August 3, 2022 • 47 mins
Bob Labriola and Tom Opferman recap the switch in advantage when it came to backs on backers, hear what Tomlin had to say from practice, and talk about Mitch’s early struggles in 7 shots and team drills. They then get into the running back that stepped up the most in Najee’s absence, hear from Boswell fresh off his new extension and talk about some of the names on the injury report on this edition of The Training Camp Report!
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get started, and so now we take off. She's the
training camp re report what Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio. Day six of Steelers training camp practice,
day two of which were in pads, started with backs
on backers, a very familiar drill when the team puts
(00:27):
on pads, and Mike Tomlin said after Monday's practice, the
first of which was in pads, that you know, drills
are football like, but they're not football. What I mean
is that someone has an advantage in the drill. I
expect those who have an advantage to win quickly. I
expect those who are at a disadvantage to fight and
compete well. The first day labs, the advantage was on
the linebacking side of the ball, as the running backs
and the tight ends had to pick them up. Today
(00:49):
are yesterday, excuse me a little bit different. That advantage flipped.
It was the linebackers turn to try to keep up
with the running backs and tight ends and coverage. And
I like, how, um, you know, like Tomlin arranges this,
you know, consecutive days, so it's not like a long time.
The fester or whatever you know. First aim pads is
traditional backs on backers. You know, the a rusher, it's
(01:15):
about a five six yard head start. The running back
or the tight end is stationary. You cannot cut the rusher,
meaning you know, cut block him. So you pretty much
you know you're trying to you know, stop a moving
car is what you're trying to. UM. And so that's
heavily weighted towards the pass rusher. Now this back backs
(01:38):
on backers, it was yesterday was UM. They do it
on a field. They go off to a side field
so they have the whole field to work with. UM.
And now the line the rusher, the linebacker usually looks
into the backfield and see the back that he now
has to cover all over the field. No pressure on
(02:00):
the quarterback, so I mean it can be you know,
four or five seconds, UM, and it's impossible. You know,
you can't, um, you know you can't hold them. You
can't you know, there's just you know, you're you're just
running and chasing. And as I said, the quarterback has
not in any under any pressure, so he can wait
for the guy to get open at the ball five
(02:23):
times if you wanted to. Yeah, um. So yeah, it
flips the flips the advantage pretty dramatically. And yesterday that's
what that's what the Steelers did. And um so you know,
as a as a pass rusher, you don't look in
the backfield and you see huh five five eight Anthony McFarland.
(02:44):
Here I come. Then you know yesterday you look into
the backfield, God five at Anthony McFarland, I gonna run
with this guy. Yeah. So, um it was a different, um,
kind of different viewpoint of a similar real or at
least it's called the same and uh it. The the
(03:04):
outcome was what you would expect. UM. For the most part,
it was pitch and catch, you know, the some occasions
when the back would drop the ball or it was
a bad pass. Um. You know, I saw like two
instances Ulysses Gilbert intercepted a pass which you hardly ever see, um,
(03:25):
and then um Gerard Avery knocked one down. But outside
of that, it was pretty much toast. Well, whoever has
the disadvantage in this drill, whether it be you know,
the running backs having to take on linebackers one on one,
no cut blocks, no help from anybody else, or the
linebackers having to cover you know, running backs in the
open field for as long as the quarterback decides to
(03:45):
hold onto the ball when it comes to you know,
preseason action, regular season action. That's just gonna help the
linebackers cover running backs. It's gonna help the running backs
pick up blocks and linebackers. When you do have you know,
offensive lineman helping you out, you can cut block the guy,
or you do have a pass rush trying to get
after the quarterback. You know, this drill. It's kind of
(04:05):
like swinging a baseball bat with a doughnut on it.
So when you get out there to actual game action,
it can be a little bit you know easy. I
don't want to say easier, that's not It's never easy
in the NFL, but you know what I mean. Yeah,
and I really think that, you know, um, A big
part of the point is that one since and then
Mike tomlinn quote, I expect those who are the disadvantage
(04:27):
to fight and compete. So, you know, you kind of
you're training the players to not allow themselves, you know,
to go where I just was, which which is to
think this is impossible. You know, you're you you forced
them to try to find a way and Um, you know,
(04:47):
I think that that's kind of the attitude that you
want to instill in your players. And as you build
a team, you know, you want to have that kind
of permeate, uh the well not not only be into
visual position groups, but you know, the unit offens or
defense as a whole, and then you know the team
as a whole. I remember, you know, watching this drill,
(05:10):
Ryan shas Are trying to cover Levan Bell. I mean,
you talk about two heavyweights at it, you know, and
I don't know that you know, Shaser was with him,
could stay with him for a little bit occasionally, you know,
be you know, right in the shadow right, you know,
right there. But if it was an accurate past, you know,
(05:31):
you tackle them right away. That's that's the best you
can do. But you know, you talk about two guys
who in their respective areas, Bell running routes and Shasier
covering backs. You know, I don't know if there's two
better at it in the league at that time, and
those those respective categories, and you know, having him on
(05:52):
the same team and going at each other, you know,
Iron Sharpen's Iron to borrow with Tomlinism the reigning defensive
Player Year t J. Watt didn't participate in backs on
backers yesterday when the linebackers had the advantage. That makes sense.
You don't really need to see anything from t J.
You don't really need him to me. Let me just
two days ago. Two you're losing. Yeah, you're doing what
(06:14):
I do. Right, you're doing what I do. You know
you you have camp fog brain. It's all the same,
every day, the same, yeahroundhog day. Yeah, we're all Bill
Murray two days ago, didn't participate in backs on backers.
Did you get any run yesterday? If you're a t J.
Water did he hold him back again? No, he would.
He didn't participate in that dural either. I mean you
(06:35):
know that. That to me is um, you know, kind
of like you know, um, putting a bright light under
a bushel. I mean, if it's a passing situation, I
don't want t J. Watt covering anybody. Go get the
quarterback and help everybody else who's trying to cover people
not have to do it for very long. Um so um,
(06:57):
I don't. I'm not going to say that there's never
ever situation where t J. Watts not in coverage because
you don't want you don't never want the defense to
really be able to load up on that and be
sure of that. UM. So occasionally, UM, you know you
haven't covered somebody, but you know, uh, what's he gonna do?
(07:18):
You know, injured hamstring or something? God trying to cover.
I don't know. Jalen Williams, you know that's just stupid.
So thank god he did not get any of those yesterday. Well,
Mike Tomlin spoke to the media following a practice yesterday.
We always like to give you his thoughts. So let's
take a listen to coach Tomlin right here on SNR MAN.
(07:41):
I was really pleased with the day's work. I thought
the competition, the level of urgency was improved, and I
think that's just a natural thing that second day and
pads and guys, particularly the new guys, getting accustomed to
the things that we do culturally and in the nature
in which we compete under those conditions, and so really
site and it's gonna be allowed to learn from on
(08:01):
this tape. Um, not a lot to add from a
from an availability or health standpoint, NAZI could be described
as day to day. Um, all those other ones that
we've been describing as day to day remain in that category.
Some of the guys that started UM on a variety
of lists, guys like a Lulu and Larry Oh and
make our our inching closer toward participation, and so we're
(08:23):
excited about that. We'll keep working UM. But man, this
is good environment today. Are you sick? Did you send
some of the final play that one on one linement
that you could grub up the competition there and that's
why you held back a little bit. I just think
this time of year reps for young guys and competitive
(08:46):
reps guys in similar stages of their career with like
resumes getting an opportunity to compete. And you know, we're
not paid by the hour, so sometimes i'll I'll freeze
time and an effort to get what we're looking for.
Speaking to the offensive linswer two days some times, what
have you seeing in terms of growth or signs of
optimism for the collective share? I don't know that I'm
looking to be optimistic. I'm just gonna keep snapping the
(09:07):
ball and allow the growth to happen. And it has,
but it's a reasonable expectation for it to continue. Like
we heard you, we heard you call out three oh
a lot in practice. What's he been doing to catch
your eye and his rest? Uh, he appears to be
highly conditioned, and I think it kind of starts there
for a young guy. Um, we always say one man's
misfortune is another man's opportunity, and so there's some short
(09:27):
lines at running back. But if you're not highly conditioned,
you're not positioning yourself to take advantage of it. And so, um,
kudos to him for coming ready. James Daniels said. One
thing he's impressed getting even know his ro linemates ter
ability to communicating. Even though a lot of them young
learning the positions, they've said the same thing about him
because that communication started to manifest into the playoffs. Um,
(09:51):
I guess they're better position to answer that than myself
from a communication standpoint. But again they're growing individually and collectively.
Like when we talk with our early today, he was
asked about, you know, what would be successful playing again
for Anny Ticket He references for growth. Are there kind
of specifics you look for from him? And they playmaking?
You know, he's not a seven B, you know what
(10:11):
I mean? Uh, we expect quality playmaking and in a
quick maturation process and and uh we like the things
that he's doing thus far. Mike, I don't elect to
focus on the guys in the field. We have someone
i'll yance is Is there a point because we have
two quarterbacks that he didn't have a lot of time
with her with the spring work gets kind of productive,
they're not have him on the field. If you're exactly right,
I like to focus on the guys that are working.
(10:33):
I predicted an answered by one anyone else, Mike give
it out day on his name. He's gonna evaluated. Yeah.
I don't have the results of that evaluation, but he
is being evaluated today. We shoulder. Oh, it's term of
the things. You like that testing and want what you know.
Um I like what I saw today. UM I don't
(10:55):
get too far ahead. UM I like what I saw today.
We'll take a look at the tape and analyze what
I find, tune tooth comb and then plot of course
in terms of how we move forward. That's coach Tomin
speaking to the media following yesterday's practice, Day six of
practice up at St. Vincent for Steelers training camp. A
ton of stuff to get into their labs. The running back,
(11:16):
the offensive line play he touched on, but I want
to start with the quarterbacks because that that's what we
love to do here. We love to talk about the quarterbacks.
