Dan Moore with a little back and forth yesterday after

(44:12):
practice seven shots.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Guys, first live drill, you run run Maige run three
on the seven times?

Speaker 6 (44:17):
Is that tone setting or is that just normal?

Speaker 4 (44:20):
Ah?

Speaker 8 (44:21):
No, it's definitely don't set.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
Definitely tone sitting.

Speaker 8 (44:24):
Coach Tomlin talks about you know, he doesn't want the
defense to let the offense run it in. So you know,
we always talked about running it in anyway, and that's
the mindset that we want to have, especially with it
being seven shots.

Speaker 6 (44:36):
Obviously there's a.

Speaker 8 (44:36):
Lot of trash talking, so we just wanted to put
a little emphasis on it today.

Speaker 6 (44:41):
Think they got upset the defense. Uh, it was real quiet.

Speaker 8 (44:44):
I don't know if y'all noticed.

Speaker 6 (44:45):
It was real quiet today.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
I love hearing that and Labs what he kind of
said about how coach Tomlin wants the defense to a'll
let the offense run it in. That goes back to
what we were doing with the whole justin Fields Alex
Highsmith conversation in the last segment, like, yeah, it's good
to see Justin Fields run a read option, but it's
bad to see Alex Heismith not stop a read option. Yeah,
it was good to see the offense have success running
the football in the red zone yesterday. But on the

(45:08):
flip side of that coin, your defense needs to stop
the Browns from getting in the end zone, the Ravens
and the Bengals from getting in the end zone. So,
I mean, you know there's there's a unit a yang
to this.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
And you know, if you talk to defensive players or
defensive coaches, there's nothing more disappointing when the other team
is running the ball down your throat right right. It's deflating,
it's and you know there's there's a physical superiority that
has to be established for that to happen. And you know,

(45:41):
these guys have been playing this sport for a long
time and they've been good at it for a long
time where they wouldn't even be here trying to make
this team. And you know, when to be physically handled
like that is uplifting for the handler, and it's the
moralizing for the hand lee hand to lee or however

(46:04):
that you know, however you would phrase that word. But
so yeah, I mean, this is an important thing to
establish here for both of these lines. You want you
want your offensive line to establish the mentality that they
are going to be able to make this happen, and

(46:25):
you want your defense to establish the mentality that we're
not going to allow it. And let me just say this,
there's a lot of throw this out because you know,
Dan Moore was the one who we heard the sound
by from Don't Sleep on Dan Moore. I mean, I
know there's a lot of speculation that it's just a
matter of time before Broderick Jones moves over to left

(46:48):
tackle and Troy Filetan, who goes in at right tackle.
You know, Dan Moore is you know, he's not a
potted plant. I mean, I know there are some people
in the media who seem to think they know all
about the intricacies of left tackle and you know, how
it needs to be played and everything. But let me
just say this, and Max Starks was making this point

(47:09):
last night on the DVE Training Camp special show that
we did. Dan Moore has started at left tackle for
every game in which he has been eligible. He's now
going into his third season. Think about that.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
That's a lot of.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Right that's a lot of snaps, and if there really
was somebody better than him, that wouldn't be the case.
And you know, Max can get into the weeds a
little bit more with this kind of thing than I
am even able to or capable of recognizing. But Max
says that the combination blocks that are executed by Dan

(47:50):
Moore and Isaac Camalu are intricate league gune. Okay, don't
make me say it again now, and they're effective. And
so you know, that's a big part of running the
football as well, because there's a lot of tandem blocks,
double team kind of blocks, those kind of things that

(48:11):
have to be executed along the offensive line to spring
a lot of those running plays. So, you know, Dan Moore,
don't be surprised. You know, people think that it's just
a matter of time. A couple of weeks before Troy
Filotan who establishes himself as a starting right tackle and
Broderick Jones gets moved over to left tackle and Dan

(48:32):
Moore is, you know, riding the pine. Don't be so
sure that that timetable is accurate. It may very well.
I expected to inspect. In fact, I expected to last
into the regular season. Dan Moore the starting left tackle, uh,
and what we're gonna have to see then after that
based on the success that the team has early in

(48:55):
the regular season howlong.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
That lasts when nobody loves those double teams from Isaac
cum and Dan Moore Junior. Like naj and Jalen Warren,
the running backs benefit from having the pads come on
as well get their our first real look at that unit,
so we'll talk about them to kick off the second hour,
we'll hear from Jalen Warren. He caught up with Rob
King following practice yesterday, and then as I mentioned at

