June 24, 2025 • 40 mins
The Blitz opens up the questions for an open-ended first hour as we get closer to July and Training Camp.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kueller and Moats are on the air. This is the
Steelers Blitz on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Gold. Skin are Steelers Nation Radio?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's going on? Steelers Nashoe Radio. It is high noon
on a Tuesday afternoon, and that can only mean one thing.
It is time to go inside the electric factory. Here
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold. It is the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers
Audio Network. Back with you after a great week of
vacation with the family, some sunshine, some good food, you know,
(01:00):
lack of sleep, with two young children going crazy the
whole time, all that good stuff that you expect on vacation.
Arthur Motes is out today himself. He will be back
later in the week. But for this Tuesday edition of
the Blitz. You've just got me good old Wesley Euler
here as we have still got plenty to get to
(01:21):
as the off season rolls along. We are now just
about a month away from training camp. Isn't that crazy?
I mean, it's June twenty fourth here today as we
record this episode of the Blitz and feels like you know,
I mean, the month of June is almost over into July.
July fourth will be here next week, right before you know,
before we almost even got some nice weather in the summer,
(01:44):
really going it's almost July fourth, and with that it
means we are getting closer and closer to training camp.
I am, of course excited and also anxious, right because
that's how it always works this time of year. Half
of me is very excited to get back to football
and the game that I love and the job that
I love and all these different things. And the other
half of me is like, wait a second, you're telling
(02:06):
me only got like four weeks before life gets wild again.
Wait a second, hold on, this has happening too fast,
But there is plenty going on. Got to talk a
little bit about Arthur Smith and this offense. I have
a couple free agent names that are still available out
there across the National Football League that I want to
discuss with you on this show today. I also have
(02:28):
a Craig Wolfley memory to share for you in our
number two. So, you know, like you would expect this
time of year, when there's it's really is the one
time of year that the Steelers in the NFL go quiet.
We got a bunch of different topics to touch on today.
But I'm actually gonna switch things up since we haven't
had a show, since we didn't have any shows last week,
since I was on vacation. We got a lot of
(02:51):
tweets and things from Mini camp from last week. We've
got kind of a backlog of a handful of tweets
and questions and stuff here that I want to make
sure that I have time to get to. So how
about this. We're going to start with a Twitter Tuesday today,
bang right out of the shoot. Most of the time,
all of our loyal listeners, you Power Grid and Mega Watts.
(03:13):
You know we tend to save the tweets for the
last segment of the show. Well, guess what, we ain't
going to pigeonhole you today. I got plenty of time,
you got plenty of questions. So we are going to
start with some tweets right off the top on this
thing to get us going on the show today with
some really good topics and some interesting questions that you
all sent in here as well. At Wesley Yuler is
(03:35):
where you can get at me on Twitter on x
if you'll want to get involved. And Nate is going
to lead us off here today Nate says, I have
two questions. Number one, what is one guy on offense
and one guy on defense that you think will have
a breakout season? Number two, who is one guy on
offense and one guy on defense that you think faces
the most pressure heading into the season. Good questions, Nate,
(03:59):
Good bigger picture stuff that we can spend. Obviously, again,
we got nothing but time and not a ton to
talk about in terms of day to day news, so
we can get into some more of these thirty thousand
foot view conversations as training camp and the real kind
of start of the season approaches us here, Like I said,
just about a month away. All right, let's start at
(04:20):
the top, Nate, one guy on offense and one guy
on defense that you think will have a breakout season. Well, obviously,
this one's very clear to anybody with a brain. It's
Zach Frasier and Beanie Bishop. No, I'm just kidding. I mean,
come on, one led the team in interceptions, the other
was their best rookie. What do you mean breakout seasons,
They're already They've already arrived. Actually, funny enough, I do
(04:42):
want to talk a little bit later on in the
show about some potential moving and shaking and options in
the secondary that would affect Beanie Bishop or at least
give him some competition in training camp. But we'll get
to that later on. So wouldn't be fair to say
Zach Fraser breakout season when he's already on most of
(05:05):
these lists as a top five, some even top have
him as a top three center in the National Football League.
Already one guy on each side of the ball that
I think will have a breakout season. Let's start on
the offensive side of the football. And I don't know,
maybe this one's kind of cheating a little bit because
we barely saw him last year, but I expect great
(05:25):
things from Troy Faltanu. I think that there is a
quiet belief in that organization, in that locker room that
sooner rather than later, he could be their best offensive lineman.
As high as everybody is on Zach Fraser, and I
think particularly everyone agrees at this point, the floor on
(05:48):
Zach Fraser seems very high. Right, Like, worst case scenario,
He's gonna be a very good player for the Steelers
for a decade. Best case scenario, you know, he could
be one of the best center in the league for
a decade. Troy Faltanu. We don't know what the floor
is because we haven't seen a big enough of a
sample size, but I think his ceiling could be one
(06:10):
of the best tackles in the league, and that is
just more valuable than having one of the best centers
in the league. From a position value standpoint, you all
get what I'm saying there, Having a elite quarterback is
more valuable than having an elite middle linebacker. It's just
the nature of the positions. So having an elite tackle
is more valuable than having an elite center. But I
(06:32):
think we could look up a few months from now.
I think we could look up a year from now
and Troy Faltonu and Zach Frasier are both perennial All
pros Pro bowlers, amongst the best at their position and
amongst the best to do it in the league. So again,
I don't know, if you know, breakout season that's usually
from somebody like a Darnell Washington might be what you
(06:54):
would typically get as an answer, you know, maybe even
someone like Calvin Austin, who we saw in Spurts last year,
but could he really take a step forward this year?
I mean, there's a lot of viable candidates on this offense,
because there's a lot of young players on this offense.
You know, you get rid of DK me, you take
DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers and I guess now right,
(07:15):
Pat Fryarmouth as well too, as he's well into his career.
You take some of these guys off the table. It's
really an offense, particularly on the offensive line and in
a lot of the playmaker positions, that is dealing with
a lot of young talent. Could you say Jalen Warren
or is he technically past that point? Because I think
we all believe that he can be a very good
running back in this league. But Jalen Warren would belong
(07:38):
in the conversation. Someone like Roman Wilson would belong in
the conversation, Darnell Wright, you could talk about Mason McCormick
as well, certainly. Heck, maybe even Broderick Jones in this
conversation as well too. There's a lot of viable candidates
for that offense. I think I'm gonna go with Troy
Foutanu though, because I just I there is a quiet confidence,
(08:02):
a quiet belief when you're around this team that he's
just not going to be good, but that he's going
to be really stinking good, maybe even great. So I'll
go with him on offense on defense. A couple that
come to mind. Peyton Wilson was the first one. I
think he's gonna have a lot more. I think they
really liked what they saw from him his rookie season
(08:23):
and they're ready to put a lot more on his
plate this year. I think it's gonna be the unquestioned
Pat Queen number one, Peyton Wilson number two in the
middle of that defense, and he's gonna get a lot
of snaps. I think Joey Porter Junior is another one
in this defensive breakout season. He's had two good years
(08:44):
as a start to his career. I think he didn't
quite take the leap forward last season that a lot
of people were hoping for. But I also don't think
that he regressed or plateaued or anything like that. I
think he had a lot of tough assignments, a lot
of zone matchups where he's more of a Manda man. Guys,
they were trying to do some things to accommodate Dante
(09:05):
Jackson's skill set. Part of me, Dante Johnson's no Dante Jackson.
I got that Deontay Johnson and Dante Jackson try. They
were doing more zone concepts in that secondary on that defense,
running more zone to accommodate Dante Jackson and his skill set.
But I think it'll swing back the opposite this way,
and with the addition of Darius Slay to compliment what
(09:28):
Joey Porter Junior does best, which is more Manda man football.
So I think he could really have a solid season
as well too. Those were the first ones that came
to mind for me. But I love what we're gonna
see from Peyton Wilson. I think we're gonna see a
real step forward from Joey Porter Junior as he gets
more comfortable with what they're asking him to do as well.
(09:48):
I think those are two good answers for me. On
the defense, Keanu Benton might be another one of those.
