August 17, 2022 • 47 mins
Bob Labriola and Tom Opferman detail Kenny Picketts big day on the football field…and the baseball diamond. Tomlin spoke to the media and we hear what Coach T had to say about practice. They transition to the defense and hear from Defensive captain Cam Heyward who shares his thoughts on the D and Devin Bush. They wrap up the show talking secondary and players that have popped at that position.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 Report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio. So much to get to today on
this edition of the Training Camp Report. It's almost overwhelming
for me to look at my notes and see all
the things we have to touch on. But first and
(00:27):
foremost and the most important news, we got to talk
about Kenny Pickett or should I say Kenny Griffey Jr.
Winning the Steelers home run derby yesterday. Moon shots were
coming off at Kenny's bad. I saw a couple of
clips online. It's got to be the gloves, right, two
gloves when you wear uh when you're in the batter's
box for baseball. Two gloves for Kenny on his hands
(00:47):
and he's playing football. That's just it helps with that grip.
Easy money or either that or maybe you need to
check to see if the bat was corked. I don't
say that. Why Why do you have to just go
to the cheating side of things? Already? Was it was
a metal bat? He can't cork a metal back met bat.
Trust me, I don't think you need to that's whether
(01:08):
it's they use metal ones. But you know they used
to play an actual softball game before it was just
the derby, right. And well the problem with that was
is Mike Tomlin, when you know, he'd watch and then
he'd I'd ask him about it later the next day,
a couple of days later something. He would always say, yeah,
(01:30):
watching that softball game. Our guys picked the right sport
because I said, who plays? Because you figure, um, shortstop
and center field, of the two positions, you know where
you where you would put your most athletic people, because
I would imagine most of the balls go there. Um.
(01:54):
He said, yeah, there were only two guys on the
whole roster who could play short stuff, Ben and Troy.
Makes sense, he said. Every everybody else was a football player,
you know, trying to catch groundballs. Um. So then they
altered it to home run derby and yeah, um, but
(02:16):
my understanding is, aren't you know they play it on
the the baseball field here, and so there's actually a fense.
You know, it's it's like a legit because you've gotta
hit it over the fence. That's a snow fence, but
you gotta hit it over the fence, uh And there's
not a lot of guys who can do that either.
So maybe Kenny Pikett has some you know, baseball in
(02:38):
his background at high school or something. I don't know,
because usually the guys who win UM either have some
history with the sport or you know, are those kinds
of athletes that are just you know, maybe destined to
be in the Hall of Fame. Certainly from the Bend
and Troy uh Tree, that would be an accurate statements
(03:03):
to be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, right, Well,
first of all, he has to break all of Dan
Marino's records. Again, let's not compare. Of course people are
starting that already, but it's so unfair, just so unfair.
You know, that's such a good point, you know, it
really is. And it's the least favorite thing that happens
with any prospect that comes out of a draft. All
(03:23):
this guy looks like the next Marino, this guy looks
like the next Barry Sanders. We'll talk about a bar
that's just impossible to achieve. You're just going to set
the guy up for criticism no matter what he does, right,
and you know, just because you know, he broke Dan
Marino's records at pitt Um Alex vanpel broke the Marino um. So,
(03:48):
you know, it's again like I said, it's just so
unfair because you said, as you said, you set the
bar so ridiculously high. You know, let's let's remember that
Marino transformed the game in terms of quarterback play. I mean,
he threw touchdown passes that that that didn't happen, you know.
(04:10):
Now it's um you know, but teams throwing the ball
like they do and you know all that kind of stuff.
You know, forty plus touchdown passes is not a unicorn
stat like it was in the eighties. And just to
put that on a young player who hadn't taken you know,
(04:31):
an NFL snap is saying that he's going to be
the next Dan Marino is just like I said, God,
you know, let let him let him grow into his
career a little bit then and you know, find his way.
H Just it's just it's annoying. Everything has to be
(04:52):
um taken to the extreme. Uh So anyway, but yeah,
can you pick a one the the home run derby.
