August 16, 2022 • 47 mins
Bob Labriola and Tom Opferman recap the Steelers returning to St Vincent for practice yesterday in full pads and hear from Coach Tomlin. They discuss a bit of shuffling at the QB position, and wrap up by discussing a position battle on defense that has yet to reveal a solution.
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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. Hec's the
training camp report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio wrap it up yesterday's training camp report.
We hypothesized that there would be no such thing as
a victory Monday when the Steelers returned to St. Vincent
(00:27):
Campus for practice Monday, And boy were we ever proven
right when it came to that, as the Steelers were
greeted back on campus with a full padded practice on
Steelers on Steelers Football, as Tom One likes to say,
we're just really smart guys, Labs. We know how this
guy thinks, and we know the operation that he has
in mind. And I think as a result, we should
(00:48):
have had me and you should add victory Tuesday. What
does not have to come into day, right? Yeah, Yeah,
I think that's only fair. They could they could run, uh,
Bob and Tom's greatest debts. No, but I mean that
doesn't um, it doesn't surprise me that, you know, he
(01:12):
brings them back in pads. They were off Sunday, you know,
and there during the during the season, I believe, you know,
some of the victory Monday. Stuff has to do with, um,
you know, you're only the according to the c b A,
you're only at so many, um you know, days of
practice and padded practices. I think it's like fourteen or
(01:33):
fifteen padded practices over eighteen week season. So in victory mondays,
you know, you might as well because you're probably not
gonna be able to do very much anyway. Um and um,
you know, bodies require uh some time to heal and uh,
so you know, I can understand the victory Monday during
(01:57):
the season. I think that that based on the limited
time you have at camp and um, you know the
fact that there's no such thing as two days anymore,
and so you've got to get the hitting in somewhere,
and so I think that, you know, it's you know,
I wish there was victory Monday, but I totally understand
(02:18):
why there was not. We said it that way when
it comes to Tom when you know, he is at
the forefront really when it comes to players safety. So
I'm sure he understands, you know, hey, four team padded
practice throughout the season is probably a good idea for
our player's long term health. But deep down he loves
putting those pads on, doesn't he wishes he could do
it a lot more. I'm sure as the season winds
(02:39):
out on. Well, I mean the fact that the fact
that supports what you just said is that there's life
tackling here training every day. And I don't know that
there's another team in training camp. You know what, sometimes
when the national people come around to visit, um, they're
(02:59):
all's shocked, But there's tackling. I mean, teams don't do that,
they just don't. Uh. And as you know, I've told
this story, but I was standing almost directly next to
Kevin Colbert. What Mike Domlin revealed that I know how
many years ago was because Levan Bell was still here.
(03:22):
So that's that that's that kind of dates at least.
And you know I remember, um. And in a subsequent
interview with Mike Tomlin, you know, I asked him and
he said, oh, I didn't tell anybody. He said, I
didn't tell the assistant coaches until you know, we were
ready to take the field that afternoon. He said, because
I didn't want word getting on. And he said, I
(03:44):
didn't want somebody trying to talk me out of it. Um.
So uh, yeah, there's there's there's there's there's definitely physical contact,
there's hitting, there's tackling during training camping, and then he
dials it back once you get into the regular season,
partly because of the rules and partly because I just
(04:06):
think that's the way he believes is the best way
to prepare the team and then take care of the
team once you decide who's going to be on the team. Well,
the Steelers did get a minor victory on practice yesterday
with the return of some familiar faces, especially on the
offensive side of the ball. Naji Harris full participant, Chase
Claypool full participant, Pat Friarmouth full participant, although he had
(04:28):
been working his way back the week prior, and Deante
Johnson returning to the fold. So the offensive death Star
looks like it's up and running at a hundred percent capacity.
Hopefully that can remain and we can see you know,
maybe a series or two with all of these guys
together against Jacksonville on Saturday, because that's so beneficial to
start working this, you know, first team offense together as
the full unit you expect to have out there on
(04:50):
September eleventh. And since you know, and I don't. You're right,
And I don't know what it says though about the
fact that all those guys returned and the defense kind
of dominated yesterday. Not a good thing, I don't think,
although we can look at it glass half four and say, hey,
defense probably got lit up a little bit by Tomlin
based on what they played like on Saturday. So good
(05:12):
bounce back performance from the defense. You see how we
spend that into the positive light. Yeah, and you know
that that's a that's an also, I believe a big
part of you know, how Mike Tomlin deals with situations
and pushes buttons with players and stuff, you know, the
whole respect thing, you know, or payback because like the
(05:34):
one thing he said, someone asked him after a recent
practice something something about how do you, you you know, view
the fact or balance the ebb and flow and you know,
the offense. I think it was the day that last
week when he the first time he ran two minutes,
the offense went down the field and scored twice. Uh.
(05:56):
He was asked about that. He said, say, you know,
I don't I don't try and justified or whatever. He said,
I just keep rolling the ball out there and you
tell the competitors to compete. He said, after you get
your butt kicked for a while, then maybe get tired
of it and start kicking somebody's butt back. And you know,
that's kind of, um, I think, a very solid way
(06:18):
of dealing with this because these guys, you know, they're
professionals and all that stuff. I get that, and everybody
kind of does, but they don't. They're not where they
are because they like losing at anything. So yeah, you uh,
you get your butt kicked and then he shows the
video and then you get your butt kick and he
shows the video and you think, I'm tired. I'm tired
(06:40):
of this, you know. So yeah, it's it's that's that's
part of it as well. Well. Coach Thomas spoke to
the media following yesterday's practice. Let's take a listen to
coaches thoughts right here on the training camp report. But
to get back to work. Um, before and before we
got to the field, I thought what we did this
morning was probably one of them significant exercises and team development,
(07:03):
an opportunity to analyze our in stadium tape, UM, to
make some acknowledgements and some corrections, to learn from the
things that we've done. And just gaining experience associated with
with coman through it. We took our time this morning
and devoted our time completely to that. And Uh, this
afternoon we came back out here and got back into
the Steelers Versus Steelers training camp like mentality, UM, we'll
(07:26):
use the lessons learned in stadium as our guide as
we get better. And I just think it's appropriate to
do so. You know, I thought our two minutes was
not where it needed to be offensively and defensively at
the end of the half the other night. UM. And
so as you can see in team today, we we
we we plugged in another two minute segment and and
I think that's what you do during team development. You
(07:47):
have a hardcore plan, but you also remain light on
your feet for the unforeseen, for what the group might
need in an effort to keep the train moving. UM.
Excited about that component. From an injury standpoint, Uh, Boykin's
gotta rib, Miles Boykin has gotta rib could be described
as day to day, UM. Carl Joseph has got a
foot has been evaluate that's probably beyond day to day. UM.
(08:11):
And And nothing new to add other than what I
acknowledge after the game. Or prior to our pause and
take questions like from your table, what do you see
about the offensive line? Do you like you maybe needs
to work on you? You know, Um, I thought we
played with good energy. UM. I think we're still growing
from a cohesion perspective. UM. I thought we gave up
(08:33):
too many hits on the quarterback. UM. And some of
it's cohesion, some of it is you know, guys physically
getting beat. UM. But I want to clean the pocket
for our quarterbacks, and what I saw, I think that's
the standard. But there was a lot of good things. UM.
But that's something that that we're gonna be uncompromised in
regarding UM our goals to keep our quarterbacks as clean
as possible. And we could have done a better job,
(08:55):
even for a first time out. And that's acknowledging. How
we practice out here isn't necessarily how you practicing game
in terms of the pocket. Uh. There's certain professionalism that
you do. UH. In practice settings, we encourage defenders and
Russia's to stay away from the quarterback and specifically his
arm action. So oftentimes it'll take the office a line
group h a while, if you will, to warm up
(09:15):
to in stadium action from a strange standpoint, and so
it's reasonable to expect those guys to be better in
that regard and and that's our goal. That would be
our mindset as we worked this week. How do you
think the quarterbacks responded to that Saturday? And obviously that
wasn't one of ben strong since by the end of it.
But in terms of what when that pocket wasn't cleaner
they had to face for rushers, you know, I don't
think that they blinked any of them, um in the
(09:37):
face of whether it was pressure or or some of
the challenges of coverages. I thought the quarterbacks did a
good job in the football game, like when coming can
say if you alluded to or which you saw two
minutes in both sides football or what else defensively? Did
you notice that left out of you? You know, we
gotta have better gap gap integrity, but we got We
talked about that after the game. We want great on
(09:58):
the curve based on who's available, of who's playing. The
eleven on the field represent us their standards that we
live by, and we weren't strong enough, particularly against the run.
We didn't tee up our situational ball well enough. Because
we're weak against the run at times in in game.
When it comes to giving up the wrap us out here,
how do you how much do you rave one pre
season in stadium opportunity versus what three weeks of practice?