Has had two good, solid years, but can he really
break out? Can he really take off? Because we know
he has the skill set and the tools to do so,
you know, Could it be a guy like a Demarvin
Leal or an Isaiah Laudermilk who finally really bursts onto
(10:10):
the scene. Could it be someone like Nick herbig and
again rookies you kind of want to leave out of
this conversation in terms of the Derek Harmon's and the
Jack Sawyers and the Caleb Johnson's, Like we want these
guys to get a footing first. And that's why I
even felt kind of weird, you know, bringing up guys
like Troy Faltanu or Roman Wilson. Heck, Logan Lee would
(10:31):
be another really good one to have in this conversation
on this list for the defensive side of the football.
Not quite to the same ultimate ceiling first round pick
like Troy Futanu was. But I also think there's that
same quiet confidence of hey, a lot of people are
forgotten about Logan Lee because he spent his rookie season injured.
We think this guy is gonna be pretty stinking good
and be a real contributor for us. I got a
(10:52):
lot of those kind of vibes and confidence when I
was down at the facility for three weeks for OTA's
in mini camp as well too. Again, Troy Fultonu to
a different level, that's the reason why he was a
first round pick and Logan Lee was a Day three pick.
But I think they have kind of that same energy
about Logan Lee that you know he got stashed for
a year. Mentally he's ahead of a typical rookie. You
(11:13):
know he's ready to take off here in year number two.
But for my final can only give you one answer
for each side of the football. Don't do the easy
way out coach speak radio gasbag thing. I'll go with
Troy Faltanu and Peyton Wilson would be my answers for
one breakout guy on offense, one breakout guy on defense.
(11:36):
Question number two from Nate, who is one guy on
offense and defense that you think faces the most pressure
heading into the season. So this is another great one.
This is another, i think, very open ended one. Do
you go with pressure in the sense of someone like
Aaron Rodgers, who is a four time MVP of Super
Bowl champion, one of the best to ever do it,
unquestioned Hall of famer, But you know that he feels
(11:58):
the pressure of wanting to re write that narrative at
the end of his career. He doesn't want to go
out on a sour note like he did with the Jets.
He wants to go out with double digit wins and
division titles and postseason appearances. So I think there's pressure
on Aaron Rodgers in that sense, while again, overall thirty
thousand foot view, his legacy is already secured. Or do
(12:22):
you go with I think the very obvious answer of
somebody like Broderick Jones. After this season, the team's gonna
have to decide on his fifth year option. Can he
prove that he can be that long term tackle that
they drafted him to be in a year where he's
also going to be full time moving to the left side,
switching over from that move from the right that he
has primarily played over the last two seasons. Those feel
(12:45):
like the two very easy answers on offense, right, I mean,
you know, I think there's some pressure on Pat Fryermuth.
There's some pressure on all those offensive linemen to take
a step forward. There's some pressure on Jalen Warren to
prove that he can be the guy and hold off
Kaylee Johnson. You know, there's pressure on guys like Roman
Wilson and Calvin Austin to prove that they belong. Robert
(13:06):
Woods to prove that he could still do it. I mean,
there's there's nobody in the NFL that really plays without pressure, right,
I mean they all at some point, even for someone
has accomplished as DK Metcalf, it's okay, how great can
you really be? But it feels like Broderick Jones is
the easiest answer. Aaron Rodgers kind of in his own
(13:27):
different way, like I laid out there where his legacy
is ironclad, but we also always remember the end of
Guy's tenures and he wants that to be a much
better memory for himself and for the general public than
what transpired the last two years in New York. It's
got to I mean, it's got to be Roderck Jones though,
right because he's got to protect that future Hall of
(13:49):
Fame quarterback. He's got to be the final kind of
piece of that offensive line coming all together, that anchor
on the left side, and he's the one who you know,
the Steelers are gonna have to make it decision about
that fifth year option after he completes this third season
defense that faces the most pressure heading into the season.
You know what, I think you could easily say, Beanie
(14:12):
Bishop in this regard burst onto the scene last year
really good. In the first half of the season, Cam
Sutton came back. We didn't see a ton of him
didn't have the same impact in the back half of
the season. Can can can Beanie Bishop stick on as
this team's nickel or could they go shopping? Could they
bring in some other guys? Hey, Mike Hilton still a
(14:35):
free agent. Could you have a reunion with somebody like that?
Could you do some things with you know, the three
safety tandem of Minca and Elliott and Thornhill. That would
push Beanie Bishop, you know, to the backburner. I do
think there's a lot of pressure heading on him that
that defense has so many secure spots, right, and again
(14:56):
there's there's always pressure on these guys. But Ta Watt
and Alex Highsmith and Patrick Queen, then Cam Hayward and
Keanu Benton and Derek Harmon and Joey Porter Junior and
Darius Slay and Minka Fitzpatrick. I mean, they're all kind
of set in their roles and their positions. Maybe a
Peyton Wilson too belongs in this one as well, to
(15:19):
just prove that he can really take that step forward.
But man, it might be Beanie Bishop if they're looking
to upgrade, you know, on offense, we talk about upgrading
to wide receiver, we talk about adding a tight end.
You know, particularly now that Parnhum is gone for the season,
we talk about maybe adding another tackle for insurance. Now
(15:39):
that you don't have Dan Moore, you don't have that
luxury of having three tackles that you feel like are
NFL starters. But on defense, when you talk about adding
to that defense, it's very quickly. The nickelback conversation, you
liked some of what you saw from Beanie, but it
was in a small sample size. He's an undrafted guy.
Can he prove that he can do it again? That's
(16:03):
it might be the undrafted second year guy who actually
has the most pressure on him on this defense because
a lot of other pieces of that defense feel like
they're already established. Maybe again, Joey Porter Junior. You know
he's gonna be in contract time this next offseason as
well too. You know, his four year deal is a
second round pick. There. He's in the heading into the
(16:24):
third season. So if they're gonna extend him before he
hits free agency, it will be this time next year. Offseason.
Next year. Yeah, funny enough, I think there's one guy
on that offense who really has to sing for part
of me. One guy on that defense who is really
going to camp proven that he belongs to be the starter,
(16:47):
and that's Beanie Bishop, because I think the rest of
the starting spots are pretty solidified. A lot of the
other rotation is, you know, just they're gonna have to
figure out what exactly the usage of all these guys are.
But in terms of the pecking order, there's not nearly
as many questions at the other positions as there is
at the slot corner back position. Great questions from Nate
there to get us started. We'll keep going with this
(17:09):
Twitter Tuesday. Got a couple more to get to as
we roll along. Ian's already now it's a Steelers Blitz
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
This is the Steelers Blitz with Wesley Euler and Arthur
Motes on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold sn R.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Back on the Blitz here, as we roll along on
what has turned into a Twitter Tuesday, Yan's got questions,
I am feeling slightly lazy, and I've got answers. It's
the perfect combination for our number one little two winter
a Tuesday. Almost stumbled over my words today. Let's try
that again, little Twitter Tuesday. Listen, I know It's technically
called x now, but that doesn't roll off the tongue
(18:01):
as nicely as Twitter Tuesday or Twitter Thursday or anything
like that. So we're just gonna roll with it. You
know where to get at me if you want to
get involved, It's at Wesley Yuler on Twitter on x
Annie tweets here and says, what is one thing you
feel the team needs to improve this season? What is
one thing or what one thing do you feel needs
to improve this season and won't What is one thing
(18:25):
that is likely to be worse? I will ask these
same questions again after preseason is done, to get your thoughts.
All right, I'm digging this again, some bigger picture questions here.
A lot of different ways I think to go with
this one. So let's start at the top from Anny,
what do you feel the team needs to improve most
this season? So there's a lot of there's a lot
(18:47):
of viable answers for this. We can talk a lot
about how they need to be better in terms of
average yards per carry in the run game, and we've
done that here on the Blitz. If you listen to
the shows that I did with Matt Williamson throughout OTAs
in Mini camp. We talked a lot about that. If
you're going to be a team that predicates itself on
(19:08):
running the football, which even with Aaron Rodgers, I think
the Steelers obviously not to the same extreme as they
were last year, but will still be I think one
of the teams in the NFL that runs the football
the most. You have to be more efficient at running
the football. Steelers average four yards four point one yards
per carry this season. That's towards the bottom of the league.
(19:28):
You gotta get to four point three to four point four.
That doesn't seem like a huge difference on the surface,
but over the course of four hundred some carries, five
hundred rushes throughout the regular season, that makes a huge difference.
Over the course of the game. That might mean sixteen, seventeen, eighteen,
nineteen extra rushing yards. That might mean two more first downs.
