Segment 1: DVE Rocks Steelers Training Camp with Bill Hillgrove

Mike Prisuta and Bob Labriola are LIVE from Rivers Casino for DVE Rocks training camp. They talk about the goings-on of camp that day and welcome the voice of the Steelers Bill Hillgrove onto the program.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to d V E Rocks Live from Training Camp
on w d V Pittsburgh, presented by FedEx where now
meets Next. Also brought to you by Lecolm Lake, Erie
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(00:25):
Forward Store, and by Ireland contract Pittsburgh's number one home
exterior expert called one in hundred New roof or visit
Ireland Contracting dot Com. And now here's your hosts, Bob
Labriola and Mike pursuita good evening and Welcome to d
V E Rocks Training Camp Live from the Rivers Casino.
The third time is the char Mike pursueda from the

(00:47):
d V Morning Show and Steelers dot Com, joined by
Bob Labriola, the esteemed editor of Steeler's Digest and Steelers
dot Com. This is our third trip down to Rivers
following a Steelers practice and labs what a practice it
was today. We've got a lot to get to tonight
and we're gonna be here until nine o'clock. We've got
some guests lined up, some taped interviews, a lot of

(01:10):
things to kick around, and the Steelers get ready for
the home opener and the home closer in the preseason
Saturday Nights hosting of the Detroit Lions. But a bunch
of stuff happened at practice today, Coach Labriola, Well, and
a bunch of stuff has really happened since we were
last at this very venue, uh, in this very place
at the River's Casino. So yeah, big practice. Uh. The

(01:34):
Steelers are a different team than they were last since
the last time you and I were sitting here talking
about them, Mike and I just, uh, that to me
is a significant development, a better team for my money. Uh.
If you've been listening to the Morning show at all,
and if you haven't, I'm a big Joe Schobert fan.

(01:55):
I have been since watching him play for the University
of Wisconsin. Bucky and the Steelers pull off a trade.
You know, I hate to make baseball references because I
know you hate baseball, but to quote Bull Durham from
the Jacksonville perspective, this is the worst trade than Frank
Robinson for Mill Pappis. I mean, not only did the

(02:16):
Steelers get the Joe Show, they give up a six
round pick in return and Jacksonville is paying half to
tab this year. Yeah, I mean, um, you know all.
All I'm gonna say is that it has been and
is continuing to be a factive life in the NFL.
That when there is a regime change, and by that

(02:36):
I mean coach, maybe even higher up in the UH
football operations GM, you know that kind of thing, maybe
even ownership. UH savvy teams, savvy NFL teams are on
high alert, UH watching that team that is going through that,
because you will find, you know, especially and uh, it's

(03:01):
a situation where a guy is hired and he's either
a first time NFL head coach or in the case
of the Jacksonville Jaguars this year, a first time NFL
coach period. And what these guys want to do is
they're not interested in tying themselves or you know, their future,

(03:22):
or how they're gonna be judged or any of that
stuff to um the previous regime, because the previous regime
got fired. And so you know, if you're looking at
it objective makes on the surface, yes, it does. It
absolutely does. Why do I want to be weighted down
by this guy, his picks, his free agent signing, his whatever.

(03:47):
He just got fired, so you know, if he knew
what he was doing, it'd still be here and I
would not. Okay, So there's that, um, and you can
pick up, you know, some decent uh quote unquote bargain
and as you described it, that's certainly what this is.
Let me just throw this out to you, and I
don't I don't disrespect Devon Busch. Um. You know I was, Okay,

(04:12):
I was totally in favor of the move that the
Steelers made, trading up in the first round ten picks
what they gave up to acquire Devon Bush. Okay, let
me just throw this out at you. Do you think
if they had Joe Schobert on their roster they make
that move? I don't. If they have Joe Schobert on
their team, do they trade up ten spots in the

(04:36):
first round and gave up what they did for Devin Bush?
I will answer that this way. We're a little bit
removed from that, and so the exact circumstances might not
be on the tip of my tongue, but I will
tell you this in today's NFL Coach Labriola, I understand
that Tampa Bay Buccaneers just won a Super Bowl with

(04:59):
Dave and White, and the team the Steelers are gonna
take you about it five minutes to get a shot
into p a pretty good uh. The team the Steelers
are gonna play on September twelve. The Buffalo Bills have
Milano and Edmonds, two really good inside linebackers that are

(05:20):
on the field all the time. And now the Steelers
are one of those teams that well as well. And
there maybe a couple others, but there aren't many. And
to me, the biggest hole in the Steelers defense, the
biggest achilles heel, the deal breaker too many times has
been Yeah, they get a lot of sacks, they get
a lot of turnovers, they make a lot of splash,

(05:43):
but too often they get caught with the wrong guys
on the field against the wrong guys. When they've got
their past defense guys out there, the other team runs it.
When they've got their run defense guys out there, the
other team throws it and it's hard to cover or
ski him around. A guy that just can't get it
done the way you need to get it done. And