(10:19):
Now it's weighted more heavily, certainly because of some of
the things we mentioned, a live pocket being a major
component of it and so forth. So make no, make
no mistake about it. The end stadium action is significant
in the evaluation process. You considering what Stilane and Brush
are doing right now, competing from one squad, and you
expect both of those guys to earn some type of
(10:39):
girl to regular people. I would imagine that both guys
are varsity and their abilities and so that there's gonna
be a role for them. But make no mistake, there's
a competition component to what's transpiring here in terms of
dividing the labor up for sure, Like how did you
think those guys didn't convince staying now? I thought they
could be a lot better, And um, that will be
my expectation this week anyone else, you guys have some
(11:02):
fun watching that hit at the end of the game
by Davis. I didn't. I didn't watch that with the
with the collective. Coach Tomins speaking to the media following
yesterday's practice, he led right off laps talking about how
valuable it was to get a look at that film
in the stadium against another team, and it really has
to be you know, you can learn so much on
(11:22):
Steelers on Steelers and we'll get to this in a second,
but kind of what he was saying about the offensive
line and evaluating them in camp speaks to this. But
you probably he probably learned so much more about his
team based on that game Saturday night and watching the
film the in the days following than he did perhaps
all of training camp. Well. And yeah, because you know,
(11:42):
as he as he mentioned, uh, you know this the
one specific example, the obvious one is the quarterbacks you know,
are under no threat of violence, correct Um. And when
he says we encourage our players, you know, to stay
away from the quarterback and his arm action, you know,
I think encourages kind of an understated way of what
(12:03):
is actually being told to them. Um. You know, people
often ask me why don't the Steelers put their quarterback
in a red jersey like all the other teams, And
you know I explained it. I said, you know, Mike
tomand will tell them in no uncertain terms what he
expects in that area. And if you can't remember it
(12:24):
or choose to ignore it. Um, you know, Route thirty
goes both ways east and west, so you can drive
out here on Route thirty and you can drive out
of here on Route thirty. So you know there's that,
um And And the other thing is not only is
does that no threat of physical harm apply to the quarterbacks?
(12:45):
But receivers too down the field. I mean, I think
you learn a lot about those guys too. You know
how aggressive and confident? Uh do they go up for passes?
Do they run across the middle? You know, those kinds
of things because even though a lot of instances, based
on the rules, those guys are protected, um defenseless players,
(13:07):
I think is the exact terminology that the official officials use.
You can you can still um, you know, line a
guy up and hit him with your shoulder in his
chest and I don't imagine it feels real good either.
So um yeah, there there's a lot to be learned,
I think, but from about your team from a game.
(13:29):
And I think also there's a lot to teach uh
to your team from a game and Mike Tomlin. I
think relisives both of those aspects of the video review
following a preseason game. Well, to your point about the
offensive line, we always like to say and put it
out there, we're not offensive line experts here. If you
(13:49):
want the expertise at that position, you gotta wait about
another oh forty or so minutes to get Wolf and
Stocks in the locker room and they'll tell you everything
you need to know about that unit. But it has
to be in a weird way, kind of a silver
lining to have the quarterback be able to get hit
in these preseason games, because, like he was saying, you know,
you don't have that threat when you're an offensive lineman
(14:10):
practicing in the camp practices, So it might not be
that big of a deal in your head when your
guy beat you, and you know you don't have to
look down at number two on his butt and be like,
oh man, I'm sorry, or see that the ball got stripped.
So hopefully that can, you know, start to drill into
these guys heads a little bit like hey, I'm protecting
this quarterback here. If I don't, you know, get off
on my block or succeed against the person that is
(14:33):
rushing against me. I'm gonna have to look back and
explain some things to my signal caller here. Yeah, and UM,
you know Craig Wolfley talks about UM some instances where
he you know, he was part of a huddle when
guys looked at each other and said, you know, Bradshaw
for example, when he had that bad elbow and came
(14:55):
back in that game against the Jets and three. I
think it was, you know, they all look to each
other and said, he's not going down, He's not going
to get hit. Do what you have to do, right,
You do what you have to do. You deal with
the penalty flags later, but you know you've got to
keep him clean. That's it. There, there's no there's no
compromise in this UM and so UM yeah, there's there's that.
(15:19):
And the one thing though that you you have going
for you. I think with this particular group of quarterbacks
is you know, they can help themselves a little bit
too in that respect. Yes, they can move around in
the pocket a little bit, and I think that um,
once their ability and willingness to run the ball a
(15:42):
little bit or you know, use their legs to buy
time whatever, UM the opponent is going to have to
think about how it rushes the quarterback. You know, you
just can't. You just can't go after him helter skelter,
because if you don't maintain the integrity of your rush lanes. Um,
(16:04):
you know, Mitch Trobinsky gets out on the perimeter, pick
it gets out on the perimeter, makes the Rudolph gets
out on the perimeter, You've got you got a a
double edged problem because maybe he runs for fifteen yards,
or you know, maybe you think he's gonna run for
fifteen yards and you break your coverage or leave your
(16:24):
man or you know, whatever it's whether it's zone or
man to man or some combination or whatever, and then
they just throw it over your head or throat where
you're not or throat where you were. Um. And that's
that's a big problem too. So you know, it's I
always kind of think about it, as you know, when
you're dealing with one of those kinds of quarterbacks the
(16:45):
three that I just mentioned on the Steelers, but Josh
Allen and you know those kind of people too. It
has to be the pass rush has to be kind
of analogous to an anaconda, the way that an anacon
the snake kind of just encircles its prey and then
just squeezes the life out of it. I mean, that's
(17:07):
what you have to do, um as as a pass
rush unit against those kinds of quarterbacks, because otherwise, um
As I said, the guy gets away and then you've
got all kind of problems. Steelers training can't report on
Animal Planet. Apparently it seems like that over here. Well
(17:28):
hope not, because I think Steve Irwin is with us,
you know, great crocodiles in the sky or whatever. But yeah,
and if I ever even saw a garter snake, I'd
probably run runaway screaming. Um But you know, I watch
I've seen you watch the Your television shows aren't just
(17:48):
a bunch of crap. You learn some things. Yeah, I
watch something besides ESPN, A lot besides ESPN, not that
you mentioned it, but we somehow managed to make it
through the entire first segment without lead drilling down into
the quarterbacks. So we failed the people there. We'll have
to do that when we return on the other side.
And I also want to touch on what Tomlin said,
you know, seeing they didn't succeed in one area, particularly
(18:11):
in the game, so we lead off practice with that
very same drill the next day. We'll get into all
that on the other side here on the Training Camp
Report on snr vcs NO Training Camp Report with Tom
Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Coach Tomlin
(18:34):
said in his post practice presser that watching film Monday
morning was one of the most significant exercises in team
development that they've had so far in this camp experience.
And one thing that he did not like on that
film was the way that the offense executed the two
minute drill at the end of the first half. Obviously,
Kenny was pretty successful with it his second chance at
(18:55):
it in the second half, but he did not really
think that it was up to par. So what does
he do labs two minute drill again in this practice
returning from their in stadium action against the Seahawks. Yeah,
and I don't think the the defense really I think
that the defensive performance in the two minutes also did
(19:17):
not exactly uh, you know, tickle his fancy because the
end of the first half, um Gino Smith took the
Seahawks sixty one yards in nine plays in one minute
and twenty seven seconds to a touchdown. They scored it
with um twenty one seconds left, so uh you know
(19:39):
that that's not that's not good enough either from a
defensive standpoint. So it was kind of a you know
the way that it worked. Um, you know, you killed
two birds with one stunt because uh, you know, at
the end of the game, Um, the offense distinguished itself.
You know, the Kenny pick a drive for the touchdown,
but if you look, um, you know, two minutes is
(20:01):
kind of a catch all for you know, the last
parts of each half, and um, you know, the Steelers
did not distinguish themselves on offense because they could have
run out the game had they been a little bit
better at it. Uh the Steelers had Uh they lost
(20:23):
the ball on a sack on a fourth down sack
in a tie game with a minute twenty three left,
so you know they were they were in Seattle territory
at the time. You know, you maybe get a uh
convert that fourth down, uh fourth and one two, by
the way, which you know is a makeable down the distance,
(20:45):
and maybe you can you can hold on the ball
a little bit, get it into range and kick a
field goal and go home as opposed to needing. Um.
A rookie inside linebacker to make a big time NFL
play with as a strip sack um to get the
ball back for the offense. But you know it worked
(21:05):
out and that's good and you know all that stuff.
But if you look at the game as a coach,
you know he would look at these different components where
uh yet ended well, but you know, you had a
chance to not put yourself in a situation where you
needed to take away and then a touchdown you know,
in somewhat dramatic fashion to win the game. So when
(21:26):
you look at the two minute performance against Seattle, it
wasn't particularly good in either half. Um again, it ended
up okay, But if you did it better in both
of those situations, you're not in the situation you ended
up being at the end of the game needing that
you know, dramatic defensive play and then the offense to go.
(21:49):
Uh was what was that drive? You know, forty three
yards in five plays? So yeah, it was an opportunity.
And again this is what Mike Tomlin likes to do.
You know, we would we might look at it or
someone you are, someone who's talking right now might have
written about, uh, what a nice job the rookie quarterback
(22:11):
did uh in in the final minute, in the final
lady seven seconds or whatever it was to pull out
of victory. But the way a coach looks at it is,
if you know that rookie had done a little bit
better job about two minutes earlier in the on the clock,
he wouldn't have needed the drama because the drama is
not always going to be there for you. You know that,
(22:34):
the whole concept of um needing a takeaway and actually
coming through with one, you know how rare that is
in the NFL. I mean, it's it's It just doesn't
happen very often. So you can use it as a
teaching tool. You can bend the facts a little bit,
use it as a teaching tool. And it made for
an interesting end to AH what should have been? Should
(22:57):
have been? But wasn't the victory? Monday practice us those
damn coaches always raining on our parades with reality detecting
reality into scenarios. I hate that reality. Well, the Steelers
had to too minute periods on Monday's practice. Uh, parameters
were thirty two yards your own thirty two yard line,
one time out. You need a touchdown to win this thing.