(19:49):
That might mean a couple extra minutes of possession, a
handful less snaps for your defense. All this stuff matters
on a large scale. Running the football on first down
or part of me running the football more efficiently, is
something that we talked a lot about over the last
month or so. Same with red zone conversion percentage, the
(20:12):
Steelers last year. I think it was like forty six
or forty eight percent of the time scored a touchdown
when they got to the red zone. That's not nearly
good enough. The team's the best teams in the league
do it in the high sixties, low seventies, and so
you've got to at least be pushing sixty percent. You know,
you've got to at least be in the high fifties.
That's where kind of the Mendoza line is. Like the Chiefs,
(20:35):
despite being one of the best teams in the NFL
for the last handful of years, they're not typically great
in the red zone, but they're at least league average,
which is again, you know, fifty six fifty seven percent.
You got to get better in the red zone in
terms of efficiency. You got to get better in the
run game in terms of efficiency. But I think one
thing that the team really needs to improve this year
(20:55):
is their start. And I know it is funny this
time of year, it feels like we all talk about
a lot of the same things. And so I know
my buddies Matt Williamson and dal Laali have been talking
about this because I've seen Matt tweeting about it a bunch,
which I know means that they've been talking about it.
But last year, in twenty twenty four, in the first
(21:16):
quarter of games, the Steelers scored an average of two
point seven points. They allowed an average of six point
six points. That's twenty ninth out of thirty two teams
in terms of scored. That's last in terms of allowed.
The Steelers average first point quarter point differential was the
(21:37):
worst in the National Football League thirty two out of
thirty two teams, nearly four points down on average in
the first quarter. The Bears the Giants were the other
teams right there with them. Now, if you look at
the teams that had the best first quarter point differential,
the Packers, the Vikings, the Buccaneers, those teams all made
(21:58):
the playoffs. Those teams other than the Packers, the Vikings
and the Buccaneers won their division, and the Packers were
of course in the toughest division last year with the
Lions and the Vikings, you know, the teams that had
the two best records in the NFC. And I know, okay,
three points four points that doesn't seem like a massive difference. Again, though,
over the course of an entire season, seventeen games. When
(22:22):
you are on average down four points at the end
of the first quarter, that's a big deal. That changes
what you want to do on offense. That makes it
harder to be more aggressive on defense because the opposing
offense can be more conservative with a lead. That gives
you obviously a much less room for air as it
relates to turnovers and chunk plays and things of that nature.
(22:46):
This is an area where the Steelers, as much as
we've talked about the run game, rightfully, so inefficiency there.
As much as we've talked about the red zone, rightfully,
so inefficiency there. And you know what, the run defense
for the Steelers as well too. That's a troubling stat
for the Pittsburgh Steelers, particularly win Again, we know how
this team is built. They want to run the football,
(23:07):
they want to control the clock. They want to keep
their defense fresh on the sideline so they can unleash
TJ and Alex and Cam and those guys to go
hunt quarterbacks in the fourth quarter. You can't do any
of that when you're down. You can't run the football
as effectively as you want because you're playing from behind.
You can't go hunt the other team's quarterbacks because they're
(23:28):
playing with a lead, they're not being as aggressive through
the air. This is a Pittsburgh Steelers team. Listen. I
get a laugh sometimes when people around the NFL say
those guys aren't built to play from behind. Nobody is
really in the NFL. There's no head coach and general
manager that are sitting there during the offseason, throughout the
free agency process or the draft process and they go, hey,
(23:49):
you know what we need. How do we add some
guys here who are gonna help us when we're trailing
by six points in the fourth quarter. You know, you're
not building your team to play from behind. You bil
your team to be the best that it can be.
But you also, you know, when you're the Cincinnati Bengals
and you've got Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T Higgins,
it's a little bit easier to air that thing out
(24:10):
and get down the field and score quickly when you
got Mahomes, when you got Josh Allen, when you have
the weapons like Baltimore has as opposed to you know,
teams like the Steelers and maybe the Detroit Lions and
maybe even the Philadelphia Eagles, the Super Bowl champions that
want to control the clock a little bit more, want
(24:30):
to run the football a little bit more. So as
much as I laugh when I say when I hear
people a lot of times say they're not a team
that's built to play from behind, because nobody is, but
I also do understand the nuance in there of the
Steelers don't have an offense like Cincinnati or like Baltimore.
So when that's the case, this isn't even more I
(24:52):
think damning or troubling stat if you will, it's something
they got to get right. And all these things I
think work in concert together. If you're more effective and
efficient in the red zone, you're scoring touchdowns as opposed
to settling for field goals. If you are better and
more efficient in the run game, you're extending drives in
the first quarter, you're keeping your defense off the field,
(25:14):
you're scoring points. But that's something that has really popped
up in Steelers circles this week that I think is
a really good and fair conversation. One thing that needs
to improve this season and likely won't. Man, that's a
good big play explosives from the offense as we sit
(25:36):
here right now, because I do think you'll get a
little bit more in the run game because Jalen Warren
and Caleb Johnson are more built for explosive plays than
Najie Harris was, without a doubt, and this offensive line
should they better take a step forward. But I'm really
(25:57):
worried about the explosive plays in the past game. Still
I believe in Pat Fryarmuth, but that's not necessarily his game.
I would like to see Darnell Washington get more involved.
That's not his game. A forty fifty yard reception, thirty
yard reception down the field. Those guys Pat Fryarmuth can
(26:18):
but but they're not. They don't have a long track
record of, you know, taking a fifteen yard gate and
turning it into a forty yard game. DK Metcalf does,
but he's really about the only one on the offense
at this point. Aaron Rodgers will certainly help in this regard,
but it just While I do think the offense will
be better, I think the wide receiver group is about
(26:41):
the same but slightly better. With DK Metcalf as your
number one in his proven production instead of George Pickens.
I think the run game should improve with the offensive
line with what they have in Caleb Johnson and Jaylen Warren,
but there's just not a lot of game breaking ability
on that offense. There's a lot of we can slow
(27:04):
and steady and and bully our way down the football field, certainly,
but there's a not a lot of There's not a
lot of here comes a forty to fifty sixty yard gain.
Here comes Lamar Jackson on a seventy yard scamper. Here
comes Jamar Chase seventy five yards on a slant. Yeah.
(27:25):
That that that feels like, you know, here's here's and
I think we will see some of that from DK Metcalf.
I think he'll take some what should be a fourteen
yard gain and turn it into a forty yard gain.
But I still think, like I would like to have
some more explosives on this offense. I felt confident that
(27:45):
we would have it when George Pickens was still in
the fold, and they obviously will and certainly can maybe
I said that backwards, they can and I think certainly
will add another wide receiver. But I'm I'm I'm a
little concerned about that. You know, along with some of
the things that I just mentioned there, the red zone efficiency,
the run game efficiency, and the first quarter performance, and
(28:10):
then what is one thing that I think will likely
be worse. You know, this is a good question. I
right now, I think depth on the offensive line is worse.
You know, last year, at this time, Fraser still wasn't
a starter. You had three tackles in Broderick Jones, Dan
Moore and Troy Faltanu. You had some more pedigree depth
(28:33):
and a fourth round pick in Mason McCormick. But then
all of a sudden you lost Nate Herbig, who I
think we all think Zach Fraser would have taken over
for eventually, but Nate is a capable guy in this
league and would have been excellent to still have as
a depth piece. When you started to get hit with
(28:55):
some injuries at center and at guard, Mason McCormick, James
Daniels goes down early in the season, Here goes Mason McCormick.
All of a sudden, some of that, you know, you
felt like you had you were gonna have two nice
depth pieces on the interior. They both became starters. You
felt like you would have a solid depth piece at tackle.
Troy Faltanu is out and all of a sudden Projick
(29:16):
is back on the right, and Dan Moore is your
guy on the left. Last year you lost three pieces
of that offensive line. Fortunately you had some very capable
replacements this year. I think we feel better about the
starting group, but you certainly don't have that depth behind
(29:37):
them like you did last year, whether it was gonna
be Herberg or Fraser, whether it was gonna be McCormick,
whether it was gonna be Broderick Jones or Troy Faltanu.
Like you had some real talented pedigree and in Nate
Herberg's case, proven depth, whereas now that's all gone. You
need those guys to be healthy and you need them
to perform, because I think the depth is certainly worse there.
