August 2, 2025 • 48 mins
Labs and Tom recap Friday Night Lights, hear from Coach Tomlin, and discuss how backs on backers has gone so far in camp
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
iHeartRadio's live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training camp.
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(00:27):
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Speaker 2 (00:34):
Union, and by US steel.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So Labs.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
When I google Latrobe Memorial Stadium, I see a capacity here,
just a smidge under seven thousand. That's what I keep getting.
That wasn't the case last night, was it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
No? I mean you could have pretty much based on
that announced capacity if you counted eyeballs instead of people,
that was been closer to the actual number that they
said we're in the building. I mean, I really, when
we it's when the buses pulled up. I ride the
buses over. When the buses pulled up, it was I
(01:17):
don't know, six forty five ish. You kind of you
get it like a quick view of the stands, you know,
as the busses are turning the corner, and I'd never
seen it that that pack before. You know, usually because
it always starts with a autograph session, and because a
(01:37):
lot of times the people who may be or have
seats are around the fence to get the autographs, so
there's a lot of times the stands will have empty
patches in them. But there were no empty patches at all.
And the line or the the around the fence that
(01:59):
you know rings the right was five six seven deep
everywhere that I could see. So, yeah, I never saw
a crowd like that. Yeah, it was a lot of
people there, and they were very vocal. And again we
(02:19):
talked about this about how people come out of their
homes if they live on the route that the buses
take from Saint Vincent to La Trope Stadium, and there
were a lot of those people out too. You know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I think it speaks to two things really, maybe more
than that, but two at the top of the list
for me. One, just how much that Friday night lights
practice has grown and grown and grown in popularity over
the years and has really just built itself into just
a self sustaining monster that people look forward to all
year long. Like you said yesterday, people take vacation planning
(02:53):
around coming up to be at that Friday night lights practice.
And then the second thing I think it speaks to
is just the excitement that is around this team, the
different faces, new quarterback, new weapons on offense, new pieces
on defense that you know aren't just your run of
the mail arbitrary signings. These are potential Hall of famers.
Jalen Ramsey most definitely going to be a Hall of
Famer in my opinion. I mean, I think those two things.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Quarterback is even more exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I think those two things just blended together, and you
had this perfect storm that yielded almost fourteen thousand people
in a stadium that can only fit seven.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, and the reception there Aaron Rodgers got was and
he he was soaking it up, and he was he
signed a lot of autographs, I'm telling you before he
was signing before I even made my way from the
(03:48):
bus into the bowl. So you know, the players a
lot of times, you know, the buses arrive in the
order in which they depart, so most of the players
and the veterans and stuff are on the first couple
of buses. So maybe Aaron Rodgers was in there before me.
(04:11):
I'd say thirty to forty five seconds earlier, because that's
that's all it takes to d board the bus and
it's not that far of a walk. And when I
got in, he was already signing and it wasn't his
first one. So because a lot of times what happens is,
(04:32):
you know, the players will go into the into the stadium,
they'll you know, put their helmet and pads down somewhere
on the field. They'll get a sharpie from because they'll
be handing out sharpie's for them to sign. You know,
it might take two or three minutes real time before
(04:53):
between the time a player like actually enters Latrobe Stadium
and starts signing. But like I said, Rogers was already
doing it instantly and he signed as long as until
they blew the horn, you know, to start practice. So
(05:14):
you know that some of his teammates I heard some
of them talking about it afterwards. Uh, they said that
he couldn't believe it that what it was. I mean
for a first timer, you know, Uh, to see that
kind of turnout and energy at a practice is very unique.
(05:34):
It is very very unique, and it is you know,
the it's a community event now too. I really think
the people of Latrobe believe that it is theirs, it
is something that is theirs, and I think that's a
lot of what fuels you know, as I said, a
lot of the You know, there are people tailgating in
(05:54):
their front yards along the bus route. Uh one. One
place they had like a fire pit going, and they
were still there when we left, because you might still
be there now. And then the fireworks, you know, the
fireworks start and it's usually used a little bit as
(06:16):
a diversion.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Get the players out of there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Well no, no, no, no. What the fireworks are for
is to hold the people there so the buses can
get out, because if everyone left at the same time.
The streets of Latrobe are not that wide or not
that plentiful. They're not. There's not enough of them to
say there's fourteen thousand people there. What are we going
(06:41):
to say there were at least eight thousand cars, right,
I mean, are they okay? So you have eight thousand
cars trying to get out of that. It's a it's
not where the high school is, but still it's a
high school stadium parking lot in a small town, narrow streets.
(07:04):
I mean, you could It could take you twenty twenty
five minutes a half an hour just to get out
of a lot onto the streets, and then those are
going to be jammed. So the idea behind the fireworks
was to have something that would entertain the fans enough
that they might want to sit there for a little
bit longer rather than just run out. As soon as
(07:24):
practice is done, and the fireworks were still going on,
we were back on campus and I'd walked from the
bus all the way up to the dormitory, Benedict Hall,
and as fireworks were still going on. I mean, I
went into my room and looked out the window and
you could still see some of the fireworks in the distance.
(07:46):
So that was a decent show. Zambelli fireworks, nice length,
pretty impressive. I'm not a fireworks expert, but it entertained
me a little bit that I saw of it. So, yeah,
it's a it's a full night. And one of the
things that they do, it's a typical high school football thing,
(08:07):
the fifty to fifty raffle.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
You know what that is, Oh buddy, chance to make
some money.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, but I mean it's you know, all of the
gate receipts they whatever, that total is they give half
of it away in a fifty to fifty raffle. And
you know, when I was working at the at a newspaper,
the Greensburg Tribute Review covering high school football, there were
(08:37):
some you know, when you went to see, like a
game at Mount Pleasant that was always a good fifty
to fifty because they always did a very good attendance.
Last night would have been spectacular.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I'm guessing you I didn't win it. I was just
gonna say, I'm guessing you didn't win. You might have
taken the day or two off if you would have
won that much.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Just no, I would have. I would have just sent
it to you to put it a beautiful your son's
college fund.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
See you're such a great guy. And of course I
wouldn't follow through on that, and I would just spend
it on booze or whatever else.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I'm so full of it if you believe that too.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So that energy that was in that stadium that transferred
over into the practice too. And look, it's fourteen thousand people.
These players play in front of sixty five seventy thousand
people on any given Sunday in the NFL labs. But
when you get it into that compact of a space,
and it's that much people almost double what's supposed to
be there. It still gets really loud and you can
(09:35):
still feel that energy, and I'm sure the players felt
that during the practice.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, and as I said, it was very
much a carnival atmosphere. I mean, there was a DJ
there playing music. It's just so many things going on
all at once. There's merchandise for sale, food, I mean,
some of the some of the lines I mean, people
(10:00):
were saying. I saw also on social media some of
the Pittsburgh media that got there early. The lines were
wrapped around the stadium waiting to get in, and people
already had tickets. You already had to pretty much have tickets.
But here's a little secret that I was told several
years ago. There's no such thing as a sellout at
(10:21):
this because of the way the stadium is and the
area around it. You know, like you said, seven thousand
is listed capacity, that's seven thousand probably on the home side.
So there's also bleachers on the visitors side. And then
as I mentioned, there is that chain link fence cyclone
(10:46):
fence around the you know, because high school facilities they
also have a track, you know, so there's a fence
all around that, and people line up at the fence,
and as I said, they were in a lot of
places ten to twelve deep all the way around. So
you know, there's always room for one more or two more,
or however more. And because of all the ticket sales
(11:11):
go to the greater Latrobe School District and all those people,
well a lot the bulk of them are from Latrobe
and therefore they a lot of them have kids that
go to this in that school district. You know, it's
all for a good cause.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
The atmosphere was different. It was a bigger feel, the
stage was bigger, but the practice was for the most
part the same. There were some new things that they
did labs, but you still got your seven shots and
you still got your backs on backers, and it was
the backs on backers we saw in the first padded
practice two where they were trying to pass, block and
stop the edge rushers. We'll get to that in a second.
Let's start with seven shots. Now, the score of seven
(11:47):
shots was four to three, but if you go through
that drill labs, the defense actually swept the offense and
won the first four. So we didn't technically get our
game seven even though we played seven reps.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Right, Yeah, it was four nothing. The defense won the
first four I will say this, it was three nothing,
and then there was a the NFL of there were
NFL officials. There was six or seven of them working
the game. And on the fourth rep, you know, I
passed for Scottie Miller at the back of the end zone.
(12:22):
It was a Mason Rudolph had come in by then. Uh.