(23:19):
The defense carried the day twice they forced the first
team offense into uh fourth down and was able to
get the stop on fourth down, So turnover on downs,
that's a win for your defense. And then second team
offense ended with an interception from the defense. So defense
definitely got a little bit of a fireland under them
from what they saw in film on Saturday's game and
(23:40):
probably what the coaching staff and coach Tomlin told them,
you know, was expected of them and how that performance
was well below the line. Yeah. And I also thinking
I'm gonna go back to what we were talking about earlier,
the payback thing, you know among your teammates. Uh, you know,
because the last time they ran two minute I mean, um,
you know, Mason Rudolph was very efficient, brought him down
(24:03):
for a touchdown and Kenny Pick it I think was
two plays uh you know one there was that it
was it was a blown coverage on the first one. Um,
Jalen Warren ran down the sideline with a you know
pass that probably traveled about eight feet and then you know,
Kenny Pick and made a big time NFL throw to
(24:23):
the middle of the end zone to Steven Sims, uh,
you know, right on the button. Great throw. I mean,
it was a great throw. And you know, you the
offense is celebrating and eating the good food that night,
I'm sure, and uh, you know, the defense was stuck
listening to um, you know the chatter there's you know,
(24:46):
because there is some chatter. I'm sure last last night.
I'm sure Cam Heyward did a little payback in that
chatter department. And then the defense ain't good. I'm sure.
I don't know what it was, but uh yeah, they
will because the defense one of the competition uh periods.
So I do not discount, do not discount the value
(25:09):
of h bragging rights, you know, or as Mike Toomblins said,
in those situations, to the victor goes the spoils. You know,
it's not a big thing. Uh. And even even the
guys who lost quote unquote lost and had to eat
regular food, what they missed out on they can certainly afford,
(25:30):
you know, but it's the whole, you know, it just
it's take. It tastes better, It's plain in it just
tastes a lot better. It just tastes a lot better
when it's you know, you're taking it from guys that
you like what you like, beat I mean you know.
It just it just is like when, um, I don't know,
(25:52):
when you make Jacob Brick buy you the pizza. I mean,
you can buy your own pizza. Yeah. The best part
about that is we get it for free too, so
he doesn't know of that. So I'm just I'm double
dipping here there. There you go. See, It's it's just
it's it's it's the same pizza, but it just tastes better.
It just seems to taste better when you when you
(26:12):
win it over someone that you know you like to beat.
And um, I don't know human nature. I guess well,
there's a little bit of a quarterback shuffle. Yesterday. Trabinsky
ran with the ones. That was normal, but pick It
got a chance to go with the twos and everybody
keeps it. You know, it was according to plan. It
was according to plan, and I believe it. It was
according to plan. They had a plan that they set
out and nothing that happened on Saturday warranted a change
(26:35):
in the quarterback depth chart. And just because you come
out on Monday and pick It ends up running with
the twos and seven shots and in its two minute drill,
there's nothing to read too much and In fact, I'm
refreshing my live depth chart right now and it still
appears that Mason Rudolph is number two on it. So
people are gonna want to read into every little thing,
especially after what they saw on Saturday. And I'm sure
a lot of people are reading into pickets with the twos,
(26:56):
pickets with the twos. He ran with the twos. It's over,
Mason Rudolph has done. He's down on the third the
depth chart. Pick It finally supplanted him. But this is
not the case whatsoever. That was going to even if
Pickett was terrible on Saturday, you could have expected it
to see him with the twos on Monday. Yeah, and
you know there's um you know those kinds of depth
chart changes changes, pecking order changes, permanent pecking order changes.
(27:23):
You know, usually it's not enough for one guy to
play well. You have to have the other guy mess up,
because if everybody plays well, then you stay where you are. Um,
because you know, I you know, you keep I keep
thinking back to the bend situation when he was a rookie.
(27:46):
You know, the last time the Steelers draft of the
quarterback in the first round, you no Ben came to
camp number three. Um, who was Tommy Maddox, excuse me,
Tommy Maddox, Charlie Batch and Ben. So Charlie Batch injured
his knee. I mean you talk about um events that
(28:10):
shaped how that unfolded. A critical one in my mind
was Charlie Batch's injury, because if Charlie Batch doesn't injure
his knee at the point of training camp when which
was before the preseason even started, really, um, you know,
Ben was getting a lot of second team reps right away,
and the only reason he was getting second team reps
(28:31):
was because Charlie Batch wasn't there anymore, um, And so
you know you got to see him uh with better
players and against better players. And again, I don't know
that that happens without the injury, because I don't know
that you can do enough as a rookie to to
(28:52):
supplant a veteran unless the veteran either does something to
help you by messing up or he has re moved
from the competition by an injury. And that's what happened.
And then after seeing Ben for a while, it's the
number two guy. Uh, you go into the season, you
don't have Charlie Batch because he was on I R.
(29:14):
So he's your backup now, so then when the starter
goes down, you gotta play the backup. I mean, it's
just that's the way it is. That's the way the
system kind of works. And so you know Bill Coward's
hand was forced. Now worked out great, but yeah, but
you know, I just don't know that Ben gets the
(29:36):
opportunity when he got the opportunity, if it weren't for
the injuries, and you know, if he doesn't, if the
injuries don't happen, then he doesn't get the opportunity to
go thirteen and oh as a rookie UM and then
after that, you know, it's it's a done deal. Then
he's the starter, and uh you know, then you're looking
at the other people in different context, through a different lens.
(30:01):
And then you know, the team is fifteen and one.
Then the team wins the Super Bowl, and then it's
then it's over. You know, from then on, he's the starter,
and then you're looking for backups. You know, you're not
looking when you're looking at quarterbacks. You're not looking to
bring the guy to compete with the you know, twenty
four year old who in his two seasons as a
(30:24):
starter went fifteen and one and one a Super Bowl,
So that that that kind of that's off the table,
and you're just looking for, well, what if something happens
to him, you know, what kind of a backup do
we want to have behind him? So, um, the way
the situation is going now, none of the quarterbacks has
(30:45):
been removed or is removing himself from the position that
they were in when they started, either by poor play
or some physical misfortune. And so there's not gonna be
a whole lot of movement there just this. I mean,
I don't know how you know, I can see that. Um,
people might want Kenny pickt to move up the depth chart,
(31:08):
but you know, you have to have some credibility as
the coach and the guys in the locker room. You know,
you start moving Mason Rudolph down or you know, Mitch
Trobinsky down and Kenny pick it up. Um, those guys
they know, they know you know that you're just doing
it right. You're just doing this because he's a number
(31:30):
one pick. You're not doing this because of what we're
seeing on the field and watching on video after every day.
Because it's you know, the guys ahead of him are
not messing up and they're playing well, are well enough
to you know, to maintain their spot. So you know,
I just I just don't know how much change there's
(31:51):
going to be because while Kenny Pickett may have shown
that he is he has done well and against what
you would call jv competition to move up, But who
has done poorly enough on the varsity that's gonna get replaced?
I don't know, I you know, So I just I
(32:14):
can't see a whole lot changing going into this game
against Jacksonville. And if nothing, you know, if the status
quo remains, everybody plays the same, whatever level it is, great, mediocre, awful.
You know, there's no um um difference or big enough
difference the prompts a move. Then you're going into the
(32:38):
third week of the preseason with the same pecking order
that you started the first week o t A s
with um So you know it's gonna you keep watching
looking for something that that might happen, that might you know,
either force a change or merit a change. But if
you if, if, if it doesn't, um, there's not gonna
(33:01):
be any change. So the people that are clamoring for
Kenny Pickett to move up the depth chart. Just they
really astound me because they're clear. They're obviously huge Kenny
Pickett fans, or else you wouldn't be demanding for him
to move up the depth chart to the starting role,
to the backup role. Yet they're demanding for something that
could be extremely detrimental to their guy's development. You don't
(33:21):
want to rush a guy up when he's not ready.
I love the fact that Kenny could go against the
threes and against the fours because it showed his confidence.
He he walked out on that field on Saturday and
knew he was the best guy that was still remaining
on the field. And I want him to build that
confidence up and kind of a nice little safe incubator
that the Steelers have developed for him. So you're gonna
just demand that you throw that all the way, put
(33:43):
him at number one. He's ready for it. Well, he
might flounder when you put him in that situation too early,
and then you're gonna be the guys who demanding Kenny
Picky get cut. And it was the worst pick and
Steelers history. So it's funny to me and a little
bit ironic that everybody's demanding him to rise up this
depth chart because they want to see him do well.
But that rise up the depth chart too early might
be the reason why he doesn't do well well then,
(34:06):
And and to me, you know, I get what you're saying, Um,
I don't. I don't want to believe personally that Kenny
Pickett is so fragile that he could his career could
be ruined by putting him on the first team too soon.
But the way I look at it is, you know,
(34:26):
as a coaching staff, as a coach, as an organization,
all of those bigger picture things in order to have
credibility with your players. And there's again, there's guys in there.
Cam Hayward. I'll keep throwing that name out. You know.