He mentioned Kenny Pickett, you know, he wants to see
more playmaking from him. But the guy that I actually
want to spend some time and focus on his Mitch.
I feel like in all the picket excitement and Rudolph
playing better than expected so far, Mitch is a bit
(11:37):
been lost in the shuffle as far as talking about him,
and unfortunately he has had some struggles in seven Shots.
In fact, I was reading somewhere that he has not
connected for a touchdown in seven Shots since Thursday's practice,
So a bit of a cold spell from Mitch Rabinsky.
Is there anything to read into their or is it
just simply a young offense that's pretty injured right now?
(11:59):
Uh think that, you know, there's a little bit of
a lot of different things. UM. You know, there they um,
they are going against the number one defense, you know,
the first unit, So there's that UM, and Mitch hasn't
been real sharp. Uh, and some of the things that
you know, like in yesterday's seven Shots, UM, one of
(12:23):
the well two days ago and seven shots what worked
was one of those shovel passes, you know, tight end
kind of drags across the formation behind the line of
scrimmage and you know, the quarterbacks in the shotgun and
he kind of does a little something fake to the
outside and then comes back and you know, pitches the
ball inside. Well, you know that worked once, you could
(12:43):
do it again. Guess what T J. Watt was right there.
And so you know, I think that's part of that's
a factor to um the some of the things that
uh you know may work once I don't know that
you go back to them the sect the next day.
That's especially against the player like that. So there's that.
(13:04):
And you know, as I said, you know, Mitch hasn't
been sharp. The offensive line isn't really uh settled and
sharp yet, and so that's a factor because a lot
of the times he's trying to do things you know,
either as guys in his face or um you know,
somehow the the integrity of the play is either destroyed
(13:27):
or um you know, hampered significantly by you know, guys
coming free or you know, whatever it is. And so
it's just not a real smooth operation for the first offense.
And a lot of situations from soup to nuts, and
you know, it's a lot of stuff that has to
get cleaned up, and you know they're working on it.
(13:48):
I I you know, I don't. I'm not trying to
make excuses. I don't want to be dooming gloom because
you know, the first preseason game is still eleven days
away or something, so, um, you know, there's certainly time
for this. But I mean, I think you would like
to see a little bit more or at least a
(14:08):
little bit of occasional success. Like you said, he hasn't
thrown a touchdown past since when was that you said,
Thursday's practice? Yeah, okay, I don't know that that's true.
I wouldn't argue with it though, based on you know,
having what watching it every day, Uh, because it has
been you know, I have been in doing the practice reports.
(14:29):
There have been it seems like a few days where
in terms of who wins the drill, it's over in
the first four snaps. You know, it's only seven, So
if the defense wins the first four, that's it. Now
they continue to you know, finish it out and run
all seven. It's not like a you know, a playoff
series or something where you you sweep the team and
(14:50):
it's over. But um, yeah, it hasn't. As I said,
it hasn't been pretty. It hasn't looked smooth um. And
why I don't know. I just know that that has
been the case. Well, like you mentioned, the first preseason
game isn't this Saturday, It's the following Saturday, about eleven
days away, so they definitely still have some time here
(15:11):
to you know, get things a little bit more on track.
But you definitely want to see it sooner rather than later.
It would be great if today, at day seven, Mitch
rolls out with the first team and boom, boom, two
touchdowns right off the bat. I'm sure that would make
everybody from the coaching staff, to the fans watching, to
the media covering field just a little bit more comfortable. Yeah.
And I mean it's you know you again. You you
(15:35):
want to see some kind of progress, you know something, um,
And so far as you know you were mentioning, you
really haven't seen a lot of that from that group
in that drill. Now, beyond just the quarterbacks, you know,
the offense as a whole hasn't been exactly stellar. Defense
has dominated the camp so far. They've want to I
think every single seven shots except for maybe the first
(15:57):
one that they did. So it's been a defense of
kind of camp. Um, you know you said yesterday and
you've said before on the training camp report. You can
look at it both ways. On the offense is struggling
or hey, that first team defense is looking really great.
I think we all know what to expect from the defense.
Are you getting a little uncomfortable though with the offense
right now? I mean, do you think it should be
(16:17):
clicking a little bit more or it's just just you know,
growing pains. Well, I mean, um, as I said, excuse me,
as I said, you know, you you know, winning the
drill in you know, in the early August, you know,
August first, August second, excuse me, isn't critical. But again,
(16:37):
you do want to see some progress, you know, so um,
you know Mike Tomlins said, you know, I want to
see them compete and fight, uh in talking about backs
on backers. Well, you know, I think you could apply
the same phrase into that, you know, seven shots with
the first offense against the first defense. Yeah, I'm saying
(17:00):
that they're not fighting, that they're giving up or anything.
I just mean, you know, you'd like to see a
little bit more EBB and flow a little bit more
even you know, um, out of four snaps maybe you know,
if you win a couple you know, or lose a couple, UM,
that's okay. But to get shut out, you know, a
couple of three days in a row or whatever it's been. UM, yeah,
(17:24):
I you know, I just don't think that's a UM.
And you know you don't necessarily heading for the fourth
to Kane Bridge to take a dive into the Ohio
River or anything. But UM, you know, you would like
to see something some signs of improvement, um, you know,
and and manifest themselves in terms of success. Well, hopefully
(17:47):
today's practice day seven you see a little bit more
success from the offense. That practice kicks off at one
pm at St. Vincent College, Chuck and All Field in Latroue.
We got a lot more to get into here on
the training camp report. When we come back, we're gonna
talk about no najy and practice. So opportunity was knocking
for running backs in one in particular, really answered the door.
We're also going to hear from Chris Boswell after just
(18:09):
minting his new four year extension with the Steelers. So
all that is on the way next right here on
the Training Camp report on Steelers Nation Radio. This is
no Training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio. No Najy Harris for the offense yesterday,
(18:30):
So that means some other running backs had an opportunity
to state their case for a spot on the Steelers roster.
Before we get into that, though, Labs, you mentioned to
me in the break Tomlin must have been praying to
the weather gods last night because he is finally about
to get that heat wave that he wanted. Yeah, right,
little springing Mike Tomlins stuff. I'm sure today, uh sunny
high eighties today, Uh Thursday or today is yet today's Wednesday?
(18:56):
There you go, Thursday, Thursday most lee sunny and hot
high in your nine in the low nineties. Uh you
know Friday, well, Friday is Friday night lights, so that
doesn't count. Um, then Saturday high in the mid eighties.
So you know it's uh, it's Mike Tomlin weather. A
little Mike Tomlin trough, as the meteorologist might say, is
(19:18):
descending on the beautiful Laurel Highlands here and about to
engulf the campus extra you know, sweaty when you have
to put those pads on as well. So I'm sure
he's happy that, you know, he wanted the heat acclamation
last week. Whatever, he'll take it this week when the
pads are out. Well, absolutely, you know, you you can see, uh,
you know, I think that that's a test, excuse me,
(19:41):
a test as well. Oh, guys, handle that, you know,
that's fatigue become a factor. How do they react to it?
You know, those kind of things. Well, during the live
tackling session yesterday, the advantage once again went to the
run defense. Miles Jack and Roberts Blaine both made their
presence felt. Of course, you do have to note though
that on the offensive side of the ball, they weren't
(20:03):
used utilizing their greatest weapon, Nagy Harris, because he had
his footstepped on on Monday's practice was not participating at
all in Tuesday's practice. So I guess you kind of
have to take it with a little bit of a
grain of salt. But that run defense so far has
really looked good early on. And yeah, we could look
glass half empty and say, oh boy, another long year
(20:24):
with that offensive line run blocking, But I'd rather focus
on the fact that you're seeing Miles Jack. You know,
fly towards the ball and help stop the Ronnie stop
Anny Snell for no gain right away at the start
of live tackling. Uh, focusing on you know, that is
where I want to you know, spend some time here
because that run defense needs to be improved if the
defense as a whole is going to take that step
(20:46):
up to elite. And so far, Miles Jack has really
done what the Steelers hoped he would do when they
signed him. Yeah, you know, you you look at last year,
last summer, UM, the Steelers thought they were really adding
to their inside linebackers when they made the trade for
Joe schober I did as well, you know, because so
(21:06):
much of UM the NFL now is having athletic inside
linebackers because you need them to cover people. You know,
you can't always um have the time two match up,
you know, change, and so like offenses now can UH
(21:27):
force matchups with your inside linebackers in passing situations that
if you don't have inside linebackers who can handle that
or at least you know, give it a good effort,
you're gonna get crushed. And so I thought that the
addition of Joe Schobert was another one of those you know,
athletic guys sideline to sideline, you know, make tackles and stuff.
(21:50):
Um would help. But as we saw, and it's not
all Joe Schobert's fault was a combination of him the
kind of the style of player he was, you know,
the injury to Tyson Alualu, the absence of Stefanta throughout
the whole season. I mean, those were certainly significant factors
as well. But what I'm seeing so far in this
(22:13):
camp is that maybe that the kind of linebacker they
needed was more like Miles Jack. I mean, this guy
is more physical. Uh. He's not as good in coverage,
but he's not a stone liability either. Uh. And so
you can just see, you know, the way that guy
moves certainly, um, you know, sideline to sideline is good.
(22:36):
But he can also stay in there, you know, in
the middle of the traffic, sift through some of the trash,
and when he hits somebody, you know, they're not necessarily
always you know, just trying to break the tackle and
move forward for three or four more yards. So yeah,
he has been a you know, I won't say a revelation,
but you know, certainly an eye opener in terms of
(22:56):
his ability to help the run defense. And you know,
I think that Alualu is you know, he's he's coming back.
He should be on the field fairly soon. So there's that.
And you know, the the addition of Montrevious Adams too,
which was later in the season, UM is a help. Uh.
