May 24, 2023 • 35 mins
Matt and Dale are live from the UPMC Rooney Sports complex for day two of the Steelers OTAs.
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Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome to this special edition of The Drive. It is
O t A Day number two here at the up
mc rooney Sports Complex. I am Dale Lollie. He is
Matt Williamson and we are here live until one o'clock
today as the Steelers take part in their second on
field O t A practice. And Matt, it's a beautiful
(00:46):
day here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Beautiful and noisy day too.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Here you little music playing while the teams they turn
they they turn the music off when they break up
the individual right right, right, right right, start into the
team portion of practice.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
A couple of minutes ago though it was going good.
And then he's got the train going by, and a
lot of a lot of bodies here, a lot of energy,
some places.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Buzz't absolutely it is and uh, well a lot more
bodies here today, hint, hint than uh there have the
we're here yesterday. But uh that's all we're going to
say about that, Matt. Uh not. You had a day
to digest what you saw yesterday. Anything stand out to you?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah? Definitely, some things, you know, I mean we could
even go position by position of you know, where this
team's at, and you know, he could start with Kenny Pickett.
I mean he's in a lot different place now than
one year ago. Obviously, you know, I mean, this is
his team now. He's clearly the one. You know, you
mentioned that he said in his interview yesterday that he's
tacked on some weight. I liked hearing that because, by
(01:46):
no means was I watching him going, boy, he looks heavier, sluggish,
you know, I mean, he looks just as much.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What he mentioned when he said he goes I added
some weight and kept my speed. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, and of course good weight. It's not that's what I.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Was gonna say.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
He probably put it on the right way and slowly,
and you know, and as everyone knows, as you get older,
you add a little weight, whether you like it or
not in ways as well. But I mean, of course
I watched him at pit and I liked him coming out,
but I was even shocked as a rookie, how light
on his feet he is, how explosive of a mover
he is, how twitchy he is. That's the word I
(02:21):
was really looking for, especially with you know, free rushers
bearing down on him. And when when he mentioned, you know,
I added the weight, I'm like, boy, I hope he
doesn't lose any of that. Yeah, I don't think he has.
I mean, it's one practice that we've seen and if
he can do that with a little more armor on
his body, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, it's funny. I talked to Ross Kology, who was
the h He was a defensive line coach at Wisconsin.
He's not Stanford, but before being the offensive line coach
at Wisconsin, he was their strength and conditioning coach. Okay,
and we were talking about Keanu Benton and Benton wrestled
at two eighty five in high school, Okay, So I
asked him, I said, you know, when you got him
as a freshman, you know, was he at two eighty
(03:00):
eighty five or was he was Did he come in heavier?
He goes, well, you know he was right around two
eighty five because he had just come out of wrestling. Basically,
he said, but we get a lot of guys that
come in, you know, that are naturally that weight, and
they feel like they have to put on weight when
they get to college, and it's never good weight.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And as you know, wrestlers are kind of a different
beast too, because they have to be between X weight
and X weight, you know, and some of them have
a real hard time getting that heavy or staying that
light or whatever, and you know they're in shape. You know,
a wrestler comes to We used to recruit wrestlers like crazy,
especially on the line they get to Wisconsin, Pitt wherever.
You know they're in shape, you know they're tough, but
(03:37):
you don't necessarily know how big can he get? Where
should he be for football?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I mean, having a little bit of fat on your
body doesn't hurt you in football as much as you know, wrestling,
where you want to trim it as much as possible
if you're having a hard time getting in your weight
class or whatever.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, largely the same thing with our fellow Pitt Johnstown
product Carlton hassl Ing. Yeah yeah, yeah. Carleton was a
natural two hundred and eighty five pounds, didn't never lifted
a weight and cont.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
What he is just what he was, right, was just
built Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Just built that way. So I look at Benton kind
of the same way that you know you have that weight, yeah, yeah,
you know when you get to Wisconsin. He said he
really worked hard to get his body, you know, up
to the three zero five three ten that he is now.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And sometimes when kids get nineteen twenty twenty one years
old and eat better than they did at home and
have a different program, you're gonna get the three hundred
and heartbeat some won't, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, But I look at that guy ninety five and
he doesn't look fat.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, he is.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
A natural big dude, you know. Six four three oh
nine is what he's listed at, and he's every bit
of that. Again, reminds me of the same body type
as Tyson Alululu what stood up at Big Base.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So yesterday there was more offense in front of our face,
you know, So I definitely felt like I watched a
lot more offense than I did defense. But some of
the glimpses on defense you saw a D line. I'm
still even learning the numbers. My mind doesn't work well
with Jersey numbers. My son makes fun of me all
the time. I just kind of know who they are
without even like you know the stars, I don't know
(05:08):
their numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
As well recognize how they ride.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Ye, So this time of the year of my mind
is always I had to keep a roster handy, which
is a little embarrassing. But seeing him, I was like whoa,
Who's that? And it was the way he ran. I mean,
it kind of reminded me when I started coming to practices,
you know, five six years ago or whatever, when we
started to drive, and I always talk about this. Watching
(05:30):
Twitt and Hayward chase the ball, it was like a
heard of buffaloes coming right now.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I don't know if I've ever told this story on
the air mat so one time.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The ground shape this is.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
This is probably like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, somewhere in
that range. And We're out at training camp and I'm
standing on the sidelines and Leveon Bell.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Was at the height of his yeah, really playing powers.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, And there was a pass to the sideline right
in front of me to Leveon Bell going down to
look like a little wheel route the sideline and Hayward
intuittt we're in on defense, and they both took off
and they're running to try to cut levy On Bell off,
and they're both running straight at me. Okay, yeah, like
(06:13):
a couple of big you know, Toronto Sourus rexes coming out. Yeah,
And I swear to god, I peede a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I made been staying right next to you because
it was about that long ago, and I remember the
two of them in particular, but the whole defense was
pursuing the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
But wondering at you like that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I mean you felt the ground shake, Like if you're
in the front row of the of Acushre Stadium, you
would not even know that. I mean, you have to
be that close. And I got the same field watching
Bent and run across the field because he's very smooth
and he's fast, you know what I mean, he's call
a nose if.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You want and run. Yeah, And that's real athletes, which
you don't often find at that at those positions. Absolutely,
you know, yes they're athletes if they're if they're playing
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But there might be a misconception if there's an NT
next to his name, that he's going to be that
guy he can't run. He can run, Yeah, he can
really run. And even more so than what you saw
at the combine or his forty times or those type
of things, it's different here in pads. Chasing the ball
of course incleates on grass, but he covers a lot
of ground.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well even his forty time, don't it wasn't imagine a
low five. It's like five point four or something. Music
really excellent for a for a nose tackle. I mean
most of those guys move like glaciers exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So no, he definitely stood out, and I kind of
knew they would. I mean, just to stick with this theme,
but the entire rookie class, the draft doable players, they
really look good. You know, that doesn't mean they're gonna
be good. But everyone they've added, including the free agents,
but especially the draft class, they're all way too big
to ride the ride let alone, being big enough to
(07:48):
get on the thunderbolt, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Oh? Absolutely. I mean you see the size of a
you know, a Joey Porter junior or Rory Trice, and
that stands out right away when you look at those
two guys.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yep, compared to NFL players that are successful, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Right, Yeah, they're bigger than bigger than what you get
away with. I mean, if you look at that, Washington
just jumps off the page. Yeah, of course, and we're
expected today, I can I can make this announcement. This
hasn't changed. We'll get Patrick Peterson on today at noon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, ask him about those another big guy, he's big too.