(49:16):
ten fifteen today, we are going to be joined by
former Steelers wide receiver and Hall of Honor member Louie Lips.
That's all on the way on the Steelers' Training Camp
Report on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
This is the Training camp Report with Tom Opperman and
Bob Labriola on Steeler's Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Steeler's practice is just about twenty nine minutes away from
taking place on Chuck Nole Field at Saint Vincent College
Labs and I talking a lot about the first padded
practice yesterday. We talked about seeing seven shots, talked about
the offensive line set in the tone. But another position
group labs that you really can see start setting the
tone is the group that the offensive line blocks for,

(50:03):
and that's the running back room. We know what we're
going to get from Naji, we know what we're going
to get from Jailing, but it's still nice to see them,
you know, after upgrading this offseason, get their first taste
of real football. And I obviously want to hear what
your first impressions are of dejen Edwards, the undrafted rookie
free agent running back who you've noted had some burst
in the acclamation period, and now you get a taste

(50:23):
to see what actual football looks like when he goes
up against it.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Yeah, I'm gonna hold off on Dejahon Edwards a little bit.
I mean, yesterday was the first practice in pads. I
really didn't notice him much, But that doesn't mean, you know,
he had a bad day or anything. There were a
lot of things to be watching and chronicling, So I

(50:48):
think we're going to find out about him over time.
But you know, as we were talking about backs on backers,
and you know the importance that that position has in
terms of its responsibilities and pass protection. You know, I
think that's going to be important for that young man
because I just don't know how much of that he

(51:08):
was asked to do at Georgia. And you know, it's
just a big part of making a roster in the NFL,
as you know, as we were talking about Jalen Warren.
So you know, we'll have to see how that works out,
because I do believe when you look at the potential
raw fifty three man roster, I don't know if you

(51:30):
keep three running backs, and if you do, that third
guy is going to have to be because again, maybe
there's a fullback involved, and I'm not considering fullback in
the same category as a running back. You know, we
saw the Steelers using some fullback yesterday, a lead fullback

(51:51):
kind of thing. Jack Coletto was in that role. I
don't know if Arthur Smith is big on that. We'll
have to find out again as that evolves. So if
there is a third running back, this guy is going
to have to be good on special teams and he's
also going to have to be someone who provides the
backfield with some options. And so again it's it's going

(52:15):
to be a climb for Dejon Edwards, you know, to
make himself known and carve out a spot for himself
in that respect.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Well regarding the two guys that have their spots carved out,
naj and Jalen Warren. Really looking forward to this one
two punch and seeing this year's version of it as
both should be a little bit better. And you know,
focusing on Nause, I think he gets kind of criticized
a lot from the fan base, maybe to put it lightly,
but at the end of the day, Labs, when you

(52:45):
take a look back at the first three years of
his career, I mean he's rushed for a thousand yards
in every single one of them. And I know that
the one area of his game that maybe the Nause
doubters will point to is his yards per carry. But
I think you need to, you know, watch the games
to realize that, yeah, his yards per carry might have

(53:07):
been three point nine, but how many times have we
been used to seeing him in his first three years
Labs hit behind a line of scrimmage, break two or
three tackles just to get a yard or get back
to the line of scrimmage. And what I'm excited about
this year is as the offensive line, and we saw
this at the end of last year continues to get
better and continues to get more talented, the room for
Nause to operate should just get bigger and bigger, and

(53:30):
those broken tackles against defensive linemen should turn into broken
tackles against safeties and members of the secondary ten yards
down the field.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I remember saying
last year quite often that goal, my hope for Nause
in a particular game was just that he'd be able
to get to the line of scrimmage clean every time
they gave him a ball. And you know that rarely happened.
And you know the other thing, and I'm not saying

(53:59):
that that was strictly the fault of the offensive line,
even though it could have been. It might have been
some of the design of the running plays that were
in the being called, and when the running plays were
being called, how you know the what the formation look
like or the personnel grouping looked like when the Steelers

(54:19):
wanted to run the ball with Nause. Again, you can
tip too much of that to the defense. They can
be ready for things, and if you don't, if you're
not using him in a variety of ways, if there's
like two or three plays as an example. I'm just
you know, using this as an example. If there's only
two or three kind of running plays that you use

(54:40):
with nause Harris, it's easier to defend because you know
you're not You're only expecting him to get the ball
in certain places and then try and carry it through
certain holes. I think Arthur Smith is going to help
this tremendously. You know, I've said a bunch of times,
this guy is a legitimate, proven NFL offensive coordinator and

(55:02):
he is a legitimate, proven NFL play caller. The Steelers
did not have that either of the previous two seasons.
And I think that Arthur Smith's impact is going to
be seen and felt a ripple through different areas of
the team. Uh and you know, hopefully then that transfer

(55:27):
transfers into better production from some of those parts of
the team.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
Well, Jayalen Warren caught up with Rob King as he
was leaving the field from practice yesterday. Let's hear what
he had to say.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
Jalen.