I don't know what you get for that. I think
you got accustomed On social media, he had a bat
it said Steelers on at home on Derby. Champ took
a picture with coach Tomlin afterwards. So he's got a
(05:12):
nice little black Steelers bat now to forever remember, right,
put it in the corner of his room. Uh, in
the room of his house. Um, you know. Yeah. Well,
it was a big day for Kenny beyond just winning
the home on Derby and we'll get to that in
just a second. I want to touch on a couple
of housekeeping things. Uh. It was roster moved day on Tuesday.
(05:34):
They had to cut down their rosters, so the Steelers
did so in compliance with the league. After practice. They
actually claimed center Ryan McCollum off of waivers from Detroit
and waived center Nate Gilliam earlier in the day. They
also signed guard William Dunkel, who was originally signed with
the Eagles as an undrafted rookie in May. He played
his college ball at San Diego State. A couple of
(05:55):
guys placed on injured reserved or reserve slash injured list,
Karl Joseph and Anthony Miller. So unfortunate news for both
of those guys. Their seasons will be done. And the
other waves that the team made to get down to
eight players defensive tackle Doug Coston, offensive tackle Jake Dixon,
punter Cameron Zaleck, and center Chris Owens. The next roster move,
(06:17):
I'm sorry that was to get the eighty five. The
next roster move is to get the eighty on Tuesday August. Uh.
Pretty easy to go from when you say yes, um
as I as I term it. My wife could do that. Um.
And you know Jake Dixon, just a quick little note
on him, the kid from he's the kid from Yeah, so, um,
(06:42):
you know local, some local ties. Uh. But you know,
Duke Kane is not a Power five conference school. Um.
He had a very uphill battle trying to make the team.
And you know a lot of times, Um, the eyes
even realize that themselves that you know, they're not cut
(07:05):
out for this. Uh. And again it's unfortunate a dream dies,
but you can always say you'd spend a training camp, yeah,
in an NFL for an NFL team and for the Steelers.
You know, I don't know if Jake Dixon was from
Pittsburgh originally he might have been, but spending his time
(07:25):
at Duquesne the past couple of seasons, you know, you
obviously get to know how important the Steelers are to
the city and how big of a deal it is.
So yeah, it's still an incredible life changing experience. And
the Steelers are pretty good at that, aren't They bringing
in some local college kids for those first couple of
weeks of training camp, you know, give him a run,
give him a try out, and then you know, most
likely send them on their way, but with a nice
(07:46):
experience under their belt. Yeah, and you know, Jake Dixon,
do respect to him. I mean, he had NFL size, um,
and you know they the Steelers don't. They don't really um,
you know, give out those contracts as party favors because
you do have to understand, well, he signs, you know,
(08:07):
a standard NFL contract, he has to be paid the
NFL rookie minimum. So let's just pretend, you know, it
didn't happen, fortunately for him, because you never want to
see someone injured. But I mean, if he ended up
like Anthony Miller or Karl Joseph, then you have to
he he earns his pay and you gotta and you
gotta take that money off the salary cap. So I'm
(08:29):
only saying that because just to make it clear that
it was one of those, Hey let's give the local
kid a contract, you know, one of those. You know,
they legitimately, legitimately saw some things in Jake Dixon that
maybe they thought they get developed or you know whatever.
Um and it didn't work out. And that's okay. I
(08:50):
pushed Jake Dixon nothing but the best, you know, moving forward,
whatever career he he decides on. I mean, the NFL
isn't for everyone. You know, you and I have done great,
were not NFL players. I don't know if I've done
so great. It's a little bit of stretch there. Gave
me a little too much credit Back to Kenny, though
I mentioned he had a big day. Beyond just winning
that home run, Derby got elevated the first team reps
(09:12):
during practice. Two minute drill took on the first team
was decently successful, but the drive stalled out at the
fourteen yard line as they were trying to punch it
in for a touchdown. You just keep seeing Kenny get
elevated more and more. I believe this was really the
first run he had with the first team. Uh. He
didn't drop below any below the second team at all
in the past couple of days. They keep saying this
(09:33):
is part of a plan. This is part of a plan,
but you're starting to see a little smoke maybe towards
this fire. Well, UM, let me say this. I think that, Um,
you know, there's only three preseason games. Uh, so I
think they want to get a look at him, you know,
you want to see him, um, both with better players
(09:55):
and against better players to maybe gauge his progress a
little bit. Uh. I still don't. I still think it's
it would be premature to say that, you know, he's
on track to be the starter on September eleven and Cincinnati.