Cam Hayward is a multiple time first team All Pro. Okay,
you gotta look him in the eye and say to him,
(34:49):
you know, we're making this move either because it's the
best thing for the team or we have to either
by you know, either as a result of poor performance
or injury. You know, uh, you know the Allen Fannica
story that I've told you know, back in two thousand
and four. You get are you excited to get a
(35:10):
chance to see the rookie play You're asking your multiple
time first team All Pro guard and he looks at
you like you have three heads? You know, are you
crazy excited? No, I'm not excited. You know, this is
a business. We're professionals. Um. And I think that you know,
people have to remember that that. You know, Uh, fans
(35:34):
can you know, they get excited for the game or whatever,
turn it on, watch it on TV. If the Steelers lose, Uh,
they turn it off. And I get that the loss
lingers a little bit, you know, with you, but it's
not the same for the guys who are actually a
part of that who that is their profession. And um,
(35:56):
I just the way I look at it is as
I've said, you have to maintain your credibility because there
are gonna be times, you know, with Cam Hayward and
other players and Naugy Harris whomever, um, that you're going
to ask them to do things neither sacrifice roles or
(36:18):
um change you know. Uh, maybe you say to t J.
Watt and I'm making this stuff up, so please, people
who you're listening, do not do not go crazy over this.
But maybe you have to say to t J. Wat
at some point, hey, look you need to quit trying
to sack the quarterback. We need you to do this
instead a little bit more often to help this team win. Okay.
(36:41):
And the only way you can do that is if
the players, by your previous actions, know and trust that
you're only asking this because you firmly believe that it
gives the team the best opportunity to win. You know,
i've i've I really believe that Bill Howard's job when
all the people, a lot of the fans wanted him
(37:05):
running out of here, which was after the two thousand
and three seasons. Okay, that was seven and nine. Uh,
that might have been the springboard for the following two seasons,
which were fifteen and one and then the Super Bowl team,
because Bill Coward played that two thousand and three season
(37:29):
every week trying to win. Again, he was doing things
trying to win, trying to win, trying to win, trying
to win, and the players see that. And so then
when you come to them and you say, uh, in
O four to Jerome Bettis as an example, uh, you know,
we want to we want to make you a short
yardage guy, and we're going to use Douce Staley as
(37:51):
the primary running back. Okay, Jerome Bettis is in the
Hall of Fame, so for him to accept that kind
of request order however you want to uh verbalize it,
you have to have his trust. And the way you
earn his trust is by playing every game to win
(38:12):
all the time. Because these players, they they understand that
their careers could end in the next snap of the ball.
So if you if you, let's give him a chance
to play, or if you, well, let's see what he
can do, or let's see if we can get a
better draft positioning, or you know those other things that
are floating around these days. You lose your locker room,
(38:35):
then your players aren't gonna they're not gonna buy into
when you want to try something or ask them to
do something or sacrifice something or you know, for the
good of the team, because uh, you know, bs, you
weren't interested in the good of the team last year
if you were interested, right, So that's why you know,
I'm always looking at this in that respect, because you
(38:57):
can't just have a short sighted view of it and think, well,
I want to see Kenny Pickett. You know, I like him,
I liked him in college. I have his jersey, you
know whatever, and let's let's let's see him now run
with the first team. It doesn't work that way. You know.
It's it's professional football, and you have to treat the
players as professionals. And so that's why as we're looking
(39:21):
at this and trying to you know, project or you know,
look down the road and you know, you and your
crystal ball, me and my magic eight ball, Um, what's
going to happen next? You have to keep in mind that,
you know, anything you want to do has to be
thought out and according to the I don't know the decorum. Uh.
(39:43):
That's necessary to be a success in professional sports with
professional athletes who have dedicated their lives to this as
a career. So, UM, I get that there are fans
who want to see Kenny Pickett move up, but I
think that those are people who like Kenny p or
don't like Mason Rudolph or you know, but you can't
(40:03):
look at you can't have a favorite. Um, so we'll
just have to see what happens uh down the road.
I think I do believe that I think the Jacksonville game, um,
you know, might help clear things up a little bit
one way or the other, because either it's going to
impact one of the guys in ahead of him in
(40:26):
a you know, less than positive way, or it might
impact him in a less than positive way. And you see,
whow this guy is a rookie. So you know, let's
let's find out what happens. Let it play out, because
I really think that people demanding change went into it
with a preconceived notion that this is what they wanted
(40:48):
to happen. We're going to take a look at the
defensive side of the ball in a position battle that
is still hotly contested on the inside linebacker spots. So
we'll do that to wrap things up on the train
in Camp Report on snr DC is the Training Camper
Report with Tom Opperman at Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
(41:14):
Just a few more minutes here on today's training camp report.
And one thing Labs that I wanted to get your
thoughts on was the Devin Bush Robert Spillane position battle.
I think everybody wanted Devin Bush to really, you know,
take this early, and that has just yet to happen.
He hasn't been able to really get a firm grasp
on that inside linebacker spot, and that position battle seems
to continue to ride on as they rotate both of
(41:35):
those guys, uh in and out with the first team unit. Yeah.
And um, you know the fact that the Steelers um
finished last in the NFL in rush defense last year. Um,
you know, he's certainly something kind of hanging over that competition. Uh.
And that's a critical element. You cannot finish last in
(41:58):
the NFL and run defense and expect to be a
team that you know, I think you're you have to
be fortunate to make the playoffs when you're last in
the NFL and run defense and then winning any playoff
games with that kind of the defense is you know,
it's it's ridiculously difficult, unlikely. I think it's the maybe
the best word to describe it. So that has to
(42:21):
get fixed. That has to get straightened out. Um And
I don't know, I I he Devin Bush. I'm that's
another position a little bit in my mind where it's
difficult for me, you know, without the ability to you know,
watch it on video back and forth, you know, back
and back and forth and slow it down, you know,
(42:43):
all that kind of stuff watching it live. Um, it's
difficult to know. Now did he get blown off the ball?
Was there's some mistake made? In the defensive front where
maybe whoever blocked him, uh wasn't supposed to get to
that level. You know, those kinds of things. So but
(43:03):
it just he just doesn't seem to me, to my
untrained eye, to be the same guy he was as
a rookie. And uh, you know Brooke prior of espn Uh,
let me just give credit words due. This was her story.
She was talking to Devin Bush and he said, you know,
he likened his situation too. And again I'm paraphrasing this,
(43:26):
so don't hold her to what you know. I'm I'm
about to explain. He likened it to a situation where
you know, you go over and you your pet a dog.
You know, maybe the dog has been friendly to you
all this time. So you go over the pet dog
and the dog bites you, okay, and it hurts and
you bleed, and now so okay. Then the wound heels again.
(43:47):
So you're looking at that dog again and think, wow,
I was petting him all that time, and over think
it's okay. Then the last time I go over bit me.
So when I go over the dog again, is he's
gonna bite me again? Or is this gonna be We're
going back to the way it used to be. And
so there's a doubt there in your mind with the
dog an athlete at the to the level that you
(44:11):
have to be, first of all to get into the NFL,
to be a starter in the NFL, but also to
be at the tenth overall pick in a draft. Um.
You know, you probably spent most of your athletic career
being able to count on your body. All of a sudden,
after he blew out his knee, Devin Bush didn't think
(44:31):
he could count on his body anymore because his body
let him down non contact blew out the A C L. So,
you know, I think that there's two things that have
to be fixed, the physical of the knee itself, and
then you've got to get over the mental thing of
what happened, you know, and the and the doubt that
(44:51):
you may have is it going to happen again? And
so those are a couple of things that athletes in
that situation have to contend with. And I don't imagine
it's very easy. I've never been in that situation. I
don't have any athletic ability to lose in the first place.
But you know, when people say, well, you know, to
get over it, you know, go pet the dog. Well,
(45:13):
it's not that easy. So I don't know if if
that's part of his problem still he's not trusting it
or um maybe you know, you just lose a little
bit because even you know that the surgery could be
quote unquote successful, but there's damage there and maybe when
it heals, it's not the same. I don't know, you know,
(45:35):
so there's a lot of factors involved that I don't
think you can put your finger on and definitively say
this is it, this is this is his this is
the issue. But I just don't think that, you know,
if Devin Bush was playing like he did as a rookie,
all due respect to Roberts Flaine, I don't think there
would be a competition like there is going on currently. No,
(45:56):
And I think that the Stealers really wish that there
wouldn't be. But you know, you gotta do what you
gotta do, and they need improved play from that inside
linebacker spot. And we know that Tomlin doesn't care which
guy it is. He just needs someone to step up absolutely,
because you know, the the inside linebacker spot may not
be the only reason that the Steelers were lasted in
(46:17):
the NFL last year in run defense. But it's a
certainly a contributing factor. And you cannot have you know, poor,
inconsistent play at that position and hope to be good
against the runs. So you know that's got to get
figured out. I I don't and I don't know what
the answer is right now. I gotta be honest with you. Well,
hopefully some answers avail themselves at practice today. That gets
(46:40):
underway at one fifty five on the campus of St.
Vincent College up in Latrobe on Chuck and Old Field.
So if you're heading up, you only got a handful
of days left that you can witness Steelers practice at Latrobe,
so make sure you do it before camp breaks uh
Thursday to the public Friday for the players. That's gonna
do it for today's training camp report. I always appreciate
you guys giving us a listen, Labs and I will
be back again at nine am sharp tomorrow recapping today's practice.