Speaker 9 (55:39):
First of all, first day in pads, what was it like?

Speaker 4 (55:43):
It was good?

Speaker 6 (55:43):
You know, come out here.

Speaker 7 (55:44):
I feel like that's when we can really create that
chemistry with each other. You know, that's my favorite style
or my favorite part of the game is you.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
Know, hitting.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
So I was looking forward to today, I'm sure.

Speaker 9 (55:55):
And the backs and backers drill a couple of years ago,
I think put you on the fans radar certainly.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
How do you like that drill?

Speaker 9 (56:00):
And it's always fun and the fans get behind it
and then it's one on one and that ring.

Speaker 7 (56:04):
Yeah, it really is like if you lose as your fault,
you can't blame nobody. I like that mentally, Manto, Uh,
you know, altercation part of it. And so you know,
I look forward to that too.

Speaker 6 (56:15):
Increased workload for you a season ago.

Speaker 9 (56:18):
Did that alter at all what you did to prepare
yourself and your body for this regular season, for this
training camp leading into the season.

Speaker 7 (56:25):
I mean, I prepare for it all. Whether I'm getting
one hundred rips or zero rips, I prepare for it all.
You know, prepare like I'm getting two hundred rips.

Speaker 9 (56:32):
When you have a new coach come in, an offensive
coordinator Arthur Smith, and he preaches physicality, just what you
talked about, and you know he likes to run the football.

Speaker 6 (56:40):
How does that make you feel? Ah good?

Speaker 7 (56:42):
Because you know we get to run the ball. And
all the things that you know we like as running backs.
So I'm excited.

Speaker 9 (56:49):
What have you seen from that scheme so far in camp?
I know we've seen a lot of three tight ends
and going back to OTAs, but it feels like there's
gonna be a real emphasis on running the ball. Is
that what it feels like to you as well? Yeah,
one hundred percent, and you've got to embrace that, right.

Speaker 6 (57:02):
Yeah, I have to. We got to make it work.

Speaker 9 (57:06):
So you have Russell Wilson took part in limited drills
we've seen justin fields out there. Are you getting comfortable
with the fact that you have entirely new quarterbacks Kyle Allen,
John Writs, Plumble and the two guys I just mentioned.

Speaker 7 (57:17):
Yeah, I'm comfortable with them all. You know, they're all
batherers and they all bring something to the table. So
I'm excited to work with all of them.

Speaker 9 (57:23):
Joe, and thanks very much the time.

Speaker 6 (57:24):
Really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
There's Jalen Warren talking to Rob King after practice yesterday,
and I'm just really excited to see this guy evolve
into his third year in the NFL ABS because every
single step of the way his progress has been impressive
and now I'm just expecting even more.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
So. Yeah, I'm a big Jaalen Warren fan. I really
think that, you know, he has a skill set that
adds to the offense. I mean it's not to me
it does in terms of skill set and what each
of the top two running backs provide. I don't think
it's an either or situation, you know, I see it

(58:05):
more as a complementary thing. The only thing that I
would say is, you know, I would caution fans to
believe that you know, if for example, you give Jalen
Warren five hundred touches, then if you you know, increase
that by fifty percent, he's going to be fifty percent

(58:27):
more productive. You know, the human body can only withstand
what you know, it is physically capable of withstanding. And
I would hate to see Jalen Warren used as the
kind of battering ram that Nause Harris sometimes is used.