I mean he was like two twenty at his combine.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which is right insane. He ran He ran a low
four threes at six two twenty at his individual workout
when he was coming.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Out a shut down, lockdown, top five corner. I mean,
that's rights Gardner Ramsey type. You know, I saw Rod
Woodson at the height of his sure powers. I covered
the team all the way back then, and Rod was,
you know, six one two ten.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, this guy's bigger. He's bigger, but almost equally as fast. Yeah,
in his in his problem. I'm sure he doesn't run
a four to three.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Now, nor does he have to, but I mean many
to do. I am interested to chat with him a
little bit about how he's transformed his game a little bit,
you know from you know, we talked about this a
lot yesterday. You know, your your axis, the one axis
is athlete slash your body, and the other ones your
mind and knowledge. And one of them dwindles while the
other one usually rises. And you know where is he
(09:11):
in that graph right now?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
You know? Yeah, for sure, definitely you mentioned Pickett. It
looks he just looks like he's he's in such a
and I'm not breaking any news here. He's in a
much better place right now than he was a year Agod,
no question, no question.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, I think that's a credit to the organization
that they make him feel that way. You know that
you all, we have confidence in you. This is your team,
you know. I mean, they they've made that clear with
their moves. I'm sure they make it clear behind the
walls when we're not here. And frankly, a year ago,
anything he saw fromim that was negative, how on earth
(09:50):
could you blame him, I mean, or any of these
rookies at this point too. And we had we had
a good discussion yesterday about the balancing act the team
had last year at this time of trying to get Trubisky,
who is new, ready for Week one, get Rudolph the
snaps he deserves, and your first round rookie to get
developed as much as you possibly can for the long
term or whatever you know is it was hard where
(10:13):
this year you know who's gonna get what? Yeah, for sure?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And the other thing. And I think this is something
that was maybe a little bit under valued in the
resigning of Mason Rudolph. Having a number three who can
go out and running an NFL offense. Yes, you know,
if your number three guy can't get your your third
team in and out of the huddle.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Right, there's a lot to be said up.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I mean, we can't we can't get him done. Yeah,
we can't get any We can't. We can't look at
these these young receivers we want to look at. We
can't look at this this offensive line because he screwed
you know, he's screwing this, like.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Especially in the preseason game coming up. Yeah, he's gonna
he's gonna be overqualified for his duty in the press.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And that's fine. It's fine, right, you know, because again again,
you know, if you've got guys fighting for that sixth
receiver spot on your roster, yeah you want them to
you want to have a fair chance to evaluate those guys,
and you can't do that. I've seen some you know,
third and fourth string quarterbacks over the years that you're like,
it's just not fair to these guys. It's not, it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I mean, my only concern, which this is just life
in the NFL, is you hope you're able to protect
Rudolph enough too. But with the depth of this so
line through the preseason, I don't think that's a problem.
I don't think they're gonna be trotting out a lot
of you know, lawyers and accountants in the preseason trying
to block for these guys. But you're right. I mean,
if you've got a third string quarterback that's either new
(11:41):
or just over his head or not an NFL player,
you know all these route progressions one to two, Well,
if two's wide open and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
He doesn't even see them, or even he never makes
it that far, right.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I mean, of course, the coaches watched the tape and say, well,
the receiver did all the right things, but it would
be nice if you got the ball, like to see
if he catches it right and what happens after you
he ran around perfectly, the play call was how it
was designed, and the ball never came out.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You know, that's a hard thing to evaluate. Yeah. I
can also remember talking to Bruce arians back in the
day and him talking about having to teach some of
these young quarterbacks that are coming out of the spread
offense where they've got the Donald Duck side sidelines and
all that stuff, how to call play in a huddle.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Some of them never even taken a snap from center. Yeah,
that on somebody. But and so you know he used
to basics stuff. Yeah right, I mean quarterback basics. They're
tight ends that come out many that have never put
their hand in the dirk In line. It's one of
the many reasons that tight ends have such a hard
rookie two three for first couple of years.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Let alone reading stuff on the fly. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
A lot of people think tight ends struggle because there
asked to be tackles and wide receivers not as much.
I mean, they're not blocking t J. Watt Man on man,
you know. I mean it's they just don't get asked
to do much at all at the college level. I
mean some of them are just receivers or run three routes.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, they're guys that went to school as a receiver
and they happen to be six three or six four
and the coach said, hey, once you put on twenty pounds,
we're gonna make you a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah. And as much as I adore Darnel Washington, I
think he's a phenomenal draft pick.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
He's a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean he's a tight end, but he didn't run
you know, a real diverse route tree AIA. I mean
he was the number two tight end on a powerhouse team.
I mean, and he didn't have that many catches. I
mean watch his highlight tapes like, well, there's another steam route,
but I mean, is he reading safeties on the fly
and sitting it down, or if it's a man, is
he running through it at versus zone where he sits
(13:29):
it down or whatever. I mean, he's so big and
strong he probably wasn't even asked to do those things.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That's one of the beauties of a guy like that. Yeah,
you don't have to, you know, and there's no bad habit.
You can make area code throws.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Absolutely that stood out yesterday too, I mean there was
I thought the tight end group in general stood out
to me. Friarmouth looks really sharp. Hayward to me is
really shifty and explosive out of his cuts as just
a route runner and his a weapon. I know you
call him a fullback, I still call him a tight end.
I don't think it matters. I'm not sure what he's
(14:00):
listed on the depth chart at this right. He's his
own beast, but he's hard to play against.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, you know again, I know you like to tinker
with those lineup things. Yeah, you know, they could really
come out in a four tight end set. I know,
and it'll be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, it's funny. I wrote. The article I wrote this
week was all based on that offensive things they can do.
And the short of it is, I'm really excited. It
doesn't matter what names are on the jerseys when it
comes to the preseason. I'm curious that we're going to
see six offensive line sets because they used to do
that a lot before last year because they usually had
(14:35):
a good swing tackle and they absolutely will this year
barring injury. Three tight end sets if you count Hayward
as a tight end. I mean that's something around the league.
The Chiefs were at the top of the league in
that Denver or the Browns used to do a ton
of it with na Joku and Hunter Hooper and those guys.
That's hard to play against. And even four receiver sets.
(14:59):
I mean you might see four wideouts on the field
to fare amount. And again, I don't care what names
they are, but if we see more of those personnel
groupings and preseason, I'll be pretty excited.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, I think. I mean, you could line up in
a in a formation with six offensive linemen and four
tight ends or four rightouts and throw the football.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, I mean you could throw Jones are more as
your sixth tight end picket in empty with Austin Pickens,
Johnson and Robinson. I mean that looks like pass all
day long. You're gonna get dime. But the other thing,
no offense to ben picket can just that could be
quarterback draw quarterback draws, you know what I mean. If
(15:41):
you have a really light box, if you missed Fiver
six men box right right, he might just.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Be laking booting. He goes thirty yards right right right.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I mean, so the fact that you've a running quarterback
too really makes that difficult. And like an example I
used is like I know the Bills aren't on the schedule,
but more than any defense in the league there in nickel,
they're like four defense linemen, two linebackers used to be
Edmonds and Milano and five defensive backs. Well, if you're
playing the Bills and they're pretty darn committed to being
(16:09):
a nickel, well maybe you come out with three tight
ends in an extra line.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We're gonna bludget you and you get until you get
out of.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
This or the opposite. You know, you come out in
four wide when they should be in dime and they
don't make the adjustment, or both and see which works better.
That's more the crux of it is, we're just gonna
throw a lot of stuff at you early, and whatever
you don't handle, we're gonna stick with.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah. I think that's what gets a little bit overlooked
early in games when people talk about scripting plays, scripting
of plays. You're scripting plays not just to try to score,
obviously trying to score, but you want to see how
the defense reacts to what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I think that's the most important. I mean, if you
could give all the play calls in the league true serum.
I think that the scripted plays part is collecting data.
You know, like Sean paigea.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
When we go to three wides and they're all bunched
on the right side, right, here's what they right right right.
So then you come back to it in a third quarter.
You know what they're gonna do. You know how they're
gonna defend it. And now you've you've figured out the
adjustments you need to make off of that, maybe at
halftime or whatever. Yeah, Okay, when they when they show
us this, here's what we're gonna do so to.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Bring it back to the Steelers, and this isn't being critical.
This is the cards they had in their hand. They
were a heavy eleven personnel team, especially pre Claypool trade,
and then a heavy twelve personnel team after Claypool where
Gentry Snaps went up for Claypool. Yeah, and very quickly,
I'm sure the whole offensive coaching staff could be like, well,
if we're playing the Saints, the Browns, Bears, whoever this week,
(17:36):
they view our offense this way when we're in eleven.
They view their offense this way when we're in twelve.