(06:04):
God bless Robert smilin I think he's an involving player. Um,
I think he has some potential in this league. He
is not Devin Bush. And he is not Devin Bush.
I think it's gonna be a multiple All Pro in
the NFL. Right now, as you and I sit here
at the beautiful Rivers Casino and I anticipate the start

(06:24):
of the Chicago White Sox Oakland A's game at eight
eleven Easter time. That's baseball. Let's go White Sox. Right now,
Devin Bush is not the player that Joe Schobert is.
So not only did the Steelers solve the backup inside
linebacker problem, which they didn't have any. I mean, there's
gonna be a couple on the roster, because there will,
but nobody you can trust. Robert Smilane kicks down and

(06:48):
he's in the role he should be in, which his
first guy off the bench. Joe Schobert and Devin Bush
are a dynamic too. Oh and right now, Schobert's the
better of the two. Again, Evan pushed, it was the
right thing to do to go get him. He's gonna
have an outstanding career right now. He's a kid who's
played a year and a half and he's coming off
a serious knee injury. Joe Schobert's the guy who has

(07:11):
been a Pro Bowl player. He has been a leading
tackler in the NFL. He has sacked the quarterback, he
has intercepted the ball. He has forced fumbles. Here's a
stat for you, Bob. I won't call you a coach anymore.
I don't want to confuse you with Nick Saban. Vince
Williams said, how many forced fumbles in his illustrious career
as a thumper? I probably fewer than Joe schober The

(07:34):
answer is none, zero, Mr Blue Tarsky. Joe Scholber has
nine in fewer games and fewer stars. Joe Schobert does
what it needs to be done. At the time, his
character references are off the charts. This is Christmas in August.
Oh yeah, I mean it's um to me. It. I

(07:57):
don't know that it is a uh clear or clean
um one to one comparison, but it's the Jerome Bettis Steel.
I mean, you can't what do you what you know?
I mean you're getting the Hall of Fame running back
for what essentially turned out to be a fourth round
draft pick because um, you know again Rich Brooks was

(08:22):
a new guy. Uh, you're you know, you're, you're, you're
you're changing things over um and you know, sometimes uh,
things just fall in your lap. I mean, I'm not
trying to I give Kevin Colbert a lot of credit for,
you know, the outcome of this, but I don't think

(08:45):
and I don't believe Kevin would think this either, that
he deserves a lot of credit in terms of facilitation.
I mean, the phone rang, you answer the phone, you
know what opportunity knocks, don't because to keep it up.
But it wasn't It wasn't any genius uh move by

(09:10):
the Steelers or anything. I mean, it was just a
to me, a solid organizational philosophy which I attempted to
explain earlier that when you know there are teams in
the league that are going through this transition, just pay
attention and you know, be open because sometimes stuff falls

(09:32):
in your lap. And you know, my personal opinion this
has nothing to do with really what we're talking about,
but I do not believe that urban Meyer is going
to be able to transition from college, where you know,
he was the emperor of all that he surveyed to

(09:53):
an NFL team. He probably had a hard time with
the draft, for example, because he probably went into that
said I want him him, him, him, him and him
one because you know, just as a you know that
to kind of um go off that it has been
said by NFL people as an example, and I'm not

(10:15):
saying this was said about him specifically. Why would Nick
Saban want to take an NFL job and the NFL
he only gets one number one draft pick a year
at Alabama is fourteen maybe over, you know, not necessarily
in one year. But when you look at the Alabama
croster on the how many guys on their hundred and

(10:35):
five or whatever eighty millen roster they have number one picks?
Naji Harris has run behind way more decorated offensive lines
than the one he's running behind now. Absolutely, it's not
even close. It's not even close, not even close. Um,
makea Fitzpatrick another one. So um, you know, I just
I don't think that that's a good transition or good

(11:00):
policy for an NFL team looking for a coach to
go into the college ranks and pick a guy who
was high likes highly successful under the college rules, because
it's totally different the dynamic is totally different what you're facing. Salary,
cap roster limits, all of those kinds of things, UM

(11:20):
are are hurdles that really great college coaches do not
have to deal with uh in college. And so UM again,
I think that a lot of times these guys Spurrier
in the past um uh nick Saban in the past.
In the NFL, they don't they don't transition well to

(11:43):
you know, being told what to do and being uh
UM have a lot of rules hung around their neck
uh and and procedures and those kind of things, and
so you know, I just don't know that they're cut
out their their asked really is a prelude to the
kind of situation that they're gonna find themselves in in

(12:05):
the NFL in order to achieve the same kind of success. Okay,
all that aside, Now going back to what Kevin Colbert said,
he tells his young scouts pay attention to this these
situations because what they think and what they're trying to
do can sometimes help us and what we think and