But I mean, certainly he has not shown to my
(10:17):
untrained I at least that he is that it's too
big for him. So, as you mentioned, you know, he's
taking steps, he's he's progressing. But you know, here's the
other thing. When we were talking about this last night
on the d v H Live from Training Camp dv
special the third of the third of three, you know,
(10:41):
usually in the NFL, there has to be some accompanying, uh.
In addition to a player's good showing, there has to
be some accompanying bad performance by someone above you on
the depth chart for you to make a leap and
then have it be permanent. So you know, I don't
(11:02):
think that either of the two quarterbacks ahead of Kenny
Pickett on the depth chart. And I say that, you know,
understanding that the depth chart is not edged in stone, UM,
but they haven't performed poorly enough to compliment his improvement
for the coaching staff to make a permanent move beyond
(11:23):
would like to see him against better players. So you know,
we're gonna have to see how this works out. I know, UM,
fans don't like Mason Rudolph for whatever reason. UM, And
but he has not played poorly. He has not He
didn't play poorly in the game. He hasn't had poor practices.
I think he has and I don't keep this so
(11:46):
but this is the scuttle butt. He has thrown. Mason
Rudolph has thrown fewer interceptions than either of the other
two guys. So by that metric anyway, he's having the
best training camp. UM. So again, there's there's time. I
think that, uh, they the coaches will want to see
him in Jacksonville against better competition and then you see
(12:10):
how he does. UM or maybe UM, Mason Rudolph or
Mitch Robinsky or you know, has a bad game, and
then you have some thinking to do in terms of
weighing a good performance by one guy and a bad
performance by another guy and does that necessary necessitate a change.
(12:34):
So we'll have to see. We'll have to see it
how it unfolds. Coach Thomlins spoke to the media following
practice yesterday. Let's take a listen to some of coaches
thoughts on the training camp report. Another good day, UM,
get some point at work done, continue to work in
some situational football things that that we need to tune up,
but also just really excited about getting an extended look
(12:57):
at some guys that have missed time or a variety
of injuries and so forth. Um, We've got a significant
number of guys um that are working in in various
forms or levels of of work and and our goal
is to keep that moving forward and then affort to
get those guys to the stadium this week. And so
it's a big week for guys like Dots and and
Avery and others. And if you saw them getting additional reps.
(13:21):
They need the exposure, We need the exposure to them,
and and equally as important, they need to readiness as
we as we step into a stadium this weekend. UM,
a few mining injury things, Arthur Millette. Um, appears they
have a minor um hamstring of some kind that could
be described as day to day. Uh. Mastertigue had at
a low ankle. Um. I think it could be described
(13:42):
as day to day at this juncture, but obviously we'll
have more information as we move forward. Questions because Benny
Snell one of those guys too that you wanted to
get more, No, he wasn't. Benny's been out here largely. UM,
we know Benny, he wouldn't fall into that category. Now, Michael,
what's a significance having Hayward and Manka be so involved
(14:04):
a couple of weeks into camp? Be that competitors? How
does that run off? You think of it? We expect
that from those guys. You can't leave from the back. Um.
And those guys are leaders for us and and and
their presence is always felt. Couple of us were speaking
to Coach Austin earlier today about Manka and instability to
create turnovers and maybe getting back to more of those
this year. Um, is there anything for you guys can
(14:26):
free him up to do more of that? Is there
anything more he can do believe me. There's nothing wrong
with Manka or his turnover ability or tally sometimes is circumstantial.
You know, Um, we just stopped to run well enough
a year ago. So if you're looking for something to
blame in regards to that or a storyline relative to that,
Mank was a great football player. There was no lack
of production in that area from him. Coach speeding of Maka.