(30:02):
All right, we are rolling baby. A couple more tweets
here in the first hour of the program to close
down kind of this Twitter Tuesday start, much like McDonald's
I am loving it. A couple more here to get
to as we roll along. As we close down the
first hour of the show on Wes Shuler, you're listening
to the Steelers Blitz on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
This is the Steelers Blitz with Wesley Euler and Arthur
Motes on your twenty four to seven, Home of the
Black and Goals scan R.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Final segment here of the first hour, as we are
getting back into the groove of bang as I'll tell
you what enjoyed a week of vacation last week. I'll
have one more in the middle of July, right before
training camp before things really get going. And you have
all made this very easy with a lot of great
(31:14):
questions over the last week or so that we're having
some fun, starting off with a little Twitter Tuesday on
today's program at Wesley Yuler. If you want to get
involved here, we have got a let's see two more
here that we'll get to in this hour before we transition.
In hour number two. The first one here comes from Andrew,
who tweets and says, guys, the New York Jets owner
(31:36):
Woody Johnson just agreed to buy Crystal Palace. Of course,
for those of you not familiar, Crystal Palace is an
English Premier League team, okay, so the top soccer league
in England. They are a team based out of London.
They just won the FA Cup, pretty big deal this
past season. So New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has
(31:57):
agreed let me see here I pulled up the numbers
on a two hundred and fifty four million dollar deal
to buy forty three percent of the Premier League team
Crystal Palace, announced by the club on Monday. So Andrew says, gentlemen,
if you could buy a stake in any professional team,
who would it be? So I'm assuming you mean any
(32:18):
professional team in any sport, Andrew and it is funny.
I feel like I feel like we get this question
like once or twice a year anytime there's a big
sale of a team, like who did this? I feel
like this just happened a few months ago with I
don't know a hockey team or a baseball team that
got sold. I'm drawing a blank on the spot right now,
of course, but where someone tweeted us and was like,
(32:39):
if you had the money, what team would you buy?
And you know, MoES always gives answers like, you know,
the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees because he's
so fancy. I always give answers like Manchester United or
the Pittsburgh Penguins because they're you know, I think, other
than the Steelers, the only professional sports teams that I
(33:01):
really care about. Yeah, I like the Pirates, and I
would love to see the Pirates do well and win
a World Series in my lifetime. But you know, thirty
four years of being born and raised in this region
has left me more than numb and more than apathetic
as it relates to Major League Baseball and certainly the
professional team here in Pittsburgh who has done nothing but
(33:22):
let me down for now going on four decades of
my life. But the Steelers obviously have to remain with
the Rooneys forever because that's just the case. So give
me the Penguins, give me Manchester United, those would be
the two that would be fun. I like basketball. I
don't have an NBA team, there's been. You know, my
dad is from Chicago, so I obviously grew up as
(33:44):
a child of Jordan. And you know, my dad was
a huge Bulls fan in the nineties when I was
growing up, So there was a period of time when
I would have considered myself a Bulls fan. There was
a period of time where I was living in Philadelphia
for three years that I would have probably considered myself
a Sixers fan because they felt like the one team
in Philly that I could kind of root for and
not feel gross about. I mean, I was never gonna
(34:06):
root for the Flyers, my most hated team in all
of professional sports, number two on my hate list, only
behind that university located in the Oakland District of Pittsburgh. Uh,
you know, Phillies and Eagles kind of whatever. But like,
I like the Steelers, and I liked I wish I
liked the Pirates, So the Sixers were kind of the
(34:29):
one Philly team. And my wife loves basketball and loves
the Sixers, and we had a friend who worked in
the ticket office, so we would go to five or
six games a year and they were a lot of fun.
So I do think owning an NBA team would be fun.
You know, a team like Chicago or Boston or the
New York Nicks, or you know, like a in an
(34:49):
area where they really love basketball. The Indiana Pacers, I
think would be a lot of fun. But yeah, my
answer to this one, I know it's kind of cheating
because they're, like I said, the only other two professional
sports teams that I care about other than the Steelers.
But if I could buy any professional sports team, it
would be the Pens or it would be Manchester United.
(35:10):
I think it would be Manchester United arguably the biggest
franchise club team brand in the world. I mean, they're
like on the short list with the Yankees and Real
Madrid and the Cowboys. Steelers aren't far behind, to be fair,
but yeah, I mean owning Manchester United would be insane.
(35:30):
The scale of it, the weight and magnitude of it.
And just because I consider myself a supporter also the Pens.
You know what too, though, Like I'm really milking this one,
But you guys got me thinking because, like I said,
the New York Knicks, I think there would be a
lot of fun. I think it'd be a lot of
fun to take a storied franchise in any sport. The
Pirates would fit into this category that's really struggled for
(35:53):
a long time because if you were the owner that
finally got them back, like if you were the owner
of the Knicks when they finally win a championship again,
if you were the owner of the Pirates or the
Toronto Maple Leafs or the Buffalo Bills, you know, somebody
like that, when they finally win a championship again, you'd
be a legend forever. You'd be like the Rooney family
(36:14):
is in Pittsburgh. They'd have statues of you for bringing
back the good times that their organizations haven't seen in
forty fifty sixty years. So that might be a good
answer to like, imagine being the owner that finally brings
the Nicks another title. Imagine being the owner that finally
gets the Toronto maple leafs back on the Stanley Cup.
(36:36):
I mean that, would you know, be insane, you know,
like you'd be like the Steinbrenner's and Henry's with the
Yankees and the Celtics. You'd be like the Rooney family.
I mean you would. You would live forever in a
lot of ways. So there's my answer. Let's see here.
Last one from Kelly tweets us and says thoughts on
(36:57):
Governor Shapiro and his recent comments on stadiums for the
Eagles and the Steelers. So yeah, I had to pull
this one up. I know what you're talking about, Kelly.
I know that the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, was
asked about the Eagles and the Steelers and some stadium
needs and some public funding. The Steelers lease expires in
(37:17):
twenty thirty. The Eagles lease expires in twenty thirty. Two.
Both stadiums opened around the same time. I know that.
You know, the Hinz Field was two thousand and one,
the Link was two thousand and three, so they are
on very similar timelines in that regard. I do think
most of what he said was more about the Eagles
than it was the Steelers, of course, because you know,
(37:40):
Governor Shapiro is always focused on Philadelphia. That's why the
new signs all across the state have the Liberty Bell
on them, even three hundred and fifty miles away over here,
gov Where we don't give a rip about no Liberty belt.
Sorry sorry, sorry, but yeah, I really have no I
got nothing for you on that. I am not very
(38:02):
verse to that. I know a lot of people think
that billionaire owners should build their own stadiums and not
use city you know, me and you tax paid money.
I also think there's some very valid arguments on the
other side, in terms of the revenue and the attention
that the events that you can hold at these things
other than Steelers and Eagles games, you know, concerts, races,
(38:27):
things like the World Cup and Olympics and stuff like
that obviously bring a value. So I'm not nearly smart
enough for savvy enough politically and economically to really have
an opinion on this. I realize that both of those
stadiums are twenty something years old and getting to the
(38:50):
point where they're gonna need upgrades. I've been to both
of those stadiums many times, uh, and I don't think
they need you know, I'm not looking at it like
it's three Stadium or the Vet out in Philly and
when they hit thirty years they're completely a waste in
a dump and they're gonna need replaced. I'm sure I
think both can last for another long time. They're gonna
(39:11):
need some upgrades, some faceless lift stuff, absolutely, But again,
I'm not nearly verse enough politically or economically to give
you a real opinion on about how all of that
should shake down. But I am obviously also smart enough
and not ignorant enough to be aware that that's a
real debate and conversation about how all that funding should go,
(39:32):
but one that is just slightly above my pay grade.
I will say this though, no matter what, I don't
see these Steelers or the Eagles leaving their cities. It's
not gonna be an Oakland Athletics type situation. You know,
You've seen some some teams move into Vegas recently, whether
it be baseball or hockey. You know, you saw the
(39:52):
Arizona Coyotes move to Utah because of disagreements like that. Heck,
you know, twenty years ago there were a lot of
these same conversations around the Penguins and it was harder
for them to get funding in things like that in approval.
I don't think that's going to be the case for
Philadelphia in Pittsburgh as it relates to their football teams
and their football stadiums, which are not just a way
of life in those areas, their stinking religion. One hour
(40:16):
in the books, another hour to go. You know where
to get at me if you want to get involved.