He made the catch and the the official back there
because I was kind of Me and my pursuit were
standing just off the end line in that end zone
and the play happened to the left of us. The
(12:45):
official had to be ten yards to the right of us,
and he made the call. As I said to Mike,
I said, yeah, Roger Goodell would have decided that one. Yes,
a real game. So but anyway, uh who nobody complains
(13:06):
about officiating in a in a training camp practice, maybe
except for me. As I said, I don't know that
it was complete. But all my point is is that
the guy who made the call, no way he saw. Yeah,
there's just no way he guessed. Maybe he guessed right,
(13:26):
I don't know, but it was a guess.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You got to be a bit of a showman there,
mister referee, call a touchdown a right, it's three nothing,
you're gonna guess, guess in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Well, no, you guess a touchdown. So it goes to replay.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
If that was actually a game, it's actually a great point.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yes, then uh the off the team on offense would
have had to challenge it. See the easier way to
do it. I think you should call it a touchdown
and then it's automatically reviewed.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, And I think that's what they are drilling into
their NFL refs now two in real games is to
just be like win in doubt, call it something that's
going to automatically trigger of you. Which that gets a
little tricky, labs, because you know that play on the
field matters. How the call in the field stands. That
that can factor into the replay if things.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Get if they wanted to, and if they don't, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
We're not going to get into the refs. We got
to stop right now. We're going down a bad path.
I can tell already.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're taking me there too. You're evil.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
So the offense didn't have the best going at seven shots,
and that carried over. They did a two minute drill
period in this training camp practice. That's something that we
haven't really seen before this year. Uh. The offense went
oh for two during the first two minute drills of
this training camp. Just didn't seem like they were in sync.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah. Yes, the defense was rather dominant last night. But
let me say this, maybe it's this defense is pretty good.
I think, Uh, that has to start to be factored
into things. You know, Matt Williamson has said many times
(14:58):
on these airwaves that he believes that Steelers have the
best defensive line in football. Okay, so there's that, you know.
Then you have a secondary now that includes you know,
Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay and Joey Porter Junior who
didn't practice last night, Uh, Juan Thornhill, Uh, brand On, Brandon.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Echols, Clark a lot back there.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes, So you know, I think at some point you
have to start acknowledging the competition is a factor. But
you know, this is what training camp is. I mean,
since it's always Steelers versus Steelers, you know, it comes
down to how you look at things. If you want
(15:46):
to credit somebody or you want to look for fault, Uh,
do you want to worry about something or do you
want to be optimistic about something. So I'm not saying that, uh,
this this offense doesn't have to be more efficient. I'm
just saying that I wouldn't necessarily bury it at this point.
(16:07):
I've been told by many people many years that it
always takes the offense longer to kind of come together. Yes,
it started operating efficiently. So there's that and the fact
that maybe you know this Steelers defense is just really good.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Well, here's the truth of the matter, Labs, that Steelers
defense should be very good. I mean, you look at
the pieces that they've had that have played at an
all pro level, pieces that they've added that have been
all pros. The rookie Derek Harmon has been very impressive
in the Steelers. I mean they're all in on him
being on that first team. I mean it just it
took the first day of training camp for him to
crack first team reps. So you can see where they
(16:43):
have plans for him to already factor in big time
in this season. It should be a good to great defense,
and I think it will be. And what you just
said there, I was going to bring that up, so
our minds are melding as always. You know, when you
see the start of the season, even week one, offenses
around the league are always going to kind of be
(17:03):
a little bit behind the eight ball compared to defense.
That's why I think it takes maybe until you know,
mid October before we start seeing these high powered offenses
really start to blossom around the league.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, and the other thing too, is that the reality
of the sport at this level is this The offense
doesn't have to be reach a level of performance to
be efficient opening week of the regular season. It just
(17:34):
has to be better than the team you're playing that way, correct, So,
and I'm not saying that to rip the Jets or anything.
That's the way it is.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Look At last year with the Falcons eighteen to ten
all you needed.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
So again, I acknowledge that the offense needs to get better.
I think it has a lot of the things in
place that will allow it to be better. But you know,
when you're looking at it, all it has to be
is better than the particular opponent that is on the
schedule that week.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
When we come back, we'll hear from coach Tomlin and
his thoughts. After Friday night lights practice, we have a
little bit of a roster update for you as well
that we'll get to and of course we'll have labs
as weather report for today's practice and we'll clear in
on if the pads are coming on or not. So
all that's still to come on the Training Camp Report
on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy am and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Network Iheartradios live coverage of twenty twenty five Steelers Training Camp.
He's presented by Fadex where Now meets Next and also
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(18:47):
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Shop and Buy Us steel.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola Labs. The weather's actually been very cooperative the past
couple of practices. If it's been on its best behavior,
it's held off on the rain. We've been able to
get them in in full. So what do you got
for us today? What's on tap?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Well, let me start with this, I mean the crowd
at La Trope Stadium last night for Friday Night Lights
was unprecedented. Here's another unprecedented thing. I don't ever remember
a night where I didn't have or turned off the
air conditioning for the entire night sleep. Last night was
(19:43):
one of them. So there you go.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Did you go open window at all, indulge the natural air?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Now, well, well, the problem with that is, I mean,
you know, there's way too much activity five five thirty
around the normal terms of you know, people doing their jobs,
and you know, Friday Night Lights practice didn't end until
almost nine thirty, so it was a late night by
(20:13):
just just because of the schedule. So yeah, five point
thirty in the morning. I wanted to sleep a little
bit beyond that. So no, there was no open windows,
but that wasn't necessary. I mean it was very comfortable.
And when this morning I looked at the temperature to
see what was my light walk over to the fitness
(20:38):
center to ride the bike was going to be like
it was fifty seven degrees. So it's very pleasant here,
very very pleasant. Right now, it's seventy two degrees. Humidity
is only fifty three percent. This is Latrobe people, fifty
three percent humidity.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
It's like zero anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Right, can really see the trees, the details of the
trees on the mountains in the distance. I supposed to
be seventy seven low tonight is fifty four. It'll be
another night, probably with no air conditioning necessary. This is
we're in a pattern now as bad as the pattern
(21:19):
was when camp opened in terms of heat, humidity, and
it rained every day. Now looking at the forecast through
next Wednesday, pretty much sunny and clear every day, the
temperature in the low eighties at the at the you
know the highs in the evenings, you know, sixty sixty
(21:42):
two is the highest. So this is very pleasant weather.
Certainly doesn't seem like training camp weather. And who knows,
maybe Mother Nature figures she owed us a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
You know, this might make coach Tomlins skin crawl a
little bit with how much how comfortable it's about to
get up there when it comes to this weather. But
it's such a fine line. You have to walk right
labs because you want it to be hot. But when
it gets to be in those nineties up there, that
usually means that humidity's coming, and that means the storms
are coming to cool it off and you got to
get practices in. You know, you've referenced before when we
(22:14):
were interviewing I think it was Chris Hoke when we
talked to a Steeler Greater or steealer from the past
at the end of the show, and you said that
the field of dreams here you had to clear corn
so you could practice and get stuff in because just
the weather was so oppressive and the field was a mess.
Like you don't you wanted to have a little bit
of adversity, which you also don't want it to tip
overboard too much. So it's nice to see that they
(22:34):
might kind of ease themselves through the rest of this
training camp with practices being uninterrupted.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, that would be nice, the uninterrupted practices. You know,
I'm not out on the field, and so you know,
the misery that the players go through, that's something that
I don't share, and that's why they get paid the
big bucks. But the interrupted practices, I don't know. It's
(23:00):
tough on the fans, you know, it's it just makes
for long days even longer.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Coach Tomlin spoke to the media following Friday night Lights practice,
not for long, but he did kind of hype up
the atmosphere and updated us a little bit on some
injury news. Let's hear what coach had to say.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Man, a really really inspiring atmosphere tonight. Man, we just
appreciate the relationship that we have, not only with Saint Vincent,
but with this community. Had great energy, man, great competition tonight.
It's just an honor to work and get better in
front of them and entertain them. We had some bumps
and bruises associated with play. Calvin Anderson slipped there and
(23:43):
so he's going to be evaluated. Corey Trice maybe has
a soft tissue injury hamstring related. Will take a look
at him. I have more information for you guys on
him a little bit later. And we got some more
guys that are gradually working their way back to full participation,
guys that we've been talking about in that regard, Isaac
and Broderick for example. And so things are moving in
(24:04):
the right direction in some instances, and obviously bumps and
bruises associated with the process and.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Some others questions. Mike Kingle looked like he was more
confident in backs on backers. What did you see from
him the one on one here?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
I think it's reasonable to expect him to display more comfort,
play harder, and faster.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It just comes with exposure.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
He's a talented young guy, but he's a young guy,
and so all of these exposures are important to his development.
Is reasonable to expect him to get better with each outing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Who else stood out to you in one on ones today?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
You know, I just like the general energy of all
parties involved. To be quite honest with you, everybody's at
different stages of development, and that's why we're very thoughtful
about the matchups. We want good, fair fights. Man, And
it disappears we got that first p and bl that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Scene from the struggle on Mike. What's your take on that?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
I just think as usual for this time of year,
defenses usually develop a little faster than offenses to get
to know the cohesion that's required to be good. It's
just a component of it. And so Noah alarm Bell's
there and two more.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
The offensive line is doing so far at this point
in camp. I like all the work that they're getting.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You know, we've had some bumps and bruises along the way,
so some elevated reps with some young guys, they're just
playing conditioning required to take advantage of those.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Reps, but very much work in progress, like all areas.