(14:49):
He had several one on ones with George Haw Did
George fair against an opro Calgary? As George? You know
what I mean? The exposure was not for Maka, It
was for George. Is that something you guys don't think
the proctors in the UH it's thoughtful by us. Have
you been able to talk to Anthony at Carle since Ianal?
I have not. Yeah, make you talked to earlier about
(15:11):
being here in the market, Mattere and then off the
field development you get from this place. Can you feel
or measure that now or is it kind of a
wait and see how win things. I don't know that
you can ever measure it, but I think any of
us has been involved in team sports at any level
appreciates it that which we cannot measure. That component that
comprises team, uh, camaraderie, togetherness, selflessness, and things of that nature.
(15:36):
All of us have been on teams most of our lives.
We got a respect and appreciation for it, and we
thoughtfully pour into it. What are your thoughts? Another two
minute unfolded At the end, I look at the tape.
Obviously it's always EBB and flow. Defense appears to be
warming up to the drill. Offense was dominating the drill
at the early portions of camp. But as you guys know, uh,
(15:57):
it's football like not necessarily football. There's component us to
the drill that we control from an administrative standpoint to
get looks at certain things. And that's just the reality
of practice. That's coach Tomins speaking to the media following
yesterday's practice. He mentioned, you know, working guys back into
the fold a little extra hard that have missed some time.
Dotson was a guy's name that really popped up. Such
(16:18):
a crucial week for those guys, you know, Dotson, especially
still in that position battle with Kendrick Green, has kind
of fallen behind the eight ball a little bit due
to injury. Gonna get ramped up a lot more this
week leading into that game against Jacksonville, and if he
stays healthy, hopefully see a lot of playing time against Jacksonville. Yeah,
and that certainly will. I would imagine it's going to
(16:38):
test his conditioning too, because I cannot imagine, you know,
appear the last couple of days, I've actually worn a
jacket outside, which is you know, I don't think you know,
I was trying to remember except for an occasional rainy day,
I don't ever remember wearing anything except t shirts and
(17:00):
worts on campus because it's usually so miserably hot and human. Um.
But you know, all of a sudden, now we went
from tropical kind of conditions, meaning hot and humid and
then rain every afternoon. Um too, I don't like I said,
it's I don't know that my air conditioning in the
(17:21):
room has been on the last week plus. I mean,
that's that's how cold. It's even cold at night. So, um,
you know, Jacksonville is not going to be like that.
You know, we've heard Mike Tomlin say he practiced. He
likes to practice at two in the afternoon because it's
in the heat of the day. We'll kick off in
Jacksonville seven o'clock and that'll still be the heat of
(17:42):
the day down there, I would imagine. So, um, you
know you mentioned the left guard competition. Uh, this to
me is just worth noting. Uh. I think it was
not yesterday, but the day before Kendrick Green was injured
the first play of seven shots, and I kind of think,
(18:03):
you know, I was trying to look at it through
the binoculars and you see what it is. John Norwig
was out there, you know, looking at him. Maybe it
was a finger, you know, dislocated finger or something, because
he walked them and they walked up to the you know,
back into the locker room and then Kendrick Green came
back up and finished practice. So, um, you know he's
(18:25):
not he's not missing any significant time. Uh. And then
he was out there yesterday doing you know, the regular
He was out there from the beginning and he was
the um, you know, he took his they alternate thoughts
and Kendrick Green h at left guard with the number
ones and so he took his normal you know shift
(18:48):
at that position, rotating through in team drills. So you know,
he is continuing to to work to get better. And again,
you know, the offensive line experts will beyond at ten o'clock.
So you can tune into that. I'm serious. Um, they
are better at it than me for sure. So um
(19:09):
you know as far as who's winning it or not.
But you know, Kevin Dotson that his and that has
been one of the things that have held him back
is his um minor injury history. So yeah, I do
think that, um, you know, getting him back, playing him
a lot. It's part of the plan not only to
(19:31):
catch him up, so to speak, but also to you know,
see his durability. Can he can he? Is he someone
that you can count on on a consistent basis, because
I don't think you want to be constantly, um changing
your left guard because one guy is always nicked up.