(58:48):
I mean, that's something that you know Nause is a
little bit used to in terms of the way he
was used in college. It's something that he is built for.
He has a bigger human being, and so that's why
I'm saying, you know, it's a complimentary thing. You know,
it's similar in some ways if you go back a

(59:10):
little bit to Jerome Bettison Willie Parker. You know, Willie
Parker had a different skill set than Jerome. He wasn't
necessarily the pounder, the you know, the milk the clock guy,
the goal line guy. And you know, when Jerome then
retired after the two thousand and five season, Willie Parker

(59:31):
had a couple of, you know, three hundred plus Carrey
seasons in a row, and I think that shortened his
career because he's just not big enough to take that
pounding and running the football in the NFL is a very,
very physically demanding job. There's not a whole lot of

(59:53):
protection for those guys like receivers get and tight ends get.
I mean, you could take shots at them anywhere when
they have the ball in their hands. So, as I said,
I like Jaylen Warren. I would like to see him
have a long and productive career, and I don't know
the way to that long and productive career is to

(01:00:13):
give him a lot more touches than say he had
last year, and then moving forward from there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
I completely agree with that when we come back, we're
going to be joined by Steelers Hall of Honor member
Louis Lips. Excited have Louie joined the show and talk about,
you know, all things related to Steelers camp in some
of his memories as well. That's on the way. Next
on the Training Camp Report with Labs and Tom on
Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Hec's no Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Please to be joined now by former Steelers wide receiver
and Hall of Honor member Louis Lips on the program. Louis,
thank you so much for giving Labs and myself sometime today.
It's really a pleasure.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
Oh, not a problem, man, not a problem. It's beautiful
weather up here. But I can't wait to get away
from here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
You know, I want to I want to start you
out with a question very much along those lines. You know,
I'm kind of curious to hear your impressions of Saint
Vincent College, the campus in terms of how it looks
now compared how compared to how it looked when you
were here first as a player coming to training camp

(01:01:28):
in nineteen eighty four.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
Well, Bob, you know, we stayed in Bonaventure Hall, and
I'm surprised we had electricity in that building because before
we took our luggage out of the car, we took
our fan or our air condition out of at first.

(01:01:51):
And then if you wanted phone service you had to
you had to order and pay for that. If you
wanted cable service, but you had to go sit and
lobby and watch that. So what did you have here
at the Tazma Hall? Kind of like a membership only
country club kind of deal. So for for me seeing this, uh,

(01:02:16):
I probably played another ten years.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
You know, you mentioned Bonaventure Hall and that was the
only dormitory really that was available, you know on this
side of that's this side of campus.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
And the one thing you left out, I mean you
mentioned no air conditioning, mentioned you know the phone situation. Uh,
no cable TV. You forgot the know elevators though, don't
forget the know elevators because when you were care when
you were unloading your car, you know, with your fan
and all that stuff, you had to walk up the steps.
It was not like now we're getting the elevator and

(01:02:50):
hit the button. But you know you mentioned air conditioners.
That wasn't until later in your career, right, I mean
it was early there were the windows wouldn't even and support.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Those No, the big yeah, the big thing was fans.
And then uh so, uh it was you right, because
it was one of them years. I was coming to
training camp and I took the route thirty instead of
the turnpike, and I passed by this it was a
flea market, and so I stopped in the flea market
and lear and behold it was a damn portable air

(01:03:22):
conditioning the air and so I bought it. And then
so the window would open open up enough for me
to stick the holes in the window to take the
exhaust out of the room.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
So when when you know the pre air conditioner times,
how did you, I don't know, find a way to
relax enough or get cool enough to sleep? Did guys
have any kind of clever ingenious ways that you know
helped them do that fan placement? Or did you sleep
with the doors open to the rooms? How'd that work?

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
Naked? Fleeting? Naked?

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Okay, let's let's let's get back on the field here
for a minute. So as a rookie, you you made
an immediate impact on the team and in the NFL
as a punt returner in addition to being a receiver.
What do you think made you so effective as a
punt returner?

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
Uh, Bob, you know, I was. I was a better
baseball player than I was a football player, and I
was outfield that I played center field, so fielding balls
that was over my head was you know, it was
kind of something that I could do in my sleep.
So that was the one thing that that really helped

(01:04:49):
me because I can watch the ball and the guys
coming down to hit me almost at the same time.
And at that time it was kind of unheard of
somebody doing that because they couldn't understand how that could happen.
But that was one of the reasons how I could.
I could I fielded the punts the way I did

(01:05:10):
and had the success that I did when I did it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:15):
Do you have to be a little on a crazy
fearless to return kicks in the NFL?