(12:26):
what we're what we're trying to do. And this Joe
Schobert thing is, you know, a dent falls into that category.
It's the same thing as Minka Fitzpatrick. You know Brian Floores,
first year coach with the Dolphins. Hey, he's a Bill
Belichick guy. I'm gonna tell everybody what to do. I
work for Bill Belichick. Um, well maybe not. You know,

(12:49):
so sometimes you can end up with um things that
you know, manna from heaven. Um. And I would qualify
Minca as that, Dwayne Haskins as that to a much
lesser degree because of some of the things Haskins did
during his time in the NFL to kind of you
cast himself in an unfavorable light. Um. But now, certainly

(13:14):
Joe Schobert, who has done nothing, in my mind or
anything I could find out to be anything except what
you just described. He's in all situations, every down linebacker
who makes big plays and is a tackling machine. So
if you're interested in that, fine, that's what he is.

(13:35):
If you're not, well, shame on you. I've got a
lot of stuff to talk about tonight, in of course,
so we're gonna be talking about Joe Schobert, I think
for a long time here moving forward. As Pennce head
coach Mike Sullivan might say, but the cuts today, uh
down to eighty five wide receiver Isaiah McCoy, offensive tackle
Brandon Walton, kicker Sam Sloman, defensive tackle Abdullah Anderson, and

(13:59):
the fenchback Stephen Denmark. I gotta say, you know, something
was rotten in Denmark. Um, I gotta go there, and
all due respect to these guys, I mean, uh, to me,
this was not a situation of anything except you know,
this was their time. If this wasn't their time, it
would have been their time next week or the week after. Um.

(14:22):
These are the kind of roster moves that are made,
um just because of numbers. You're just trying to maintain,
you know, an equal number or a relatively good number
of players at different positions in order to continue to practice,
efficiently play these preseason games without stressing, you know, your

(14:44):
frontline players. So all of the guys you mentioned they
were gonna get cut, it just happened, so right for them,
that happened. Now a couple of I don't want to
say declarations today, but Mike Tomlins said that we and
surmise that Kendrick Green is the starting center, although he

(15:04):
quickly added there will be no bold announcements. You know,
he's a rookie third round pick. He's your starting center.
Keith Butler, the defensive coordinator, talked about Shobert and why
uh he has opened his Steeler's career as the number
one not just starter next to Devon Bush, but the
number one dime linebacker instead of Devon Bush. We'll get
into that more detail later tonight. But Butler reference the

(15:28):
injury that Bush is coming off and his relative youth
and inexperience and just all that Joe Schobert is uh.
Keith Butler also said the Nickel job remains wide open.
The Antoine Brooks Jr. Continues not to practice. Arthur Mallett
has been filling in with the ones, but you know,
you may see some James Bierre outside and camp shunting

(15:48):
inside and blah blah blah. Ben Roethlisberger was outstanding today,
throwing the deep ball and getting under center, getting the
handoffs to the backs from under center, play action, bootleg rollouts, bob,
all that stuff we talked about on the pregame show
last week. But he's probably not gonna be able to
do this stuff in the Matt Cannet office. He was

(16:08):
doing it today. He can do it in August. We'll
see if he can do it in December. All those
discussions will be forthcoming. But when we come right back,
we're gonna be joined by the voice of the Pittsburgh
Steelers and a guy who, uh to me should be
on the Mountain Rushmore of Pittsburgh Sports Broadcasting, Bill hill Grove,
the voice of the Steelers and the pitt Panthers. That

(16:30):
is all coming up. Bob and I are gonna be
here until nine o'clock tonight, so keep it here live
from the River's Casino. You're listening to d V E
Rocks Training Camp right here on your flagship for the
Pittsburgh Steelers one or two point five d V. Back
to d V E Rocks Live from Training Camp, presented
by fed X and brought to you in part by
Lee Calm Bud Light Excel at health Ford An Ireland

(16:53):
Contracting on one or two point five d V. Welcome
back to the Rivers Cino, and welcome back to d
V E Rocks Training Camp right here on your Steelers
flagship one or two point five d V. Mike pursued
it along with Bob Labriola. It's the third of our
three training camps specials, and we're here at Rivers Casino

(17:14):
until nine o'clock tonight. Uh Bill hill Grove joining us now,
who needs no introduction. But before we welcome Billy to
the show, I just want to point out that Chase
Claypool has tweeted and I quote, all is well. Now,
if you're at practice today, you may have noticed Claypool
going down and staying down almost at the very end
of practice, and a lot of medical people, multiple medical

(17:38):
personnel came to check him out. He was helped to
the locker room by Ben Roethlisberger and Eric Ebron. But
apparently all all is well, because Chase says all is well. Billy.
There was a time in this business when I worked
for the b recounting times and I would go to
three of her stadium and write my game story. And
if somebody got hurt, I would go to a bar
on the South Side that's not there anymore and use

(18:00):
this thing called the pay phone and call the guy
who worked on the Steelers training staff who doesn't work
for him anymore. And he said, yeah, this guy's okay,
this is bad, this is good. Call the paper putting
in my story, and that would be that, and I'd
go back to doing the important business that I went
there to do in the first place. Now you just
look on Twitter and you get everything you needed right there,
and you know what, and no injuries banned until Cyril

(18:22):
Wick shows up. Then you then you worry. Well, let's
talk about this coming season. I know I asked you
this in Canton and uh you you mentioned it. I
forgot the number. But what is it? Fifty three with
pitt and basketball with football and this is for the Steelers.