(47:03):
Let's hand the baton off though to Wolf and Starks,
as you'll be going in the locker room for the
next couple of hours. On SNR
Man, We're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get started, and so now we take off. Hec's the
training camp report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio wrap it up yesterday's training camp report.
We hypothesized that there would be no such thing as
a victory Monday when the Steelers returned to St. Vincent
(00:27):
Campus for practice Monday, And boy were we ever proven
right when it came to that, as the Steelers were
greeted back on campus with a full padded practice on
Steelers on Steelers Football, as Tom One likes to say,
we're just really smart guys, Labs. We know how this
guy thinks, and we know the operation that he has
in mind. And I think as a result, we should
(00:48):
have had me and you should add victory Tuesday. What
does not have to come into day, right? Yeah, Yeah,
I think that's only fair. They could they could run, uh,
Bob and Tom's greatest debts. No, but I mean that
doesn't um, it doesn't surprise me that, you know, he
(01:12):
brings them back in pads. They were off Sunday, you know,
and there during the during the season, I believe, you know,
some of the victory Monday. Stuff has to do with, um,
you know, you're only the according to the c b A,
you're only at so many, um you know, days of
practice and padded practices. I think it's like fourteen or
(01:33):
fifteen padded practices over eighteen week season. So in victory mondays,
you know, you might as well because you're probably not
gonna be able to do very much anyway. Um and um,
you know, bodies require uh some time to heal and uh,
so you know, I can understand the victory Monday during
(01:57):
the season. I think that that based on the limited
time you have at camp and um, you know the
fact that there's no such thing as two days anymore,
and so you've got to get the hitting in somewhere,
and so I think that, you know, it's you know,
I wish there was victory Monday, but I totally understand
(02:18):
why there was not. We said it that way when
it comes to Tom when you know, he is at
the forefront really when it comes to players safety. So
I'm sure he understands, you know, hey, four team padded
practice throughout the season is probably a good idea for
our player's long term health. But deep down he loves
putting those pads on, doesn't he wishes he could do
it a lot more. I'm sure as the season winds
(02:39):
out on. Well, I mean the fact that the fact
that supports what you just said is that there's life
tackling here training every day. And I don't know that
there's another team in training camp. You know what, sometimes
when the national people come around to visit, um, they're
(02:59):
all's shocked, But there's tackling. I mean, teams don't do that,
they just don't. Uh. And as you know, I've told
this story, but I was standing almost directly next to
Kevin Colbert. What Mike Domlin revealed that I know how
many years ago was because Levan Bell was still here.
(03:22):
So that's that that's that kind of dates at least.
And you know I remember, um. And in a subsequent
interview with Mike Tomlin, you know, I asked him and
he said, oh, I didn't tell anybody. He said, I
didn't tell the assistant coaches until you know, we were
ready to take the field that afternoon. He said, because
I didn't want word getting on. And he said, I
(03:44):
didn't want somebody trying to talk me out of it. Um.
So uh, yeah, there's there's there's there's there's definitely physical contact,
there's hitting, there's tackling during training camping, and then he
dials it back once you get into the regular season,
partly because of the rules and partly because I just
(04:06):
think that's the way he believes is the best way
to prepare the team and then take care of the
team once you decide who's going to be on the team. Well,
the Steelers did get a minor victory on practice yesterday
with the return of some familiar faces, especially on the
offensive side of the ball. Naji Harris full participant, Chase
Claypool full participant, Pat Friarmouth full participant, although he had
(04:28):
been working his way back the week prior, and Deante
Johnson returning to the fold. So the offensive death Star
looks like it's up and running at a hundred percent capacity.
Hopefully that can remain and we can see you know,
maybe a series or two with all of these guys
together against Jacksonville on Saturday, because that's so beneficial to
start working this, you know, first team offense together as
the full unit you expect to have out there on
(04:50):
September eleventh. And since you know, and I don't. You're right,
And I don't know what it says though about the
fact that all those guys returned and the defense kind
of dominated yesterday. Not a good thing, I don't think,
although we can look at it glass half four and say, hey,
defense probably got lit up a little bit by Tomlin
based on what they played like on Saturday. So good
(05:12):
bounce back performance from the defense. You see how we
spend that into the positive light. Yeah, and you know
that that's a that's an also, I believe a big
part of you know, how Mike Tomlin deals with situations
and pushes buttons with players and stuff, you know, the
whole respect thing, you know, or payback because like the
(05:34):
one thing he said, someone asked him after a recent
practice something something about how do you, you you know, view
the fact or balance the ebb and flow and you know,
the offense. I think it was the day that last
week when he the first time he ran two minutes,
the offense went down the field and scored twice. Uh.
(05:56):
He was asked about that. He said, say, you know,
I don't I don't try and justified or whatever. He said,
I just keep rolling the ball out there and you
tell the competitors to compete. He said, after you get
your butt kicked for a while, then maybe get tired
of it and start kicking somebody's butt back. And you know,
that's kind of, um, I think, a very solid way
(06:18):
of dealing with this because these guys, you know, they're
professionals and all that stuff. I get that, and everybody
kind of does, but they don't. They're not where they
are because they like losing at anything. So yeah, you uh,
you get your butt kicked and then he shows the
video and then you get your butt kick and he
shows the video and you think, I'm tired. I'm tired
(06:40):
of this, you know. So yeah, it's it's that's that's
part of it as well. Well. Coach Thomas spoke to
the media following yesterday's practice. Let's take a listen to
coaches thoughts right here on the training camp report. But
to get back to work. Um, before and before we
got to the field, I thought what we did this
morning was probably one of them significant exercises and team development,
(07:03):
an opportunity to analyze our in stadium tape, UM, to
make some acknowledgements and some corrections, to learn from the
things that we've done. And just gaining experience associated with
with coman through it. We took our time this morning
and devoted our time completely to that. And Uh, this
afternoon we came back out here and got back into
the Steelers Versus Steelers training camp like mentality, UM, we'll
(07:26):
use the lessons learned in stadium as our guide as
we get better. And I just think it's appropriate to
do so. You know, I thought our two minutes was
not where it needed to be offensively and defensively at
the end of the half the other night. UM. And
so as you can see in team today, we we
we we plugged in another two minute segment and and
I think that's what you do during team development. You
(07:47):
have a hardcore plan, but you also remain light on
your feet for the unforeseen, for what the group might
need in an effort to keep the train moving. UM.
Excited about that component. From an injury standpoint, Uh, Boykin's
gotta rib, Miles Boykin has gotta rib could be described
as day to day, UM. Carl Joseph has got a
foot has been evaluate that's probably beyond day to day. UM.
(08:11):
And And nothing new to add other than what I
acknowledge after the game. Or prior to our pause and
take questions like from your table, what do you see
about the offensive line? Do you like you maybe needs
to work on you? You know, Um, I thought we
played with good energy. UM. I think we're still growing
from a cohesion perspective. UM. I thought we gave up
(08:33):
too many hits on the quarterback. UM. And some of
it's cohesion, some of it is you know, guys physically
getting beat. UM. But I want to clean the pocket
for our quarterbacks, and what I saw, I think that's
the standard. But there was a lot of good things. UM.
But that's something that that we're gonna be uncompromised in
regarding UM our goals to keep our quarterbacks as clean
as possible. And we could have done a better job,
(08:55):
even for a first time out. And that's acknowledging. How
we practice out here isn't necessarily how you practicing game
in terms of the pocket. Uh. There's certain professionalism that
you do. UH. In practice settings, we encourage defenders and
Russia's to stay away from the quarterback and specifically his
arm action. So oftentimes it'll take the office a line
group h a while, if you will, to warm up
(09:15):
to in stadium action from a strange standpoint, and so
it's reasonable to expect those guys to be better in
that regard and and that's our goal. That would be
our mindset as we worked this week. How do you
think the quarterbacks responded to that Saturday? And obviously that
wasn't one of ben strong since by the end of it.
But in terms of what when that pocket wasn't cleaner
they had to face for rushers, you know, I don't
think that they blinked any of them, um in the
(09:37):
face of whether it was pressure or or some of
the challenges of coverages. I thought the quarterbacks did a
good job in the football game, like when coming can
say if you alluded to or which you saw two
minutes in both sides football or what else defensively? Did
you notice that left out of you? You know, we
gotta have better gap gap integrity, but we got We
talked about that after the game. We want great on
(09:58):
the curve based on who's available, of who's playing. The
eleven on the field represent us their standards that we
live by, and we weren't strong enough, particularly against the run.
We didn't tee up our situational ball well enough. Because
we're weak against the run at times in in game.
When it comes to giving up the wrap us out here,
how do you how much do you rave one pre
season in stadium opportunity versus what three weeks of practice?