It is the Steelers' Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network
Kueller and Moats are on the air. This is the
Steelers Blitz on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Gold. Skin are Steelers Nation Radio?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's going on? Steelers Nashoe Radio. It is high noon
on a Tuesday afternoon, and that can only mean one thing.
It is time to go inside the electric factory. Here
on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
and Gold. It is the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers
Audio Network. Back with you after a great week of
vacation with the family, some sunshine, some good food, you know,
(01:00):
lack of sleep, with two young children going crazy the
whole time, all that good stuff that you expect on vacation.
Arthur Motes is out today himself. He will be back
later in the week. But for this Tuesday edition of
the Blitz. You've just got me good old Wesley Euler
here as we have still got plenty to get to
(01:21):
as the off season rolls along. We are now just
about a month away from training camp. Isn't that crazy?
I mean, it's June twenty fourth here today as we
record this episode of the Blitz and feels like you know,
I mean, the month of June is almost over into July.
July fourth will be here next week, right before you know,
before we almost even got some nice weather in the summer,
(01:44):
really going it's almost July fourth, and with that it
means we are getting closer and closer to training camp.
I am, of course excited and also anxious, right because
that's how it always works this time of year. Half
of me is very excited to get back to football
and the game that I love and the job that
I love and all these different things. And the other
half of me is like, wait a second, you're telling
(02:06):
me only got like four weeks before life gets wild again.
Wait a second, hold on, this has happening too fast,
But there is plenty going on. Got to talk a
little bit about Arthur Smith and this offense. I have
a couple free agent names that are still available out
there across the National Football League that I want to
discuss with you on this show today. I also have
(02:28):
a Craig Wolfley memory to share for you in our
number two. So, you know, like you would expect this
time of year, when there's it's really is the one
time of year that the Steelers in the NFL go quiet.
We got a bunch of different topics to touch on today.
But I'm actually gonna switch things up since we haven't
had a show, since we didn't have any shows last week,
since I was on vacation. We got a lot of
(02:51):
tweets and things from Mini camp from last week. We've
got kind of a backlog of a handful of tweets
and questions and stuff here that I want to make
sure that I have time to get to. So how
about this. We're going to start with a Twitter Tuesday today,
bang right out of the shoot. Most of the time,
all of our loyal listeners, you Power Grid and Mega Watts.
(03:13):
You know we tend to save the tweets for the
last segment of the show. Well, guess what, we ain't
going to pigeonhole you today. I got plenty of time,
you got plenty of questions. So we are going to
start with some tweets right off the top on this
thing to get us going on the show today with
some really good topics and some interesting questions that you
all sent in here as well. At Wesley Yuler is
(03:35):
where you can get at me on Twitter on x
if you'll want to get involved. And Nate is going
to lead us off here today Nate says, I have
two questions. Number one, what is one guy on offense
and one guy on defense that you think will have
a breakout season? Number two, who is one guy on
offense and one guy on defense that you think faces
the most pressure heading into the season. Good questions, Nate,
(03:59):
Good bigger picture stuff that we can spend. Obviously, again,
we got nothing but time and not a ton to
talk about in terms of day to day news, so
we can get into some more of these thirty thousand
foot view conversations as training camp and the real kind
of start of the season approaches us here, Like I said,
just about a month away. All right, let's start at
(04:20):
the top, Nate, one guy on offense and one guy
on defense that you think will have a breakout season. Well, obviously,
this one's very clear to anybody with a brain. It's
Zach Frasier and Beanie Bishop. No, I'm just kidding. I mean,
come on, one led the team in interceptions, the other
was their best rookie. What do you mean breakout seasons,
They're already They've already arrived. Actually, funny enough, I do
(04:42):
want to talk a little bit later on in the
show about some potential moving and shaking and options in
the secondary that would affect Beanie Bishop or at least
give him some competition in training camp. But we'll get
to that later on. So wouldn't be fair to say
Zach Fraser breakout season when he's already on most of
(05:05):
these lists as a top five, some even top have
him as a top three center in the National Football League.
Already one guy on each side of the ball that
I think will have a breakout season. Let's start on
the offensive side of the football. And I don't know,
maybe this one's kind of cheating a little bit because
we barely saw him last year, but I expect great
(05:25):
things from Troy Faltanu. I think that there is a
quiet belief in that organization, in that locker room that
sooner rather than later, he could be their best offensive lineman.
As high as everybody is on Zach Fraser, and I
think particularly everyone agrees at this point, the floor on
(05:48):
Zach Fraser seems very high. Right, Like, worst case scenario,
He's gonna be a very good player for the Steelers
for a decade. Best case scenario, you know, he could
be one of the best center in the league for
a decade. Troy Faltanu. We don't know what the floor
is because we haven't seen a big enough of a
sample size, but I think his ceiling could be one
(06:10):
of the best tackles in the league, and that is
just more valuable than having one of the best centers
in the league. From a position value standpoint, you all
get what I'm saying there, Having a elite quarterback is
more valuable than having an elite middle linebacker. It's just
the nature of the positions. So having an elite tackle
is more valuable than having an elite center. But I
(06:32):
think we could look up a few months from now.
I think we could look up a year from now
and Troy Faltonu and Zach Frasier are both perennial All
pros Pro bowlers, amongst the best at their position and
amongst the best to do it in the league. So again,
I don't know, if you know, breakout season that's usually
from somebody like a Darnell Washington might be what you
(06:54):
would typically get as an answer, you know, maybe even
someone like Calvin Austin, who we saw in Spurts last year,
but could he really take a step forward this year?
I mean, there's a lot of viable candidates on this offense,
because there's a lot of young players on this offense.
You know, you get rid of DK me, you take
DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers and I guess now right,
(07:15):
Pat Fryarmouth as well too, as he's well into his career.
You take some of these guys off the table. It's
really an offense, particularly on the offensive line and in
a lot of the playmaker positions, that is dealing with
a lot of young talent. Could you say Jalen Warren
or is he technically past that point? Because I think
we all believe that he can be a very good
running back in this league. But Jalen Warren would belong
(07:38):
in the conversation. Someone like Roman Wilson would belong in
the conversation, Darnell Wright, you could talk about Mason McCormick
as well, certainly. Heck, maybe even Broderick Jones in this
conversation as well too. There's a lot of viable candidates
for that offense. I think I'm gonna go with Troy
Foutanu though, because I just I there is a quiet confidence,
(08:02):
a quiet belief when you're around this team that he's
just not going to be good, but that he's going
to be really stinking good, maybe even great. So I'll
go with him on offense on defense. A couple that
come to mind. Peyton Wilson was the first one. I
think he's gonna have a lot more. I think they
really liked what they saw from him his rookie season
(08:23):
and they're ready to put a lot more on his
plate this year. I think it's gonna be the unquestioned
Pat Queen number one, Peyton Wilson number two in the
middle of that defense, and he's gonna get a lot
of snaps. I think Joey Porter Junior is another one
in this defensive breakout season. He's had two good years
(08:44):
as a start to his career. I think he didn't
quite take the leap forward last season that a lot
of people were hoping for. But I also don't think
that he regressed or plateaued or anything like that. I
think he had a lot of tough assignments, a lot
of zone matchups where he's more of a Manda man. Guys,
they were trying to do some things to accommodate Dante
(09:05):
Jackson's skill set. Part of me, Dante Johnson's no Dante Jackson.
I got that Deontay Johnson and Dante Jackson try. They
were doing more zone concepts in that secondary on that defense,
running more zone to accommodate Dante Jackson and his skill set.
But I think it'll swing back the opposite this way,
and with the addition of Darius Slay to compliment what
(09:28):
Joey Porter Junior does best, which is more Manda man football.
So I think he could really have a solid season
as well too. Those were the first ones that came
to mind for me. But I love what we're gonna
see from Peyton Wilson. I think we're gonna see a
real step forward from Joey Porter Junior as he gets
more comfortable with what they're asking him to do as well.
(09:48):
I think those are two good answers for me. On
the defense, Keanu Benton might be another one of those.