(18:44):
And I'll tell you another stories from days gone by.
I used to like to go to college football games
on Saturdays before Steelers game days, and that became too much,
so I just stopped. And now I go to Steelers games.
You're always doing something. How do you keep going? And
the way you go? I'll do it as long as
it's fun, really and truly, Mike and Bob, I you know,

(19:06):
as long as I have fun, I'll keep doing it. Now,
you know there's a caveat The guy upstairs has a
lot to say about whether you're ready to do it.
But you know, so far, so good. Talking about our
program director him too, I didn't think Machina had that much.
He's one of you. He's got more justice. Think, Hey,
but I didn't know about that. There's people and your

(19:28):
people meant to come over in the same book. Well,
you know, I'm sure they they came to a good
agreement that um what you call it ellis Island Billy. Uh.
It's been an interesting camp. It usually is. We always
seem to enjoy it somehow. But this team is rapidly evolving,

(19:48):
more rapidly than I thought it might. What do you
think of the Steelers post Joe Schobert versus going into
the draft after that to bacle against Cleveland the first
two games of this preseason. UM, I didn't like tight ends,
willingly running loose in our secondary, on crossing patterns, getting
first downs, and I think maybe, you know, I think

(20:11):
Joe Scholbert may take a step towards fixing that. Um.
I just like what I see. I like Ben Uh
love Naji. What what's there not to like about him?
And you know, and beyond his physical ability, um, his
interaction with veteran players and you know, like he gets

(20:33):
it and I like that part of it. UM. I
think the Steelers up front, you know, Joe Schobert has
probably even in Cleveland, didn't play behind a defensive line
as good as this one. And I think that that's
all well and good. And I understand the Devin Bush thing,
and I understand he's coming off an injury. Um, you

(20:56):
can't rely on him a hundred percent. So when Schobert
became available, and I said it before we went on
the air, and I believe this, Uh, we'll thank urban
Meyer much like we might have thanked Rich Brooks when
he decided that number thirty six didn't fit into his offense.

(21:16):
And and and uh and Jacksonville is gonna pay some
of his salary. I love that. Uh. I think I
think the corners are better. Uh. You know, we don't
have Mike Hilton, but hey, we have some people who
can play. Uh. We don't have anybody who can blitz
like he does. But you know, I'm not a big
blitz person. You live and die by the blitz. And

(21:37):
so you know, if you can do it with uh
the front seven and the back four and and stay
in your base defense, I think you know that's where
where it comes to now in this current NFL. I mean,
you know, those gimmicks they only work for so long.
And once in a while, when you try a gimmick,

(21:58):
the other guy I guesses you and the gimmick doesn't
not only work, but it's backfires. Yeah. You know, the
thing about it in in the NFL is that, um,
you can think that you have a decent plan, um,
but then the other team doesn't cooperate. Um. You can
put out a personnel grouping on defense for example, where

(22:21):
you think, okay, this we can stop the run here.
Well then they don't run. So now now where are you? So? Um?
You know, I think that the addition of Joe Schobert
again to me that the thing that really does is
it will allow the Steelers two and again I'm not

(22:41):
saying they're gonna shut down tight ends and they're gonna
you know, Travis Kelsey is gonna catch any passes against
the Steelers when they play the Chiefs, you know, or
Mark Andrews is gonna do anything when they play the Ravens,
or none of that stuff, because you know, just the
way the game is played in other way, it's led
just lated the rules. Those kinds of players, you know,

(23:04):
you can't get quote the great Chris Berman, you can't
stop and you can only hope to contain him. And
really that is a big part of playing defense in
the NFL in these days, in my opinion, But the
Joe Schobert addition to me, allows the Steelers to line
up with an eleven men defense where you're not really

(23:27):
selling out one way or the other. You know what
I'm saying. We're gonna put Vince Williams in here and
you're not gonna run the ball, Well, then who's gonna
cover this guy? Or we're gonna put this group in
six defensive backs and you're not gonna be able to
throw the ball underneath to the tight ends or the
running backs, and the Browns turn around and give it

(23:48):
to Nick chop Um. So this group, or they put
dream Hunt out on the wing where the receivers are
supposed to be, and then he runs by your linebacker
and then there's that also. Uh So, this, this, this acquisition,
I believe allows the Steelers to have a decent chance

(24:08):
to line up with one personnel group that has a
decent opportunity to deal with whatever the opposing offense might
be deciding to do in a particular situation. And then
it's up to your players, you know, to make some
plays because you can only fool them the other team