Jillie was in sweats today. Is he dealing with something, Yes,
it could be. To characterize the day to day, he'll
be back out soon.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Coach Tomlins brief thoughts following Friday Night lights practice yesterday
and labs. Let's pick up on some of the injury
things that he said there. You heard about Calvin Anderson,
you heard about Corey Trice. So those are some depth
pieces who you know this is valuable time for them,
So they really those aren't those guys that fall into
those category that we've talked about before, where you know,
you get hurt and you might be out of luck,
(25:48):
needing a bus ride to the airport and a plane
ticket out of here just because of your injury luck.
But this is these are two guys that definitely want
to get back on the field as fast as they
can and get as much reps under their belt, certainly
if they can before that Jacksonville game this coming Saturday
and a week from today. And that last part right there,
Joey Porter Junior in street clothes, But that didn't seem
(26:11):
to be anything too serious at all, wouldn't even be
surprised if he's out there today. But don't take my
word for it. No promises.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Oh you mean Mike Tomlin didn't call you and tell
you what he did.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
But I was on the phone with you, so it
went right to voicemail, and he just he scolded me
for not having my phone line open and didn't give
me the info. Okay, but your fault.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well hey, I'll take the blame. But anyway, Uh, yeah,
you don't know. I mean, Joey Porter Junior was in sweats.
He stood throughout practice. I mean, these are some of
the things that I use as markers or indicators. You know,
he didn't have any He wasn't wearing a boot. There
weren't any like icebags taped to him that were obvious,
(26:52):
you know, any any of those kinds of things. And
he stood and watch practice the whole time. So if
it was you know, any thing, you know, because sometimes
an injury might be they tell you, you know, don't
put a lot of weight on it, or you know,
whatever elevated or you know, whatever that might be. So
he just seemed to be, you know, standing there and watching.
(27:15):
So that would allow me to be hopeful that it
is something minor and day to day and you know
all that stuff, because that's not a guy you want
uh to miss a lot of time.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
No, it certainly isn't a roster update to bring you.
The Steelers have placed Dean Lowry, defensive lineman on injured reserve.
They have brought back defensive lineman Braden Fojoko, so you'll
see him at practice today, Labs. You know that defensive
line you said in the first segment that Matt Williamson
has on these airwaves dubbed it potentially the best defensive
(27:51):
line or the deepest defensive line in football. I forget
exactly what he said, but that's a slight blow to it.
Dean Lowry figured the factor into things. But hey, Fojoko
is a veteran in the NFL and someone with experience
with the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Yeah, Dean Lowry last year played one hundred and fifty
nine defensive snaps. That's twenty one percent. Nothing, No, right,
not nothing. It was a he was a depth piece.
I mean, the guy has some experience, you know, one, two, three, four, five,
six seven. You know, he's an eighth year pro when
(28:26):
he got here. So again, a depth piece. I'm not
saying that he was going to be high in the
rotation or anything. He was inactive for some games last year,
but again, as I said, he had some veteran experience,
had some NFL regular season experience. He was a depth piece.
(28:47):
So him being on IR and now means that he
cannot be brought back from IR. If you go on
IR before the team cuts its roster into fifty three,
you cannot be brought back from IR. So Dean Lowry
is done this year for the Steelers. So when you
(29:09):
look at now the depth chart defensive line, the guys
that I would consider are locks, Derek Harmon, y a Black,
Cam Hayward, and Keanu Benton. That's four, and then you
have how many are the Steelers gonna keep. I think
seven is realistic, maybe an outside chance at eight. And
(29:36):
the reason I'm saying seven is because with the rules
regarding the practice squad, you know it's still sixteen players
on the practice squad, and then you have the situation
where you can yo yo guys is what I call it,
off the practice squad for a game and then put
them directly back on the practice squad without exposing them
(29:58):
to waivers. So you can that I think three times
with a guy before you have to make a more
of a definitive decision on whether you're gonna keep him
on the fifty three man roster or if you want
to do that again, to put him back on the
practice squad, you've got to expose him to waivers. Okay.
So anyway, with all that, now you have the Marvin
Leale and you know, I've seen him line up some
(30:22):
and during this camp with the defensive lineman and do
defensive lineman drills. I've also seen him line up with
the outside linebackers the edge guys do some edge rush
edge drills, like for example, last night he was in
backs on backers, which would have made him a outside
(30:45):
linebacker slash edge guy for the purpose of that drill.
So the Steelers are still kind of working him in
both ways. I don't know where they end up counting
him when it comes roster time, but you know he's
certainly in the mix. Isaiah Loudermilk is another guy. You know,
he's a fifth year guy from Wisconsin. He is, you know,
(31:09):
a Steelers draft pick. This is you know, one of
those seasons where Isaiah Loudermilk now has become one of
those players where you either you know he is eligible
for unrestricted free agency, so you're either committing money to
Hint to keep him, or you're exposing him to the
(31:30):
rest of the league where he can go and sign
anywhere he wants to with any team that would have him.
So there's that. Then there's Daniel I'm gonna take a
shot at this pronunciation ek Wally. He's a seventh year pro.
He is he has not looked bad in some some
(31:53):
of the training camp practices, some of the drills within
those practices. He is an interior defensive lineman. The Steelers
him as a defensive tackle, you know, as opposed to
like Derek Harmon who's listed as a defensive end. Just
to kind of give you some idea of how the
Steelers see him. And then there's Braden Fajoko re signed.
(32:14):
He's been here, He's been in and out of camp
for a couple of years on a practice squad, you know,
back and forth, and spend some time on the roster.
Hasn't really made a mark, I guess is a good
way to say it. Hasn't seen a lot of playing time,
hasn't appeared in a lot of games either, so I
(32:35):
think that he's gonna be thrown in the mix. He's
right now. He's a depth piece, a you know, a
guy to help with the length of the lines in practice,
so you're not wearing out people you don't want to
wear out. I'm not saying he has no chance, but
it's not like you know, they're immediately gonna put him
out with the first group either. No.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I mean, if they really liked him or viewed him
with having a chance before this training camp, there's familiarity there,
they probably would have brought him back and had him
on this roster. But he does get a little bit
of luck in his favor with Dean Lowry's unfortunate misfortune
and his season coming to an end. Going to ir
those top four that you mentioned in that room, that
seems to be, you know, the ones that are kind
(33:18):
of written in stone. Two of those are rookies, So
you always kind of want to hesitate to say that
first round picks obviously going to make the team though,
But like you said, they take seven, there's three spots there,
and it seems like there can be some healthy competition
between some of those guys that you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yes, and that's what you need. You know, Cam Hayward's
thirty six, his first team All Pro last year, so
I mean, I'm not saying that his age has impacted
him badly in any way, but you got to know
that it's not going to last forever. So but yes,
(33:54):
you have Cam Hayward, Keanu Benton and the two rookies.
That's a very nice group in my opinion. Would you
like to have two or three more behind those four, Absolutely,
but I I don't think that that's necessarily real in
today's NFL's fifty three meon rosters when it comes to
(34:16):
that particular position.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Got a couple of things we want to get to
from last night's Friday Night Lights practice, so we'll do
that when we come back to close out the first hour,
And we got some sound from Darius Slay Pat Fryermouth
that we can pepper in throughout the rest of the show,
just speaking about the atmosphere and how cool it was
to be in that stadium last night for Friday Night
Lights practice. So a lot more still to come. We
also have Trey Essex joining us at the end of
(34:40):
the one o'clock hour. It's the Training Camp Report on
Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Network Iheartradios live coverage. I'm about twenty twenty five Steelers
training camp. He's presented by fat X where now meets
Next and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale, Roofing
and Siding Supply Center, by Tons Appliances, by Always Safe
(35:10):
Flagging and Traffic Control by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
by Schneider Downs, by Has's Steak and Seahouse, by your
Neighborhood Ford Store, by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union,
and by US Steel.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Tom Offerman and Bob Lavriola. Back on the Training Camp
Report and Labs, we did see Backs on Backers yesterday
at Friday Night Lights, so we had speculated on the show,
may we see the other version of it where the
running backs have the upper hand and it's coverage for
the linebackers, But that did not end up being the case.
For the second edition of Backs on Backers for this
(35:47):
twenty twenty five training camp, it was again trying to
pass block against the likes of TJ. Watt.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Yeah, maybe you should speculate about that again. At the
top of the next.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Hour, little teas there we might have our practice grip
in our back pockets, So stay tuned for that, get
a little clue on what you might see today if
you're going up to the trowe. But it was trying
to stop those edge rushers again. And do you think
that makes sense going back to back like that.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Well, I think that you want to run backs on
backers that way, the past blocking thing when you're in pads,
and you know, I think to some degree, I won't
say it was a disaster, but to some degree raining
out the first practice in pads might have had some
(36:33):
sort of an impact on how things went after that,
you know. So the the original plan was the Steelers
were going to be in pads on Tuesday and Wednesday,
then not on Thursday, then again on Friday. So since
(36:54):
they weren't in pads on Tuesday, they were going to
be in pads anyway Wednesday. But it's different when it's
the first day in pads or if you're going back
to back in terms of you know what you might
want to look at things, you might want to evaluate drills,
you might want to have them do. So that didn't happen,
(37:17):
and then the Thursday practice was moved up because of
the rain that never came but had been forecast. And
so then Friday, you know, you're back in pads, and
I don't think you want to run the pass slash
coverage version of backs on backers when you're in pads again,
(37:39):
because as you're looking then through the rest of this
you know, training camp period, the Steelers are not in
pads back to back days the rest of this camp. Now,
there is there are some rules regarding the number of
padded practices you're allowed to have. It's not like the
(38:00):
regular season where they count them and then once you
reach that number then you can't have any more. But
here's one of the rules, for example, during training camp
is if you go padded practices three straight days, then
you have to follow that with three straight padless practices.