So we immediately know what defensive players will be on
the field just for those two personnel groupings, let alone
the hundreds they can put out now or the fifty
they can put out now. So okay, you know that
you're getting dime versus one, you're getting nickel versus this,
(17:56):
or base nickel whatever, and then you start fiddling with, well,
what if we put both tight ends on the same
side or you know that type of things, and then
how do they adjust to it? I mean, so once
you gather all that data, then you can start saying, well,
they didn't practice this right, so they checked the cover too.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You know, going back to our discussion with Cole Holcomb yesterday,
that's how you end up with an inside linebacker matched
up on a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Happens in every game, every year, every game, right right right,
and it's it's a mismatch. That's why the offense coordinators
get paid too.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
That's why you're trying to scheme those things up. And
it happens to every team in the league, not just
the Steelers. It's far they sometimes get that matchup to
I can nobody ever creditsize. I remember when Chase Claypool
a couple of years ago against the Dolphins, I believe
it was heinz Field got matched up on their inside
linebacker down to seam for a touchdown. Yeah. Yeah, nobody
(18:47):
ever said anything about that, Like right right, he beat
their inside linebacker for a touchdown. It's their big, speedy
wide receiver and they matched up a linebacker.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
With all respect to Claypool, that's a play caller touchdown.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
That's a scheme touchdown that most receivers should win. That
or every receiver receivership basically win that. Assume it's protected,
right and all that good stuff, right, So yeah, I
mean it happens everybody, but now I'm really hoping. And
again that was the crux of the article is we
see a lot of different stuff than eleven and twelve.
You know, you could be much more diverse, much more diverse.
(19:23):
And there is something I've even said this in the
article too, like there is some credence to Lombardi runs
his swimp.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We're gonna do this'll get a fire right, right, right,
if you find something that they're not stopping, right, you
continue to I remember the game against the Bengals a
few years back where they did the the castro pulling
around left end and just bludgeoning Vonte's perfect time, like
sixth straight place right, stop it put it up on
the scoreboard.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You know, right, We're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We'll do it again. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
When I was a pit we used to throw fades
the Larry stop every time. You know, why would we not?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Everybody watching at home was calling, right.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So just you know here, this one's going up to Larry.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I was gonna say in that though.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So there can be too many. So there's the theory
of the best restaurants serve five things, right, they don't
have the cheesecake factory menu, you know what I mean,
Because everything's okay, but nothing's phenomenal. But I want to
see just from personnel groupings and expanded men.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You have to have your bread and butter and then
you expand off of that.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, and they didn't really didn't have the horses to
do it, especially post Claypool trade in Austin being injured
and you know, et cetera. But so I'm really excited
about that aspect of it too, and just watching these
guys run around at those positions, you know, even the
Calvin Austin's and Haywards and guys like that that aren't
going to get sixty snaps a game. They're useful NFL players.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Absolutely, absolutely, he is Matt Williamson. I am Dale. Allie.
You're listening to a special edition of The Drive here
on ESPN nine to seventy and Steelers Nation Radio. We
are live from the Steelers here on the South Side,
and we will be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Black and Gold football leaves here twenty four to seven.
You're listening to SNH Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Welcome back to this special edition of the Drive here
on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine to seventy. I'm
Dale Lallie. He is Matt Williamson, and we are live
at Steelers Ota Session number two. We'll be here until noon.
As I mentioned before, we'll be joined at the top
of the hour or sometime there soon after by Steelers
new cornerback Patrick Peterson. So looking forward to that. You
(21:40):
don't want to miss that, So stay right here, tuned
in with us. We will take you through all everything
that's going on here today. Matt, I did want to
talk about a little bit more, And I know it
seems like we're talking a lot about the offense, but
we should.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, we should. There's a lot of new additions. I mean,
they made some strides last year. They were super second
year quarterback. Why wouldn't we talk about it?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So the number ten ranked scoring offense in the league
last year, do you know who it was and what
they averaged? No? I didn't think that.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You I will, I will tip.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I will clue you in on that. Okay, it was
the Jacksonville Jaguars at twenty three point eight points per game.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
What I do know is I'm sure that's lower than
the normal.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
The tenth highest Yeah, twenty three point eight points per
game was number ten in the league last year.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Wow, so that's well above average. Yes, it's the top third.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, if you're looking for average, you're looking then down
into the around twenty one to twenty one and a
half point range. People that don't think that the Steelers
offense can do that, right, I mean, that's what they
averaged in the second half of the season last year.
So in their in their second half, they were like
twenty point nine or something like that, which would have
(22:53):
been twentieth in the league. If they do that over
the course of a season, and that was with an
offense that had two passing touchdowns, sure.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
For the season, which that number is going to go up, Yes,
you know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I mean Boswell is not going to miss as many
kicks as he did.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He'll have a higher percentage. Yeah, no question. Are they
over their red zone woes. I'm not willing to say that,
but I bet it's better than it was a year ago. Yeah,
I mean, but it could has room to be drastically better.
I mean, even if their league average is a red
zone team, the weaponry I think is better. I mean,
this time of year, everything looks rosy I mean it's
(23:28):
not going to be that great. I mean, everyone's not
going to get better and all those things. But the
line looks better. The quarterback I'm sure will be better
in his second season. And I think the weaponry and
all the options like we laid out in the first
hour are improved as well.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, for sure. And so I look at that and say,
you know, for example, to take a look at that
Jacksonville offense Trevor Lawrence in his second year. Yeah, they
averaged two hundred and thirty two point nine yards passing
per game and one hundred and twenty four point five
rushing yards per game. Okay, those numbers are doable for
this offense.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
They are, they are. I mean, I'm very impressed with Lawrence.
I thought he had a tremendous year. I thought he
made great strides after a disastrous, not his fault rookie season.
But that offense isn't loaded, you know what I mean.
I mean last year's version. I mean it's it's fine.
I mean Kirk and Jay Jones, I mean, are they
great Ingram They're fine. I mean the old line's a
(24:22):
little above average atn missed some time from what I remember,
and you know, it's not a phenomenal group. I would
probably even still take the Steelers other ten or supporting
cast over Jacksonville, certainly last year's version.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I look at some of those other teams that are
in that range in that So you had the Dolphins
at twenty three point four, they were eleventh.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
They're kind of an odd one though, Yeah, because with
him they were at the top of the league. Without them,
they were kind of a disaster. Yeah, third and fourth
three quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Ye had the Raiders at twenty three point two, Okay,
I mean that was pretty much a full season of
car Yeah, you had the Chargers at two twenty three
point zero. That's with Herbert.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
They're a good comparison actually, because they were two of
the worst offenses in the league in terms of explosive explosives.
You know, Herbert to me is a nearly elite quarterback,
but they had very little running game. Didn't you know,
convert on many deep shots or help him much. I
also think they were like the top of the league
and drop passes. I just happened to hear that the
(25:23):
other day, which again Herbert just was swimming upstream with
VI had around him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You had the Packers at twenty one point eight. That's
what Aaron Rodgers, that's Rodgers. Yeah, and they could run
the ball. They could run the ball. And Rodgers wasn't
the MVP form, you know is that final season in
Green Bay. But he's still pretty good football player. How
about this team, the Falcons at twenty one point five.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
That's actually a pretty good comparison.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, I mean, because they ran the heck out of
the ball and I average one hundred and fifty nine
point nine yards rushing per game.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I have mixed feelings about Ritter, but I thought Mariota
really really did not play well last year. Is a starter.
But they ran the ball like crazy and they scored
score points, you know, So that's a I think it's
even a paint by numbers, you know, a real lower
(26:14):
bar to here's.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yea, because they only average one hundred and fifty eight
point eight yards passing per game. Steelers are gonna be
better than now.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I say They're passing game should eclipse what the Falcons
were last easily. I mean easily easily. If they run
the ball as well as Atlanta did last year, that's
about as good as it gets in the league.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You know, and I do think Smith's a real good
play caller and all those things, but you should be
able to mimic that at a minimum.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
How about the Giants at twenty one point five. That's
another good one. Yeah. Yeah, they averaged one hundred and
forty eight point two yards rushing per game, which the
Steelers were at one forty six in the second half
of last year when they went seven and two. I mean,
when they average one hundred and eighty five point seven
yards passing per game, Okay, I a Steelers pass catchers
are far and away better than what the Giants.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
That's what I should say is we often, especially when
we start talking fantasy and things, laugh at the curse
that's on the wide receiver room. I mean, that was
as bad a group of wideouts and tight end when
you incorporate that as there was in the league last year,
and they still got to those numbers. Sure, they ran
the ball, and Barkley is a good player, he's a
really good player, but what was around him wasn't all that.