You heard coach Tom would say at the end of
(19:52):
his little press conference there about the defense really winning
a lot more of the EB and the flow of
the two minute drill h thus far in camp. We'll
get into that on the other side of the break,
and we're also going to hear from defensive Captain Cam Hayward.
That's on the way right here on the Training Camp
Report on snr PC's No Training Camper Report with Tom
(20:17):
Opperman at Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna
get into the defense and just a little bit here,
but it's so important and it helps a defense so
much when you're dominating the field position battle and having
a great punter can go a long way when it
comes to winning that battle and labs. A lot of
people have question marks about Pressley Harvin, but yesterday was
(20:39):
one of the most impressive days of Harvin's young Steeler's
career as far as the booming punts that he was
letting go at Saint Vincent College really put on a
show yesterday. I mean, I don't know if it had
anything to do with the fact that by the time
they took the field he was the only punter on
the nine man roster um, but you know that one
(21:00):
of the couple of the things I think that uh
sometimes college punters have needs some time to adjust to
coming to the NFL. Are the k balls. K balls
are the balls that in the NFL that they use
just for kicking. And so those those footballs, you know,
(21:22):
they are shipped directly to the referee um before the
game and they come right from you know, even the
manufacturer of the league. You know, they're they're they're monitored. Okay,
So what used to happen in the eighties was you know,
the balls would um arrive and the home team kind
(21:44):
of had uh quote unquote control over them. So the
kickers a lot of times will get those footballs and
you know, rub them down, scuff them up a little bit.
You know. One of the things that was somewhat popular
at the time, which you know, uh football team have
those big industrial um dryers to dry loads of clothes,
(22:05):
a lot of clothes and towels and stuff. That put
the footballs in the dryer for a while, you know,
heat them up, um, make them more balloonish, you know, softer,
and you could really kick them, boom them. Well that's over.
That doesn't happen anymore. And so the referee gets the
footballs in a sealed container their ship to him to
(22:26):
this whatever stadium, uh, the home team and um, you know,
the referee has total control over those at all time.
So you're kicking footballs that are uh if you've ever
felt a football that um comes directly you know, new
out of the box, an NFL ball especially, it has
a little bit of glaze on it maybe and they're
(22:50):
hard is bricks, so okay, So there's that you have
to adjust to. And then the other thing is UH,
NFL special teams coaches mann that you kicked the ball
to a spot because in college maybe UM, in addition
to the softer balls, that they'll just let the punter
(23:11):
punt punt it far you know, or or try and
you know, if you're at the round the fifth yard line,
you know, you try and drop it in somewhere you
know where they can down it. But in the NFL,
they expect you to kick, for example, UM, outside the
numbers to the left, or outside the numbers to the right,
(23:31):
or you know, the directional punting because that's how they
set the coverage. Because if you don't do that, you know,
you just boom the ball down the middle of the field,
you know, kicking your coverage. You've heard that phrase, Um,
the NFL returners will you know, bring it right back. Uh.
And so that's that's also part of the adjustment for
(23:54):
these new new kickers. So Presley Harvin was inconsistent last year,
I think is a fair um judgment. I don't know
that it's it had specifically to do with you know,
his directional punting, UM, but I would imagine that that
was you know, an adjustment and the cables are an adjustment.
(24:16):
But yesterday, I mean he was he really aired out
his I was used the draft pick on him yesterday. Yes,
I mean he had at least six and I'm I'm
keeping you know, the way I keep these stats is
um from what you measure punts from the line of
scrimmage and then wherever the ball would hit because you know,
(24:38):
it's not a specific um. You know, you don't count
the role. I don't because it's it's practice. So he
had at least six that were sixty plus and then
he kicked one out of the end zone that traveled
over seventy yards in the air um and they were high,
(24:59):
so you can certainly see you know, how he could
you know, light up a workout for NFL scouts. Uh.