(38:22):
So you know, now that you're so close to the
start of the preseason, you know, and you still got
a lot of work to do, you don't want to
get into a situation where you have to You're mandated
to have a certain number of padless practices on your schedule,
so you know, trying to mix it up in things,
(38:43):
I mean, I don't you know, I'm just trying to
look at how things are going, find out what the
rules are, and then try and figure it out that
way what the thinking might be. I'm not saying I'm right,
but that kind of makes sense to me that the
first two times you did the drill would have been
(39:05):
the physical, the physical version, the more physical version, because
you really can't do that when you're not in pats Well.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
The star of last night's Backs on Backers was Darnell Washington.
He was like Goliath out their labs, both in his
performance and in his stature. He shut TJ Watt down.
He won two reps against the Marvin Leal, he stopped
Jack Sawyer and Persuda did it write up about the
training camp report yesterday and he noted that he threw
a little Hakim Elajahan in their face. Excuse me to
(39:35):
ken Bimtumbo in their face with the no no no
finger Wag've got my big man mixed up there.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Yeah, I'll tell you he is. Darnell Washington is who
I mean when I use the word he He is
impressive and he doesn't even have to do anything to
be very impressive. I mean he is a large, large
human being and I you know, the guy's going to
(40:00):
against him, I don't know. He's athletic enough that you
can't really try to, you know, put a move on
him and make him look bad, because you know, he
can move his feet and he's he's big, and he
has long arms, so that really doesn't work. And bull
rushing him, I mean, that's just to me, you know,
(40:23):
I don't know, thinking of all the great bull rushers
that I've seen in that drill, the only guy I
would think that maybe might have a chance would be
James Harrison. And that would be because he's short. So
because he would be short and coming at him like that,
darn Old Washington might have some issues trying to get
(40:44):
his hands on him, you know, in his chest area,
and Harrison would have a natural leverage advantage because he
would be lower and could strike a rising blow, which
is what Chuck Nole always claimed or not claimed, believed
was the key to winning those of matchups. But anyway, yes,
let me say this, Darneld Washington is extremely impressive in
(41:07):
that drill. He is extremely impressive in all aspects of
tight end play that I can see so far in
this training camp. And you know, I know fans were
already starting to at least I'm hearing it, suggest make
him a tackle, make him a tackle. You know, we
(41:29):
had Larry Brown on an earlier show and he actually
made that move and made it very well. You know,
he has four Super Bowl rings. Two is a tight
end and two is an offensive tackle. You know, I
don't know. I'm not saying Darnold Washington can't do that.
(41:52):
I think that the guy, though, can be really a
weapon as a tight end because as I've we've talked
about this, I've talked about this. You know, when he
first came into the NFL, his his breakdown as a
receiver was he would run a route, turn to the quarterback,
(42:14):
you throw him the ball and he could catch it.
But now he's a route runner. He's a route runner
who is capable of catching the ball away from his
body with his hands. And when you can do that
at that size, you are somewhat at full speed when
you catch the ball, as opposed to somewhat being stationary
(42:37):
and then trying to turn and run and get back
up to full speed. So I don't know, I think
Darnel Washington can be a weapon for especially a quarterback
like Aaron Rodgers. Who's good with ball placement and anticipatory throwing.
And again, I think if Aaron Rodgers can couple three
(43:01):
times a game get the ball to and open Darnell
Washington at full speed, that could that could be problems
for the for the opposition, uh, the opposing defense. But
you know, you also have a potential situation at offensive
tackle where you know, I'm not saying that Broderick Jones
(43:22):
is a bust or any of that stuff. He is.
He is trying to come back from whatever situation his
injury is. Mike Tomlin says, you know, he's working his
way back. We have seen him in individual drills lately.
He participates in you know, different things, and it seems
(43:43):
to be more and more as the day's gone go by.
But you also have to, I think, acknowledge that that
position is thin because you have Broderick Jones and Troy
Felton and both number one picks. You know, Calvin Anderson
injury last night. You know, Mike Tomlin said, he you know,
(44:05):
he's gonna be evaluated or whatever. I think he was
a guy who had a chance to be a top
kind of backup at tackle. So you know, we're gonna
have to see. You know, he's a six year guy
from Texas, six four and a half three hundred and
seven pounds, Calvin Anderson. I mean if he's going to
(44:28):
be out for any length of time, that that subtracts
a significant depth piece, a significant potential depth piece from
that position. So you know, I don't know. What I
do know is this the player personnel department is exploring options,
making what they call ready lists. Ready lists are the
(44:50):
things that a team's personnel department does so that if
something happens and he Mike Tomlin or Omar Cohn says
we need a whatever, you have a list of guys
who are available with reports on them. And I'm not
talking about guys you can trade for. You know, fans
(45:14):
love the well let's give a miss and get this
guy from X team, because you know a lot of
times those guys aren't available for trade, and if you
want a prime free from a team via a trade,
you're gonna have to overpay. So you know, usually the
ready list would would be made up of players who
(45:35):
are available. So I'm sure that that exists now for
the Steelers in a lot of different positions and based
on the way offensive tackle looks to me right now,
and the fact that one of their potential top backups
was injured last night, I would assume that they have
(45:57):
a ready list for tackle.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Before we get to any break. For the top of
the hour, Darius Slay had some thoughts about Friday night
Lights practice. He's a newbie. It's always cool to hear
what these new guys think about this experience. And let's
hear what Darius Slay had to say.
Speaker 6 (46:11):
For my first time being at a high school, well, no,
my last time been it was in Detroit, went to
high school stadium before. But yeah, man, it's to me
way back definitely. After being the league for thirteen years,
it's been a been a good fun man. It's good man.
The crowd showed up pretty nice, man. It was nice fun.
My first experience with Jordan and I loved it.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
So then give you excited excuse you got?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
What do you expected out here? After?
Speaker 3 (46:35):
You know?
Speaker 6 (46:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was you know, I
didn't know what to expect. I just know that they
was talking about it big and heavy. I was like, man,
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I was excited. I almost traded like a gang day
for me.
Speaker 6 (46:45):
You know, just because it's my first appearance that I
want to make sure I shower.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You know.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
You know that I'm supposed to belong here until the
fans getting on what they see, So I was making
sure I treated like.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
A gang rep.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Does it kind of get you excited for the season
of Nation in personare?
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (46:58):
Yeah, I'm alway ready for the season, man, because this
is always a great opportunity and I'm blessing I'm fortunate
enough to play this game that I love to do.
So I'm always thankful this to be able to do it,
but I'm more thankful to be able to do.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
It in some great fans.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Did you feel it too?
Speaker 3 (47:08):
In a drill?
Speaker 6 (47:09):
Is that another step to showing how good you guys
are as a defensive I mean as a part of
the situation of football, man. So we got continue to
keep working it, man, and keep doing it both sides
of the ball, all of us. We're going to be
great at that situation. So that's when you win and
lose games at So we'll continue to keep working out.
Was our first time actually drilling it. Uh, we did
a great job, but you know we got continued that
all through the year.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
If you know what you.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
See.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
If we have.
Speaker 6 (47:34):
Great man, we're a great We're a great trio. Honestly, man,
we're a great dudes. Man, great guys. We work hard,
we work together, we help. We're here for each other,
maybe want not but the best for each other. Dot
matter who's out there. All I know is one thing
we're gonna do all together is compete and try to
do our best to be one of the best.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
In the game out there.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Well, yeah, for sure the other guys.
Speaker 6 (47:56):
You know, I'm always juiced up when I'm getting put
these cleats on. So uh to see some of the
guys get amped up and witness some great players out here.
Man on a live action kind of light, it's kind
of good man with a great atmosphere with a dis
better field game light.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
So to seeing the guys on the light, man is.
Speaker 6 (48:09):
A good feeling. We may definitely been in a new atmosphere.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
At Steelers defensive back Darius Slay speaking to the media
after Friday Night Lights practice. Great to hear from him
about that atmosphere. I'm sure it was such a cool
experience for him and all the other new players that
are on board this year and got to do that
for the first time Labs and I come back. We
got a preseason game just a week away, so we
kind of peek ahead at that, and like we promised,
(48:35):
we'll give you the practice script for today. That's on
the way. Trey Essex as well. In the next hour.
It's the Training Camp Report on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy am and the Steelers Audio Network.
iHeartRadio's live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training camp.
He's presented by FedEx where Now meets Next, and also
brought to you by CGR Wholesale, Roofing and Sighting Supply Center,
by Tom's Appliances, by Always Safe Flagging and Traffic Control
by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, by schneider Down's, by
(00:27):
Hassa's Steak and Seahouse, by your Neighborhood Forward Store, by
Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Union, and by US steel.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So Labs.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
When I google Latrobe Memorial Stadium, I see a capacity here,
just a smidge under seven thousand. That's what I keep getting.