Has had two good, solid years, but can he really
break out? Can he really take off? Because we know
he has the skill set and the tools to do so,
you know, Could it be a guy like a Demarvin
Leal or an Isaiah Laudermilk who finally really bursts onto
(10:10):
the scene. Could it be someone like Nick herbig and
again rookies you kind of want to leave out of
this conversation in terms of the Derek Harmon's and the
Jack Sawyers and the Caleb Johnson's, Like we want these
guys to get a footing first. And that's why I
even felt kind of weird, you know, bringing up guys
like Troy Faltanu or Roman Wilson. Heck, Logan Lee would
(10:31):
be another really good one to have in this conversation
on this list for the defensive side of the football.
Not quite to the same ultimate ceiling first round pick
like Troy Futanu was. But I also think there's that
same quiet confidence of hey, a lot of people are
forgotten about Logan Lee because he spent his rookie season injured.
We think this guy is gonna be pretty stinking good
and be a real contributor for us. I got a
(10:52):
lot of those kind of vibes and confidence when I
was down at the facility for three weeks for OTA's
in mini camp as well too. Again, Troy Fultonu to
a different level, that's the reason why he was a
first round pick and Logan Lee was a Day three pick.
But I think they have kind of that same energy
about Logan Lee that you know he got stashed for
a year. Mentally he's ahead of a typical rookie. You
(11:13):
know he's ready to take off here in year number two.
But for my final can only give you one answer
for each side of the football. Don't do the easy
way out coach speak radio gasbag thing. I'll go with
Troy Faltanu and Peyton Wilson would be my answers for
one breakout guy on offense, one breakout guy on defense.
(11:36):
Question number two from Nate, who is one guy on
offense and defense that you think faces the most pressure
heading into the season. So this is another great one.
This is another, i think, very open ended one. Do
you go with pressure in the sense of someone like
Aaron Rodgers, who is a four time MVP of Super
Bowl champion, one of the best to ever do it,
unquestioned Hall of famer, But you know that he feels
(11:58):
the pressure of wanting to re write that narrative at
the end of his career. He doesn't want to go
out on a sour note like he did with the Jets.
He wants to go out with double digit wins and
division titles and postseason appearances. So I think there's pressure
on Aaron Rodgers in that sense, while again, overall thirty
thousand foot view, his legacy is already secured. Or do
(12:22):
you go with I think the very obvious answer of
somebody like Broderick Jones. After this season, the team's gonna
have to decide on his fifth year option. Can he
prove that he can be that long term tackle that
they drafted him to be in a year where he's
also going to be full time moving to the left side,
switching over from that move from the right that he
has primarily played over the last two seasons. Those feel
(12:45):
like the two very easy answers on offense, right, I mean,
you know, I think there's some pressure on Pat Fryermuth.
There's some pressure on all those offensive linemen to take
a step forward. There's some pressure on Jalen Warren to
prove that he can be the guy and hold off
Kaylee Johnson. You know, there's pressure on guys like Roman
Wilson and Calvin Austin to prove that they belong. Robert
(13:06):
Woods to prove that he could still do it. I mean,
there's there's nobody in the NFL that really plays without pressure, right,
I mean they all at some point, even for someone
has accomplished as DK Metcalf, it's okay, how great can
you really be? But it feels like Broderick Jones is
the easiest answer. Aaron Rodgers kind of in his own
(13:27):
different way, like I laid out there where his legacy
is ironclad, but we also always remember the end of
Guy's tenures and he wants that to be a much
better memory for himself and for the general public than
what transpired the last two years in New York. It's
got to I mean, it's got to be Roderck Jones though,
right because he's got to protect that future Hall of
(13:49):
Fame quarterback. He's got to be the final kind of
piece of that offensive line coming all together, that anchor
on the left side, and he's the one who you know,
the Steelers are gonna have to make it decision about
that fifth year option after he completes this third season
defense that faces the most pressure heading into the season.
You know what, I think you could easily say, Beanie
(14:12):
Bishop in this regard burst onto the scene last year
really good. In the first half of the season, Cam
Sutton came back. We didn't see a ton of him
didn't have the same impact in the back half of
the season. Can can can Beanie Bishop stick on as
this team's nickel or could they go shopping? Could they
bring in some other guys? Hey, Mike Hilton still a
(14:35):
free agent. Could you have a reunion with somebody like that?
Could you do some things with you know, the three
safety tandem of Minca and Elliott and Thornhill. That would
push Beanie Bishop, you know, to the backburner. I do
think there's a lot of pressure heading on him that
that defense has so many secure spots, right, and again
(14:56):
there's there's always pressure on these guys. But Ta Watt
and Alex Highsmith and Patrick Queen, then Cam Hayward and
Keanu Benton and Derek Harmon and Joey Porter Junior and
Darius Slay and Minka Fitzpatrick. I mean, they're all kind
of set in their roles and their positions. Maybe a
Peyton Wilson too belongs in this one as well, to
(15:19):
just prove that he can really take that step forward.
But man, it might be Beanie Bishop if they're looking
to upgrade, you know, on offense, we talk about upgrading
to wide receiver, we talk about adding a tight end.
You know, particularly now that Parnhum is gone for the season,
we talk about maybe adding another tackle for insurance. Now
(15:39):
that you don't have Dan Moore, you don't have that
luxury of having three tackles that you feel like are
NFL starters. But on defense, when you talk about adding
to that defense, it's very quickly. The nickelback conversation, you
liked some of what you saw from Beanie, but it
was in a small sample size. He's an undrafted guy.
Can he prove that he can do it again? That's
(16:03):
it might be the undrafted second year guy who actually
has the most pressure on him on this defense because
a lot of other pieces of that defense feel like
they're already established. Maybe again, Joey Porter Junior. You know
he's gonna be in contract time this next offseason as
well too. You know, his four year deal is a
second round pick. There. He's in the heading into the
(16:24):
third season. So if they're gonna extend him before he
hits free agency, it will be this time next year. Offseason.
Next year. Yeah, funny enough, I think there's one guy
on that offense who really has to sing for part
of me. One guy on that defense who is really
going to camp proven that he belongs to be the starter,
(16:47):
and that's Beanie Bishop, because I think the rest of
the starting spots are pretty solidified. A lot of the
other rotation is, you know, just they're gonna have to
figure out what exactly the usage of all these guys are.
But in terms of the pecking order, there's not nearly
as many questions at the other positions as there is
at the slot corner back position. Great questions from Nate
there to get us started. We'll keep going with this
(17:09):
Twitter Tuesday. Got a couple more to get to as
we roll along. Ian's already now it's a Steelers Blitz
on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
This is the Steelers Blitz with Wesley Euler and Arthur
Motes on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold sn R.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Back on the Blitz here, as we roll along on
what has turned into a Twitter Tuesday, Yan's got questions,
I am feeling slightly lazy, and I've got answers. It's
the perfect combination for our number one little two winter
a Tuesday. Almost stumbled over my words today. Let's try
that again, little Twitter Tuesday. Listen, I know It's technically
called x now, but that doesn't roll off the tongue
(18:01):
as nicely as Twitter Tuesday or Twitter Thursday or anything
like that. So we're just gonna roll with it. You
know where to get at me if you want to
get involved, It's at Wesley Yuler on Twitter on x
Annie tweets here and says, what is one thing you
feel the team needs to improve this season? What is
one thing or what one thing do you feel needs
to improve this season and won't What is one thing
(18:25):
that is likely to be worse? I will ask these
same questions again after preseason is done, to get your thoughts.
All right, I'm digging this again, some bigger picture questions here.
A lot of different ways I think to go with
this one. So let's start at the top from Anny,
what do you feel the team needs to improve most
this season? So there's a lot of there's a lot
(18:47):
of viable answers for this. We can talk a lot
about how they need to be better in terms of
average yards per carry in the run game, and we've
done that here on the Blitz. If you listen to
the shows that I did with Matt Williamson throughout OTAs
in Mini camp. We talked a lot about that. If
you're going to be a team that predicates itself on
(19:08):
running the football, which even with Aaron Rodgers, I think
the Steelers obviously not to the same extreme as they
were last year, but will still be I think one
of the teams in the NFL that runs the football
the most. You have to be more efficient at running
the football. Steelers average four yards four point one yards
per carry this season. That's towards the bottom of the league.
(19:28):
You gotta get to four point three to four point four.
That doesn't seem like a huge difference on the surface,
but over the course of four hundred some carries, five
hundred rushes throughout the regular season, that makes a huge difference.
Over the course of the game. That might mean sixteen, seventeen, eighteen,
nineteen extra rushing yards. That might mean two more first downs.