(24:31):
so often, right, Uh, and then they're gonna either catch
on or they're gonna just figure out a formation or
something that's gonna put you in a bad situation that
you can't get out of, and then it's up to
them to pitch and catch or you know, block the
guy and create a huge scene for the running back

(24:51):
or whatever. So um, I just I just really believe
that this defense now as it's constituted with Oh Showbert,
you can play it with Devin Bush and you have
yourself a unit where you know, the the opposing offense
doesn't isn't able to look at it and say we

(25:13):
can do this against them every time. Uh. And really
you know that again, that's what defense is in the
NFL these days. It's not line up and stuff. Some
team like the seventy six Steelers did they gain no yards,
they score no points? Um. You know that that that
stuff that just doesn't exist anymore. And so UM, I like, uh,

(25:38):
the weapons, the options that this defense now has, and
to me, that really uh sets up things for the
offense to be able, you know, to do some different things.
It's not under pressure maybe to score a touchdown on
every possession. Um. It just creates a different flow of
the game where I believe the Steelers have a much

(26:01):
better chance to come out on top. And now then
it's up to you know, your individual players to make
the plays. I remember, and this may be a reach
in terms of comparisons, but when people would talk to
Dick lebo about facing West Coast offense, you know where
the past is really the run and they you know,

(26:23):
a quarterback is nine out of ten. And but the
whole philosophy of le Beau and I think what the
Steelers are now embracing with this base defense approach is
the fact that you just keep playing defense until the
other team makes a mistake. Let the tennis thing, let
the other guy hit it into the net. And so

(26:45):
you know, let's see how that plays out. But I'm
I'm real enthused. I also I just like the white outs. Uh.
I think the tight ends, if they stay healthy, are
gonna be okay. Um, there's no heat Miller's there. But
I think the Steeler's identity is lining up with two
tight ends and knocking people off the ball. And let's

(27:07):
see if that is what we see in a regular season.
Because I liked what I saw in Philadelphia. I think
we knock some people off the ball. Yeah, you know
you heard. Zach Gentry is a good example of the
guy who has remade his body all of a sudden.
Now he doesn't look like a converted quarterback from a
traditionally underachieving school that never really want anything worth the dan.

(27:29):
He looks like a guy. Did I say that? He
looks like a guy who you tell me this was
a political show. Welcome to the Fox News Steel But no,
I mean, this is all of a sudden. He looks
like a third tight end and friar Muth he's not
there yet. No, you can see him getting there, right,
And I think he wants to block, like he just said,

(27:53):
he wants to block. He's willing. Um. And and I
think that you can uh teach him and room him
and he can get bigger and stronger and learn the
technique better. Um. Yes, yes, I you know, um, I
do believe you know this pains him to say nice

(28:13):
things about Friarmuth, don't you wow, I don't get caught
in that thing. Yeah, well I don't. I don't. I mean,
and it has it has really nothing to do with anything.
In other words, will probably never have a meeting at
the Rathskeller in State College. Yeah, and go over the hitters. Now,

(28:34):
okay it's closed, but we wouldn't anyway, I speaking to
college that I do want to ask you. You've got
some experience with Matt Canada, and I'm curious as to
your impressions and where do you think this is going
because we've seen a lot of different stuff, you know,
since late July. What what do you think is going
to be to go to kind of approach? You know,
his trademark is the jet sweep, but I think he

(28:56):
goes deeper than that. And one thing I like about
Matt Canada is he sticks with his guns. Uh. He
doesn't react to the defense. He wants to dictate what
the defense does, according to his philosophy. And you know
that jet sweep, you gotta show it, but then you
gotta run it. And I know, Labs, you're worried about

(29:16):
maybe fumbles, and you know the difference between the college
and the pro game. But again, I saw a couple
of plays today in practice where Ben would and Ben's
ball faking. By the way, He's pretty solid, uh, which
I like. I don't know that the other quarterbacks on

(29:37):
the roster are as good with that as Ben you
fake to the jet sweep guy and you go the
other way with the pass. It's got to be there.
Those linebackers and those defensive players have to be leaning
the wrong way when you execute your play. And I
think that's what Canada's whole thing is, just get them
to lean the wrong way. Well, I think that that

(29:59):
that where the Steelers can take advantage of what you
just talked about is nausea. UM, get them leaning the
wrong way, hand the ball to him going the other way,
and that's you know, seven eight nine yards. I've seen that, uh,
and enough training camp practices to think, you know, this
is in my opinion, I believe this is how you

(30:21):
um mold a defense. Uh, you know, get them where
you want them in terms of how they're looking at
your offense and how they think that they need to
play against it. Um. You know, because a lot of
the off the motion and you know, then throwing the
ball to me is more of the same that we

(30:43):
saw last year. UM. I want to see And I'm
not saying this is not part of his repertoire or anything.
I'm just talking off the top of my head here.
More of what I want to see is a lot
of that ms direction and that he seems to try
to create with motion and shifts in those kinds of things.