That wasn't the case last night, was it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
No? I mean you could have pretty much based on
that announced capacity if you counted eyeballs instead of people,
that was been closer to the actual number that they
said we're in the building. I mean, I really, when
we it's when the buses pulled up. I ride the
buses over. When the buses pulled up, it was I
(01:17):
don't know, six forty five ish. You kind of you
get it like a quick view of the stands, you know,
as the busses are turning the corner, and I'd never
seen it that that pack before. You know, usually because
it always starts with a autograph session, and because a
(01:37):
lot of times the people who may be or have
seats are around the fence to get the autographs, so
there's a lot of times the stands will have empty
patches in them. But there were no empty patches at all.
And the line or the the around the fence that
(01:59):
you know rings the right was five six seven deep
everywhere that I could see. So, yeah, I never saw
a crowd like that. Yeah, it was a lot of
people there, and they were very vocal. And again we
(02:19):
talked about this about how people come out of their
homes if they live on the route that the buses
take from Saint Vincent to La Trope Stadium, and there
were a lot of those people out too. You know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I think it speaks to two things really, maybe more
than that, but two at the top of the list
for me. One, just how much that Friday night lights
practice has grown and grown and grown in popularity over
the years and has really just built itself into just
a self sustaining monster that people look forward to all
year long. Like you said yesterday, people take vacation planning
(02:53):
around coming up to be at that Friday night lights practice.
And then the second thing I think it speaks to
is just the excitement that is around this team, the
different faces, new quarterback, new weapons on offense, new pieces
on defense that you know aren't just your run of
the mail arbitrary signings. These are potential Hall of famers.
Jalen Ramsey most definitely going to be a Hall of
Famer in my opinion. I mean, I think those two things.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Quarterback is even more exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I think those two things just blended together, and you
had this perfect storm that yielded almost fourteen thousand people
in a stadium that can only fit seven.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, and the reception there Aaron Rodgers got was and
he he was soaking it up, and he was he
signed a lot of autographs, I'm telling you before he
was signing before I even made my way from the
(03:48):
bus into the bowl. So you know, the players a
lot of times, you know, the buses arrive in the
order in which they depart, so most of the players
and the veterans and stuff are on the first couple
of buses. So maybe Aaron Rodgers was in there before me.
(04:11):
I'd say thirty to forty five seconds earlier, because that's
that's all it takes to d board the bus and
it's not that far of a walk. And when I
got in, he was already signing and it wasn't his
first one. So because a lot of times what happens is,
(04:32):
you know, the players will go into the into the stadium,
they'll you know, put their helmet and pads down somewhere
on the field. They'll get a sharpie from because they'll
be handing out sharpie's for them to sign. You know,
it might take two or three minutes real time before
(04:53):
between the time a player like actually enters Latrobe Stadium
and starts signing. But like I said, Rogers was already
doing it instantly and he signed as long as until
they blew the horn, you know, to start practice. So
(05:14):
you know that some of his teammates I heard some
of them talking about it afterwards. Uh, they said that
he couldn't believe it that what it was. I mean
for a first timer, you know, Uh, to see that
kind of turnout and energy at a practice is very unique.
(05:34):
It is very very unique, and it is you know,
the it's a community event now too. I really think
the people of Latrobe believe that it is theirs, it
is something that is theirs, and I think that's a
lot of what fuels you know, as I said, a
lot of the You know, there are people tailgating in
(05:54):
their front yards along the bus route. Uh one. One
place they had like a fire pit going, and they
were still there when we left, because you might still
be there now. And then the fireworks, you know, the
fireworks start and it's usually used a little bit as
(06:16):
a diversion.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Get the players out of there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Well no, no, no, no. What the fireworks are for
is to hold the people there so the buses can
get out, because if everyone left at the same time.
The streets of Latrobe are not that wide or not
that plentiful. They're not. There's not enough of them to
say there's fourteen thousand people there. What are we going
(06:41):
to say there were at least eight thousand cars, right,
I mean, are they okay? So you have eight thousand
cars trying to get out of that. It's a it's
not where the high school is, but still it's a
high school stadium parking lot in a small town, narrow streets.
(07:04):
I mean, you could It could take you twenty twenty
five minutes a half an hour just to get out
of a lot onto the streets, and then those are
going to be jammed. So the idea behind the fireworks
was to have something that would entertain the fans enough
that they might want to sit there for a little
bit longer rather than just run out. As soon as
(07:24):
practice is done, and the fireworks were still going on,
we were back on campus and I'd walked from the
bus all the way up to the dormitory, Benedict Hall,
and as fireworks were still going on. I mean, I
went into my room and looked out the window and
you could still see some of the fireworks in the distance.
(07:46):
So that was a decent show. Zambelli fireworks, nice length,
pretty impressive. I'm not a fireworks expert, but it entertained
me a little bit that I saw of it. So, yeah,
it's a it's a full night. And one of the
things that they do, it's a typical high school football thing,
(08:07):
the fifty to fifty raffle.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
You know what that is, Oh buddy, chance to make
some money.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, but I mean it's you know, all of the
gate receipts they whatever, that total is they give half
of it away in a fifty to fifty raffle. And
you know, when I was working at the at a newspaper,
the Greensburg Tribute Review covering high school football, there were
(08:37):
some you know, when you went to see, like a
game at Mount Pleasant that was always a good fifty
to fifty because they always did a very good attendance.
Last night would have been spectacular.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I'm guessing you I didn't win it. I was just
gonna say, I'm guessing you didn't win. You might have
taken the day or two off if you would have
won that much.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Just no, I would have. I would have just sent
it to you to put it a beautiful your son's
college fund.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
See you're such a great guy. And of course I
wouldn't follow through on that, and I would just spend
it on booze or whatever else.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I'm so full of it if you believe that too.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So that energy that was in that stadium that transferred
over into the practice too. And look, it's fourteen thousand people.
These players play in front of sixty five seventy thousand
people on any given Sunday in the NFL labs. But
when you get it into that compact of a space,
and it's that much people almost double what's supposed to
be there. It still gets really loud and you can
(09:35):
still feel that energy, and I'm sure the players felt
that during the practice.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, and as I said, it was very
much a carnival atmosphere. I mean, there was a DJ
there playing music. It's just so many things going on
all at once. There's merchandise for sale, food, I mean,
some of the some of the lines I mean, people
(10:00):
were saying. I saw also on social media some of
the Pittsburgh media that got there early. The lines were
wrapped around the stadium waiting to get in, and people
already had tickets. You already had to pretty much have tickets.
But here's a little secret that I was told several
years ago. There's no such thing as a sellout at
(10:21):
this because of the way the stadium is and the
area around it. You know, like you said, seven thousand
is listed capacity, that's seven thousand probably on the home side.
So there's also bleachers on the visitors side. And then
as I mentioned, there is that chain link fence cyclone
(10:46):
fence around the you know, because high school facilities they
also have a track, you know, so there's a fence
all around that, and people line up at the fence,
and as I said, they were in a lot of
places ten to twelve deep all the way around. So
you know, there's always room for one more or two more,
or however more. And because of all the ticket sales
(11:11):
go to the greater Latrobe School District and all those people,
well a lot the bulk of them are from Latrobe
and therefore they a lot of them have kids that
go to this in that school district. You know, it's
all for a good cause.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
The atmosphere was different. It was a bigger feel, the
stage was bigger, but the practice was for the most
part the same. There were some new things that they
did labs, but you still got your seven shots and
you still got your backs on backers, and it was
the backs on backers we saw in the first padded
practice two where they were trying to pass, block and
stop the edge rushers. We'll get to that in a second.
Let's start with seven shots. Now, the score of seven
(11:47):
shots was four to three, but if you go through
that drill labs, the defense actually swept the offense and
won the first four. So we didn't technically get our
game seven even though we played seven reps.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Right, Yeah, it was four nothing. The defense won the
first four I will say this, it was three nothing,
and then there was a the NFL of there were
NFL officials. There was six or seven of them working
the game. And on the fourth rep, you know, I
passed for Scottie Miller at the back of the end zone.
(12:22):
It was a Mason Rudolph had come in by then. Uh.
He made the catch and the the official back there
because I was kind of Me and my pursuit were
standing just off the end line in that end zone
and the play happened to the left of us. The
(12:45):
official had to be ten yards to the right of us,
and he made the call. As I said to Mike,
I said, yeah, Roger Goodell would have decided that one. Yes,
a real game. So but anyway, uh who nobody complains
(13:06):
about officiating in a in a training camp practice, maybe
except for me. As I said, I don't know that
it was complete. But all my point is is that
the guy who made the call, no way he saw. Yeah,
there's just no way he guessed. Maybe he guessed right,
(13:26):
I don't know, but it was a guess.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You got to be a bit of a showman there,
mister referee, call a touchdown a right, it's three nothing,
you're gonna guess, guess in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Well, no, you guess a touchdown. So it goes to replay.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
If that was actually a game, it's actually a great point.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yes, then uh the off the team on offense would
have had to challenge it. See the easier way to
do it. I think you should call it a touchdown
and then it's automatically reviewed.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, And I think that's what they are drilling into
their NFL refs now two in real games is to
just be like win in doubt, call it something that's
going to automatically trigger of you. Which that gets a
little tricky, labs, because you know that play on the
field matters. How the call in the field stands. That
that can factor into the replay if things.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Get if they wanted to, and if they don't, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
We're not going to get into the refs. We got
to stop right now. We're going down a bad path.