(23:19):
You know he's not Casey Hampton, but then again who is?
And so you know, when you're looking looking at this issue,
you know the run defense has been UM and there's
reason for optimism. Let me let me say, let me
put it that way, and we're gonna have to see
how things work out when you're facing an opponent that
(23:42):
you know, it's not in a live tackling period where
you know every plays a running play and you know
they're not gonna UM. You know, opponents often um purposefully
try to uh put you in bad situations with personnel groupings, etcetera.
And none of that's happening in training camps. So you know,
I don't want to lose my mind here, but uh
(24:03):
with optimism. But I mean, as I said, Uh, you know,
we talked a little earlier about the first offense and
seven shots in Highlands a little disappointing and you'd like
to see more and those kind of things. Well, I
think you can kind of flip the switch and be
optimistic about the run defense so far, because you know,
we have seen some things that are indicating that, uh,
(24:26):
you know, it has improved and Willem continue to improve.
Robert Splane continues to get sprinkled in with the first
team inside backers, and he made a pretty decent stop
on Benny Snell that that guy probably is one of
the hardest workers on the Steelers roster. They all work hard,
they're all professionals, but he just takes it to a
whole nother level. And you know, a couple of years
(24:47):
ago when he came in and everybody's like, who the
heck is Robert Spiline. He can't possibly fill in for
an injured Devon Bush. And he did as good as
he probably could in his first go with the Steelers,
and he's just continued to improve and really in try
himself on the team since then. Do you think this
has gone beyond maybe just you know, let's try to
light a fire under Jack, light a fire under Bush
and say, hey, you're not just gonna be handed this
(25:08):
inside job. Is it more transitioning towards a serious look
being taken at Robert Splaine as part of that first
team unit. Well, I think that it's, you know, it's
going to be a situational situation, a situational deal, you
know so much as again, you know, defense is you know, starters,
a lot of different positions. UM really doesn't mean a
(25:30):
whole lot, because it's it has to do with the
particular opponent, the particular opponents preferred method of offense. You know,
that kind of thing. You know, as an example, you know,
Robert Spillane, uh is a guy who I would think
would see more action against the team like Tennessee that
is run heavy as opposed to a team I can't
(25:53):
think that went off the top of my head, but
but might throw the ball fifty times even if they're
not the Chiefs right that though they're not losing. UM.
So I do think that it's it's becoming a situation
inside linebacker. The way I'm looking at it is they
have three um and that's a good thing. And you
you rottum and um you know down the distance situations
(26:18):
UM as I said, to match up well against the
particular opponent and their style of offense. So I don't
think that it's going to be a situation where you're
gonna have to and play the samet too all the time, UH,
every week, weekend, and week out. I think you have
three and you use them according to situations and the
(26:39):
particular opponent. Now, as we mentioned, there was no Nagy
Harris for the offense. He sat yesterday's practice out dealing
with that foot injury that he suffered on Monday's practice.
So running backs had the opportunity to step up. Tomlin
always says, you know, when the opportunity presents itself, you
have to take advantage of it. And the guy that
you noted that took the most advantage of it and
was the most productive yesterday was running Jalen Warren. You're right,
(27:02):
UM undrafted rookie UM. He split his college career between
Utah State. UH. He spent his first couple of years
there and then his last season. He only played three
years of college football. His last UH season was at
Oklahoma State. Rested for twelve hundred yards, you know, four
point eight average. UM. It's a really good team last
(27:26):
year too at Oklahoma State. I think we should know that. Okay,
I'll take your word for it, because I'm seriously, you know,
Big twelve. Big twelve football is not my cup of tea,
and so I don't really he was in the yeah, yeah,
and that's my you know, that's that's my go to
when I have when I have time on Saturday to
watch college football. That's that I'm tuning into uh CPS
(27:49):
about three thirty. Um. But you know, again, he I
wouldn't doubt it that he had a good uh he
that Oklahoma State was a good team because he certainly
is a I who you know, he's okay catching the ball, um,
but he's a good runner. And in the in the
first backs on Backerstrill on Monday, he was he was willing.
(28:11):
You know, he participated. Um, he stuck his head in there,
stuck his nose in there, and UM, you know, I
don't think you're gonna, you know, use him as a
you know, he's not Derek Watt or one of those
kind of guys who you put in for that blocking ability.
But again, he was not. Um, he's not a liability.
(28:32):
So you can't have a liability in the backfield and
passing situations because you need you may need help, you know,
picking up blitzers or guys who get it free or
whatever to help protect the quarterback. So Jaln Warren is
showing that so far that he is a he is
capable of playing running back, regardless if you want to
(28:54):
run it or throw it. So that's that's a plus
for him too, because you don't want a guy who's
who you're gonna depend on on a weekend and week
out basis, even if it's you know, a small sample
size for nausea, uh, you know, giving nausea a blow
every now and then, if the other team knows well
they can, they're not gonna throw it when this guy
is in there because he can't block me. So again,
(29:18):
he's showing enough um in the different aspects of the position.
And as Mike Thomlins said, he's he showed up in
shape so that when other guys are going down, he's there.
He's he's at practice every day, he's working every day.
And that's another way that a guy like Jalen Warren,
(29:39):
you know, gets his foot in the door and then
starts to nudge it open a little bit. Because the
only way you get better is by working at it
up here. And so if you're constantly nicked up and
missing practice. You know, you don't have that opportunity when
they grade the video at the end of the day,
they don't see you, and so you know, you just
kind of be come up invisible to some degree and
(30:05):
excuse me bad throat morning that the humidity is getting me. Um.
He has been available, participating and um, you know he
has improved. So this guy I think has a legitimate
shot at a roster spot. So far, I think the
Stories have just done a tremendous job of having a
lot of options across the roster at position groups that
(30:28):
you know, they're they're kind of looking at a cornerback
a bunch of different things. You've seen it, an inside linebacker,
they're they're trying a bunch of different things. Obviously the
quarterback position they have several options, and running back you
know who's gonna be number one. But as far as
filling out the depth chart behind Nagie Harris, I just
think it's the same thing. They've got a ton of
options here. You know, you bring in McNichols, you have
(30:49):
Jalen Warren, you have Snell and McFarland, who you know,
we're on the roster the past couple of years. There's
just a lot of things that they can throw at
the wall to try to figure out who's gonna be too,
who's gonna be three And and that's it's a very
good thing that I think a lot of fans are
overlooking is the amount of options that the Steelers have
given themselves. Yeah, and it's as you mentioned, it's important.
(31:09):
But you know, let's I don't want to paint an
inaccurate picture here and have anyone believing that this is
going to become a running back by committee thing, because
I mean, well, and not only that is there, and
when there was a Willie Parker here, Mike Tomlin didn't
go with a running back by committee approach either. That's
not his preferred way of doing it. And so um,
(31:32):
it's not you know, you don't spend you don't spend
the first round pick on a guy like Nagy Harris
and you know, take of his carries away or of
his carries away. That that's just not a good usage
of talent and draft capital. And the Steelers aren't going
to do it. And if you've been up here at
all for training camp, you look at Nagy Harris and
(31:52):
you thankful. Why would ever take that guy out of
the game? So, um yeah, but you do want someone
who can spell him a little bit, you know. I
don't know if even if it's a series a quarter,
maybe a series per quarter is what I mean. Uh,
you know that you want to have someone, you know
(32:13):
who's a viable option, and Jalen Warren so far is
showing that he could become that guy. I will see,
you know, and I would imagine Jalen Warren's gonna get
himself a lot of action in preseason games because I
don't uh, I can't see a realistic scenario where Nasca
Harris is getting carries a game in the preseason. I mean,
(32:35):
I don't even know. You know, maybe he would get
two or three carries a game, and there might be
games where he doesn't play at all, because you know,
what's the point of that. Um so um yeah, Jalen,
Jalen Warren is going to be one of those guys
you're gonna see a lot of in the second half
of preseason games. Well, just update the fans quickly. Deante
(32:58):
Johnson continued to hold and the pads did come on
for Deante yesterday, but he did not participate in team
activities as he looks for a new contract. One guy
that got himself a new contract extension, though, was kicker
Chris Boswell, signing a four year extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was asked by the media about that extension yesterday
before practice, and here is that audio. I'm glad we
(33:20):
got it done, and you know, we're still early in
the camp, so it gives plenty of time to get
back to work and we have a lot more to do.
And we saw the picture view with your other specialist celebrating.
How good a feeling was that, the energy and the
exciting No, that's good. You know, these two bring a
lot to the table, being so you know, young in
this league, and they've done a hell of a job,
you know, perfecting their craft and definitely making it a
(33:40):
lot easier on me. What was your reaction when you
just got the call that that it was all coming
together that you were getting the extension. How did you
find out? Um, I mean that's really all I could say.
It feels good, But I mean that's the way I
look at is as a contract earned in the past
and now I got earned the next. You're a pretty
understated guy. But did you like jump, been down or
(34:00):
fist pumper or anything. No, I'll call my family and
stuff like that, and called a girlfriend and just moved on. Uh,
your family, your girlfriend. What is the stability of staying
here for another five years? Kind of mean for for
that year? You know, it's a it's a good feeling,
you know because coming in I only had this year, um,
and you know, just to have that stability that I'll
be here for the next couple of years, four or
(34:22):
five years, and you know, we'll just see where it
goes from there and hope to be back for more.
You were you were we talked to you last week.
You were pretty confident this was getting done. Sounded like
it was it pretty much in the works. Good to
go at that point or did it come together sort
of in the last point. It's definitely been in the
works for you know, since we got to count. But
you know, oh, that's behind closed doors stuff that doesn't
(34:42):
even pertain to me. So I just let my agents
do that and get with OMAR and they figure out
the details. A couple of years ago you had basically
could you had to kick to your job here? Do
you look back, how far you maybe come from that point.
You know all you've been able to do absolutely not.