And I gotta, like you said, that's a big help
to the defense, especially if you can flip the field
um in terms of field position. So, uh, yeah, it was.
(25:20):
It's weird when you let's let me say this, it's
very unusual for me to be totally captivated by a
punter m during a practice. You know, all due respect
to the punters, um, they're putterers, uh and valuable in
their own way. But to say the punter was the
(25:42):
star of a practice, to me, really, you better, you
better be doing something like Presley Arvin did yesterday. And
what it was, it was a show truly, and he
was again as I mentioned, he was the only punter,
so he was kicking everyone. I mean, it wasn't like,
you know, you kicked too, and you have guy kicks too,
so you get a little bit of a break. I mean,
(26:02):
he was out there for the entire period eleven twelve
minutes whatever they are, and uh, he took every rep
and they were not using the jugs machine to shoot
those down the field. He was. He was using his
right leg. So yeah, very impressive display. And I'm sure
that Danny Smith special teams coordinators looking for more of
(26:22):
that from him. Uh for this season. Defense is especially
liking what they see out of him so far. That's
going to help them tremendously. And Tom and talked about
the defense at the end of his press conference that
we played in the last segment. You know, he talked
about the two minute drill and how the defense appears
to be warming up to the drill. Offense was dominant
early in camp, but now it seems to be leaning
(26:42):
towards the defensive side more often than not. Uh, you know,
I don't want to, you know, make any assumptions here, labs,
but I got a feeling that there's gonna be a
handful of games this year where the defense is going
to be on the field minute fifty left. You need
to stop this offense from getting into field goal range
getting a touchdown to win the game for your team.
So I love that I see the defense, you know,
(27:03):
really starting to put together a consistent streak of closing
out these drills. Hopefully that translates to the regular season
and closing out other teams and getting wins. Yeah. I mean, because, um,
we talked about this a little bit last week in
advance of the preseason opener. Um, you know, Mike Tomlin
used the word dominant too unless his expectations during that
(27:27):
appearance on the d V Morning Show and so um
for the Mike Tomlin Show that appears on the Steelers
Radio Network in advance of all games. One of the
things I asked him was, you know, I read him
back his quote and I said, so, what in your
mind qualifies as dominant is its statistics, as winning awards, um,
(27:51):
you know, rankings, you know whatever. And he said that, Um,
dominant defenses smile in the face of adversity, said, the
offense turns the ball over and puts them on the
short field, they stand up, They stand up in the
weighty moments, goal line, short yardage, two minutes. You know,
dominant means a lot of things. And I was thoughtful
when I said it, because I want them to be
(28:12):
what we need them to be whenever we need them
to be it. So there you go. Uh. And I
do believe that there are gonna be games, especially maybe
early in the season as the offense, you know, tries
to find its footing with the new quarterback and you
know all that kind of stuff where yeah, you're gonna
(28:32):
need the defense, uh, not only to stop the opponent,
as you mentioned, but maybe to create some opportunity for
the offense with takeaways. Uh. So, um yeah, I think
for uh, if you look at the makeup of this
current team and what we projected to be here in
(28:53):
a couple of weeks, once they get down a fifty
three players, most of the stars are on defense, and
you know they're gonna need those guys to produce. They're
gonna need their stars to play like stars, and you know,
Cam Hayward just want to make Fitzpatrick was one. T J.
Watts one. I mean that's that's just three obvious ones
(29:14):
and you have one at each level of the defense.