I can tell already.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're taking me there too. You're evil.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
So the offense didn't have the best going at seven shots,
and that carried over. They did a two minute drill
period in this training camp practice. That's something that we
haven't really seen before this year. Uh. The offense went
oh for two during the first two minute drills of
this training camp. Just didn't seem like they were in sync.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah. Yes, the defense was rather dominant last night. But
let me say this, maybe it's this defense is pretty good.
I think, Uh, that has to start to be factored
into things. You know, Matt Williamson has said many times
(14:58):
on these airwaves that he believes that Steelers have the
best defensive line in football. Okay, so there's that, you know.
Then you have a secondary now that includes you know,
Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay and Joey Porter Junior who
didn't practice last night, Uh, Juan Thornhill, Uh, brand On, Brandon.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Echols, Clark a lot back there.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes, So you know, I think at some point you
have to start acknowledging the competition is a factor. But
you know, this is what training camp is. I mean,
since it's always Steelers versus Steelers, you know, it comes
down to how you look at things. If you want
(15:46):
to credit somebody or you want to look for fault, Uh,
do you want to worry about something or do you
want to be optimistic about something. So I'm not saying that, uh,
this this offense doesn't have to be more efficient. I'm
just saying that I wouldn't necessarily bury it at this point.
(16:07):
I've been told by many people many years that it
always takes the offense longer to kind of come together. Yes,
it started operating efficiently. So there's that and the fact
that maybe you know this Steelers defense is just really good.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Well, here's the truth of the matter, Labs, that Steelers
defense should be very good. I mean, you look at
the pieces that they've had that have played at an
all pro level, pieces that they've added that have been
all pros. The rookie Derek Harmon has been very impressive
in the Steelers. I mean they're all in on him
being on that first team. I mean it just it
took the first day of training camp for him to
crack first team reps. So you can see where they
(16:43):
have plans for him to already factor in big time
in this season. It should be a good to great defense,
and I think it will be. And what you just
said there, I was going to bring that up, so
our minds are melding as always. You know, when you
see the start of the season, even week one, offenses
around the league are always going to kind of be
(17:03):
a little bit behind the eight ball compared to defense.
That's why I think it takes maybe until you know,
mid October before we start seeing these high powered offenses
really start to blossom around the league.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, and the other thing too, is that the reality
of the sport at this level is this The offense
doesn't have to be reach a level of performance to
be efficient opening week of the regular season. It just
(17:34):
has to be better than the team you're playing that way, correct, So,
and I'm not saying that to rip the Jets or anything.
That's the way it is.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Look At last year with the Falcons eighteen to ten
all you needed.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
So again, I acknowledge that the offense needs to get better.
I think it has a lot of the things in
place that will allow it to be better. But you know,
when you're looking at it, all it has to be
is better than the particular opponent that is on the
schedule that week.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
When we come back, we'll hear from coach Tomlin and
his thoughts. After Friday night lights practice, we have a
little bit of a roster update for you as well
that we'll get to and of course we'll have labs
as weather report for today's practice and we'll clear in
on if the pads are coming on or not. So
all that's still to come on the Training Camp Report
on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy am and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Network Iheartradios live coverage of twenty twenty five Steelers Training Camp.
He's presented by Fadex where Now meets Next and also
brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health System by
(18:47):
Pennsylvania One Call System by Live Casino, Calciente Pizza and
Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto, Laurel, Highlands
Visitors Bureau, we Max, Select Real Tea, Pittsburgh Steelers Pro
Shop and Buy Us steel.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
It's the Training Camp Report with Tom Opferman and Bob
Labriola Labs. The weather's actually been very cooperative the past
couple of practices. If it's been on its best behavior,
it's held off on the rain. We've been able to
get them in in full. So what do you got
for us today? What's on tap?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Well, let me start with this, I mean the crowd
at La Trope Stadium last night for Friday Night Lights
was unprecedented. Here's another unprecedented thing. I don't ever remember
a night where I didn't have or turned off the
air conditioning for the entire night sleep. Last night was
(19:43):
one of them. So there you go.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Did you go open window at all, indulge the natural air?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Now, well, well, the problem with that is, I mean,
you know, there's way too much activity five five thirty
around the normal terms of you know, people doing their jobs,
and you know, Friday Night Lights practice didn't end until
almost nine thirty, so it was a late night by
(20:13):
just just because of the schedule. So yeah, five point
thirty in the morning. I wanted to sleep a little
bit beyond that. So no, there was no open windows,
but that wasn't necessary. I mean it was very comfortable.
And when this morning I looked at the temperature to
see what was my light walk over to the fitness
(20:38):
center to ride the bike was going to be like
it was fifty seven degrees. So it's very pleasant here,
very very pleasant. Right now, it's seventy two degrees. Humidity
is only fifty three percent. This is Latrobe people, fifty
three percent humidity.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
It's like zero anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Right, can really see the trees, the details of the
trees on the mountains in the distance. I supposed to
be seventy seven low tonight is fifty four. It'll be
another night, probably with no air conditioning necessary. This is
we're in a pattern now as bad as the pattern
(21:19):
was when camp opened in terms of heat, humidity, and
it rained every day. Now looking at the forecast through
next Wednesday, pretty much sunny and clear every day, the
temperature in the low eighties at the at the you
know the highs in the evenings, you know, sixty sixty
(21:42):
two is the highest. So this is very pleasant weather.
Certainly doesn't seem like training camp weather. And who knows,
maybe Mother Nature figures she owed us a little bit.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
You know, this might make coach Tomlins skin crawl a
little bit with how much how comfortable it's about to
get up there when it comes to this weather. But
it's such a fine line. You have to walk right
labs because you want it to be hot. But when
it gets to be in those nineties up there, that
usually means that humidity's coming, and that means the storms
are coming to cool it off and you got to
get practices in. You know, you've referenced before when we
(22:14):
were interviewing I think it was Chris Hoke when we
talked to a Steeler Greater or steealer from the past
at the end of the show, and you said that
the field of dreams here you had to clear corn
so you could practice and get stuff in because just
the weather was so oppressive and the field was a mess.
Like you don't you wanted to have a little bit
of adversity, which you also don't want it to tip
overboard too much. So it's nice to see that they
(22:34):
might kind of ease themselves through the rest of this
training camp with practices being uninterrupted.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, that would be nice, the uninterrupted practices. You know,
I'm not out on the field, and so you know,
the misery that the players go through, that's something that
I don't share, and that's why they get paid the
big bucks. But the interrupted practices, I don't know. It's
(23:00):
tough on the fans, you know, it's it just makes
for long days even longer.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Coach Tomlin spoke to the media following Friday night Lights practice,
not for long, but he did kind of hype up
the atmosphere and updated us a little bit on some
injury news. Let's hear what coach had to say.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Man, a really really inspiring atmosphere tonight. Man, we just
appreciate the relationship that we have, not only with Saint Vincent,
but with this community. Had great energy, man, great competition tonight.
It's just an honor to work and get better in
front of them and entertain them. We had some bumps
and bruises associated with play. Calvin Anderson slipped there and
(23:43):
so he's going to be evaluated. Corey Trice maybe has
a soft tissue injury hamstring related. Will take a look
at him. I have more information for you guys on
him a little bit later. And we got some more
guys that are gradually working their way back to full participation,
guys that we've been talking about in that regard, Isaac
and Broderick for example. And so things are moving in
(24:04):
the right direction in some instances, and obviously bumps and
bruises associated with the process and.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Some others questions. Mike Kingle looked like he was more
confident in backs on backers. What did you see from
him the one on one here?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
I think it's reasonable to expect him to display more comfort,
play harder, and faster.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It just comes with exposure.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
He's a talented young guy, but he's a young guy,
and so all of these exposures are important to his development.
Is reasonable to expect him to get better with each outing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Who else stood out to you in one on ones today?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
You know, I just like the general energy of all
parties involved. To be quite honest with you, everybody's at
different stages of development, and that's why we're very thoughtful
about the matchups. We want good, fair fights. Man, And
it disappears we got that first p and bl that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Scene from the struggle on Mike. What's your take on that?
Speaker 5 (24:51):
I just think as usual for this time of year,
defenses usually develop a little faster than offenses to get
to know the cohesion that's required to be good. It's
just a component of it. And so Noah alarm Bell's
there and two more.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
The offensive line is doing so far at this point
in camp. I like all the work that they're getting.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You know, we've had some bumps and bruises along the way,
so some elevated reps with some young guys, they're just
playing conditioning required to take advantage of those.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Reps, but very much work in progress, like all areas.