(27:19):
I'd rather have this group by one thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, the Patriots were a twenty one point four, but
there's a caveat there. They had like seven return touchdowns.
That's just the whole team. It's not the offensive. Yeah,
that one's Yeah. So you know, you look at their
offense as a whole, it wasn't good. You take those
pretty dysfunctional, you know, you take those seven touchdowns out
of the equation or even half of them, Yeah, a lot,
and they're under twenty. Yeah. You had the Browns at
(27:43):
twenty one point two. They had they average one hundred
and forty six point five yards rushing per game. They
averaged two hundred and two point six yards passing per game,
mostly with Persett, mostly with perse right, Like, I mean,
the the Watson, the Euro wasn't I look at this
Steelers offense, I think it's better than that. I mean
other than take you know, Chubbs in the equation. Yeah,
(28:05):
he's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, but I think this Steelers line that we're looking
at is nearing what the Browns played with last year.
Is one of the better lines out there. Not number one,
but I mean it's one of the better ones. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I don't have to squint real hard right right to
see where you know, the Steelers finished last year at
eighteen point one. That was they were atrocious early in
the season. They were averaging fourteen points a game early
in the year.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, they'd never dug out of that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So to get to get to eighteen point one, you
got to really start stacking some you know.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I mean that's what you're point agressive in some of
their other categories, like time of possession where they started
so bad and then ended up leading the league almost
you know, those type of things. But scoring points is
harder than possessing the football, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So if we look at last year's offensive numbers for
the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Just what they averaged, but real quick to say this
a second ago, like the offenses you just laid out
there when we went around the league. It's not the
Chiefs with Kelsey and right right, you know, I mean,
it's not elite even the Bengals with Chasing Higgins and
Burrough and mix it, and I mean they're not the
most talented offenses in the league we're comparing them to.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right. So last year, for the season, the Steelers averaged
two hundred point six yards passing per game. Take the
over or the under on that this year over over, okay, Yeah,
and they averaged one hundred and twenty one point nine
yards rushing per game. Go over under that. It's a
pretty nice number all in all. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I think I'll go over as well, but I'm being optimistic.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
So if we look at if we look at where
they were, So they were the Bears led the league
in rushing one hundred and seventy seven point three yards
per game, No surprise there the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
One of the things about that though, too, is they
could be losing by thirty and they're still going to can.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
They're going to run. That's all they had.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
So they're writing they're running against light boxes late in
games with a very talented rushing quarterback.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, and some of that's not even by design.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
He's just taking it right or they didn't block anybody,
so he just tucks it and runs.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
The Ravens were second and one hundred and sixty. Yeah,
there was a big again running quarterbacks. Yeah, the Falcons
just missed, but they were in third place one hundred
and fifty nine point nine. Okay. The Giants were one
forty eight point two. The Eagles were at one forty
seven point six. Again, another another running court. Yeah, Daniel
Jones is as well, Oh, he absolutely is. I mean
(30:22):
I think you ran for like five or six hundred
yards last year, maybe more. You had the Browns at
one forty six point five. They're just a good running game. Yeah,
they don't throw it particularly well.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
No they didn't.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
They did, Yeah they We'll see what that turns into.
The Bills were at one thirty nine point five, and
again that was about the quarterback six hundred that Yeah,
the forty nine Ers were one thirty eight point eight. Okay,
I get that.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, they just they're a really efficient offense.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
The Cowboys were at one thirty five point two, The
Panthers were at one thirty. The Lions were at one
twenty eight point two. Panthers were another one. That's all
they had at one point. So I look at so
the Steelers averaged one hundred and forty six yards rushing
per game in their final nine games last year. That
would put them just ahead of the Bills, right behind.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
The brown Over the course of something like that. Yeah, yeah,
you do that, You do that, you'll be in really
good shape.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And your offensive line is better this year. It is better.
And yeah, I mean you're gonna control the clock, you're
gonna put the other team, you're gonna you're gonna shorten
the game to the point where the other teams going
into the game going, well, we're not gonna get twelve
possessions in this game. We're gonna get nine and.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Nine right, right, and your defense is happier. Of course,
you hope you could incorporate play action and more deep
shots and lure people into the box, and picking even
takes more advantage of those situations or recognizes them better
as a second year player. Yeah, I mean I always
worry this time of year that you fall into the
optimism trap, you know, I mean, this is this is
(31:50):
the spring of you know, oternal optimism. Right, Everyone's gonna
get better, No one's gonna get hurt. All your draft
picks are gonna hit. You know, everyone coming back from
injury is gonna be fine. I mean, I mean this
across the league I've been for since I've been the media,
you know that this is draft until training camp is
the time of eternal optimism. Which good for the NFL.
They keep the fan bases really engaged. But I'm afraid
(32:10):
I am too optimistic about this offense because I really
like where they're at compared to three hundred and sixty
five days ago.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Sitting here doing the exact same show. Yeah, well, I
just I just know what we saw over the course
of that second half of the season, and you know
some of the games that they didn't score in. There was,
you know that game against the Raiders we just mentioned.
The Raiders had one of the top they were just
outside the top ten in offense. It's thirteen to ten
game because it was like minus seven freezing there. Like,
(32:38):
nobody was scoring a bunch of points in that game.
Patrick Mahomes isn't putting thirty on the board in that game.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, No, I mean that is another thing too. And
these small sample size sixteen seventeen game schedules or whatever.
If you're the Browns or the Bills or you know
New England, then you have three home games at the
end of the year. You're probably not going to score
as much as Arizona and San Francisco and you know Houston.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, some of the home teams or good weather teams. Right,
so you have to be built for that, which again
takes me back to the running right right right, Absolutely,
you better be able to run the football if you
play football in the Northeast and unless you live under
a rock, I don't think that the game plan is
going to change a whole heck of a lot, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I mean, they established something last year. Their offseason moves
imply they're not going to get away from being at
least a very physical team, starting with the run game.
And you know, the way we've described it a little
bit was trying to build a house. And in the
first half of the year it felt like.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
You're trying to put you trying to put walls up,
and they keep falling back down. You haven't built the foundation.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Right exactly, you know, and what where is our foundation?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You started with the roof.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
But the second half of the year, I think if
you build a story, someone to write a book someday
about the picket led offense or whatever, then it kind
of starts that Week nine. You know that there was
some concrete poard, there was a foundation built. Wasn't super pretty,
you know, the the windows needed painted still, and the
electricity was half installed and all that good stuff. But
(34:05):
the foundation was built last year, and this offseason might
really be the second floor of the house, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
What I mean. Yeah, you know, you look at the
Steelers as a whole. Last year they had thirty four
hundred yards passing. And you know I've seen and heard
some stuff out there. Well, if Pickett throws for three
thousand yards this year in nineteen touchdowns, that's a good year.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
No it is, No, it isn't.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
In thirty four hundred you go to ever, I mean,
two hundred yards are passing for him? Is not going
to be No, that's not okay. Yeah, I'm gonna be
okay with that. I'm not on board with that. No,
not at all.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I mean, I think you got to aim higher than that.
You gotta drive the ball down the field more. You
got to tack the middle of the field more. And
you could also you know, just because the numbers for
the run game and the pass game could both go up.
And that doesn't mean you're going to score a ton
more points. But I do think you need to two
hundred yards a game through the air.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
It is not nothing today's NFL. No, absolutely not. I mean,
if you start looking at the teams that that average
lesson that, it's it's a very short list.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Sure it's Atlanta, I'm sure at Chicago.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Chicago, Atlanta, Tennessee, Carolina, Baltimore, the Rams, the Giants, the Texans.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Those are the worst offenses out there or the ones
that can only run?
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, you know, absolutely, We're gonna take another break. Here
is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, i'let You're listening to
a special edition of The Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio,
live from the Steeler Ota Sessions here at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex. We'll be back with more right
Speaker 3 (35:29):
After this Black and Gold football leaves here twenty four
to C you're listening to SNR Steelers Nation Radio.