So um yeah, it's early in camp when as Mike
Toomblas was saying, the offense was dominating these drills. Early,
I was thinking, you know, it's kind of a good
news bad news thing. You know, Wow, the offense is
better than I thought. And then you started thinking, wow,
this this defense is not going to be as good
(29:34):
as I thought. Um, but again things have turned now
after that one um two minutes session where Mason Rudolph
took the team down the field and stuck it in
the end zone and then Kenny pick it to place
he only needed to plays and he did it again,
I thought, you know, this is kind of really a
(29:54):
good news bad news thing because you're a rookie quarterback
should not be making it look that easy against your defense,
even if it's the second group. So uh yeah, it's
it's kind of come back now to more of what
I expected in terms of how these grills are working out. Uh,
you know, as to which unit wins. Well, one guy
(30:15):
that I'm sure is letting the offense here about it
every time the defense wins is Cam Hayward, and the
defensive captain spoke to the media before practice yesterday. Let's
take a listen to what Cam had to say. Isn't
about way. He's vocal and loves to have fun. But
I think it goes down to, you know, um, understanding
(30:37):
what the offering for the end. Um, they need a
kick in the butt sometimes you gotta give it to you,
you know, if they're really you know, rolling on all
fo those uh you know hatt and guys that are
back under making them understand that you know, we're doing
a great job and make sure that the littlementum built
on the right way. Sometimes weird. Best quality is just
(30:57):
understanding the blow again, pretty pretty what's the difference between
one and two? How much you change? How much? What
are you gonna do with? Are you looking for this second?
I don't know. Um. You know coach he's got a plan.
It doesn't share it with us often. UM, but you
know my goal was to be ready for a week
(31:18):
one to do that. UM, getting reps right now in practice?
If I play, I'm play. If I don't. I don't.
I can't talked about this confidence that will come out
to DA last year wasn't able to play confidence? What
have you seen to them so far? And later on
the way guys struggling a confidence I think, Um, everybody
(31:40):
goes through confidence uh issues, and you know, you start
to question what you're doing out there. Obviously, when you
feel like you have more confidence in your knee, you're
able to do a lot more. Um. You know, you're
able to you know, accelerate plant um. And we're just
looking for him to keep doing that. Um. You know,
he's only had one showing and I know he's been
(32:00):
going through practice and just trying to get really good
reps and really pushed the thing. So um, you know
he's just gonna grow in that confidence on ex time. Yeah,
you know, I think, Um, every year a young player
should be a Sunday Uh. And I think for a
guy like Devon obviously didn't have the year he wanted,
(32:22):
but you know he's coming with the right mindset. He's running, Um,
he seems like he's a lot more confident what he's
doing out there. Uh. And that's just a growth in
the defense as well from him to Uh, I don't know. Um,
you know there'll be a player too. You'll see and
be like, um, you know the world stand out. But
(32:45):
the thing I loved about that what Devon did in
the last game that didn't get a lot of credit. Uh.
He moved around the ball. Um, he was able to
stem on the line before the play was actually snapped.
That let us know, like he really understands the defense.
He understands what the quarterbacks thinking. Uh. And those are
the things you look for and uh, you know a
third or fourth year guy. Um. And so you know,
(33:06):
Devin is gonna grow and like physically, but I think
the mental part of the game is just gonna exceed
itself as well. That's Steeler's defensive captain speaking to the
media before practice, and he really sounded like a captain
the way he handled those Devon Bush questions. You know,
he kind of conceded. You know, yeah, I understand why
these questions are being asked. And there's a lot riding
on devin shoulders this year for him to bounce back,
(33:27):
but he handled it so well, talked about how he
believes that he will ascend this year, and that last
answer especially, you know, giving us some insight on something
that he did well in the preseason game. A little
refreshing to hear because you turn on the radio labs
the past couple of days, it's been how terrible Devon
Bush was in the game. Nice to hear Cam Heyward,
you know, say, hey, you know, it's not all bad.
He did a couple of things that I really noticed
(33:49):
and really liked out there, and Cambell know because he
was watching from the sidelines and the coaches kind of you. Yeah,
I have to admit, you know that my ability to
break down the intricacies of inside linebacker play are are
not you know, up to maybe other experts, so to speak,
(34:10):
his teammates, other people who have played the game, who
understand the Steelers scheme, you know that that kind of stuff. Um.
So you know, I hesitate to to try and really
delve into this too deeply because you know, I don't know,
um if if this is necessarily you know, if if
(34:30):
a running play games eight yards, is it Devin Bush's fault?