Jillie was in sweats today. Is he dealing with something, Yes,
it could be. To characterize the day to day, he'll
be back out soon.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Coach Tomlins brief thoughts following Friday Night lights practice yesterday
and labs. Let's pick up on some of the injury
things that he said there. You heard about Calvin Anderson,
you heard about Corey Trice. So those are some depth
pieces who you know this is valuable time for them,
So they really those aren't those guys that fall into
those category that we've talked about before, where you know,
you get hurt and you might be out of luck,
(25:48):
needing a bus ride to the airport and a plane
ticket out of here just because of your injury luck.
But this is these are two guys that definitely want
to get back on the field as fast as they
can and get as much reps under their belt, certainly
if they can before that Jacksonville game this coming Saturday
and a week from today. And that last part right there,
Joey Porter Junior in street clothes, But that didn't seem
(26:11):
to be anything too serious at all, wouldn't even be
surprised if he's out there today. But don't take my
word for it. No promises.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Oh you mean Mike Tomlin didn't call you and tell
you what he did.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
But I was on the phone with you, so it
went right to voicemail, and he just he scolded me
for not having my phone line open and didn't give
me the info. Okay, but your fault.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well hey, I'll take the blame. But anyway, Uh, yeah,
you don't know. I mean, Joey Porter Junior was in sweats.
He stood throughout practice. I mean, these are some of
the things that I use as markers or indicators. You know,
he didn't have any He wasn't wearing a boot. There
weren't any like icebags taped to him that were obvious,
(26:52):
you know, any any of those kinds of things. And
he stood and watch practice the whole time. So if
it was you know, any thing, you know, because sometimes
an injury might be they tell you, you know, don't
put a lot of weight on it, or you know,
whatever elevated or you know, whatever that might be. So
he just seemed to be, you know, standing there and watching.
(27:15):
So that would allow me to be hopeful that it
is something minor and day to day and you know
all that stuff, because that's not a guy you want
uh to miss a lot of time.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
No, it certainly isn't a roster update to bring you.
The Steelers have placed Dean Lowry, defensive lineman on injured reserve.
They have brought back defensive lineman Braden Fojoko, so you'll
see him at practice today, Labs. You know that defensive
line you said in the first segment that Matt Williamson
has on these airwaves dubbed it potentially the best defensive
(27:51):
line or the deepest defensive line in football. I forget
exactly what he said, but that's a slight blow to it.
Dean Lowry figured the factor into things. But hey, Fojoko
is a veteran in the NFL and someone with experience
with the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Yeah, Dean Lowry last year played one hundred and fifty
nine defensive snaps. That's twenty one percent. Nothing, No, right,
not nothing. It was a he was a depth piece.
I mean, the guy has some experience, you know, one, two, three, four, five,
six seven. You know, he's an eighth year pro when
(28:26):
he got here. So again, a depth piece. I'm not
saying that he was going to be high in the
rotation or anything. He was inactive for some games last year,
but again, as I said, he had some veteran experience,
had some NFL regular season experience. He was a depth piece.
(28:47):
So him being on IR and now means that he
cannot be brought back from IR. If you go on
IR before the team cuts its roster into fifty three,
you cannot be brought back from IR. So Dean Lowry
is done this year for the Steelers. So when you
(29:09):
look at now the depth chart defensive line, the guys
that I would consider are locks, Derek Harmon, y a Black,
Cam Hayward, and Keanu Benton. That's four, and then you
have how many are the Steelers gonna keep. I think
seven is realistic, maybe an outside chance at eight. And
(29:36):
the reason I'm saying seven is because with the rules
regarding the practice squad, you know it's still sixteen players
on the practice squad, and then you have the situation
where you can yo yo guys is what I call it,
off the practice squad for a game and then put
them directly back on the practice squad without exposing them
(29:58):
to waivers. So you can that I think three times
with a guy before you have to make a more
of a definitive decision on whether you're gonna keep him
on the fifty three man roster or if you want
to do that again, to put him back on the
practice squad, you've got to expose him to waivers. Okay.
So anyway, with all that, now you have the Marvin
Leale and you know, I've seen him line up some
(30:22):
and during this camp with the defensive lineman and do
defensive lineman drills. I've also seen him line up with
the outside linebackers the edge guys do some edge rush
edge drills, like for example, last night he was in
backs on backers, which would have made him a outside
(30:45):
linebacker slash edge guy for the purpose of that drill.
So the Steelers are still kind of working him in
both ways. I don't know where they end up counting
him when it comes roster time, but you know he's
certainly in the mix. Isaiah Loudermilk is another guy. You know,
he's a fifth year guy from Wisconsin. He is, you know,
(31:09):
a Steelers draft pick. This is you know, one of
those seasons where Isaiah Loudermilk now has become one of
those players where you either you know he is eligible
for unrestricted free agency, so you're either committing money to
Hint to keep him, or you're exposing him to the
(31:30):
rest of the league where he can go and sign
anywhere he wants to with any team that would have him.
So there's that. Then there's Daniel I'm gonna take a
shot at this pronunciation ek Wally. He's a seventh year pro.
He is he has not looked bad in some some
(31:53):
of the training camp practices, some of the drills within
those practices. He is an interior defensive lineman. The Steelers
him as a defensive tackle, you know, as opposed to
like Derek Harmon who's listed as a defensive end. Just
to kind of give you some idea of how the
Steelers see him. And then there's Braden Fajoko re signed.
(32:14):
He's been here, He's been in and out of camp
for a couple of years on a practice squad, you know,
back and forth, and spend some time on the roster.
Hasn't really made a mark, I guess is a good
way to say it. Hasn't seen a lot of playing time,
hasn't appeared in a lot of games either, so I
(32:35):
think that he's gonna be thrown in the mix. He's
right now. He's a depth piece, a you know, a
guy to help with the length of the lines in practice,
so you're not wearing out people you don't want to
wear out. I'm not saying he has no chance, but
it's not like you know, they're immediately gonna put him
out with the first group either. No.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I mean, if they really liked him or viewed him
with having a chance before this training camp, there's familiarity there,
they probably would have brought him back and had him
on this roster. But he does get a little bit
of luck in his favor with Dean Lowry's unfortunate misfortune
and his season coming to an end. Going to ir
those top four that you mentioned in that room, that
seems to be, you know, the ones that are kind
(33:18):
of written in stone. Two of those are rookies, So
you always kind of want to hesitate to say that
first round picks obviously going to make the team though,
But like you said, they take seven, there's three spots there,
and it seems like there can be some healthy competition
between some of those guys that you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yes, and that's what you need. You know, Cam Hayward's
thirty six, his first team All Pro last year, so
I mean, I'm not saying that his age has impacted
him badly in any way, but you got to know
that it's not going to last forever. So but yes,
(33:54):
you have Cam Hayward, Keanu Benton and the two rookies.
That's a very nice group in my opinion. Would you
like to have two or three more behind those four, Absolutely,
but I I don't think that that's necessarily real in
today's NFL's fifty three meon rosters when it comes to
(34:16):
that particular position.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Got a couple of things we want to get to
from last night's Friday Night Lights practice, so we'll do
that when we come back to close out the first hour,
And we got some sound from Darius Slay Pat Fryermouth
that we can pepper in throughout the rest of the show,
just speaking about the atmosphere and how cool it was
to be in that stadium last night for Friday Night
Lights practice. So a lot more still to come. We
also have Trey Essex joining us at the end of
(34:40):
the one o'clock hour. It's the Training Camp Report on
Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine seventy AM and the Steelers Audio.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Network Iheartradios live coverage. I'm about twenty twenty five Steelers
training camp. He's presented by fat X where now meets
Next and also brought to you by CGR Wholesale, Roofing
and Siding Supply Center, by Tons Appliances, by Always Safe
(35:10):
Flagging and Traffic Control by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
by Schneider Downs, by Has's Steak and Seahouse, by your
Neighborhood Ford Store, by Castle Rock, by Clearview Federal Credit Union,
and by US Steel.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Tom Offerman and Bob Lavriola. Back on the Training Camp
Report and Labs, we did see Backs on Backers yesterday
at Friday Night Lights, so we had speculated on the show,
may we see the other version of it where the
running backs have the upper hand and it's coverage for
the linebackers, But that did not end up being the case.
For the second edition of Backs on Backers for this
(35:47):
twenty twenty five training camp, it was again trying to
pass block against the likes of TJ. Watt.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Yeah, maybe you should speculate about that again. At the
top of the next.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Hour, little teas there we might have our practice grip
in our back pockets, So stay tuned for that, get
a little clue on what you might see today if
you're going up to the trowe. But it was trying
to stop those edge rushers again. And do you think
that makes sense going back to back like that.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Well, I think that you want to run backs on
backers that way, the past blocking thing when you're in pads,
and you know, I think to some degree, I won't
say it was a disaster, but to some degree raining
out the first practice in pads might have had some
(36:33):
sort of an impact on how things went after that,
you know. So the the original plan was the Steelers
were going to be in pads on Tuesday and Wednesday,
then not on Thursday, then again on Friday. So since
(36:54):
they weren't in pads on Tuesday, they were going to
be in pads anyway Wednesday. But it's different when it's
the first day in pads or if you're going back
to back in terms of you know what you might
want to look at things, you might want to evaluate drills,
you might want to have them do. So that didn't happen,
(37:17):
and then the Thursday practice was moved up because of
the rain that never came but had been forecast. And
so then Friday, you know, you're back in pads, and
I don't think you want to run the pass slash
coverage version of backs on backers when you're in pads again,
(37:39):
because as you're looking then through the rest of this
you know, training camp period, the Steelers are not in
pads back to back days the rest of this camp. Now,
there is there are some rules regarding the number of
padded practices you're allowed to have. It's not like the
(38:00):
regular season where they count them and then once you
reach that number then you can't have any more. But
here's one of the rules, for example, during training camp
is if you go padded practices three straight days, then
you have to follow that with three straight padless practices.