(31:05):
Then use that to create running lanes. Because to me,
it has to be about the running game. Uh, it
has to become effective. I understand you can do things
with Ben and throwing the ball and all that stuff,
but I don't know that if you look at last season,

(31:28):
I mean, he did so many things, you know, throwing
the ball, timing, you know, get the ball out of quick,
all of that kind of stuff, and at the end
it wasn't good enough. It it was too predictable. Um,
it didn't stretch the field properly. I don't think it's
set the correct physical tone. Um. But if you can
do the same kind of thing in terms of motion

(31:52):
and get getting the defense to move and then come
back with a running play where nausey breaks through the
line of scrimmage and runs over a guy or something,
you establish a physical tone. You set a um uh,
you set up a game of attrition, which I think
is important and I think that's much more beneficial. For example,

(32:14):
if you run the same motion and come back with
a pass the gainst nine yards in my opinion, that's
not as effective as if you do the same thing
and you run the ball right up there gut for
nine yards, because I think that much much more sets
a tone and establishes a physical superiority that over the

(32:36):
course of a game, over the course of a season,
has a positive impact. I agree. I think if you
throw the ball fifty five times a game, you're saying
to the defense, we fear you. We can't, we can't,
we can't knock you off the ball. And I and
so to your point, yes, so, Billy, last thing for you.

(32:57):
You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.
I mean you can here in Rivers Casino. But we're
moving on on the show. Uh, what would you say
that you are again based on the changes and I'm
talking about bringing in Tray Turner and bringing in Melvin
Ingram and bringing in Joe Cholbert post draft to now,

(33:18):
are you mildly encouraged or pretty excited that they have
a chance to make a real splash this year? Maybe
when a lot of people didn't think they were gonna
I I'm the splashes where I am. Uh, And people said, well,
we lost Marquis Pouncing, we lost David de Castro, but

(33:39):
they were ghosts of what they were in their prime,
and they were hurt. I think both of them were hurt.
I can relate, by the way, to tell me about it.
You know, I don't buy green bananas, but I really
think that, and I hate to say it because they
were great players, but I think just moving on with

(34:00):
new faces, I think portends well for for Steeler fans
to watch a team that will get back to Steelers football.
I'm I'm starting to lean in that direction. I'm I'm
usually slow to come around in terms of getting really
excited because I'm trained to be skeptical and look for
the whole fears like me, Well, I guess, yeah, I

(34:22):
guess kinda. I'll I'll give you that. But uh, well,
it's it's a different team than I thought it was
gonna be already, and I'm very curious to see how
it continues to evolve. Bill, great talking to you, uh
welcome back, congrats on another year and looking forward to
working with you. Likewise, and thank you guys. It's been
a blast. Bill ho Grov the voice of the Steelers.

(34:44):
When we come back, we are gonna let you give
a little listen to the first media scrum conducted by
Joe Schobert, the guy who's causing all of this, with
Bob Labriola. I'm Mike Pursuita. We're gonna be here at
the River's Casino until nine o'clock tonight. You're listening to
d d E. Rocks Training Camp right here on your
Steeler Flagship one or two point five d v E.

(35:08):
Back to d v E Rocks Live from Training Camp,
presented by fed X and brought to you in part
by Lee Coom bud Light Excell at health Ford and
Ireland Contracting on one or two point five d v E.
Welcome back to the Rivers Casino and welcome back to
d v E Rocks Training Camp. Mike pursued It and
Bob Labriola with you tonight until nine o'clock here from

(35:31):
Rivers and Labs. We uh pay tribute to this incredible
environment on our first of these three shows a couple
of weeks ago. But I gotta do it again because
I don't know what it is about this place. But uh,
it's either the access to alcohol or the ability to
watch any sporting event that you can think of, can

(35:52):
do both, or the ability to bet on any of
those said sporting events. I I feel really at home here.
This is it's great. I mean, I'm I got no
argument with you in terms of what a great venue
this is for. You know what we're doing and what
we're talking about, and um, I would you know here
we are sitting in the River's Casino sports book. I'll

(36:15):
butch is a lot of fun on an NFL Sunday.
I'll bet it is. I'll bet it is, or you
kind of probably bet on it the n c a
A basketball tournaments or you know, get one of those
early early round to get with. There's eight games going
on at one time and the actions everywhere. Uh, it's
good fun, good place to be. If you're in the area,

(36:38):
stop on down. We're gonna be here until nine. If
you get here real quick, you can get down on
no Chicago White Sox tonight. I got a good feeling
on the White Sox hosting the Oakland Athletics and just
very slight favorites lab but they're really good at home.
I think the I think that numbers a little askew. Well,
all I can tell you about all I can tell