I mean I just got signed, but I still have
to the form every day I come out here and
kick every game I have. I'm competing for my job
(35:04):
because if I'm not getting the job done, They'll find
somebody to do it. So this contract means a lot
to me, but you know, it doesn't have anything to
do with my future. And I gotta earn that you
relatives chances to keep proving yourself. Oh I love it. Um.
I love proving myself and I love proving myself to myself,
not for anybody else, you know, just kind of building
my own self confidence. And you know I can do it,
(35:25):
and I don't really care about let anyone else has
Any former players hit you up and you congratulate. Definitely
a lot of former players, you know, Rosie Knicks, Ramone,
Um Foster. You know, those are just a couple that
I think up on the top of my head. I
kind of posted that picture and got off of it
for a while. So, um, what about other kickers, any
other kickers in the league. A bunch of my buddy
for raising the bar here, but yeah, definitely, um and
(35:47):
you know that that's something you know happens every year.
Every year someone else gets paid, raises the bar, and
you see that with other positions as well else. So
definitely had you know, a lot of my buddies throughout
the league text me and congratulate me and thank me
for their next deal. Come it episode that Steelers kicker
Chris Boswell fresh office four year, twenty million dollar extension
that will keep him in the Black and Gold for
the next five years. Uh labs. You talked about or
(36:10):
excuse me, the reporters talked about stability when it came
to Boswell in his personal life. But looking at stability
at the kicking position for the Steelers and just around
the NFL is so important. And I think the year
when Boswell kind of had the hiccups in that really
illustrated just how crucial it is to have a kicker
that you can rely on to go out there and
nail a forty yard field goal late in a game.
(36:32):
And for the most part, save that season, Boswell has
been that and I would argue he's the second best
kicker in the NFL behind Justin Tucker, who's just a
generational talent at the position well deserved contract extension, and
I think it it really works in the Steelers favor
to have someone you can trust and have that stability
for five years now. Absolutely, and you know, listening to
(36:54):
him talk, you know you could just hear um. There
was no excitement in his voice. That's he's just even
keel all the time. And that's that um, that piece
of him, that part of him, that quality in him,
I think helps you know him to do his job.
You know, he made that field goal in overtime in
the last regular season game that gets the Steelers into
(37:18):
the playoffs. And then you know that's the kind of
you know, you want to even keel guy like Boswell,
uh holding your playoff hands or playoff feet, playoff fate
on his foot there. It is um because you know
the guy is money. He is You're talking about a
(37:38):
guy who pretty much I think he's like eighty nine
points something percent uh for his career. Uh. I mean
that's you know, that's yeah. Yeah, and you know the
guy kicks that actor ser Stadium, which has never been
(38:00):
friendly to kickers. Never there's the wind early on, there
was the issues with the turf early on in the
in the stadium's life. They've they've got that fixed now,
ironed up by restarting the turf a couple three times
a season. Um, but you know, it's it's outdoors. There's
winter in Pittsburgh. You know, there's all those things you
(38:21):
don't have. There's no dome stadiums in the a f
scenes North. So yeah, he's a guy that you can
really feel secure and confident in for the most part,
game in and game out, wet, cold, windy, you know
whatever it might be in the northeastern part of the
(38:41):
country towards the end of the calendar year, and um yeah,
having him locked up, um is comforting. But to me,
what's more comforting is his reaction to it, which is
very blase, because that's you know, I would like, I
would be interested, you know, to put a blood pressure
on him, you know, as a team is, as the
(39:04):
offense would be moving into um, you know, field goal
range in an overtime of the game that they need
to win, because I don't think you might even see
a blip if anything, maybe it goes down. I was
just gonna say maybe down. Yeah. Uh So you know,
those are the kinds of guys beyond the talent, you know,
the mindset, what's going on from the neck up. Uh,
(39:27):
it's he's just perfect. That kind of reaction and the
way he handles things, it's just perfect for his job. Well,
he'll be kicking for your Pittsburgh Steelers for the next
five years. So happy that that extension was able to
come to reality. We've got a lot more to get
into to wrap up the training camp reports, some injury
problems that we want to touch on the offensive line,
the quarterbacks some more, and of course tell you about
(39:48):
some of the festivities that are going on for Day
seven practice at St. Vincent College. That's all on the
way next right here on the Training Camp Report on
Steelers Nation Radio vcs NO Training Camp Report with Tom
Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Day seven
(40:11):
of Steelers training camp practice gets underway today at one
five in the afternoon, Day three in Pads for your
Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh, there's not really many injuries to note, Labs,
as far as you know longevity is concerned. There's no
one that's gonna be on an I R or anything
like that or threatening to miss some time in the
regular season, at least, so far and knock on what
that continues to be the case. But some of the
(40:33):
names that are day to day really do jump out
to you when you read Naji Harris, pat Friar, muth
Levi Wallace, Chase Claypool and then you know even some
other guys that started on PUP like Tyson Alualu uh
make of Fitzpatrick on the non football related injury list
and larryogen Joebi, who I think you noted last night
on the DV show that he's not technically on the
injury report. He just hasn't you know, seen any action yet.
(40:56):
As the inch him closer to getting back on the
field again, there's no them to worry about there because
all these guys have minor stuff that they're working their
way back from. But there's a lot of names and
a lot of star power, potential star power that's not
on the field in this early going at camp. Yeah,
and I think that, you know, I'm constantly asked this, um,
you know, what do you think this year? Or haws
(41:17):
the team? Look, you know those kinds of things, um,
and you know, health is going to be a significant
factor in determining that. Uh, the Steelers, I think you
have a decent ninety maion roster. They're competitive, you know
in a lot of areas. But you know thin um,
you know, there's just um. As we saw last season
(41:40):
with a couple of injuries on the defensive line, it
really impacted the entire run defense because the way that
the inside linebackers were constructed, and you know, the way
that the defense was more of you know, run and
cover sideline to sideline group. You know, you needed those
(42:00):
guys up front to do a lot of that heavy
lifting physically to maintain them, I know, so you don't
get pushed around. So you know, there are definitely some
areas like that again this season. Uh and you know,
I think we'll get a better handle on which those
are exactly, you know, as this camp goes on, because
(42:21):
you know, we were talking, you know about the running backs,
the depth behind nausea and the options and all that
kind of stuff. Well, it looks it all looks good
right now, you know, Benny Snow, Anthony McFarland, Jalen Warren, um.
But once you get in games and this process goes
on a little bit. You know, one of the things
you see about young people is a lot of them
(42:44):
will flash early in a training camp, but then they
kind of plateau maybe a week or two into it. Um.
Now what you're what you're looking for are guys who
continue to improve, to get better, to show you more. Um.
You don't want a guy to just kind of hit
a wall and you know then that's all you're gonna
(43:04):
get from him in terms of you know, he is
what he is on August fifteen. I mean, that's that's
not a good situation to be in. So um, right now,
you can look at these things, as Mike Tomlin does
and say, well, there's a lot of good work for
the young people. Well, yeah, there is, and because you
need that, you need them on the field to be
(43:26):
able to make some intelligent evaluations and decisions later on
in the process. But um, you know you also need
some of these frontline guys um to to be there, um,
to to mesh with the other frontline guys. You know,
I'm I'm specifically thinking offense because it's a totally different
(43:48):
situation this summer as opposed to any in recent memory,
because you don't have the same guy at quarterback. You know,
the receivers, for example, Chase Claypool, you know, for all
we know, it's a day to day situation. Um, you know,
and and it's going to stay that way. Uh, but
you just never know. Deonte Johnson, Um, when you know
(44:11):
he's gonna come back, but at what point and what
will he have missed in terms of messing with the quarterbacks?
And then how does that impact him, you know, moving
forward into the regular season when these games come. So
there's a lot of moving parts. I do think that
right now it is fair and even accurate to look
(44:32):
at it as an opportunity for other people to show
what they have. But you know, I don't think you
wanted to linger, not only for those individuals that are involved,
but also for the impact that could have on some
of their other teammates. We just had a few minutes
your lab, but I did want to ask you, what,
(44:52):
in your opinion, should the fans be more desperate to
see today in day three and pads improved strong play
from the offensive line or a better quarterback play or
can you simply not have the ladder unless you get
the former first. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the uh C.
You know, if you gave me a B and C,
I would say C because I really think that you
(45:14):
know that is um, you know, interrelated. I don't think
that quarterback play can be judged in a vacuum away
from you know, the other ten guys on the field
with him at that time. So, uh yeah, I would
like to see some more uh stability maybe from the
(45:34):
first unit offensively certainly would start with uh maybe the
front five guys being a little bit more uh stout
and um, you know, kind of allowing men the skill
position players would offensive Lineman hate when you say that, yeah, yeah,
(45:58):
right exactly. You know, if you say that around wolf
Ley too many times, you're gonna get smacked. We'll be careful.
You might be on the line. You might have heard
you saying that. So well, um A Max Starks is
no shrinking violet either. But anyway, uh you know, and
I do think that that that kind of coordination among
(46:18):
the units on offense is how I would phrase it.
That's what I would like to see. I think we
have seen enough of the defense do the things that
you know you're gonna want to see them do, uh
this regular season. I can't say that I've seen that.
I can't say that I would say the same about
we have seen that from the offense. Well, I'll do it.
(46:40):
For today's Training Camp report, a couple of quick reminders
for your fans heading up to the troupe to St.
Vincent College today. The Steelers legend that will be featured
for a photo of today is Rocky Blyer, so you
definitely want to make some time to go over to Rocky,
chat him up and get a picture taken with him.
We also wanted to remind you that Friday Night Lights
is right around the corner Friday at seven pm practice
(47:01):
at Latrobe Latrobe High School Stadium. Uh no, no, Latrobe
Latrobe Stadium. Don't don't send him to the high school.
We don't want to send him to high school. All right,
don't go to the high school. Go to Latrobe Stadium
for Friday Night Lights. That's again this Friday at seven pm.