(38:22):
So you know, now that you're so close to the
start of the preseason, you know, and you still got
a lot of work to do, you don't want to
get into a situation where you have to You're mandated
to have a certain number of padless practices on your schedule,
so you know, trying to mix it up in things,
(38:43):
I mean, I don't you know, I'm just trying to
look at how things are going, find out what the
rules are, and then try and figure it out that
way what the thinking might be. I'm not saying I'm right,
but that kind of makes sense to me that the
first two times you did the drill would have been
(39:05):
the physical, the physical version, the more physical version, because
you really can't do that when you're not in pats Well.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
The star of last night's Backs on Backers was Darnell Washington.
He was like Goliath out their labs, both in his
performance and in his stature. He shut TJ Watt down.
He won two reps against the Marvin Leal, he stopped
Jack Sawyer and Persuda did it write up about the
training camp report yesterday and he noted that he threw
a little Hakim Elajahan in their face. Excuse me to
(39:35):
ken Bimtumbo in their face with the no no no
finger Wag've got my big man mixed up there.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Yeah, I'll tell you he is. Darnell Washington is who
I mean when I use the word he He is
impressive and he doesn't even have to do anything to
be very impressive. I mean he is a large, large
human being and I you know, the guy's going to
(40:00):
against him, I don't know. He's athletic enough that you
can't really try to, you know, put a move on
him and make him look bad, because you know, he
can move his feet and he's he's big, and he
has long arms, so that really doesn't work. And bull
rushing him, I mean, that's just to me, you know,
(40:23):
I don't know, thinking of all the great bull rushers
that I've seen in that drill, the only guy I
would think that maybe might have a chance would be
James Harrison. And that would be because he's short. So
because he would be short and coming at him like that,
darn Old Washington might have some issues trying to get
(40:44):
his hands on him, you know, in his chest area,
and Harrison would have a natural leverage advantage because he
would be lower and could strike a rising blow, which
is what Chuck Nole always claimed or not claimed, believed
was the key to winning those of matchups. But anyway, yes,
let me say this, Darneld Washington is extremely impressive in
(41:07):
that drill. He is extremely impressive in all aspects of
tight end play that I can see so far in
this training camp. And you know, I know fans were
already starting to at least I'm hearing it, suggest make
him a tackle, make him a tackle. You know, we
(41:29):
had Larry Brown on an earlier show and he actually
made that move and made it very well. You know,
he has four Super Bowl rings. Two is a tight
end and two is an offensive tackle. You know, I
don't know. I'm not saying Darnold Washington can't do that.
(41:52):
I think that the guy, though, can be really a
weapon as a tight end because as I've we've talked
about this, I've talked about this. You know, when he
first came into the NFL, his his breakdown as a
receiver was he would run a route, turn to the quarterback,
(42:14):
you throw him the ball and he could catch it.
But now he's a route runner. He's a route runner
who is capable of catching the ball away from his
body with his hands. And when you can do that
at that size, you are somewhat at full speed when
you catch the ball, as opposed to somewhat being stationary
(42:37):
and then trying to turn and run and get back
up to full speed. So I don't know, I think
Darnel Washington can be a weapon for especially a quarterback
like Aaron Rodgers. Who's good with ball placement and anticipatory throwing.
And again, I think if Aaron Rodgers can couple three
(43:01):
times a game get the ball to and open Darnell
Washington at full speed, that could that could be problems
for the for the opposition, uh, the opposing defense. But
you know, you also have a potential situation at offensive
tackle where you know, I'm not saying that Broderick Jones
(43:22):
is a bust or any of that stuff. He is.
He is trying to come back from whatever situation his
injury is. Mike Tomlin says, you know, he's working his
way back. We have seen him in individual drills lately.
He participates in you know, different things, and it seems
(43:43):
to be more and more as the day's gone go by.
But you also have to, I think, acknowledge that that
position is thin because you have Broderick Jones and Troy
Felton and both number one picks. You know, Calvin Anderson
injury last night. You know, Mike Tomlin said, he you know,
(44:05):
he's gonna be evaluated or whatever. I think he was
a guy who had a chance to be a top
kind of backup at tackle. So you know, we're gonna
have to see. You know, he's a six year guy
from Texas, six four and a half three hundred and
seven pounds, Calvin Anderson. I mean if he's going to
(44:28):
be out for any length of time, that that subtracts
a significant depth piece, a significant potential depth piece from
that position. So you know, I don't know. What I
do know is this the player personnel department is exploring options,
making what they call ready lists. Ready lists are the
(44:50):
things that a team's personnel department does so that if
something happens and he Mike Tomlin or Omar Cohn says
we need a whatever, you have a list of guys
who are available with reports on them. And I'm not
talking about guys you can trade for. You know, fans
(45:14):
love the well let's give a miss and get this
guy from X team, because you know a lot of
times those guys aren't available for trade, and if you
want a prime free from a team via a trade,
you're gonna have to overpay. So you know, usually the
ready list would would be made up of players who
(45:35):
are available. So I'm sure that that exists now for
the Steelers in a lot of different positions and based
on the way offensive tackle looks to me right now,
and the fact that one of their potential top backups
was injured last night, I would assume that they have
(45:57):
a ready list for tackle.
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Before we get to any break. For the top of
the hour, Darius Slay had some thoughts about Friday night
Lights practice. He's a newbie. It's always cool to hear
what these new guys think about this experience. And let's
hear what Darius Slay had to say.
Speaker 6 (46:11):
For my first time being at a high school, well, no,
my last time been it was in Detroit, went to
high school stadium before. But yeah, man, it's to me
way back definitely. After being the league for thirteen years,
it's been a been a good fun man. It's good man.
The crowd showed up pretty nice, man. It was nice fun.
My first experience with Jordan and I loved it.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
So then give you excited excuse you got?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
What do you expected out here? After?
Speaker 3 (46:35):
You know?
Speaker 6 (46:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was you know, I
didn't know what to expect. I just know that they
was talking about it big and heavy. I was like, man,
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I was excited. I almost traded like a gang day
for me.
Speaker 6 (46:45):
You know, just because it's my first appearance that I
want to make sure I shower.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You know.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
You know that I'm supposed to belong here until the
fans getting on what they see, So I was making
sure I treated like.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
A gang rep.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Does it kind of get you excited for the season
of Nation in personare?
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (46:58):
Yeah, I'm alway ready for the season, man, because this
is always a great opportunity and I'm blessing I'm fortunate
enough to play this game that I love to do.
So I'm always thankful this to be able to do it,
but I'm more thankful to be able to do.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
It in some great fans.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Did you feel it too?
Speaker 3 (47:08):
In a drill?
Speaker 6 (47:09):
Is that another step to showing how good you guys
are as a defensive I mean as a part of
the situation of football, man. So we got continue to
keep working it, man, and keep doing it both sides
of the ball, all of us. We're going to be
great at that situation. So that's when you win and
lose games at So we'll continue to keep working out.
Was our first time actually drilling it. Uh, we did
a great job, but you know we got continued that
all through the year.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
If you know what you.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
See.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
If we have.
Speaker 6 (47:34):
Great man, we're a great We're a great trio. Honestly, man,
we're a great dudes. Man, great guys. We work hard,
we work together, we help. We're here for each other,
maybe want not but the best for each other. Dot
matter who's out there. All I know is one thing
we're gonna do all together is compete and try to
do our best to be one of the best.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
In the game out there.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Well, yeah, for sure the other guys.
Speaker 6 (47:56):
You know, I'm always juiced up when I'm getting put
these cleats on. So uh to see some of the
guys get amped up and witness some great players out here.
Man on a live action kind of light, it's kind
of good man with a great atmosphere with a dis
better field game light.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
So to seeing the guys on the light, man is.
Speaker 6 (48:09):
A good feeling. We may definitely been in a new atmosphere.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
At Steelers defensive back Darius Slay speaking to the media
after Friday Night Lights practice. Great to hear from him
about that atmosphere. I'm sure it was such a cool
experience for him and all the other new players that
are on board this year and got to do that
for the first time Labs and I come back. We
got a preseason game just a week away, so we
kind of peek ahead at that, and like we promised,
(48:35):
we'll give you the practice script for today. That's on
the way. Trey Essex as well. In the next hour.
It's the Training Camp Report on Fox Sports Pittsburgh nine
seventy am and the Steelers Audio Network.
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