Welcome to this special edition of The Drive. It is
O t A Day number two here at the up
mc rooney Sports Complex. I am Dale Lollie. He is
Matt Williamson and we are here live until one o'clock
today as the Steelers take part in their second on
field O t A practice. And Matt, it's a beautiful
(00:46):
day here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Beautiful and noisy day too.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Here you little music playing while the teams they turn
they they turn the music off when they break up
the individual right right, right, right right, start into the
team portion of practice.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
A couple of minutes ago though it was going good.
And then he's got the train going by, and a
lot of a lot of bodies here, a lot of energy,
some places.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Buzz't absolutely it is and uh, well a lot more
bodies here today, hint, hint than uh there have the
we're here yesterday. But uh that's all we're going to
say about that, Matt. Uh not. You had a day
to digest what you saw yesterday. Anything stand out to you?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah? Definitely, some things, you know, I mean we could
even go position by position of you know, where this
team's at, and you know, he could start with Kenny Pickett.
I mean he's in a lot different place now than
one year ago. Obviously, you know, I mean, this is
his team now. He's clearly the one. You know, you
mentioned that he said in his interview yesterday that he's
tacked on some weight. I liked hearing that because, by
(01:46):
no means was I watching him going, boy, he looks heavier, sluggish,
you know, I mean, he looks just as much.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What he mentioned when he said he goes I added
some weight and kept my speed. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, and of course good weight. It's not that's what I.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Was gonna say.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
He probably put it on the right way and slowly,
and you know, and as everyone knows, as you get older,
you add a little weight, whether you like it or
not in ways as well. But I mean, of course
I watched him at pit and I liked him coming out,
but I was even shocked as a rookie, how light
on his feet he is, how explosive of a mover
he is, how twitchy he is. That's the word I
(02:21):
was really looking for, especially with you know, free rushers
bearing down on him. And when when he mentioned, you know,
I added the weight, I'm like, boy, I hope he
doesn't lose any of that. Yeah, I don't think he has.
I mean, it's one practice that we've seen and if
he can do that with a little more armor on
his body, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, it's funny. I talked to Ross Kology, who was
the h He was a defensive line coach at Wisconsin.
He's not Stanford, but before being the offensive line coach
at Wisconsin, he was their strength and conditioning coach. Okay,
and we were talking about Keanu Benton and Benton wrestled
at two eighty five in high school, Okay, So I
asked him, I said, you know, when you got him
as a freshman, you know, was he at two eighty
(03:00):
eighty five or was he was Did he come in heavier?
He goes, well, you know he was right around two
eighty five because he had just come out of wrestling. Basically,
he said, but we get a lot of guys that
come in, you know, that are naturally that weight, and
they feel like they have to put on weight when
they get to college, and it's never good weight.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And as you know, wrestlers are kind of a different
beast too, because they have to be between X weight
and X weight, you know, and some of them have
a real hard time getting that heavy or staying that
light or whatever, and you know they're in shape. You know,
a wrestler comes to We used to recruit wrestlers like crazy,
especially on the line they get to Wisconsin, Pitt wherever.
You know they're in shape, you know they're tough, but
(03:37):
you don't necessarily know how big can he get? Where
should he be for football?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I mean, having a little bit of fat on your
body doesn't hurt you in football as much as you know, wrestling,
where you want to trim it as much as possible
if you're having a hard time getting in your weight
class or whatever.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, largely the same thing with our fellow Pitt Johnstown
product Carlton hassl Ing. Yeah yeah, yeah. Carleton was a
natural two hundred and eighty five pounds, didn't never lifted
a weight and cont.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
What he is just what he was, right, was just
built Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Just built that way. So I look at Benton kind
of the same way that you know you have that weight, yeah, yeah,
you know when you get to Wisconsin. He said he
really worked hard to get his body, you know, up
to the three zero five three ten that he is now.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And sometimes when kids get nineteen twenty twenty one years
old and eat better than they did at home and
have a different program, you're gonna get the three hundred
and heartbeat some won't, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, But I look at that guy ninety five and
he doesn't look fat.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, he is.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
A natural big dude, you know. Six four three oh
nine is what he's listed at, and he's every bit
of that. Again, reminds me of the same body type
as Tyson Alululu what stood up at Big Base.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So yesterday there was more offense in front of our face,
you know, So I definitely felt like I watched a
lot more offense than I did defense. But some of
the glimpses on defense you saw a D line. I'm
still even learning the numbers. My mind doesn't work well
with Jersey numbers. My son makes fun of me all
the time. I just kind of know who they are
without even like you know the stars, I don't know
(05:08):
their numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
As well recognize how they ride.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Ye, So this time of the year of my mind
is always I had to keep a roster handy, which
is a little embarrassing. But seeing him, I was like whoa,
Who's that? And it was the way he ran. I mean,
it kind of reminded me when I started coming to practices,
you know, five six years ago or whatever, when we
started to drive, and I always talk about this. Watching
(05:30):
Twitt and Hayward chase the ball, it was like a
heard of buffaloes coming right now.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I don't know if I've ever told this story on
the air mat so one time.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The ground shape this is.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
This is probably like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, somewhere in
that range. And We're out at training camp and I'm
standing on the sidelines and Leveon Bell.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Was at the height of his yeah, really playing powers.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, And there was a pass to the sideline right
in front of me to Leveon Bell going down to
look like a little wheel route the sideline and Hayward
intuittt we're in on defense, and they both took off
and they're running to try to cut levy On Bell off,
and they're both running straight at me. Okay, yeah, like
(06:13):
a couple of big you know, Toronto Sourus rexes coming out. Yeah,
And I swear to god, I peede a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I made been staying right next to you because
it was about that long ago, and I remember the
two of them in particular, but the whole defense was
pursuing the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
But wondering at you like that.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I mean you felt the ground shake, Like if you're
in the front row of the of Acushre Stadium, you
would not even know that. I mean, you have to
be that close. And I got the same field watching
Bent and run across the field because he's very smooth
and he's fast, you know what I mean, he's call
a nose if.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You want and run. Yeah, And that's real athletes, which
you don't often find at that at those positions. Absolutely,
you know, yes they're athletes if they're if they're playing
in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But there might be a misconception if there's an NT
next to his name, that he's going to be that
guy he can't run. He can run, Yeah, he can
really run. And even more so than what you saw
at the combine or his forty times or those type
of things, it's different here in pads. Chasing the ball
of course incleates on grass, but he covers a lot
of ground.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well even his forty time, don't it wasn't imagine a
low five. It's like five point four or something. Music
really excellent for a for a nose tackle. I mean
most of those guys move like glaciers exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So no, he definitely stood out, and I kind of
knew they would. I mean, just to stick with this theme,
but the entire rookie class, the draft doable players, they
really look good. You know, that doesn't mean they're gonna
be good. But everyone they've added, including the free agents,
but especially the draft class, they're all way too big
to ride the ride let alone, being big enough to
(07:48):
get on the thunderbolt, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Oh? Absolutely. I mean you see the size of a
you know, a Joey Porter junior or Rory Trice, and
that stands out right away when you look at those
two guys.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yep, compared to NFL players that are successful, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Right, Yeah, they're bigger than bigger than what you get
away with. I mean, if you look at that, Washington
just jumps off the page. Yeah, of course, and we're
expected today, I can I can make this announcement. This
hasn't changed. We'll get Patrick Peterson on today at noon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, ask him about those another big guy, he's big too.