Speaker 10 (01:05:24):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (01:05:24):
Well, kind of sort of. I mean, you know you
you kind of basically have to have a mentality of
that you're going to change the tide or change the
momentum of the game with making a big play doing
that kind of stuff. So yeah, fearless, I guess, But uh,

(01:05:50):
I tried to never put fear in it and just
just made sure, man, when I if I fielded that ball,
that I was gonna make something happen and do something
positive with it. No, No, I wasn't crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
When it when it comes, you know, you did some
you turn some kickoffs to a little bit, not as
often as punts, as I recall. When it comes to
the skill set required, how is it what is required
to be a good kickoff returner as opposed to being
a good punt returner.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
Uh, just just having a good eye view of of
the field and your players, knowing where you're blocking is
going to be, where it's coming from, where it might
come from. You know, just just having a good eyesight
of once you feel the ball when you're coming downfield,

(01:06:49):
you know you can kind of feel your way through. Uh,
some blocks and some holes that you can you know,
pick and find.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
Coming out of South or Miss. Uh for the NFL
draft in nineteen eighty four, did you know the Steelers
were interested in you? You ended up being a first
round pick by the team.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
Well, matter of fact, Bob, when I had my pro
day at Southern Miss, well, it wasn't reading my pro
day was it was pro day for the seniors when
I was a junior, and so a guy by the
name of Bill Nunn came up to me and asked me,

(01:07:31):
was I going to be interested in playing in the
National Football League? And so I told him, I said
National Football League. I said, you think I'm good enough
to play in the National Football League? He said, well,
I got it to keep it clean for the radio.
He said, yeah you are, and said we will, we will.
We'll have our eyes on you next year, he says.

(01:07:51):
And then and then during the process of during my
senior year, I think Bill came to one of our
practice and he said, he said, well, my boy, he said,
I just want to let you know. He said, we
got you on the list, he says. And then evidently
they want have kept me on the list because they're
drafting me first.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
What was it like playing for Chuck Nole.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
Well, that's a good question, man. Well, you know, playing
for Chuck man, I mean, he the most important thing
for him that he wanted out of his players is
he wanted his program run the way he wanted his
program run. And if if that wasn't happening, then you

(01:08:45):
wasn't gonna play a whole lot, you know, I mean,
he wanted you to be disciplined. He wanted you to
be reckless, abandoned. He wanted tenacity, and uh, you know,
he wanted to make his program work the way he
wanted to make his program work. And once he was

(01:09:07):
in between the white lines, that's that's all he did
was coach and taught. And if you were able to
handle that and be a part of that was, then
you you gonna be okay in his system.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
I just want to throw in a little comment here,
and I kid you about this all the time that
if in your career the quarterback was Ben Roethlisberger instead
of mostly Mark Malone, you would have maybe had to
write an acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame instead

(01:09:45):
of just being voted to the Hall of Honor. But
let me get you out of here on this Tounch Open.
One of your former teammates, he always joked that if
he would ever write a book about his football career,
the title would be too late for the Super Bowls,
too early for free agency. Now, with free agency lately especially,

(01:10:07):
it seems to be over the last i don't know
year or two, salaries for NFL wide receivers have exploded.
I mean just recently DJ Moore, DJ Moore, DJ Moore,
Nice Player four years, one hundred million dollars. Justin Jefferson
one hundred and forty million dollars four years, Davante Adams.

(01:10:29):
I know I'm probably making you sick to your stomach,
but I got a couple more here, Davonte Adams one
hundred and forty million dollars over five years. Kyreek Hill
four year extension one hundred and twenty million dollars. All
of a sudden, why do you think teams now believe
that it's worth it to commit that kind of salary
cap space to the wide receiver position when they never

(01:10:52):
thought it seemed to be worth it before.

Speaker 4 (01:10:56):
Well, I think it has a lot to do with
the the networks and the TV and the cable and
all of the betting agencies. I mean, you know, there's
so much money that these teams are making they're able
to do that. As a polled to when we played,
we didn't have any of that, Louis, So we had

(01:11:19):
TV contract, but it wasn't work nowhere near what they
work now.

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
Well, thank you so much, Louie for giving us the
time today. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your
time up at camp and hopefully we can catch up
with you soon.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
All right, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:31):
Thank Bob. All right, Leid take care.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
There he goes Louis Lips Hall of Honor. Remember for
your Pittsburgh Steelers. That's gonna do it for us today
on the Training Camp Report. But we hand things off
to Training Camp Live and they will take you through
the entirety of Steelers practice. And then we got in
the locker room and the drive coming up later today
as well, so we got water wall coverage of training
Camp Day six for you Pittsburgh Steelers fans. The second

(01:11:55):
day with the pads coming on Labs, and I will
be back again tomorrow morning at nine am. Have a
great day. Until then, four Labs, I've been tom This
has been the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.