One of the great traditions of Steelers training camp. So
we're definitely looking forward to that. Practice today starts at
one five and Labs and I will be back again
(47:23):
tomorrow at nine am to recap it all right here
on the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get started, and so now we take off. She's the
training camp re report what Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio. Day six of Steelers training camp practice,
day two of which were in pads, started with backs
on backers, a very familiar drill when the team puts
(00:27):
on pads, and Mike Tomlin said after Monday's practice, the
first of which was in pads, that you know, drills
are football like, but they're not football. What I mean
is that someone has an advantage in the drill. I
expect those who have an advantage to win quickly. I
expect those who are at a disadvantage to fight and
compete well. The first day labs, the advantage was on
the linebacking side of the ball, as the running backs
and the tight ends had to pick them up. Today
(00:49):
are yesterday, excuse me a little bit different. That advantage flipped.
It was the linebackers turn to try to keep up
with the running backs and tight ends and coverage. And
I like, how, um, you know, like Tomlin arranges this,
you know, consecutive days, so it's not like a long time.
The fester or whatever you know. First aim pads is
traditional backs on backers. You know, the a rusher, it's
(01:15):
about a five six yard head start. The running back
or the tight end is stationary. You cannot cut the rusher,
meaning you know, cut block him. So you pretty much
you know you're trying to you know, stop a moving
car is what you're trying to. UM. And so that's
heavily weighted towards the pass rusher. Now this back backs
(01:38):
on backers, it was yesterday was UM. They do it
on a field. They go off to a side field
so they have the whole field to work with. UM.
And now the line the rusher, the linebacker usually looks
into the backfield and see the back that he now
has to cover all over the field. No pressure on
(02:00):
the quarterback, so I mean it can be you know,
four or five seconds, UM, and it's impossible. You know,
you can't, um, you know you can't hold them. You
can't you know, there's just you know, you're you're just
running and chasing. And as I said, the quarterback has
not in any under any pressure, so he can wait
for the guy to get open at the ball five
(02:23):
times if you wanted to. Yeah, um. So yeah, it
flips the flips the advantage pretty dramatically. And yesterday that's
what that's what the Steelers did. And um so you know,
as a as a pass rusher, you don't look in
the backfield and you see huh five five eight Anthony McFarland.
(02:44):
Here I come. Then you know yesterday you look into
the backfield, God five at Anthony McFarland, I gonna run
with this guy. Yeah. So, um it was a different, um,
kind of different viewpoint of a similar real or at
least it's called the same and uh it. The the
(03:04):
outcome was what you would expect. UM. For the most part,
it was pitch and catch, you know, the some occasions
when the back would drop the ball or it was
a bad pass. Um. You know, I saw like two
instances Ulysses Gilbert intercepted a pass which you hardly ever see, um,
(03:25):
and then um Gerard Avery knocked one down. But outside
of that, it was pretty much toast. Well, whoever has
the disadvantage in this drill, whether it be you know,
the running backs having to take on linebackers one on one,
no cut blocks, no help from anybody else, or the
linebackers having to cover you know, running backs in the
open field for as long as the quarterback decides to
(03:45):
hold onto the ball when it comes to you know,
preseason action, regular season action. That's just gonna help the
linebackers cover running backs. It's gonna help the running backs
pick up blocks and linebackers. When you do have you know,
offensive lineman helping you out, you can cut block the guy,
or you do have a pass rush trying to get
after the quarterback. You know, this drill. It's kind of
(04:05):
like swinging a baseball bat with a doughnut on it.
So when you get out there to actual game action,
it can be a little bit you know easy. I
don't want to say easier, that's not It's never easy
in the NFL, but you know what I mean. Yeah,
and I really think that, you know, um, A big
part of the point is that one since and then
Mike tomlinn quote, I expect those who are the disadvantage
(04:27):
to fight and compete. So, you know, you kind of
you're training the players to not allow themselves, you know,
to go where I just was, which which is to
think this is impossible. You know, you're you you forced
them to try to find a way and Um, you know,
(04:47):
I think that that's kind of the attitude that you
want to instill in your players. And as you build
a team, you know, you want to have that kind
of permeate, uh the well not not only be into
visual position groups, but you know, the unit offens or
defense as a whole, and then you know the team
as a whole. I remember, you know, watching this drill,
(05:10):
Ryan shas Are trying to cover Levan Bell. I mean,
you talk about two heavyweights at it, you know, and
I don't know that you know, Shaser was with him,
could stay with him for a little bit occasionally, you know,
be you know, right in the shadow right, you know,
right there. But if it was an accurate past, you know,
(05:31):
you tackle them right away. That's that's the best you
can do. But you know, you talk about two guys
who in their respective areas, Bell running routes and Shasier
covering backs. You know, I don't know if there's two
better at it in the league at that time, and
those those respective categories, and you know, having him on
(05:52):
the same team and going at each other, you know,
Iron Sharpen's Iron to borrow with Tomlinism the reigning defensive
Player Year t J. Watt didn't participate in backs on
backers yesterday when the linebackers had the advantage. That makes sense.
You don't really need to see anything from t J.
You don't really need him to me. Let me just
two days ago. Two you're losing. Yeah, you're doing what
(06:14):
I do. Right, you're doing what I do. You know
you you have camp fog brain. It's all the same,
every day, the same, yeahroundhog day. Yeah, we're all Bill
Murray two days ago, didn't participate in backs on backers.
Did you get any run yesterday? If you're a t J.
Water did he hold him back again? No, he would.
He didn't participate in that dural either. I mean you
(06:35):
know that. That to me is um, you know, kind
of like you know, um, putting a bright light under
a bushel. I mean, if it's a passing situation, I
don't want t J. Watt covering anybody. Go get the
quarterback and help everybody else who's trying to cover people
not have to do it for very long. Um so um,
(06:57):
I don't. I'm not going to say that there's never
ever situation where t J. Watts not in coverage because
you don't want you don't never want the defense to
really be able to load up on that and be
sure of that. UM. So occasionally, UM, you know you
haven't covered somebody, but you know, uh, what's he gonna do?
(07:18):
You know, injured hamstring or something? God trying to cover.
I don't know. Jalen Williams, you know that's just stupid.
So thank god he did not get any of those yesterday. Well,
Mike Tomlin spoke to the media following a practice yesterday.
We always like to give you his thoughts. So let's
take a listen to coach Tomlin right here on SNR MAN.
(07:41):
I was really pleased with the day's work. I thought
the competition, the level of urgency was improved, and I
think that's just a natural thing that second day and
pads and guys, particularly the new guys, getting accustomed to
the things that we do culturally and in the nature
in which we compete under those conditions, and so really
site and it's gonna be allowed to learn from on
(08:01):
this tape. Um, not a lot to add from a
from an availability or health standpoint, NAZI could be described
as day to day. Um, all those other ones that
we've been describing as day to day remain in that category.
Some of the guys that started UM on a variety
of lists, guys like a Lulu and Larry Oh and
make our our inching closer toward participation, and so we're
(08:23):
excited about that. We'll keep working UM. But man, this
is good environment today. Are you sick? Did you send
some of the final play that one on one linement
that you could grub up the competition there and that's
why you held back a little bit. I just think
this time of year reps for young guys and competitive
(08:46):
reps guys in similar stages of their career with like
resumes getting an opportunity to compete. And you know, we're
not paid by the hour, so sometimes i'll I'll freeze
time and an effort to get what we're looking for.
Speaking to the offensive linswer two days some times, what
have you seeing in terms of growth or signs of
optimism for the collective share? I don't know that I'm
looking to be optimistic. I'm just gonna keep snapping the
(09:07):
ball and allow the growth to happen. And it has,
but it's a reasonable expectation for it to continue. Like
we heard you, we heard you call out three oh
a lot in practice. What's he been doing to catch
your eye and his rest? Uh, he appears to be
highly conditioned, and I think it kind of starts there
for a young guy. Um, we always say one man's
misfortune is another man's opportunity, and so there's some short
(09:27):
lines at running back. But if you're not highly conditioned,
you're not positioning yourself to take advantage of it. And so, um,
kudos to him for coming ready. James Daniels said. One
thing he's impressed getting even know his ro linemates ter
ability to communicating. Even though a lot of them young
learning the positions, they've said the same thing about him
because that communication started to manifest into the playoffs. Um,
(09:51):
I guess they're better position to answer that than myself
from a communication standpoint. But again they're growing individually and collectively.
Like when we talk with our early today, he was
asked about, you know, what would be successful playing again
for Anny Ticket He references for growth. Are there kind
of specifics you look for from him? And they playmaking?
You know, he's not a seven B, you know what
(10:11):
I mean? Uh, we expect quality playmaking and in a
quick maturation process and and uh we like the things
that he's doing thus far. Mike, I don't elect to
focus on the guys in the field. We have someone
i'll yance is Is there a point because we have
two quarterbacks that he didn't have a lot of time
with her with the spring work gets kind of productive,
they're not have him on the field. If you're exactly right,
I like to focus on the guys that are working.
(10:33):
I predicted an answered by one anyone else, Mike give
it out day on his name. He's gonna evaluated. Yeah.
I don't have the results of that evaluation, but he
is being evaluated today. We shoulder. Oh, it's term of
the things. You like that testing and want what you know.
Um I like what I saw today. UM I don't
(10:55):
get too far ahead. UM I like what I saw today.
We'll take a look at the tape and analyze what
I find, tune tooth comb and then plot of course
in terms of how we move forward. That's coach Tomin
speaking to the media following yesterday's practice, Day six of
practice up at St. Vincent for Steelers training camp. A
ton of stuff to get into their labs. The running back,
(11:16):
the offensive line play he touched on, but I want
to start with the quarterbacks because that that's what we
love to do here. We love to talk about the quarterbacks.
He mentioned Kenny Pickett, you know, he wants to see
more playmaking from him. But the guy that I actually
want to spend some time and focus on his Mitch.