I mean he was like two twenty at his combine.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Which is right insane. He ran He ran a low
four threes at six two twenty at his individual workout
when he was coming.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Out a shut down, lockdown, top five corner. I mean,
that's rights Gardner Ramsey type. You know, I saw Rod
Woodson at the height of his sure powers. I covered
the team all the way back then, and Rod was,
you know, six one two ten.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, this guy's bigger. He's bigger, but almost equally as fast. Yeah,
in his in his problem. I'm sure he doesn't run
a four to three.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Now, nor does he have to, but I mean many
to do. I am interested to chat with him a
little bit about how he's transformed his game a little bit,
you know from you know, we talked about this a
lot yesterday. You know, your your axis, the one axis
is athlete slash your body, and the other ones your
mind and knowledge. And one of them dwindles while the
other one usually rises. And you know where is he
(09:11):
in that graph right now?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
You know? Yeah, for sure, definitely you mentioned Pickett. It
looks he just looks like he's he's in such a
and I'm not breaking any news here. He's in a
much better place right now than he was a year Agod,
no question, no question.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, I think that's a credit to the organization
that they make him feel that way. You know that
you all, we have confidence in you. This is your team,
you know. I mean, they they've made that clear with
their moves. I'm sure they make it clear behind the
walls when we're not here. And frankly, a year ago,
anything he saw fromim that was negative, how on earth
(09:50):
could you blame him, I mean, or any of these
rookies at this point too. And we had we had
a good discussion yesterday about the balancing act the team
had last year at this time of trying to get Trubisky,
who is new, ready for Week one, get Rudolph the
snaps he deserves, and your first round rookie to get
developed as much as you possibly can for the long
term or whatever you know is it was hard where
(10:13):
this year you know who's gonna get what? Yeah, for sure?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And the other thing. And I think this is something
that was maybe a little bit under valued in the
resigning of Mason Rudolph. Having a number three who can
go out and running an NFL offense. Yes, you know,
if your number three guy can't get your your third
team in and out of the huddle.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Right, there's a lot to be said up.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I mean, we can't we can't get him done. Yeah,
we can't get any We can't. We can't look at
these these young receivers we want to look at. We
can't look at this this offensive line because he screwed
you know, he's screwing this, like.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Especially in the preseason game coming up. Yeah, he's gonna
he's gonna be overqualified for his duty in the press.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And that's fine. It's fine, right, you know, because again again,
you know, if you've got guys fighting for that sixth
receiver spot on your roster, yeah you want them to
you want to have a fair chance to evaluate those guys,
and you can't do that. I've seen some you know,
third and fourth string quarterbacks over the years that you're like,
it's just not fair to these guys. It's not, it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I mean, my only concern, which this is just life
in the NFL, is you hope you're able to protect
Rudolph enough too. But with the depth of this so
line through the preseason, I don't think that's a problem.
I don't think they're gonna be trotting out a lot
of you know, lawyers and accountants in the preseason trying
to block for these guys. But you're right. I mean,
if you've got a third string quarterback that's either new
(11:41):
or just over his head or not an NFL player,
you know all these route progressions one to two, Well,
if two's wide open and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
He doesn't even see them, or even he never makes
it that far, right.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I mean, of course, the coaches watched the tape and say, well,
the receiver did all the right things, but it would
be nice if you got the ball, like to see
if he catches it right and what happens after you
he ran around perfectly, the play call was how it
was designed, and the ball never came out.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You know, that's a hard thing to evaluate. Yeah. I
can also remember talking to Bruce arians back in the
day and him talking about having to teach some of
these young quarterbacks that are coming out of the spread
offense where they've got the Donald Duck side sidelines and
all that stuff, how to call play in a huddle.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Some of them never even taken a snap from center. Yeah,
that on somebody. But and so you know he used
to basics stuff. Yeah right, I mean quarterback basics. They're
tight ends that come out many that have never put
their hand in the dirk In line. It's one of
the many reasons that tight ends have such a hard
rookie two three for first couple of years.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Let alone reading stuff on the fly. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
A lot of people think tight ends struggle because there
asked to be tackles and wide receivers not as much.
I mean, they're not blocking t J. Watt Man on man,
you know. I mean it's they just don't get asked
to do much at all at the college level. I
mean some of them are just receivers or run three routes.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, they're guys that went to school as a receiver
and they happen to be six three or six four
and the coach said, hey, once you put on twenty pounds,
we're gonna make you a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah. And as much as I adore Darnel Washington, I
think he's a phenomenal draft pick.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
He's a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean he's a tight end, but he didn't run
you know, a real diverse route tree AIA. I mean
he was the number two tight end on a powerhouse team.
I mean, and he didn't have that many catches. I
mean watch his highlight tapes like, well, there's another steam route,
but I mean, is he reading safeties on the fly
and sitting it down, or if it's a man, is
he running through it at versus zone where he sits
(13:29):
it down or whatever. I mean, he's so big and
strong he probably wasn't even asked to do those things.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That's one of the beauties of a guy like that. Yeah,
you don't have to, you know, and there's no bad habit.
You can make area code throws.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Absolutely that stood out yesterday too, I mean there was
I thought the tight end group in general stood out
to me. Friarmouth looks really sharp. Hayward to me is
really shifty and explosive out of his cuts as just
a route runner and his a weapon. I know you
call him a fullback, I still call him a tight end.
I don't think it matters. I'm not sure what he's
(14:00):
listed on the depth chart at this right. He's his
own beast, but he's hard to play against.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, you know again, I know you like to tinker
with those lineup things. Yeah, you know, they could really
come out in a four tight end set. I know,
and it'll be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, it's funny. I wrote. The article I wrote this
week was all based on that offensive things they can do.
And the short of it is, I'm really excited. It
doesn't matter what names are on the jerseys when it
comes to the preseason. I'm curious that we're going to
see six offensive line sets because they used to do
that a lot before last year because they usually had
(14:35):
a good swing tackle and they absolutely will this year
barring injury. Three tight end sets if you count Hayward
as a tight end. I mean that's something around the league.
The Chiefs were at the top of the league in
that Denver or the Browns used to do a ton
of it with na Joku and Hunter Hooper and those guys.
That's hard to play against. And even four receiver sets.
(14:59):
I mean you might see four wideouts on the field
to fare amount. And again, I don't care what names
they are, but if we see more of those personnel
groupings and preseason, I'll be pretty excited.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, I think. I mean, you could line up in
a in a formation with six offensive linemen and four
tight ends or four rightouts and throw the football.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, I mean you could throw Jones are more as
your sixth tight end picket in empty with Austin Pickens,
Johnson and Robinson. I mean that looks like pass all
day long. You're gonna get dime. But the other thing,
no offense to ben picket can just that could be
quarterback draw quarterback draws, you know what I mean. If
(15:41):
you have a really light box, if you missed Fiver
six men box right right, he might just.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Be laking booting. He goes thirty yards right right right.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I mean, so the fact that you've a running quarterback
too really makes that difficult. And like an example I
used is like I know the Bills aren't on the schedule,
but more than any defense in the league there in nickel,
they're like four defense linemen, two linebackers used to be
Edmonds and Milano and five defensive backs. Well, if you're
playing the Bills and they're pretty darn committed to being
(16:09):
a nickel, well maybe you come out with three tight
ends in an extra line.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We're gonna bludget you and you get until you get
out of.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
This or the opposite. You know, you come out in
four wide when they should be in dime and they
don't make the adjustment, or both and see which works better.
That's more the crux of it is, we're just gonna
throw a lot of stuff at you early, and whatever
you don't handle, we're gonna stick with.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah. I think that's what gets a little bit overlooked
early in games when people talk about scripting plays, scripting
of plays. You're scripting plays not just to try to score,
obviously trying to score, but you want to see how
the defense reacts to what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I think that's the most important. I mean, if you
could give all the play calls in the league true serum.
I think that the scripted plays part is collecting data.
You know, like Sean paigea.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
When we go to three wides and they're all bunched
on the right side, right, here's what they right right right.
So then you come back to it in a third quarter.
You know what they're gonna do. You know how they're
gonna defend it. And now you've you've figured out the
adjustments you need to make off of that, maybe at
halftime or whatever. Yeah, Okay, when they when they show
us this, here's what we're gonna do so to.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Bring it back to the Steelers, and this isn't being critical.
This is the cards they had in their hand. They
were a heavy eleven personnel team, especially pre Claypool trade,
and then a heavy twelve personnel team after Claypool where
Gentry Snaps went up for Claypool. Yeah, and very quickly,
I'm sure the whole offensive coaching staff could be like, well,
if we're playing the Saints, the Browns, Bears, whoever this week,
(17:36):
they view our offense this way when we're in eleven.
They view their offense this way when we're in twelve.