(19:49):
That might mean a couple extra minutes of possession, a
handful less snaps for your defense. All this stuff matters
on a large scale. Running the football on first down
or part of me running the football more efficiently, is
something that we talked a lot about over the last
month or so. Same with red zone conversion percentage, the
(20:12):
Steelers last year. I think it was like forty six
or forty eight percent of the time scored a touchdown
when they got to the red zone. That's not nearly
good enough. The team's the best teams in the league
do it in the high sixties, low seventies, and so
you've got to at least be pushing sixty percent. You know,
you've got to at least be in the high fifties.
That's where kind of the Mendoza line is. Like the Chiefs,
(20:35):
despite being one of the best teams in the NFL
for the last handful of years, they're not typically great
in the red zone, but they're at least league average,
which is again, you know, fifty six fifty seven percent.
You got to get better in the red zone in
terms of efficiency. You got to get better in the
run game in terms of efficiency. But I think one
thing that the team really needs to improve this year
(20:55):
is their start. And I know it is funny this
time of year, it feels like we all talk about
a lot of the same things. And so I know
my buddies Matt Williamson and dal Laali have been talking
about this because I've seen Matt tweeting about it a bunch,
which I know means that they've been talking about it.
But last year, in twenty twenty four, in the first
(21:16):
quarter of games, the Steelers scored an average of two
point seven points. They allowed an average of six point
six points. That's twenty ninth out of thirty two teams
in terms of scored. That's last in terms of allowed.
The Steelers average first point quarter point differential was the
(21:37):
worst in the National Football League thirty two out of
thirty two teams, nearly four points down on average in
the first quarter. The Bears the Giants were the other
teams right there with them. Now, if you look at
the teams that had the best first quarter point differential,
the Packers, the Vikings, the Buccaneers, those teams all made
(21:58):
the playoffs. Those teams other than the Packers, the Vikings
and the Buccaneers won their division, and the Packers were
of course in the toughest division last year with the
Lions and the Vikings, you know, the teams that had
the two best records in the NFC. And I know, okay,
three points four points that doesn't seem like a massive difference. Again, though,
over the course of an entire season, seventeen games. When
(22:22):
you are on average down four points at the end
of the first quarter, that's a big deal. That changes
what you want to do on offense. That makes it
harder to be more aggressive on defense because the opposing
offense can be more conservative with a lead. That gives
you obviously a much less room for air as it
relates to turnovers and chunk plays and things of that nature.
(22:46):
This is an area where the Steelers, as much as
we've talked about the run game, rightfully, so inefficiency there.
As much as we've talked about the red zone, rightfully,
so inefficiency there. And you know what, the run defense
for the Steelers as well too. That's a troubling stat
for the Pittsburgh Steelers, particularly win Again, we know how
this team is built. They want to run the football,
(23:07):
they want to control the clock. They want to keep
their defense fresh on the sideline so they can unleash
TJ and Alex and Cam and those guys to go
hunt quarterbacks in the fourth quarter. You can't do any
of that when you're down. You can't run the football
as effectively as you want because you're playing from behind.
You can't go hunt the other team's quarterbacks because they're
(23:28):
playing with a lead, they're not being as aggressive through
the air. This is a Pittsburgh Steelers team. Listen. I
get a laugh sometimes when people around the NFL say
those guys aren't built to play from behind. Nobody is
really in the NFL. There's no head coach and general
manager that are sitting there during the offseason, throughout the
free agency process or the draft process and they go, hey,
(23:49):
you know what we need. How do we add some
guys here who are gonna help us when we're trailing
by six points in the fourth quarter. You know, you're
not building your team to play from behind. You bil
your team to be the best that it can be.
But you also, you know, when you're the Cincinnati Bengals
and you've got Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T Higgins,
it's a little bit easier to air that thing out
(24:10):
and get down the field and score quickly when you
got Mahomes, when you got Josh Allen, when you have
the weapons like Baltimore has as opposed to you know,
teams like the Steelers and maybe the Detroit Lions and
maybe even the Philadelphia Eagles, the Super Bowl champions that
want to control the clock a little bit more, want
(24:30):
to run the football a little bit more. So as
much as I laugh when I say when I hear
people a lot of times say they're not a team
that's built to play from behind, because nobody is, but
I also do understand the nuance in there of the
Steelers don't have an offense like Cincinnati or like Baltimore.
So when that's the case, this isn't even more I
(24:52):
think damning or troubling stat if you will, it's something
they got to get right. And all these things I
think work in concert together. If you're more effective and
efficient in the red zone, you're scoring touchdowns as opposed
to settling for field goals. If you are better and
more efficient in the run game, you're extending drives in
the first quarter, you're keeping your defense off the field,
(25:14):
you're scoring points. But that's something that has really popped
up in Steelers circles this week that I think is
a really good and fair conversation. One thing that needs
to improve this season and likely won't. Man, that's a
good big play explosives from the offense as we sit
(25:36):
here right now, because I do think you'll get a
little bit more in the run game because Jalen Warren
and Caleb Johnson are more built for explosive plays than
Najie Harris was, without a doubt, and this offensive line
should they better take a step forward. But I'm really
(25:57):
worried about the explosive plays in the past game. Still
I believe in Pat Fryarmuth, but that's not necessarily his game.
I would like to see Darnell Washington get more involved.
That's not his game. A forty fifty yard reception, thirty
yard reception down the field. Those guys Pat Fryarmuth can
(26:18):
but but they're not. They don't have a long track
record of, you know, taking a fifteen yard gate and
turning it into a forty yard game. DK Metcalf does,
but he's really about the only one on the offense
at this point. Aaron Rodgers will certainly help in this regard,
but it just While I do think the offense will
be better, I think the wide receiver group is about
(26:41):
the same but slightly better. With DK Metcalf as your
number one in his proven production instead of George Pickens.
I think the run game should improve with the offensive
line with what they have in Caleb Johnson and Jaylen Warren,
but there's just not a lot of game breaking ability
on that offense. There's a lot of we can slow
(27:04):
and steady and and bully our way down the football field, certainly,
but there's a not a lot of There's not a
lot of here comes a forty to fifty sixty yard gain.
Here comes Lamar Jackson on a seventy yard scamper. Here
comes Jamar Chase seventy five yards on a slant. Yeah.
(27:25):
That that that feels like, you know, here's here's and
I think we will see some of that from DK Metcalf.
I think he'll take some what should be a fourteen
yard gain and turn it into a forty yard gain.
But I still think, like I would like to have
some more explosives on this offense. I felt confident that
(27:45):
we would have it when George Pickens was still in
the fold, and they obviously will and certainly can maybe
I said that backwards, they can and I think certainly
will add another wide receiver. But I'm I'm I'm a
little concerned about that. You know, along with some of
the things that I just mentioned there, the red zone efficiency,
the run game efficiency, and the first quarter performance, and
(28:10):
then what is one thing that I think will likely
be worse. You know, this is a good question. I
right now, I think depth on the offensive line is worse.
You know, last year, at this time, Fraser still wasn't
a starter. You had three tackles in Broderick Jones, Dan
Moore and Troy Faltanu. You had some more pedigree depth
(28:33):
and a fourth round pick in Mason McCormick. But then
all of a sudden you lost Nate Herbig, who I
think we all think Zach Fraser would have taken over
for eventually, but Nate is a capable guy in this
league and would have been excellent to still have as
a depth piece. When you started to get hit with
(28:55):
some injuries at center and at guard, Mason McCormick, James
Daniels goes down early in the season, Here goes Mason McCormick.
All of a sudden, some of that, you know, you
felt like you had you were gonna have two nice
depth pieces on the interior. They both became starters. You
felt like you would have a solid depth piece at tackle.
Troy Faltanu is out and all of a sudden Projick
(29:16):
is back on the right, and Dan Moore is your
guy on the left. Last year you lost three pieces
of that offensive line. Fortunately you had some very capable
replacements this year. I think we feel better about the
starting group, but you certainly don't have that depth behind
(29:37):
them like you did last year, whether it was gonna
be Herberg or Fraser, whether it was gonna be McCormick,
whether it was gonna be Broderick Jones or Troy Faltanu.
Like you had some real talented pedigree and in Nate
Herberg's case, proven depth, whereas now that's all gone. You
need those guys to be healthy and you need them
to perform, because I think the depth is certainly worse there.