I feel like in all the picket excitement and Rudolph
playing better than expected so far, Mitch is a bit
(11:37):
been lost in the shuffle as far as talking about him,
and unfortunately he has had some struggles in seven Shots.
In fact, I was reading somewhere that he has not
connected for a touchdown in seven Shots since Thursday's practice,
So a bit of a cold spell from Mitch Rabinsky.
Is there anything to read into their or is it
just simply a young offense that's pretty injured right now?
(11:59):
Uh think that, you know, there's a little bit of
a lot of different things. UM. You know, there they um,
they are going against the number one defense, you know,
the first unit, So there's that UM, and Mitch hasn't
been real sharp. Uh, and some of the things that
you know, like in yesterday's seven Shots, UM, one of
(12:23):
the well two days ago and seven shots what worked
was one of those shovel passes, you know, tight end
kind of drags across the formation behind the line of
scrimmage and you know, the quarterbacks in the shotgun and
he kind of does a little something fake to the
outside and then comes back and you know, pitches the
ball inside. Well, you know that worked once, you could
(12:43):
do it again. Guess what T J. Watt was right there.
And so you know, I think that's part of that's
a factor to um the some of the things that
uh you know may work once I don't know that
you go back to them the sect the next day.
That's especially against the player like that. So there's that.
(13:04):
And you know, as I said, you know, Mitch hasn't
been sharp. The offensive line isn't really uh settled and
sharp yet, and so that's a factor because a lot
of the times he's trying to do things you know,
either as guys in his face or um you know,
somehow the the integrity of the play is either destroyed
(13:27):
or um you know, hampered significantly by you know, guys
coming free or you know, whatever it is. And so
it's just not a real smooth operation for the first offense.
And a lot of situations from soup to nuts, and
you know, it's a lot of stuff that has to
get cleaned up, and you know they're working on it.
(13:48):
I I you know, I don't. I'm not trying to
make excuses. I don't want to be dooming gloom because
you know, the first preseason game is still eleven days
away or something, so, um, you know, there's certainly time
for this. But I mean, I think you would like
to see a little bit more or at least a
(14:08):
little bit of occasional success. Like you said, he hasn't
thrown a touchdown past since when was that you said,
Thursday's practice? Yeah, okay, I don't know that that's true.
I wouldn't argue with it though, based on you know,
having what watching it every day, Uh, because it has
been you know, I have been in doing the practice reports.
(14:29):
There have been it seems like a few days where
in terms of who wins the drill, it's over in
the first four snaps. You know, it's only seven, So
if the defense wins the first four, that's it. Now
they continue to you know, finish it out and run
all seven. It's not like a you know, a playoff
series or something where you you sweep the team and
(14:50):
it's over. But um, yeah, it hasn't. As I said,
it hasn't been pretty. It hasn't looked smooth um. And
why I don't know. I just know that that has
been the case. Well, like you mentioned, the first preseason
game isn't this Saturday, It's the following Saturday, about eleven
days away, so they definitely still have some time here
(15:11):
to you know, get things a little bit more on track.
But you definitely want to see it sooner rather than later.
It would be great if today, at day seven, Mitch
rolls out with the first team and boom, boom, two
touchdowns right off the bat. I'm sure that would make
everybody from the coaching staff, to the fans watching, to
the media covering field just a little bit more comfortable. Yeah.
And I mean it's you know you again. You you
(15:35):
want to see some kind of progress, you know something, um,
And so far as you know you were mentioning, you
really haven't seen a lot of that from that group
in that drill. Now, beyond just the quarterbacks, you know,
the offense as a whole hasn't been exactly stellar. Defense
has dominated the camp so far. They've want to I
think every single seven shots except for maybe the first
(15:57):
one that they did. So it's been a defense of
kind of camp. Um, you know you said yesterday and
you've said before on the training camp report. You can
look at it both ways. On the offense is struggling
or hey, that first team defense is looking really great.
I think we all know what to expect from the defense.
Are you getting a little uncomfortable though with the offense
right now? I mean, do you think it should be
(16:17):
clicking a little bit more or it's just just you know,
growing pains. Well, I mean, um, as I said, excuse me,
as I said, you know, you you know, winning the
drill in you know, in the early August, you know,
August first, August second, excuse me, isn't critical. But again,
(16:37):
you do want to see some progress, you know, so um,
you know Mike Tomlins said, you know, I want to
see them compete and fight, uh in talking about backs
on backers. Well, you know, I think you could apply
the same phrase into that, you know, seven shots with
the first offense against the first defense. Yeah, I'm saying
(17:00):
that they're not fighting, that they're giving up or anything.
I just mean, you know, you'd like to see a
little bit more EBB and flow a little bit more
even you know, um, out of four snaps maybe you know,
if you win a couple you know, or lose a couple, UM,
that's okay. But to get shut out, you know, a
couple of three days in a row or whatever it's been. UM, yeah,
(17:24):
I you know, I just don't think that's a UM.
And you know you don't necessarily heading for the fourth
to Kane Bridge to take a dive into the Ohio
River or anything. But UM, you know, you would like
to see something some signs of improvement, um, you know,
and and manifest themselves in terms of success. Well, hopefully
(17:47):
today's practice day seven you see a little bit more
success from the offense. That practice kicks off at one
pm at St. Vincent College, Chuck and All Field in Latroue.
We got a lot more to get into here on
the training camp report. When we come back, we're gonna
talk about no najy and practice. So opportunity was knocking
for running backs in one in particular, really answered the door.
We're also going to hear from Chris Boswell after just
(18:09):
minting his new four year extension with the Steelers. So
all that is on the way next right here on
the Training Camp report on Steelers Nation Radio. This is
no Training camp report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
on Steelers Nation Radio. No Najy Harris for the offense yesterday,
(18:30):
So that means some other running backs had an opportunity
to state their case for a spot on the Steelers roster.
Before we get into that, though, Labs, you mentioned to
me in the break Tomlin must have been praying to
the weather gods last night because he is finally about
to get that heat wave that he wanted. Yeah, right,
little springing Mike Tomlins stuff. I'm sure today, uh sunny
high eighties today, Uh Thursday or today is yet today's Wednesday?
(18:56):
There you go, Thursday, Thursday most lee sunny and hot
high in your nine in the low nineties. Uh you
know Friday, well, Friday is Friday night lights, so that
doesn't count. Um, then Saturday high in the mid eighties.
So you know it's uh, it's Mike Tomlin weather. A
little Mike Tomlin trough, as the meteorologist might say, is
(19:18):
descending on the beautiful Laurel Highlands here and about to
engulf the campus extra you know, sweaty when you have
to put those pads on as well. So I'm sure
he's happy that, you know, he wanted the heat acclamation
last week. Whatever, he'll take it this week when the
pads are out. Well, absolutely, you know, you you can see, uh,
you know, I think that that's a test, excuse me,
(19:41):
a test as well. Oh, guys, handle that, you know,
that's fatigue become a factor. How do they react to it?
You know, those kind of things. Well, during the live
tackling session yesterday, the advantage once again went to the
run defense. Miles Jack and Roberts Blaine both made their
presence felt. Of course, you do have to note though
that on the offensive side of the ball, they weren't
(20:03):
used utilizing their greatest weapon, Nagy Harris, because he had
his footstepped on on Monday's practice was not participating at
all in Tuesday's practice. So I guess you kind of
have to take it with a little bit of a
grain of salt. But that run defense so far has
really looked good early on. And yeah, we could look
glass half empty and say, oh boy, another long year
(20:24):
with that offensive line run blocking, But I'd rather focus
on the fact that you're seeing Miles Jack. You know,
fly towards the ball and help stop the Ronnie stop
Anny Snell for no gain right away at the start
of live tackling. Uh, focusing on you know, that is
where I want to you know, spend some time here
because that run defense needs to be improved if the
defense as a whole is going to take that step
(20:46):
up to elite. And so far, Miles Jack has really
done what the Steelers hoped he would do when they
signed him. Yeah, you know, you you look at last year,
last summer, UM, the Steelers thought they were really adding
to their inside linebackers when they made the trade for
Joe schober I did as well, you know, because so
(21:06):
much of UM the NFL now is having athletic inside
linebackers because you need them to cover people. You know,
you can't always um have the time two match up,
you know, change, and so like offenses now can UH
(21:27):
force matchups with your inside linebackers in passing situations that
if you don't have inside linebackers who can handle that
or at least you know, give it a good effort,
you're gonna get crushed. And so I thought that the
addition of Joe Schobert was another one of those you know,
athletic guys sideline to sideline, you know, make tackles and stuff.
(21:50):
Um would help. But as we saw, and it's not
all Joe Schobert's fault was a combination of him the
kind of the style of player he was, you know,
the injury to Tyson Alualu, the absence of Stefanta throughout
the whole season. I mean, those were certainly significant factors
as well. But what I'm seeing so far in this
(22:13):
camp is that maybe that the kind of linebacker they
needed was more like Miles Jack. I mean, this guy
is more physical. Uh. He's not as good in coverage,
but he's not a stone liability either. Uh. And so
you can just see, you know, the way that guy
moves certainly, um, you know, sideline to sideline is good.
(22:36):
But he can also stay in there, you know, in
the middle of the traffic, sift through some of the trash,
and when he hits somebody, you know, they're not necessarily
always you know, just trying to break the tackle and
move forward for three or four more yards. So yeah,
he has been a you know, I won't say a revelation,
but you know, certainly an eye opener in terms of
(22:56):
his ability to help the run defense. And you know,
I think that Alualu is you know, he's he's coming back.
He should be on the field fairly soon. So there's that.
And you know, the the addition of Montrevious Adams too,
which was later in the season, UM is a help. Uh.
(23:19):
You know he's not Casey Hampton, but then again who is?