(10:19):
Now it's weighted more heavily, certainly because of some of
the things we mentioned, a live pocket being a major
component of it and so forth. So make no, make
no mistake about it. The end stadium action is significant
in the evaluation process. You considering what Stilane and Brush
are doing right now, competing from one squad, and you
expect both of those guys to earn some type of
(10:39):
girl to regular people. I would imagine that both guys
are varsity and their abilities and so that there's gonna
be a role for them. But make no mistake, there's
a competition component to what's transpiring here in terms of
dividing the labor up for sure, Like how did you
think those guys didn't convince staying now? I thought they
could be a lot better, And um, that will be
my expectation this week anyone else, you guys have some
(11:02):
fun watching that hit at the end of the game
by Davis. I didn't. I didn't watch that with the
with the collective. Coach Tomins speaking to the media following
yesterday's practice, he led right off laps talking about how
valuable it was to get a look at that film
in the stadium against another team, and it really has
to be you know, you can learn so much on
(11:22):
Steelers on Steelers and we'll get to this in a second,
but kind of what he was saying about the offensive
line and evaluating them in camp speaks to this. But
you probably he probably learned so much more about his
team based on that game Saturday night and watching the
film the in the days following than he did perhaps
all of training camp. Well. And yeah, because you know,
(11:42):
as he as he mentioned, uh, you know this the
one specific example, the obvious one is the quarterbacks you know,
are under no threat of violence, correct Um. And when
he says we encourage our players, you know, to stay
away from the quarterback and his arm action, you know,
I think encourages kind of an understated way of what
(12:03):
is actually being told to them. Um. You know, people
often ask me why don't the Steelers put their quarterback
in a red jersey like all the other teams, And
you know I explained it. I said, you know, Mike
tomand will tell them in no uncertain terms what he
expects in that area. And if you can't remember it
(12:24):
or choose to ignore it. Um, you know, Route thirty
goes both ways east and west, so you can drive
out here on Route thirty and you can drive out
of here on Route thirty. So you know there's that,
um And And the other thing is not only is
does that no threat of physical harm apply to the quarterbacks?
(12:45):
But receivers too down the field. I mean, I think
you learn a lot about those guys too. You know
how aggressive and confident? Uh do they go up for passes?
Do they run across the middle? You know, those kinds
of things because even though a lot of instances, based
on the rules, those guys are protected, um defenseless players,
(13:07):
I think is the exact terminology that the official officials use.
You can you can still um, you know, line a
guy up and hit him with your shoulder in his
chest and I don't imagine it feels real good either.
So um yeah, there there's a lot to be learned,
I think, but from about your team from a game.
(13:29):
And I think also there's a lot to teach uh
to your team from a game and Mike Tomlin. I
think relisives both of those aspects of the video review
following a preseason game. Well, to your point about the
offensive line, we always like to say and put it
out there, we're not offensive line experts here. If you
(13:49):
want the expertise at that position, you gotta wait about
another oh forty or so minutes to get Wolf and
Stocks in the locker room and they'll tell you everything
you need to know about that unit. But it has
to be in a weird way, kind of a silver
lining to have the quarterback be able to get hit
in these preseason games, because, like he was saying, you know,
you don't have that threat when you're an offensive lineman
(14:10):
practicing in the camp practices, So it might not be
that big of a deal in your head when your
guy beat you, and you know you don't have to
look down at number two on his butt and be like,
oh man, I'm sorry, or see that the ball got stripped.
So hopefully that can, you know, start to drill into
these guys heads a little bit like hey, I'm protecting
this quarterback here. If I don't, you know, get off
on my block or succeed against the person that is
(14:33):
rushing against me. I'm gonna have to look back and
explain some things to my signal caller here. Yeah, and UM,
you know Craig Wolfley talks about UM some instances where
he you know, he was part of a huddle when
guys looked at each other and said, you know, Bradshaw
for example, when he had that bad elbow and came
(14:55):
back in that game against the Jets and three. I
think it was, you know, they all look to each
other and said, he's not going down, He's not going
to get hit. Do what you have to do, right,
You do what you have to do. You deal with
the penalty flags later, but you know you've got to
keep him clean. That's it. There, there's no there's no
compromise in this UM and so UM yeah, there's there's that.
(15:19):
And the one thing though that you you have going
for you. I think with this particular group of quarterbacks
is you know, they can help themselves a little bit
too in that respect. Yes, they can move around in
the pocket a little bit, and I think that um,
once their ability and willingness to run the ball a
(15:42):
little bit or you know, use their legs to buy
time whatever, UM the opponent is going to have to
think about how it rushes the quarterback. You know, you
just can't. You just can't go after him helter skelter,
because if you don't maintain the integrity of your rush lanes. Um,
(16:04):
you know, Mitch Trobinsky gets out on the perimeter, pick
it gets out on the perimeter, makes the Rudolph gets
out on the perimeter, You've got you got a a
double edged problem because maybe he runs for fifteen yards,
or you know, maybe you think he's gonna run for
fifteen yards and you break your coverage or leave your
(16:24):
man or you know, whatever it's whether it's zone or
man to man or some combination or whatever, and then
they just throw it over your head or throat where
you're not or throat where you were. Um. And that's
that's a big problem too. So you know, it's I
always kind of think about it, as you know, when
you're dealing with one of those kinds of quarterbacks the
(16:45):
three that I just mentioned on the Steelers, but Josh
Allen and you know those kind of people too. It
has to be the pass rush has to be kind
of analogous to an anaconda, the way that an anacon
the snake kind of just encircles its prey and then
just squeezes the life out of it. I mean, that's
(17:07):
what you have to do, um as as a pass
rush unit against those kinds of quarterbacks, because otherwise, um
As I said, the guy gets away and then you've
got all kind of problems. Steelers training can't report on
Animal Planet. Apparently it seems like that over here. Well
(17:28):
hope not, because I think Steve Irwin is with us,
you know, great crocodiles in the sky or whatever. But yeah,
and if I ever even saw a garter snake, I'd
probably run runaway screaming. Um But you know, I watch
I've seen you watch the Your television shows aren't just
(17:48):
a bunch of crap. You learn some things. Yeah, I
watch something besides ESPN, A lot besides ESPN, not that
you mentioned it, but we somehow managed to make it
through the entire first segment without lead drilling down into
the quarterbacks. So we failed the people there. We'll have
to do that when we return on the other side.
And I also want to touch on what Tomlin said,
you know, seeing they didn't succeed in one area, particularly
(18:11):
in the game, so we lead off practice with that
very same drill the next day. We'll get into all
that on the other side here on the Training Camp
Report on snr vcs NO Training Camp Report with Tom
Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Coach Tomlin
(18:34):
said in his post practice presser that watching film Monday
morning was one of the most significant exercises in team
development that they've had so far in this camp experience.
And one thing that he did not like on that
film was the way that the offense executed the two
minute drill at the end of the first half. Obviously,
Kenny was pretty successful with it his second chance at
(18:55):
it in the second half, but he did not really
think that it was up to par. So what does
he do labs two minute drill again in this practice
returning from their in stadium action against the Seahawks. Yeah,
and I don't think the the defense really I think
that the defensive performance in the two minutes also did
(19:17):
not exactly uh, you know, tickle his fancy because the
end of the first half, um Gino Smith took the
Seahawks sixty one yards in nine plays in one minute
and twenty seven seconds to a touchdown. They scored it
with um twenty one seconds left, so uh you know
(19:39):
that that's not that's not good enough either from a
defensive standpoint. So it was kind of a you know
the way that it worked. Um, you know, you killed
two birds with one stunt because uh, you know, at
the end of the game, Um, the offense distinguished itself.
You know, the Kenny pick a drive for the touchdown,
but if you look, um, you know, two minutes is
(20:01):
kind of a catch all for you know, the last
parts of each half, and um, you know, the Steelers
did not distinguish themselves on offense because they could have
run out the game had they been a little bit
better at it. Uh the Steelers had Uh they lost
(20:23):
the ball on a sack on a fourth down sack
in a tie game with a minute twenty three left,
so you know they were they were in Seattle territory
at the time. You know, you maybe get a uh
convert that fourth down, uh fourth and one two, by
the way, which you know is a makeable down the distance,
(20:45):
and maybe you can you can hold on the ball
a little bit, get it into range and kick a
field goal and go home as opposed to needing. Um.
A rookie inside linebacker to make a big time NFL
play with as a strip sack um to get the
ball back for the offense. But you know it worked
(21:05):
out and that's good and you know all that stuff.
But if you look at the game as a coach,
you know he would look at these different components where
uh yet ended well, but you know, you had a
chance to not put yourself in a situation where you
needed to take away and then a touchdown you know,
in somewhat dramatic fashion to win the game. So when
(21:26):
you look at the two minute performance against Seattle, it
wasn't particularly good in either half. Um again, it ended
up okay, But if you did it better in both
of those situations, you're not in the situation you ended
up being at the end of the game needing that
you know, dramatic defensive play and then the offense to go.
(21:49):
Uh was what was that drive? You know, forty three
yards in five plays? So yeah, it was an opportunity.
And again this is what Mike Tomlin likes to do.
You know, we would we might look at it or
someone you are, someone who's talking right now might have
written about, uh, what a nice job the rookie quarterback
(22:11):
did uh in in the final minute, in the final
lady seven seconds or whatever it was to pull out
of victory. But the way a coach looks at it is,
if you know that rookie had done a little bit
better job about two minutes earlier in the on the clock,
he wouldn't have needed the drama because the drama is
not always going to be there for you. You know that,
(22:34):
the whole concept of um needing a takeaway and actually
coming through with one, you know how rare that is
in the NFL. I mean, it's it's It just doesn't
happen very often. So you can use it as a
teaching tool. You can bend the facts a little bit,
use it as a teaching tool. And it made for
an interesting end to AH what should have been? Should
(22:57):
have been? But wasn't the victory? Monday practice us those
damn coaches always raining on our parades with reality detecting
reality into scenarios. I hate that reality. Well, the Steelers
had to too minute periods on Monday's practice. Uh, parameters
were thirty two yards your own thirty two yard line,
one time out. You need a touchdown to win this thing.