(30:02):
All right, we are rolling baby. A couple more tweets
here in the first hour of the program to close
down kind of this Twitter Tuesday start, much like McDonald's
I am loving it. A couple more here to get
to as we roll along. As we close down the
first hour of the show on Wes Shuler, you're listening
to the Steelers Blitz on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
This is the Steelers Blitz with Wesley Euler and Arthur
Motes on your twenty four to seven, Home of the
Black and Goals scan R.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Final segment here of the first hour, as we are
getting back into the groove of bang as I'll tell
you what enjoyed a week of vacation last week. I'll
have one more in the middle of July, right before
training camp before things really get going. And you have
all made this very easy with a lot of great
(31:14):
questions over the last week or so that we're having
some fun, starting off with a little Twitter Tuesday on
today's program at Wesley Yuler. If you want to get
involved here, we have got a let's see two more
here that we'll get to in this hour before we transition.
In hour number two. The first one here comes from Andrew,
who tweets and says, guys, the New York Jets owner
(31:36):
Woody Johnson just agreed to buy Crystal Palace. Of course,
for those of you not familiar, Crystal Palace is an
English Premier League team, okay, so the top soccer league
in England. They are a team based out of London.
They just won the FA Cup, pretty big deal this
past season. So New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has
(31:57):
agreed let me see here I pulled up the numbers
on a two hundred and fifty four million dollar deal
to buy forty three percent of the Premier League team
Crystal Palace, announced by the club on Monday. So Andrew says, gentlemen,
if you could buy a stake in any professional team,
who would it be? So I'm assuming you mean any
(32:18):
professional team in any sport, Andrew and it is funny.
I feel like I feel like we get this question
like once or twice a year anytime there's a big
sale of a team, like who did this? I feel
like this just happened a few months ago with I
don't know a hockey team or a baseball team that
got sold. I'm drawing a blank on the spot right now,
of course, but where someone tweeted us and was like,
(32:39):
if you had the money, what team would you buy?
And you know, MoES always gives answers like, you know,
the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees because he's
so fancy. I always give answers like Manchester United or
the Pittsburgh Penguins because they're you know, I think, other
than the Steelers, the only professional sports teams that I
(33:01):
really care about. Yeah, I like the Pirates, and I
would love to see the Pirates do well and win
a World Series in my lifetime. But you know, thirty
four years of being born and raised in this region
has left me more than numb and more than apathetic
as it relates to Major League Baseball and certainly the
professional team here in Pittsburgh who has done nothing but
(33:22):
let me down for now going on four decades of
my life. But the Steelers obviously have to remain with
the Rooneys forever because that's just the case. So give
me the Penguins, give me Manchester United, those would be
the two that would be fun. I like basketball. I
don't have an NBA team, there's been. You know, my
dad is from Chicago, so I obviously grew up as
(33:44):
a child of Jordan. And you know, my dad was
a huge Bulls fan in the nineties when I was
growing up, So there was a period of time when
I would have considered myself a Bulls fan. There was
a period of time where I was living in Philadelphia
for three years that I would have probably considered myself
a Sixers fan because they felt like the one team
in Philly that I could kind of root for and
not feel gross about. I mean, I was never gonna
(34:06):
root for the Flyers, my most hated team in all
of professional sports, number two on my hate list, only
behind that university located in the Oakland District of Pittsburgh. Uh,
you know, Phillies and Eagles kind of whatever. But like,
I like the Steelers, and I liked I wish I
liked the Pirates, So the Sixers were kind of the
(34:29):
one Philly team. And my wife loves basketball and loves
the Sixers, and we had a friend who worked in
the ticket office, so we would go to five or
six games a year and they were a lot of fun.
So I do think owning an NBA team would be fun.
You know, a team like Chicago or Boston or the
New York Nicks, or you know, like a in an
(34:49):
area where they really love basketball. The Indiana Pacers, I
think would be a lot of fun. But yeah, my
answer to this one, I know it's kind of cheating
because they're, like I said, the only other two professional
sports teams that I care about other than the Steelers.
But if I could buy any professional sports team, it
would be the Pens or it would be Manchester United.
(35:10):
I think it would be Manchester United arguably the biggest
franchise club team brand in the world. I mean, they're
like on the short list with the Yankees and Real
Madrid and the Cowboys. Steelers aren't far behind, to be fair,
but yeah, I mean owning Manchester United would be insane.
(35:30):
The scale of it, the weight and magnitude of it.
And just because I consider myself a supporter also the Pens.
You know what too, though, Like I'm really milking this one,
But you guys got me thinking because, like I said,
the New York Knicks, I think there would be a
lot of fun. I think it'd be a lot of
fun to take a storied franchise in any sport. The
Pirates would fit into this category that's really struggled for
(35:53):
a long time because if you were the owner that
finally got them back, like if you were the owner
of the Knicks when they finally win a championship again,
if you were the owner of the Pirates or the
Toronto Maple Leafs or the Buffalo Bills, you know, somebody
like that, when they finally win a championship again, you'd
be a legend forever. You'd be like the Rooney family
(36:14):
is in Pittsburgh. They'd have statues of you for bringing
back the good times that their organizations haven't seen in
forty fifty sixty years. So that might be a good
answer to like, imagine being the owner that finally brings
the Nicks another title. Imagine being the owner that finally
gets the Toronto maple leafs back on the Stanley Cup.
(36:36):
I mean that, would you know, be insane, you know,
like you'd be like the Steinbrenner's and Henry's with the
Yankees and the Celtics. You'd be like the Rooney family.
I mean you would. You would live forever in a
lot of ways. So there's my answer. Let's see here.
Last one from Kelly tweets us and says thoughts on
(36:57):
Governor Shapiro and his recent comments on stadiums for the
Eagles and the Steelers. So yeah, I had to pull
this one up. I know what you're talking about, Kelly.
I know that the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, was
asked about the Eagles and the Steelers and some stadium
needs and some public funding. The Steelers lease expires in
(37:17):
twenty thirty. The Eagles lease expires in twenty thirty. Two.
Both stadiums opened around the same time. I know that.
You know, the Hinz Field was two thousand and one,
the Link was two thousand and three, so they are
on very similar timelines in that regard. I do think
most of what he said was more about the Eagles
than it was the Steelers, of course, because you know,
(37:40):
Governor Shapiro is always focused on Philadelphia. That's why the
new signs all across the state have the Liberty Bell
on them, even three hundred and fifty miles away over here,
gov Where we don't give a rip about no Liberty belt.
Sorry sorry, sorry, but yeah, I really have no I
got nothing for you on that. I am not very
(38:02):
verse to that. I know a lot of people think
that billionaire owners should build their own stadiums and not
use city you know, me and you tax paid money.
I also think there's some very valid arguments on the
other side, in terms of the revenue and the attention
that the events that you can hold at these things
other than Steelers and Eagles games, you know, concerts, races,
(38:27):
things like the World Cup and Olympics and stuff like
that obviously bring a value. So I'm not nearly smart
enough for savvy enough politically and economically to really have
an opinion on this. I realize that both of those
stadiums are twenty something years old and getting to the
(38:50):
point where they're gonna need upgrades. I've been to both
of those stadiums many times, uh, and I don't think
they need you know, I'm not looking at it like
it's three Stadium or the Vet out in Philly and
when they hit thirty years they're completely a waste in
a dump and they're gonna need replaced. I'm sure I
think both can last for another long time. They're gonna
(39:11):
need some upgrades, some faceless lift stuff, absolutely, But again,
I'm not nearly verse enough politically or economically to give
you a real opinion on about how all of that
should shake down. But I am obviously also smart enough
and not ignorant enough to be aware that that's a
real debate and conversation about how all that funding should go,
(39:32):
but one that is just slightly above my pay grade.
I will say this though, no matter what, I don't
see these Steelers or the Eagles leaving their cities. It's
not gonna be an Oakland Athletics type situation. You know,
You've seen some some teams move into Vegas recently, whether
it be baseball or hockey. You know, you saw the
(39:52):
Arizona Coyotes move to Utah because of disagreements like that. Heck,
you know, twenty years ago there were a lot of
these same conversations around the Penguins and it was harder
for them to get funding in things like that in approval.
I don't think that's going to be the case for
Philadelphia in Pittsburgh as it relates to their football teams
and their football stadiums, which are not just a way
of life in those areas, their stinking religion. One hour
(40:16):
in the books, another hour to go. You know where
to get at me if you want to get involved.
It is the Steelers' Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network
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