And so you know, when you're looking looking at this issue,
you know the run defense has been UM and there's
reason for optimism. Let me let me say, let me
put it that way, and we're gonna have to see
how things work out when you're facing an opponent that
(23:42):
you know, it's not in a live tackling period where
you know every plays a running play and you know
they're not gonna UM. You know, opponents often um purposefully
try to uh put you in bad situations with personnel groupings, etcetera.
And none of that's happening in training camps. So you know,
I don't want to lose my mind here, but uh
(24:03):
with optimism. But I mean, as I said, Uh, you know,
we talked a little earlier about the first offense and
seven shots in Highlands a little disappointing and you'd like
to see more and those kind of things. Well, I
think you can kind of flip the switch and be
optimistic about the run defense so far, because you know,
we have seen some things that are indicating that, uh,
(24:26):
you know, it has improved and Willem continue to improve.
Robert Splane continues to get sprinkled in with the first
team inside backers, and he made a pretty decent stop
on Benny Snell that that guy probably is one of
the hardest workers on the Steelers roster. They all work hard,
they're all professionals, but he just takes it to a
whole nother level. And you know, a couple of years
(24:47):
ago when he came in and everybody's like, who the
heck is Robert Spiline. He can't possibly fill in for
an injured Devon Bush. And he did as good as
he probably could in his first go with the Steelers,
and he's just continued to improve and really in try
himself on the team since then. Do you think this
has gone beyond maybe just you know, let's try to
light a fire under Jack, light a fire under Bush
and say, hey, you're not just gonna be handed this
(25:08):
inside job. Is it more transitioning towards a serious look
being taken at Robert Splaine as part of that first
team unit. Well, I think that it's, you know, it's
going to be a situational situation, a situational deal, you
know so much as again, you know, defense is you know, starters,
a lot of different positions. UM really doesn't mean a
(25:30):
whole lot, because it's it has to do with the
particular opponent, the particular opponents preferred method of offense. You know,
that kind of thing. You know, as an example, you know,
Robert Spillane, uh is a guy who I would think
would see more action against the team like Tennessee that
is run heavy as opposed to a team I can't
(25:53):
think that went off the top of my head, but
but might throw the ball fifty times even if they're
not the Chiefs right that though they're not losing. UM.
So I do think that it's it's becoming a situation
inside linebacker. The way I'm looking at it is they
have three um and that's a good thing. And you
you rottum and um you know down the distance situations
(26:18):
UM as I said, to match up well against the
particular opponent and their style of offense. So I don't
think that it's going to be a situation where you're
gonna have to and play the samet too all the time, UH,
every week, weekend, and week out. I think you have
three and you use them according to situations and the
(26:39):
particular opponent. Now, as we mentioned, there was no Nagy
Harris for the offense. He sat yesterday's practice out dealing
with that foot injury that he suffered on Monday's practice.
So running backs had the opportunity to step up. Tomlin
always says, you know, when the opportunity presents itself, you
have to take advantage of it. And the guy that
you noted that took the most advantage of it and
was the most productive yesterday was running Jalen Warren. You're right,
(27:02):
UM undrafted rookie UM. He split his college career between
Utah State. UH. He spent his first couple of years
there and then his last season. He only played three
years of college football. His last UH season was at
Oklahoma State. Rested for twelve hundred yards, you know, four
point eight average. UM. It's a really good team last
(27:26):
year too at Oklahoma State. I think we should know that. Okay,
I'll take your word for it, because I'm seriously, you know,
Big twelve. Big twelve football is not my cup of tea,
and so I don't really he was in the yeah, yeah,
and that's my you know, that's that's my go to
when I have when I have time on Saturday to
watch college football. That's that I'm tuning into uh CPS
(27:49):
about three thirty. Um. But you know, again, he I
wouldn't doubt it that he had a good uh he
that Oklahoma State was a good team because he certainly
is a I who you know, he's okay catching the ball, um,
but he's a good runner. And in the in the
first backs on Backerstrill on Monday, he was he was willing.
(28:11):
You know, he participated. Um, he stuck his head in there,
stuck his nose in there, and UM, you know, I
don't think you're gonna, you know, use him as a
you know, he's not Derek Watt or one of those
kind of guys who you put in for that blocking ability.
But again, he was not. Um, he's not a liability.
(28:32):
So you can't have a liability in the backfield and
passing situations because you need you may need help, you know,
picking up blitzers or guys who get it free or
whatever to help protect the quarterback. So Jaln Warren is
showing that so far that he is a he is
capable of playing running back, regardless if you want to
(28:54):
run it or throw it. So that's that's a plus
for him too, because you don't want a guy who's
who you're gonna depend on on a weekend and week
out basis, even if it's you know, a small sample
size for nausea, uh, you know, giving nausea a blow
every now and then, if the other team knows well
they can, they're not gonna throw it when this guy
is in there because he can't block me. So again,
(29:18):
he's showing enough um in the different aspects of the position.
And as Mike Thomlins said, he's he showed up in
shape so that when other guys are going down, he's there.
He's he's at practice every day, he's working every day.
And that's another way that a guy like Jalen Warren,
(29:39):
you know, gets his foot in the door and then
starts to nudge it open a little bit. Because the
only way you get better is by working at it
up here. And so if you're constantly nicked up and
missing practice. You know, you don't have that opportunity when
they grade the video at the end of the day,
they don't see you, and so you know, you just
kind of be come up invisible to some degree and
(30:05):
excuse me bad throat morning that the humidity is getting me. Um.
He has been available, participating and um, you know he
has improved. So this guy I think has a legitimate
shot at a roster spot. So far, I think the
Stories have just done a tremendous job of having a
lot of options across the roster at position groups that
(30:28):
you know, they're they're kind of looking at a cornerback
a bunch of different things. You've seen it, an inside linebacker,
they're they're trying a bunch of different things. Obviously the
quarterback position they have several options, and running back you
know who's gonna be number one. But as far as
filling out the depth chart behind Nagie Harris, I just
think it's the same thing. They've got a ton of
options here. You know, you bring in McNichols, you have
(30:49):
Jalen Warren, you have Snell and McFarland, who you know,
we're on the roster the past couple of years. There's
just a lot of things that they can throw at
the wall to try to figure out who's gonna be too,
who's gonna be three And and that's it's a very
good thing that I think a lot of fans are
overlooking is the amount of options that the Steelers have
given themselves. Yeah, and it's as you mentioned, it's important.
(31:09):
But you know, let's I don't want to paint an
inaccurate picture here and have anyone believing that this is
going to become a running back by committee thing, because
I mean, well, and not only that is there, and
when there was a Willie Parker here, Mike Tomlin didn't
go with a running back by committee approach either. That's
not his preferred way of doing it. And so um,
(31:32):
it's not you know, you don't spend you don't spend
the first round pick on a guy like Nagy Harris
and you know, take of his carries away or of
his carries away. That that's just not a good usage
of talent and draft capital. And the Steelers aren't going
to do it. And if you've been up here at
all for training camp, you look at Nagy Harris and
(31:52):
you thankful. Why would ever take that guy out of
the game? So, um yeah, but you do want someone
who can spell him a little bit, you know. I
don't know if even if it's a series a quarter,
maybe a series per quarter is what I mean. Uh,
you know that you want to have someone, you know
(32:13):
who's a viable option, and Jalen Warren so far is
showing that he could become that guy. I will see,
you know, and I would imagine Jalen Warren's gonna get
himself a lot of action in preseason games because I
don't uh, I can't see a realistic scenario where Nasca
Harris is getting carries a game in the preseason. I mean,
(32:35):
I don't even know. You know, maybe he would get
two or three carries a game, and there might be
games where he doesn't play at all, because you know,
what's the point of that. Um so um yeah, Jalen,
Jalen Warren is going to be one of those guys
you're gonna see a lot of in the second half
of preseason games. Well, just update the fans quickly. Deante
(32:58):
Johnson continued to hold and the pads did come on
for Deante yesterday, but he did not participate in team
activities as he looks for a new contract. One guy
that got himself a new contract extension, though, was kicker
Chris Boswell, signing a four year extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was asked by the media about that extension yesterday
before practice, and here is that audio. I'm glad we
(33:20):
got it done, and you know, we're still early in
the camp, so it gives plenty of time to get
back to work and we have a lot more to do.
And we saw the picture view with your other specialist celebrating.
How good a feeling was that, the energy and the
exciting No, that's good. You know, these two bring a
lot to the table, being so you know, young in
this league, and they've done a hell of a job,
you know, perfecting their craft and definitely making it a
(33:40):
lot easier on me. What was your reaction when you
just got the call that that it was all coming
together that you were getting the extension. How did you
find out? Um, I mean that's really all I could say.
It feels good, But I mean that's the way I
look at is as a contract earned in the past
and now I got earned the next. You're a pretty
understated guy. But did you like jump, been down or
(34:00):
fist pumper or anything. No, I'll call my family and
stuff like that, and called a girlfriend and just moved on. Uh,
your family, your girlfriend. What is the stability of staying
here for another five years? Kind of mean for for
that year? You know, it's a it's a good feeling,
you know because coming in I only had this year, um,
and you know, just to have that stability that I'll
be here for the next couple of years, four or
(34:22):
five years, and you know, we'll just see where it
goes from there and hope to be back for more.
You were you were we talked to you last week.
You were pretty confident this was getting done. Sounded like
it was it pretty much in the works. Good to
go at that point or did it come together sort
of in the last point. It's definitely been in the
works for you know, since we got to count. But
you know, oh, that's behind closed doors stuff that doesn't
(34:42):
even pertain to me. So I just let my agents
do that and get with OMAR and they figure out
the details. A couple of years ago you had basically
could you had to kick to your job here? Do
you look back, how far you maybe come from that point.
You know all you've been able to do absolutely not.
I mean I just got signed, but I still have
to the form every day I come out here and
kick every game I have. I'm competing for my job
(35:04):
because if I'm not getting the job done, They'll find
somebody to do it. So this contract means a lot
to me, but you know, it doesn't have anything to
do with my future. And I gotta earn that you
relatives chances to keep proving yourself. Oh I love it. Um.