So we immediately know what defensive players will be on
the field just for those two personnel groupings, let alone
the hundreds they can put out now or the fifty
they can put out now. So okay, you know that
you're getting dime versus one, you're getting nickel versus this,
(17:56):
or base nickel whatever, and then you start fiddling with, well,
what if we put both tight ends on the same
side or you know that type of things, and then
how do they adjust to it? I mean, so once
you gather all that data, then you can start saying, well,
they didn't practice this right, so they checked the cover too.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You know, going back to our discussion with Cole Holcomb yesterday,
that's how you end up with an inside linebacker matched
up on a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Happens in every game, every year, every game, right right right,
and it's it's a mismatch. That's why the offense coordinators
get paid too.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
That's why you're trying to scheme those things up. And
it happens to every team in the league, not just
the Steelers. It's far they sometimes get that matchup to
I can nobody ever creditsize. I remember when Chase Claypool
a couple of years ago against the Dolphins, I believe
it was heinz Field got matched up on their inside
linebacker down to seam for a touchdown. Yeah. Yeah, nobody
(18:47):
ever said anything about that, Like right right, he beat
their inside linebacker for a touchdown. It's their big, speedy
wide receiver and they matched up a linebacker.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
With all respect to Claypool, that's a play caller touchdown.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
That's a scheme touchdown that most receivers should win. That
or every receiver receivership basically win that. Assume it's protected,
right and all that good stuff, right, So yeah, I
mean it happens everybody, but now I'm really hoping. And
again that was the crux of the article is we
see a lot of different stuff than eleven and twelve.
You know, you could be much more diverse, much more diverse.
(19:23):
And there is something I've even said this in the
article too, like there is some credence to Lombardi runs
his swimp.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We're gonna do this'll get a fire right, right, right,
if you find something that they're not stopping, right, you
continue to I remember the game against the Bengals a
few years back where they did the the castro pulling
around left end and just bludgeoning Vonte's perfect time, like
sixth straight place right, stop it put it up on
the scoreboard.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You know, right, We're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We'll do it again. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
When I was a pit we used to throw fades
the Larry stop every time. You know, why would we not?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Everybody watching at home was calling, right.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So just you know here, this one's going up to Larry.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I was gonna say in that though.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So there can be too many. So there's the theory
of the best restaurants serve five things, right, they don't
have the cheesecake factory menu, you know what I mean,
Because everything's okay, but nothing's phenomenal. But I want to
see just from personnel groupings and expanded men.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You have to have your bread and butter and then
you expand off of that.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, and they didn't really didn't have the horses to
do it, especially post Claypool trade in Austin being injured
and you know, et cetera. But so I'm really excited
about that aspect of it too, and just watching these
guys run around at those positions, you know, even the
Calvin Austin's and Haywards and guys like that that aren't
going to get sixty snaps a game. They're useful NFL players.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Absolutely, absolutely, he is Matt Williamson. I am Dale. Allie.
You're listening to a special edition of The Drive here
on ESPN nine to seventy and Steelers Nation Radio. We
are live from the Steelers here on the South Side,
and we will be back with more right after this.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Black and Gold football leaves here twenty four to seven.
You're listening to SNH Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Welcome back to this special edition of the Drive here
on Steelers Nation Radio and ESPN nine to seventy. I'm
Dale Lallie. He is Matt Williamson, and we are live
at Steelers Ota Session number two. We'll be here until noon.
As I mentioned before, we'll be joined at the top
of the hour or sometime there soon after by Steelers
new cornerback Patrick Peterson. So looking forward to that. You
(21:40):
don't want to miss that, So stay right here, tuned
in with us. We will take you through all everything
that's going on here today. Matt, I did want to
talk about a little bit more, And I know it
seems like we're talking a lot about the offense, but
we should.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, we should. There's a lot of new additions. I mean,
they made some strides last year. They were super second
year quarterback. Why wouldn't we talk about it?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So the number ten ranked scoring offense in the league
last year, do you know who it was and what
they averaged? No? I didn't think that.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You I will, I will tip.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I will clue you in on that. Okay, it was
the Jacksonville Jaguars at twenty three point eight points per game.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
What I do know is I'm sure that's lower than
the normal.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
The tenth highest Yeah, twenty three point eight points per
game was number ten in the league last year.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Wow, so that's well above average. Yes, it's the top third.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, if you're looking for average, you're looking then down
into the around twenty one to twenty one and a
half point range. People that don't think that the Steelers
offense can do that, right, I mean, that's what they
averaged in the second half of the season last year.
So in their in their second half, they were like
twenty point nine or something like that, which would have
(22:53):
been twentieth in the league. If they do that over
the course of a season, and that was with an
offense that had two passing touchdowns, sure.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
For the season, which that number is going to go up, Yes,
you know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I mean Boswell is not going to miss as many
kicks as he did.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He'll have a higher percentage. Yeah, no question. Are they
over their red zone woes. I'm not willing to say that,
but I bet it's better than it was a year ago. Yeah,
I mean, but it could has room to be drastically better.
I mean, even if their league average is a red
zone team, the weaponry I think is better. I mean,
this time of year, everything looks rosy I mean it's
(23:28):
not going to be that great. I mean, everyone's not
going to get better and all those things. But the
line looks better. The quarterback I'm sure will be better
in his second season. And I think the weaponry and
all the options like we laid out in the first
hour are improved as well.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, for sure. And so I look at that and say,
you know, for example, to take a look at that
Jacksonville offense Trevor Lawrence in his second year. Yeah, they
averaged two hundred and thirty two point nine yards passing
per game and one hundred and twenty four point five
rushing yards per game. Okay, those numbers are doable for
this offense.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
They are, they are. I mean, I'm very impressed with Lawrence.
I thought he had a tremendous year. I thought he
made great strides after a disastrous, not his fault rookie season.
But that offense isn't loaded, you know what I mean.
I mean last year's version. I mean it's it's fine.
I mean Kirk and Jay Jones, I mean, are they
great Ingram They're fine. I mean the old line's a
(24:22):
little above average atn missed some time from what I remember,
and you know, it's not a phenomenal group. I would
probably even still take the Steelers other ten or supporting
cast over Jacksonville, certainly last year's version.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I look at some of those other teams that are
in that range in that So you had the Dolphins
at twenty three point four, they were eleventh.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
They're kind of an odd one though, Yeah, because with
him they were at the top of the league. Without them,
they were kind of a disaster. Yeah, third and fourth
three quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Ye had the Raiders at twenty three point two, Okay,
I mean that was pretty much a full season of
car Yeah, you had the Chargers at two twenty three
point zero. That's with Herbert.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
They're a good comparison actually, because they were two of
the worst offenses in the league in terms of explosive explosives.
You know, Herbert to me is a nearly elite quarterback,
but they had very little running game. Didn't you know,
convert on many deep shots or help him much. I
also think they were like the top of the league
and drop passes. I just happened to hear that the
(25:23):
other day, which again Herbert just was swimming upstream with
VI had around him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You had the Packers at twenty one point eight. That's
what Aaron Rodgers, that's Rodgers. Yeah, and they could run
the ball. They could run the ball. And Rodgers wasn't
the MVP form, you know is that final season in
Green Bay. But he's still pretty good football player. How
about this team, the Falcons at twenty one point five.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
That's actually a pretty good comparison.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, I mean, because they ran the heck out of
the ball and I average one hundred and fifty nine
point nine yards rushing per game.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I have mixed feelings about Ritter, but I thought Mariota
really really did not play well last year. Is a starter.
But they ran the ball like crazy and they scored
score points, you know, So that's a I think it's
even a paint by numbers, you know, a real lower
(26:14):
bar to here's.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yea, because they only average one hundred and fifty eight
point eight yards passing per game. Steelers are gonna be
better than now.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I say They're passing game should eclipse what the Falcons
were last easily. I mean easily easily. If they run
the ball as well as Atlanta did last year, that's
about as good as it gets in the league.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You know, and I do think Smith's a real good
play caller and all those things, but you should be
able to mimic that at a minimum.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
How about the Giants at twenty one point five. That's
another good one. Yeah. Yeah, they averaged one hundred and
forty eight point two yards rushing per game, which the
Steelers were at one forty six in the second half
of last year when they went seven and two. I mean,
when they average one hundred and eighty five point seven
yards passing per game, Okay, I a Steelers pass catchers
are far and away better than what the Giants.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
That's what I should say is we often, especially when
we start talking fantasy and things, laugh at the curse
that's on the wide receiver room. I mean, that was
as bad a group of wideouts and tight end when
you incorporate that as there was in the league last year,
and they still got to those numbers. Sure, they ran
the ball, and Barkley is a good player, he's a
really good player, but what was around him wasn't all that.