(23:19):
The defense carried the day twice they forced the first
team offense into uh fourth down and was able to
get the stop on fourth down, So turnover on downs,
that's a win for your defense. And then second team
offense ended with an interception from the defense. So defense
definitely got a little bit of a fireland under them
from what they saw in film on Saturday's game and
(23:40):
probably what the coaching staff and coach Tomlin told them,
you know, was expected of them and how that performance
was well below the line. Yeah. And I also thinking
I'm gonna go back to what we were talking about earlier,
the payback thing, you know among your teammates. Uh, you know,
because the last time they ran two minute I mean, um,
you know, Mason Rudolph was very efficient, brought him down
(24:03):
for a touchdown and Kenny Pick it I think was
two plays uh you know one there was that it
was it was a blown coverage on the first one. Um,
Jalen Warren ran down the sideline with a you know
pass that probably traveled about eight feet and then you know,
Kenny Pick and made a big time NFL throw to
(24:23):
the middle of the end zone to Steven Sims, uh,
you know, right on the button. Great throw. I mean,
it was a great throw. And you know, you the
offense is celebrating and eating the good food that night,
I'm sure, and uh, you know, the defense was stuck
listening to um, you know the chatter there's you know,
(24:46):
because there is some chatter. I'm sure last last night.
I'm sure Cam Heyward did a little payback in that
chatter department. And then the defense ain't good. I'm sure.
I don't know what it was, but uh yeah, they
will because the defense one of the competition uh periods.
So I do not discount, do not discount the value
(25:09):
of h bragging rights, you know, or as Mike Toomblins said,
in those situations, to the victor goes the spoils. You know,
it's not a big thing. Uh. And even even the
guys who lost quote unquote lost and had to eat
regular food, what they missed out on they can certainly afford,
(25:30):
you know, but it's the whole, you know, it just
it's take. It tastes better, It's plain in it just
tastes a lot better. It just tastes a lot better
when it's you know, you're taking it from guys that
you like what you like, beat I mean you know.
It just it just is like when, um, I don't know,
(25:52):
when you make Jacob Brick buy you the pizza. I mean,
you can buy your own pizza. Yeah. The best part
about that is we get it for free too, so
he doesn't know of that. So I'm just I'm double
dipping here there. There you go. See, It's it's just
it's it's it's the same pizza, but it just tastes better.
It just seems to taste better when you when you
(26:12):
win it over someone that you know you like to beat.
And um, I don't know human nature. I guess well,
there's a little bit of a quarterback shuffle. Yesterday. Trabinsky
ran with the ones. That was normal, but pick It
got a chance to go with the twos and everybody
keeps it. You know, it was according to plan. It
was according to plan, and I believe it. It was
according to plan. They had a plan that they set
out and nothing that happened on Saturday warranted a change
(26:35):
in the quarterback depth chart. And just because you come
out on Monday and pick It ends up running with
the twos and seven shots and in its two minute drill,
there's nothing to read too much and In fact, I'm
refreshing my live depth chart right now and it still
appears that Mason Rudolph is number two on it. So
people are gonna want to read into every little thing,
especially after what they saw on Saturday. And I'm sure
a lot of people are reading into pickets with the twos,
(26:56):
pickets with the twos. He ran with the twos. It's over,
Mason Rudolph has done. He's down on the third the
depth chart. Pick It finally supplanted him. But this is
not the case whatsoever. That was going to even if
Pickett was terrible on Saturday, you could have expected it
to see him with the twos on Monday. Yeah, and
you know there's um you know those kinds of depth
chart changes changes, pecking order changes, permanent pecking order changes.
(27:23):
You know, usually it's not enough for one guy to
play well. You have to have the other guy mess up,
because if everybody plays well, then you stay where you are. Um,
because you know, I you know, you keep I keep
thinking back to the bend situation when he was a rookie.
(27:46):
You know, the last time the Steelers draft of the
quarterback in the first round, you no Ben came to
camp number three. Um, who was Tommy Maddox, excuse me,
Tommy Maddox, Charlie Batch and Ben. So Charlie Batch injured
his knee. I mean you talk about um events that
(28:10):
shaped how that unfolded. A critical one in my mind
was Charlie Batch's injury, because if Charlie Batch doesn't injure
his knee at the point of training camp when which
was before the preseason even started, really, um, you know,
Ben was getting a lot of second team reps right away,
and the only reason he was getting second team reps
(28:31):
was because Charlie Batch wasn't there anymore, um, And so
you know you got to see him uh with better
players and against better players. And again, I don't know
that that happens without the injury, because I don't know
that you can do enough as a rookie to to
(28:52):
supplant a veteran unless the veteran either does something to
help you by messing up or he has re moved
from the competition by an injury. And that's what happened.
And then after seeing Ben for a while, it's the
number two guy. Uh, you go into the season, you
don't have Charlie Batch because he was on I R.
(29:14):
So he's your backup now, so then when the starter
goes down, you gotta play the backup. I mean, it's
just that's the way it is. That's the way the
system kind of works. And so you know Bill Coward's
hand was forced. Now worked out great, but yeah, but
you know, I just don't know that Ben gets the
(29:36):
opportunity when he got the opportunity, if it weren't for
the injuries, and you know, if he doesn't, if the
injuries don't happen, then he doesn't get the opportunity to
go thirteen and oh as a rookie UM and then
after that, you know, it's it's a done deal. Then
he's the starter, and uh you know, then you're looking
at the other people in different context, through a different lens.
(30:01):
And then you know, the team is fifteen and one.
Then the team wins the Super Bowl, and then it's
then it's over. You know, from then on, he's the starter,
and then you're looking for backups. You know, you're not
looking when you're looking at quarterbacks. You're not looking to
bring the guy to compete with the you know, twenty
four year old who in his two seasons as a
(30:24):
starter went fifteen and one and one a Super Bowl,
So that that that kind of that's off the table,
and you're just looking for, well, what if something happens
to him, you know, what kind of a backup do
we want to have behind him? So, um, the way
the situation is going now, none of the quarterbacks has
(30:45):
been removed or is removing himself from the position that
they were in when they started, either by poor play
or some physical misfortune. And so there's not gonna be
a whole lot of movement there just this. I mean,
I don't know how you know, I can see that. Um,
people might want Kenny pickt to move up the depth chart,
(31:08):
but you know, you have to have some credibility as
the coach and the guys in the locker room. You know,
you start moving Mason Rudolph down or you know, Mitch
Trobinsky down and Kenny pick it up. Um, those guys
they know, they know you know that you're just doing
it right. You're just doing this because he's a number
(31:30):
one pick. You're not doing this because of what we're
seeing on the field and watching on video after every day.
Because it's you know, the guys ahead of him are
not messing up and they're playing well, are well enough
to you know, to maintain their spot. So you know,
I just I just don't know how much change there's
(31:51):
going to be because while Kenny Pickett may have shown
that he is he has done well and against what
you would call jv competition to move up, But who
has done poorly enough on the varsity that's gonna get replaced?
I don't know, I you know, So I just I
(32:14):
can't see a whole lot changing going into this game
against Jacksonville. And if nothing, you know, if the status
quo remains, everybody plays the same, whatever level it is, great, mediocre, awful.
You know, there's no um um difference or big enough
difference the prompts a move. Then you're going into the
(32:38):
third week of the preseason with the same pecking order
that you started the first week o t A s
with um So you know it's gonna you keep watching
looking for something that that might happen, that might you know,
either force a change or merit a change. But if
you if, if, if it doesn't, um, there's not gonna
(33:01):
be any change. So the people that are clamoring for
Kenny Pickett to move up the depth chart. Just they
really astound me because they're clear. They're obviously huge Kenny
Pickett fans, or else you wouldn't be demanding for him
to move up the depth chart to the starting role,
to the backup role. Yet they're demanding for something that
could be extremely detrimental to their guy's development. You don't
(33:21):
want to rush a guy up when he's not ready.
I love the fact that Kenny could go against the
threes and against the fours because it showed his confidence.
He he walked out on that field on Saturday and
knew he was the best guy that was still remaining
on the field. And I want him to build that
confidence up and kind of a nice little safe incubator
that the Steelers have developed for him. So you're gonna
just demand that you throw that all the way, put
(33:43):
him at number one. He's ready for it. Well, he
might flounder when you put him in that situation too early,
and then you're gonna be the guys who demanding Kenny
Picky get cut. And it was the worst pick and
Steelers history. So it's funny to me and a little
bit ironic that everybody's demanding him to rise up this
depth chart because they want to see him do well.
But that rise up the depth chart too early might
be the reason why he doesn't do well well then,
(34:06):
And and to me, you know, I get what you're saying, Um,
I don't. I don't want to believe personally that Kenny
Pickett is so fragile that he could his career could
be ruined by putting him on the first team too soon.
But the way I look at it is, you know,
(34:26):
as a coaching staff, as a coach, as an organization,
all of those bigger picture things in order to have
credibility with your players. And there's again, there's guys in there.
Cam Hayward. I'll keep throwing that name out. You know.