(36:58):
you really defending definitively is this Billy Bean still hasn't
won anything. They can make movies about him, he can
be in movies. He still hasn't won anything, hasn't won
the last game of the season. And as he stated
in Moneyball, if you don't do that, nobody cares, and
that would include me. Great movie. You're not a fan

(37:20):
because I mean again, um, I'm not interesting. Well never mind,
I just I understand the phenomenon is interesting, but to me,
it's just, um, it's much more sizzle than steak. Um.
When when put a couple of trophies in the lobby

(37:42):
and um, then maybe you might be deserving of some
of the things that you're already being called, in my opinion,
undeservedly so. So anyway, I'm not arguing. But a good
story and well well done. They left a lot of
stuff out, I mean, because go figure, Hollywood kind of

(38:04):
twisted the facts to make it look like what they
wanted it to look like. Uh right, right, it's a movie.
It's a movie. Hudson, Moulder and Zero you know who
they are because you don't if you watch money Ball,
if you watch that team, you know they were three
of the best young pitchers in baseball who all happened
to be in the same place at the same time.

(38:24):
Would they win that year? Uh, they got in the playoffs?
Would they win that year? Lost to the Twinkies in
the first round. OA. So what you're saying is, let
me let me just shorten that in paraphrase it for you.
Nothing can't can't argue that Steelers getting ready for the
Detroit Lions on Saturday night in Hinsfield. It's the preseason

(38:45):
opener and the preseason closer. But dress rehearsal, third preseason game,
dress rehearsal, third preseason game. Blah blah blah. The excitement,
to me is all about the Joe Show, Joe Schobert.
The trade leaded shortly after kickoff last Thursday in Philadelphia,

(39:05):
and the Steelers to me, have plugged their biggest hole
in the starting lineup. But I'm even including the unproven
offensive line. I think that inside linebacker next to Devin
Bush was a black hole. It was gonna be an
easy pass. Two teams exploding the Steelers defense when they
weren't getting sacked or turning it over, And all of
a sudden, now the Steelers are much better there and

(39:26):
they're much better at backup, with Robert Spiline taking on
a lesser role that he's probably more suited to play well. Right,
And and as we often talk about, you know a
lot of times, the real impact of an injury is
the trickle down thing. It's not so much whether you
have a guy to replace the guy who is injured,
But then how does that impact you know, um, every

(39:48):
other aspect of the depth chart and or you know,
the roster. And so this to me is the reverse
of that. What you're doing is you're strengthening an area
where as you just mentioned, then allows Robert Spillane to become,
you know, a top backup where all of a sudden,
it's like, wow, that's he's pretty good backup, pretty good backup.

(40:10):
That's not a good start up, a pretty good backup
or not a bad starter. But you know, if you
don't have to start him, Uh, that's that that speaks
so much better of uh, your actual uh the team
that the group that's on the field. So um, yeah,
this this to me is uh as this is a

(40:34):
significant move. The trickle down effect uh is very very positive.
And um, you know, I really don't know know what
else to say about it except that, uh, it was
a no brainer from the very beginning. Let's let Joe
Schober talk about it. He was in Pittsburgh on Saturday
to watch Sunday he participated. Now here's Joe Schober doing

(40:55):
his first group media interviews I should following Sunday practice
was Joe Shoulbert leads us by talking about how he
found out he was going from Jacksonville to Pittsburgh. Yeah.
I mean, we had a team meeting in Jacksonville like
six o'clock and that was like the last meeting of
the day. And then after that general manager came up

(41:16):
to me and he's like, hey, Joe, I need to
see me you in my office. I was like, who.
It's never a good thing when a general manager asked that.
But um, I found out, I think before pretty much
anything I hear about people finding out on Twitter all
the time. They were able to tell me and get
me notified before stuff like that happened. Well, I wasn't sad,
but it's it's kind of stressful, especially during the mineral

(41:38):
training camp because we got a wife and kid, dog
house down in Jacksonville. I'm gonna have to figure out
logistics of moving them up. Um, but I wouldn't sound sad, No,
just a little stressful, a little shock to the system
that you could potentially No. I think it came out
of the blue. Uh from my perspective, um No. And

(42:00):
really there's no warning signs or no like predetermined stuff.
I was talking to defensive coaches right after I talked
to the general manager, and they worked pretty shocked about it.
So I think it's kind of something that just came
out of the blue and just happened. I guess put
me with the ones. You know what your role is
gonna be here. You're a guy who's played nine snaps

(42:22):
and the same thing just for Colored Church. Yeah, I
think so. I mean they know you said. They threw
me on the field plane with the ones a day,
which is good because all those guys know that with
their communication they can help me. Uh. There, I've got
questions out on the field pre snap. It's just jumping
both feet right in a lot of meetings yesterday and
today to get the basic installs UM written down and

(42:44):
putting in my memory bank and just gotta get out
here and start getting reps at it. It It looked like
you talked with splane even before practice started and talking
to Devn Yeah, yeah, I definitely had it was good
UH splane and Devon with great great assets and UH
walk through and on the field just getting they were
able to vocally like set all the calls, and then