(27:19):
I'd rather have this group by one thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, the Patriots were a twenty one point four, but
there's a caveat there. They had like seven return touchdowns.
That's just the whole team. It's not the offensive. Yeah,
that one's Yeah. So you know, you look at their
offense as a whole, it wasn't good. You take those
pretty dysfunctional, you know, you take those seven touchdowns out
of the equation or even half of them, Yeah, a lot,
and they're under twenty. Yeah. You had the Browns at
(27:43):
twenty one point two. They had they average one hundred
and forty six point five yards rushing per game. They
averaged two hundred and two point six yards passing per game,
mostly with Persett, mostly with perse right, Like, I mean,
the the Watson, the Euro wasn't I look at this
Steelers offense, I think it's better than that. I mean
other than take you know, Chubbs in the equation. Yeah,
(28:05):
he's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, but I think this Steelers line that we're looking
at is nearing what the Browns played with last year.
Is one of the better lines out there. Not number one,
but I mean it's one of the better ones. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I don't have to squint real hard right right to
see where you know, the Steelers finished last year at
eighteen point one. That was they were atrocious early in
the season. They were averaging fourteen points a game early
in the year.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, they'd never dug out of that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So to get to get to eighteen point one, you
got to really start stacking some you know.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I mean that's what you're point agressive in some of
their other categories, like time of possession where they started
so bad and then ended up leading the league almost
you know, those type of things. But scoring points is
harder than possessing the football, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So if we look at last year's offensive numbers for
the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Just what they averaged, but real quick to say this
a second ago, like the offenses you just laid out
there when we went around the league. It's not the
Chiefs with Kelsey and right right, you know, I mean,
it's not elite even the Bengals with Chasing Higgins and
Burrough and mix it, and I mean they're not the
most talented offenses in the league we're comparing them to.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right. So last year, for the season, the Steelers averaged
two hundred point six yards passing per game. Take the
over or the under on that this year over over, okay, Yeah,
and they averaged one hundred and twenty one point nine
yards rushing per game. Go over under that. It's a
pretty nice number all in all. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I think I'll go over as well, but I'm being optimistic.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
So if we look at if we look at where
they were, So they were the Bears led the league
in rushing one hundred and seventy seven point three yards
per game, No surprise there the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
One of the things about that though, too, is they
could be losing by thirty and they're still going to can.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
They're going to run. That's all they had.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
So they're writing they're running against light boxes late in
games with a very talented rushing quarterback.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, and some of that's not even by design.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
He's just taking it right or they didn't block anybody,
so he just tucks it and runs.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
The Ravens were second and one hundred and sixty. Yeah,
there was a big again running quarterbacks. Yeah, the Falcons
just missed, but they were in third place one hundred
and fifty nine point nine. Okay. The Giants were one
forty eight point two. The Eagles were at one forty
seven point six. Again, another another running court. Yeah, Daniel
Jones is as well, Oh, he absolutely is. I mean
(30:22):
I think you ran for like five or six hundred
yards last year, maybe more. You had the Browns at
one forty six point five. They're just a good running game. Yeah,
they don't throw it particularly well.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
No they didn't.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
They did, Yeah they We'll see what that turns into.
The Bills were at one thirty nine point five, and
again that was about the quarterback six hundred that Yeah,
the forty nine Ers were one thirty eight point eight. Okay,
I get that.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, they just they're a really efficient offense.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
The Cowboys were at one thirty five point two, The
Panthers were at one thirty. The Lions were at one
twenty eight point two. Panthers were another one. That's all
they had at one point. So I look at so
the Steelers averaged one hundred and forty six yards rushing
per game in their final nine games last year. That
would put them just ahead of the Bills, right behind.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
The brown Over the course of something like that. Yeah, yeah,
you do that, You do that, you'll be in really
good shape.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And your offensive line is better this year. It is better.
And yeah, I mean you're gonna control the clock, you're
gonna put the other team, you're gonna you're gonna shorten
the game to the point where the other teams going
into the game going, well, we're not gonna get twelve
possessions in this game. We're gonna get nine and.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Nine right, right, and your defense is happier. Of course,
you hope you could incorporate play action and more deep
shots and lure people into the box, and picking even
takes more advantage of those situations or recognizes them better
as a second year player. Yeah, I mean I always
worry this time of year that you fall into the
optimism trap, you know, I mean, this is this is
(31:50):
the spring of you know, oternal optimism. Right, Everyone's gonna
get better, No one's gonna get hurt. All your draft
picks are gonna hit. You know, everyone coming back from
injury is gonna be fine. I mean, I mean this
across the league I've been for since I've been the media,
you know that this is draft until training camp is
the time of eternal optimism. Which good for the NFL.
They keep the fan bases really engaged. But I'm afraid
(32:10):
I am too optimistic about this offense because I really
like where they're at compared to three hundred and sixty
five days ago.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Sitting here doing the exact same show. Yeah, well, I
just I just know what we saw over the course
of that second half of the season, and you know
some of the games that they didn't score in. There was,
you know that game against the Raiders we just mentioned.
The Raiders had one of the top they were just
outside the top ten in offense. It's thirteen to ten
game because it was like minus seven freezing there. Like,
(32:38):
nobody was scoring a bunch of points in that game.
Patrick Mahomes isn't putting thirty on the board in that game.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, No, I mean that is another thing too. And
these small sample size sixteen seventeen game schedules or whatever.
If you're the Browns or the Bills or you know
New England, then you have three home games at the
end of the year. You're probably not going to score
as much as Arizona and San Francisco and you know Houston.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, some of the home teams or good weather teams. Right,
so you have to be built for that, which again
takes me back to the running right right right, Absolutely,
you better be able to run the football if you
play football in the Northeast and unless you live under
a rock, I don't think that the game plan is
going to change a whole heck of a lot, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I mean, they established something last year. Their offseason moves
imply they're not going to get away from being at
least a very physical team, starting with the run game.
And you know, the way we've described it a little
bit was trying to build a house. And in the
first half of the year it felt like.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
You're trying to put you trying to put walls up,
and they keep falling back down. You haven't built the foundation.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Right exactly, you know, and what where is our foundation?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You started with the roof.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
But the second half of the year, I think if
you build a story, someone to write a book someday
about the picket led offense or whatever, then it kind
of starts that Week nine. You know that there was
some concrete poard, there was a foundation built. Wasn't super pretty,
you know, the the windows needed painted still, and the
electricity was half installed and all that good stuff. But
(34:05):
the foundation was built last year, and this offseason might
really be the second floor of the house, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
What I mean. Yeah, you know, you look at the
Steelers as a whole. Last year they had thirty four
hundred yards passing. And you know I've seen and heard
some stuff out there. Well, if Pickett throws for three
thousand yards this year in nineteen touchdowns, that's a good year.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
No it is, No, it isn't.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
In thirty four hundred you go to ever, I mean,
two hundred yards are passing for him? Is not going
to be No, that's not okay. Yeah, I'm gonna be
okay with that. I'm not on board with that. No,
not at all.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I mean, I think you got to aim higher than that.
You gotta drive the ball down the field more. You
got to tack the middle of the field more. And
you could also you know, just because the numbers for
the run game and the pass game could both go up.
And that doesn't mean you're going to score a ton
more points. But I do think you need to two
hundred yards a game through the air.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
It is not nothing today's NFL. No, absolutely not. I mean,
if you start looking at the teams that that average
lesson that, it's it's a very short list.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Sure it's Atlanta, I'm sure at Chicago.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Chicago, Atlanta, Tennessee, Carolina, Baltimore, the Rams, the Giants, the Texans.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Those are the worst offenses out there or the ones
that can only run?
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, you know, absolutely, We're gonna take another break. Here
is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, i'let You're listening to
a special edition of The Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio,
live from the Steeler Ota Sessions here at the upmc
rooney Sports Complex. We'll be back with more right
Speaker 3 (35:29):
After this Black and Gold football leaves here twenty four
to C you're listening to SNR Steelers Nation Radio.
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