Cam Hayward is a multiple time first team All Pro. Okay,
you gotta look him in the eye and say to him,
(34:49):
you know, we're making this move either because it's the
best thing for the team or we have to either
by you know, either as a result of poor performance
or injury. You know, uh, you know the Allen Fannica
story that I've told you know, back in two thousand
and four. You get are you excited to get a
(35:10):
chance to see the rookie play You're asking your multiple
time first team All Pro guard and he looks at
you like you have three heads? You know, are you
crazy excited? No, I'm not excited. You know, this is
a business. We're professionals. Um. And I think that you know,
people have to remember that that. You know, Uh, fans
(35:34):
can you know, they get excited for the game or whatever,
turn it on, watch it on TV. If the Steelers lose, Uh,
they turn it off. And I get that the loss
lingers a little bit, you know, with you, but it's
not the same for the guys who are actually a
part of that who that is their profession. And um,
(35:56):
I just the way I look at it is as
I've said, you have to maintain your credibility because there
are gonna be times, you know, with Cam Hayward and
other players and Naugy Harris whomever, um, that you're going
to ask them to do things neither sacrifice roles or
(36:18):
um change you know. Uh, maybe you say to t J.
Watt and I'm making this stuff up, so please, people
who you're listening, do not do not go crazy over this.
But maybe you have to say to t J. Wat
at some point, hey, look you need to quit trying
to sack the quarterback. We need you to do this
instead a little bit more often to help this team win. Okay.
(36:41):
And the only way you can do that is if
the players, by your previous actions, know and trust that
you're only asking this because you firmly believe that it
gives the team the best opportunity to win. You know,
i've i've I really believe that Bill Howard's job when
all the people, a lot of the fans wanted him
(37:05):
running out of here, which was after the two thousand
and three seasons. Okay, that was seven and nine. Uh,
that might have been the springboard for the following two seasons,
which were fifteen and one and then the Super Bowl team,
because Bill Coward played that two thousand and three season
(37:29):
every week trying to win. Again, he was doing things
trying to win, trying to win, trying to win, trying
to win, and the players see that. And so then
when you come to them and you say, uh, in
O four to Jerome Bettis as an example, uh, you know,
we want to we want to make you a short
yardage guy, and we're going to use Douce Staley as
(37:51):
the primary running back. Okay, Jerome Bettis is in the
Hall of Fame, so for him to accept that kind
of request order however you want to uh verbalize it,
you have to have his trust. And the way you
earn his trust is by playing every game to win
(38:12):
all the time. Because these players, they they understand that
their careers could end in the next snap of the ball.
So if you if you, let's give him a chance
to play, or if you, well, let's see what he
can do, or let's see if we can get a
better draft positioning, or you know those other things that
are floating around these days. You lose your locker room,
(38:35):
then your players aren't gonna they're not gonna buy into
when you want to try something or ask them to
do something or sacrifice something or you know, for the
good of the team, because uh, you know, bs, you
weren't interested in the good of the team last year
if you were interested, right, So that's why you know,
I'm always looking at this in that respect, because you
(38:57):
can't just have a short sighted view of it and think, well,
I want to see Kenny Pickett. You know, I like him,
I liked him in college. I have his jersey, you
know whatever, and let's let's let's see him now run
with the first team. It doesn't work that way. You know.
It's it's professional football, and you have to treat the
players as professionals. And so that's why as we're looking
(39:21):
at this and trying to you know, project or you know,
look down the road and you know, you and your
crystal ball, me and my magic eight ball, Um, what's
going to happen next? You have to keep in mind that,
you know, anything you want to do has to be
thought out and according to the I don't know the decorum. Uh.
(39:43):
That's necessary to be a success in professional sports with
professional athletes who have dedicated their lives to this as
a career. So, UM, I get that there are fans
who want to see Kenny Pickett move up, but I
think that those are people who like Kenny p or
don't like Mason Rudolph or you know, but you can't
(40:03):
look at you can't have a favorite. Um, so we'll
just have to see what happens uh down the road.
I think I do believe that I think the Jacksonville game, um,
you know, might help clear things up a little bit
one way or the other, because either it's going to
impact one of the guys in ahead of him in
(40:26):
a you know, less than positive way, or it might
impact him in a less than positive way. And you see,
whow this guy is a rookie. So you know, let's
let's find out what happens. Let it play out, because
I really think that people demanding change went into it
with a preconceived notion that this is what they wanted
(40:48):
to happen. We're going to take a look at the
defensive side of the ball in a position battle that
is still hotly contested on the inside linebacker spots. So
we'll do that to wrap things up on the train
in Camp Report on snr DC is the Training Camper
Report with Tom Opperman at Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio.
(41:14):
Just a few more minutes here on today's training camp report.
And one thing Labs that I wanted to get your
thoughts on was the Devin Bush Robert Spillane position battle.
I think everybody wanted Devin Bush to really, you know,
take this early, and that has just yet to happen.
He hasn't been able to really get a firm grasp
on that inside linebacker spot, and that position battle seems
to continue to ride on as they rotate both of
(41:35):
those guys, uh in and out with the first team unit. Yeah.
And um, you know the fact that the Steelers um
finished last in the NFL in rush defense last year. Um,
you know, he's certainly something kind of hanging over that competition. Uh.
And that's a critical element. You cannot finish last in
(41:58):
the NFL and run defense and expect to be a
team that you know, I think you're you have to
be fortunate to make the playoffs when you're last in
the NFL and run defense and then winning any playoff
games with that kind of the defense is you know,
it's it's ridiculously difficult, unlikely. I think it's the maybe
the best word to describe it. So that has to
(42:21):
get fixed. That has to get straightened out. Um And
I don't know, I I he Devin Bush. I'm that's
another position a little bit in my mind where it's
difficult for me, you know, without the ability to you know,
watch it on video back and forth, you know, back
and back and forth and slow it down, you know,
(42:43):
all that kind of stuff watching it live. Um, it's
difficult to know. Now did he get blown off the ball?
Was there's some mistake made? In the defensive front where
maybe whoever blocked him, uh wasn't supposed to get to
that level. You know, those kinds of things. So but
(43:03):
it just he just doesn't seem to me, to my
untrained eye, to be the same guy he was as
a rookie. And uh, you know Brooke prior of espn Uh,
let me just give credit words due. This was her story.
She was talking to Devin Bush and he said, you know,
he likened his situation too. And again I'm paraphrasing this,
(43:26):
so don't hold her to what you know. I'm I'm
about to explain. He likened it to a situation where
you know, you go over and you your pet a dog.
You know, maybe the dog has been friendly to you
all this time. So you go over the pet dog
and the dog bites you, okay, and it hurts and
you bleed, and now so okay. Then the wound heels again.
(43:47):
So you're looking at that dog again and think, wow,
I was petting him all that time, and over think
it's okay. Then the last time I go over bit me.
So when I go over the dog again, is he's
gonna bite me again? Or is this gonna be We're
going back to the way it used to be. And
so there's a doubt there in your mind with the
dog an athlete at the to the level that you
(44:11):
have to be, first of all to get into the NFL,
to be a starter in the NFL, but also to
be at the tenth overall pick in a draft. Um.
You know, you probably spent most of your athletic career
being able to count on your body. All of a sudden,
after he blew out his knee, Devin Bush didn't think
(44:31):
he could count on his body anymore because his body
let him down non contact blew out the A C L. So,
you know, I think that there's two things that have
to be fixed, the physical of the knee itself, and
then you've got to get over the mental thing of
what happened, you know, and the and the doubt that
(44:51):
you may have is it going to happen again? And
so those are a couple of things that athletes in
that situation have to contend with. And I don't imagine
it's very easy. I've never been in that situation. I
don't have any athletic ability to lose in the first place.
But you know, when people say, well, you know, to
get over it, you know, go pet the dog. Well,
(45:13):
it's not that easy. So I don't know if if
that's part of his problem still he's not trusting it
or um maybe you know, you just lose a little
bit because even you know that the surgery could be
quote unquote successful, but there's damage there and maybe when
it heals, it's not the same. I don't know, you know,
(45:35):
so there's a lot of factors involved that I don't
think you can put your finger on and definitively say
this is it, this is this is his this is
the issue. But I just don't think that, you know,
if Devin Bush was playing like he did as a rookie,
all due respect to Roberts Flaine, I don't think there
would be a competition like there is going on currently. No,
(45:56):
And I think that the Stealers really wish that there
wouldn't be. But you know, you gotta do what you
gotta do, and they need improved play from that inside
linebacker spot. And we know that Tomlin doesn't care which
guy it is. He just needs someone to step up absolutely,
because you know, the the inside linebacker spot may not
be the only reason that the Steelers were lasted in
(46:17):
the NFL last year in run defense. But it's a
certainly a contributing factor. And you cannot have you know, poor,
inconsistent play at that position and hope to be good
against the runs. So you know that's got to get
figured out. I I don't and I don't know what
the answer is right now. I gotta be honest with you. Well,
hopefully some answers avail themselves at practice today. That gets
(46:40):
underway at one fifty five on the campus of St.
Vincent College up in Latrobe on Chuck and Old Field.
So if you're heading up, you only got a handful
of days left that you can witness Steelers practice at Latrobe,
so make sure you do it before camp breaks uh
Thursday to the public Friday for the players. That's gonna
do it for today's training camp report. I always appreciate
you guys giving us a listen, Labs and I will
be back again at nine am sharp tomorrow recapping today's practice.
(47:03):
Let's hand the baton off though to Wolf and Starks,
as you'll be going in the locker room for the
next couple of hours. On SNR
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