I love proving myself and I love proving myself to myself,
not for anybody else, you know, just kind of building
my own self confidence. And you know I can do it,
(35:25):
and I don't really care about let anyone else has
Any former players hit you up and you congratulate. Definitely
a lot of former players, you know, Rosie Knicks, Ramone,
Um Foster. You know, those are just a couple that
I think up on the top of my head. I
kind of posted that picture and got off of it
for a while. So, um, what about other kickers, any
other kickers in the league. A bunch of my buddy
for raising the bar here, but yeah, definitely, um and
(35:47):
you know that that's something you know happens every year.
Every year someone else gets paid, raises the bar, and
you see that with other positions as well else. So
definitely had you know, a lot of my buddies throughout
the league text me and congratulate me and thank me
for their next deal. Come it episode that Steelers kicker
Chris Boswell fresh office four year, twenty million dollar extension
that will keep him in the Black and Gold for
the next five years. Uh labs. You talked about or
(36:10):
excuse me, the reporters talked about stability when it came
to Boswell in his personal life. But looking at stability
at the kicking position for the Steelers and just around
the NFL is so important. And I think the year
when Boswell kind of had the hiccups in that really
illustrated just how crucial it is to have a kicker
that you can rely on to go out there and
nail a forty yard field goal late in a game.
(36:32):
And for the most part, save that season, Boswell has
been that and I would argue he's the second best
kicker in the NFL behind Justin Tucker, who's just a
generational talent at the position well deserved contract extension, and
I think it it really works in the Steelers favor
to have someone you can trust and have that stability
for five years now. Absolutely, and you know, listening to
(36:54):
him talk, you know you could just hear um. There
was no excitement in his voice. That's he's just even
keel all the time. And that's that um, that piece
of him, that part of him, that quality in him,
I think helps you know him to do his job.
You know, he made that field goal in overtime in
the last regular season game that gets the Steelers into
(37:18):
the playoffs. And then you know that's the kind of
you know, you want to even keel guy like Boswell,
uh holding your playoff hands or playoff feet, playoff fate
on his foot there. It is um because you know
the guy is money. He is You're talking about a
(37:38):
guy who pretty much I think he's like eighty nine
points something percent uh for his career. Uh. I mean
that's you know, that's yeah. Yeah, and you know the
guy kicks that actor ser Stadium, which has never been
(38:00):
friendly to kickers. Never there's the wind early on, there
was the issues with the turf early on in the
in the stadium's life. They've they've got that fixed now,
ironed up by restarting the turf a couple three times
a season. Um, but you know, it's it's outdoors. There's
winter in Pittsburgh. You know, there's all those things you
(38:21):
don't have. There's no dome stadiums in the a f
scenes North. So yeah, he's a guy that you can
really feel secure and confident in for the most part,
game in and game out, wet, cold, windy, you know
whatever it might be in the northeastern part of the
(38:41):
country towards the end of the calendar year, and um yeah,
having him locked up, um is comforting. But to me,
what's more comforting is his reaction to it, which is
very blase, because that's you know, I would like, I
would be interested, you know, to put a blood pressure
on him, you know, as a team is, as the
(39:04):
offense would be moving into um, you know, field goal
range in an overtime of the game that they need
to win, because I don't think you might even see
a blip if anything, maybe it goes down. I was
just gonna say maybe down. Yeah. Uh So you know,
those are the kinds of guys beyond the talent, you know,
the mindset, what's going on from the neck up. Uh,
(39:27):
it's he's just perfect. That kind of reaction and the
way he handles things, it's just perfect for his job. Well,
he'll be kicking for your Pittsburgh Steelers for the next
five years. So happy that that extension was able to
come to reality. We've got a lot more to get
into to wrap up the training camp reports, some injury
problems that we want to touch on the offensive line,
the quarterbacks some more, and of course tell you about
(39:48):
some of the festivities that are going on for Day
seven practice at St. Vincent College. That's all on the
way next right here on the Training Camp Report on
Steelers Nation Radio vcs NO Training Camp Report with Tom
Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Day seven
(40:11):
of Steelers training camp practice gets underway today at one
five in the afternoon, Day three in Pads for your
Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh, there's not really many injuries to note, Labs,
as far as you know longevity is concerned. There's no
one that's gonna be on an I R or anything
like that or threatening to miss some time in the
regular season, at least, so far and knock on what
that continues to be the case. But some of the
(40:33):
names that are day to day really do jump out
to you when you read Naji Harris, pat Friar, muth
Levi Wallace, Chase Claypool and then you know even some
other guys that started on PUP like Tyson Alualu uh
make of Fitzpatrick on the non football related injury list
and larryogen Joebi, who I think you noted last night
on the DV show that he's not technically on the
injury report. He just hasn't you know, seen any action yet.
(40:56):
As the inch him closer to getting back on the
field again, there's no them to worry about there because
all these guys have minor stuff that they're working their
way back from. But there's a lot of names and
a lot of star power, potential star power that's not
on the field in this early going at camp. Yeah,
and I think that, you know, I'm constantly asked this, um,
you know, what do you think this year? Or haws
(41:17):
the team? Look, you know those kinds of things, um,
and you know, health is going to be a significant
factor in determining that. Uh, the Steelers, I think you
have a decent ninety maion roster. They're competitive, you know
in a lot of areas. But you know thin um,
you know, there's just um. As we saw last season
(41:40):
with a couple of injuries on the defensive line, it
really impacted the entire run defense because the way that
the inside linebackers were constructed, and you know, the way
that the defense was more of you know, run and
cover sideline to sideline group. You know, you needed those
(42:00):
guys up front to do a lot of that heavy
lifting physically to maintain them, I know, so you don't
get pushed around. So you know, there are definitely some
areas like that again this season. Uh and you know,
I think we'll get a better handle on which those
are exactly, you know, as this camp goes on, because
(42:21):
you know, we were talking, you know about the running backs,
the depth behind nausea and the options and all that
kind of stuff. Well, it looks it all looks good
right now, you know, Benny Snow, Anthony McFarland, Jalen Warren, um.
But once you get in games and this process goes
on a little bit. You know, one of the things
you see about young people is a lot of them
(42:44):
will flash early in a training camp, but then they
kind of plateau maybe a week or two into it. Um.
Now what you're what you're looking for are guys who
continue to improve, to get better, to show you more. Um.
You don't want a guy to just kind of hit
a wall and you know then that's all you're gonna
(43:04):
get from him in terms of you know, he is
what he is on August fifteen. I mean, that's that's
not a good situation to be in. So um, right now,
you can look at these things, as Mike Tomlin does
and say, well, there's a lot of good work for
the young people. Well, yeah, there is, and because you
need that, you need them on the field to be
(43:26):
able to make some intelligent evaluations and decisions later on
in the process. But um, you know you also need
some of these frontline guys um to to be there, um,
to to mesh with the other frontline guys. You know,
I'm I'm specifically thinking offense because it's a totally different
(43:48):
situation this summer as opposed to any in recent memory,
because you don't have the same guy at quarterback. You know,
the receivers, for example, Chase Claypool, you know, for all
we know, it's a day to day situation. Um, you know,
and and it's going to stay that way. Uh, but
you just never know. Deonte Johnson, Um, when you know
(44:11):
he's gonna come back, but at what point and what
will he have missed in terms of messing with the quarterbacks?
And then how does that impact him, you know, moving
forward into the regular season when these games come. So
there's a lot of moving parts. I do think that
right now it is fair and even accurate to look
(44:32):
at it as an opportunity for other people to show
what they have. But you know, I don't think you
wanted to linger, not only for those individuals that are involved,
but also for the impact that could have on some
of their other teammates. We just had a few minutes
your lab, but I did want to ask you, what,
(44:52):
in your opinion, should the fans be more desperate to
see today in day three and pads improved strong play
from the offensive line or a better quarterback play or
can you simply not have the ladder unless you get
the former first. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the uh C.
You know, if you gave me a B and C,
I would say C because I really think that you
(45:14):
know that is um, you know, interrelated. I don't think
that quarterback play can be judged in a vacuum away
from you know, the other ten guys on the field
with him at that time. So, uh yeah, I would
like to see some more uh stability maybe from the
(45:34):
first unit offensively certainly would start with uh maybe the
front five guys being a little bit more uh stout
and um, you know, kind of allowing men the skill
position players would offensive Lineman hate when you say that, yeah, yeah,
(45:58):
right exactly. You know, if you say that around wolf
Ley too many times, you're gonna get smacked. We'll be careful.
You might be on the line. You might have heard
you saying that. So well, um A Max Starks is
no shrinking violet either. But anyway, uh you know, and
I do think that that that kind of coordination among
(46:18):
the units on offense is how I would phrase it.
That's what I would like to see. I think we
have seen enough of the defense do the things that
you know you're gonna want to see them do, uh
this regular season. I can't say that I've seen that.
I can't say that I would say the same about
we have seen that from the offense. Well, I'll do it.
(46:40):
For today's Training Camp report, a couple of quick reminders
for your fans heading up to the troupe to St.
Vincent College today. The Steelers legend that will be featured
for a photo of today is Rocky Blyer, so you
definitely want to make some time to go over to Rocky,
chat him up and get a picture taken with him.
We also wanted to remind you that Friday Night Lights
is right around the corner Friday at seven pm practice
(47:01):
at Latrobe Latrobe High School Stadium. Uh no, no, Latrobe
Latrobe Stadium. Don't don't send him to the high school.
We don't want to send him to high school. All right,
don't go to the high school. Go to Latrobe Stadium
for Friday Night Lights. That's again this Friday at seven pm.
One of the great traditions of Steelers training camp. So
we're definitely looking forward to that. Practice today starts at
one five and Labs and I will be back again
(47:23):
tomorrow at nine am to recap it all right here
on the Training Camp Report on Steelers Nation Radio.
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