(43:05):
I was able to just kind of focusing on my
job today and I have to worry about doing too
much communication except for what was immediately necessary for me.
So it's good even Jacksonville, what explanation did you get
for Rest why they made the trade? I'm general manager.
Just told me that Pittsburgh called twelve hours before I
had a meeting with him, and it was very persistent
in trying to get a deal done to get me

(43:26):
up here. So that was the reason that he said.
He's like, there's a good situation. I wouldn't put it
you in it if it wasn't a good situation for
you and your family. Um coming up to Pittsburgh, gting
on a good team. So that's why that's what I
was told. What's your reaction to come into Pittsburgh Just
your impression of the Seelers. I mean, I think it's
first class organization. You just see that. I've seen it
through the meetings talking to coaches that everybody's been here

(43:47):
a long time and people know what the standard is. Um.
It's it's understood in meetings and practice. It's how to
take care of your bodies and from the top down.
So it's been nothing but a surprise or a pleasant
prize for me coming here. I haven't talked to him
too much, just he's happy to be here, are happy

(44:08):
for me to be here. Um, I'm looking forward to
getting ready to work. He's basically giving me to U
D the d C. And what's the I'm blanking on
his name right now. But Keith, Yeah, Keith Butler. I've
been with Keith a lot the last twenty fours, um,
learning the defense, and that's basically the guy I've been
talking to most. And then yeah, JERRYO with the linebacker stuff.

(44:35):
I don't know just how always seemed to happen. If
the stars are the line when I'm playing the Steelers,
get some interceptions, get some turnovers. We didn't win a
lot of them, but we want a couple. So what
you're doing here, your role, it's similar to what you've
done anywhere else. UM, I mean it's similar. There's a
lot of this will be my six scheme in six
years now learning so I've done a lot of similar things.

(44:56):
There's some new stuff, but mostly the biggest difference is
the of the jargon, the language of the defense. Just
getting that on on par with everybody else and be
able to communicate when I'm on the field expect you know,
I mean, hopefully by Saturday of the game, I'll be

(45:17):
able to at least run the basic stuff um pretty confidently,
and then as this game's gone, season progresses, it will
just get more comfortable. And it's just gonna take reps.
I don't I don't know how many reps I'll get
before it'll feel great. Uh For I'll be a comfortable
and making all the calls and I'll communicating with everybody
on defense. But I'm I think it'll be a pretty
fluid and pretty easy process, especially with all the veterans

(45:39):
that are on the defense already. Jacksonville and Cleveland makes
base for the last two years you've been there, and
then now in fence. Where do you see that there
is a lot of difference there or no? From the
from my scheme in Jacksonville last year, Skeep and Jacksonville
this year, and the schep and Cleveland and twenty nineteen.

(45:59):
It's totally different than those ones. It's more similar to
my rookie year in Cleveland when Ray Horton knows the
defensive court. It is more along those lines. But even
it's not too close to that. It's just h it'll
be a new it's a new adjustment, but it's hopefully
it'll be a smooth one. Like I said, dime linebacker
and single coal eventual. Yeah, that's what they're got me

(46:21):
out now. Just learning the dime um dime linebacker and
the mac backer and oaki personnel. So just getting that
stuff up underway and once the once the season starts,
getting the green dot on the helmet to get in
the calls from the coaches. So how was the plan?
Was there a lot differ that's last year's Jacksonville scheme
and what they were asking you this year in Jacksonville. Yeah,

(46:42):
oh yeah, the scheme is totally different. And there's four
three Last year a lot of cover three base um personnel, uh,
a little bit of blitzing. This year it's uh three
four or four three kind of hybrid, lot of blitzing
um and it's all everything is somewhat similar in coverage, Like,
we've run similar schemes, but the over a mentality in
Jackson it's totally different this year. That was Joe Schobert

(47:05):
on Sunday and you probably didn't hear the questions very
well at times, but were asked by you most of them. Yeah,
that's usually the way it works. Uh. The answer is
pretty self explanatory. Keith Butler, the Steelers defense coordinator talking today,
laughs about having coach Joe schober a couple of years
ago in the Pro Bowl. He's smart, guy, has been there,
done that guy, He's been through, scheme changed before. That

(47:27):
shouldn't be a roadblock. Mike Tomlin talked about the the
important thing being Schobert's playmaking ability, not what scheme he's
been in, and uh, I endorsed that wholeheartedly. That's gonna
do it for our number one. We've got a lot
more to get to, uh. With Bob Labriol on Mike Pursudo,
we're gonna be here at the River's Casino until nine

(47:49):
o'clock tonight, so keep it here or better yet stop
on buy still got time to get down on the
White Sox hosting the Oakland A's tonight it's a good price. Baby.
You're listening to uh d V Rocks Training Camp on
your steel flagship one or two point five d V