I don't know that. Um. You know, I do know
that last year's defensive line was kind of ruined by injuries,
and that certainly had to impact things that were going
On in terms of trying to stop the run. Stefon too,
it didn't play at all. Uh Tyson played I think
(34:52):
a game and a quarter or something like that before
you know he had that injury and then was lost
for the rest of the season. And the the makeup
of the Steelers defensive line at that point of that season,
it wasn't yet capable to absorb those kinds of losses
to the top of the depth chart and perform the
way you know it needed to perform. I've told the
(35:15):
story a bunch of times that one of the first things,
one of the first media availabilities that Joe Schobert had
after the Steelers acquired him for that six round pick,
and like about this, well maybe a little later around
this time, a little later in August last year, one
of the things he said, you know, this is guy
was a Pro Bowl inside linebacker. He said, I can't
(35:37):
wait to play behind this defensive line. Okay, And at
that time, you know, I'm sure Joe schober thought that
that defensive line was going to include those two guys
that I just mentioned who didn't who played not at
all or very little last year. And there's no question
that run defense on a three four. Uh, the inside
(36:00):
linebackers depend on the defensive lineman to occupy blockers, create
lanes for them to be able to, you know, go
sideline to sideline or up the field and make tackles. Um,
Devin Bush's to twenty something like that. I mean, he's
not a big guy, and so I'm sure that he
(36:22):
was impacted by the defensive line issues last year as well,
in addition to trying to come back from um that
knee injury. So there are factors that work there that
and I can't get I can't put a finger on
it and say let's ten this, this, this, if you
fix those things, and he's a you know, I just
(36:45):
I just can't do that. Um. I do know. Also,
in conversations years ago with Jack Ham, you know, he
would talk lowingly about the work that the Steelers defensive
line did and keeping those linebackers clean. You know, And
two of those guys are in the Hall of Fame,
by the way, So you know, how good would Jack
Lambert have been if Joe Green and Ernie Holmes weren't
(37:08):
in front of him in the middle just torturing those
offensive linemen. I don't know, I'm not gonna try and
demean Jack Lambert's Hall of Fame career by saying that,
you know, he owes it all to the defensive lineman.
But I do think that, you know, that kind of
stuff goes hand in hand. Um, just like I'm sure
the defensive line needed, uh, the aggressiveness and the ability
(37:32):
to diagnose plays that you know, Ham and Lambert brought
to it. Ham and Lambert needed L. C. Greenwood and
those guys to keep them clean so that they could
do some of those things. Um. I wish, I wish
I had the Devin Bush answer. I really do. I
don't think though that. Yeah, I do think that, you know,
(37:53):
inside linebacker is an issue that the Steelers have to
somehow find a solution too, because while Robert Spillane has
has some qualities, uh, he is not the kind of
guy you want to have out there if the other
team is throwing the ball a lot. He's just not
(38:14):
that kind of player that he can really good and
coverage someone that you can put on uh opposing receivers
and have a high level of confidence that he's gonna
be able to neutralize them. So that's kind of what
you've spent the draft capital and money that comes with
it to move up to the tenth overall pick to
(38:37):
pick Devin Bush. And the thing to me is, I
remember him as a rookie. I thought the guy was
a real player. Uh and his statistics back that up.
Now he hasn't been that guy since he injured his knee.
So you know, the detective in me says, the knee
injury was part of the problem. Um, So now it's
(38:58):
is it a physical thing within me or is it
a mental thing that he has to rebuild the confidence
in a part of his body that he's depended on
for his entire athletic life doing some doing things that
all of a sudden and he couldn't do anymore. So, Um,
you know, as I said, I don't I don't have
(39:20):
the answer. I do think that the Steelers need to
investigate this and either find different ways of doing things
with the personnel that they have, or you know, um,
maybe maybe you have to seek other solutions elsewhere. They
certainly do need to investigate it, though it is certainly
something that is worrying a lot of fans and I'm
(39:41):
sure coaches. As we approach the start of the season,
we come back, we're gonna look at the Steelers secondary
been a very steady force for the Steelers throughout all
of training camp, So we'll touch on them briefly as
we wrap things up on the training camp report on
Steelers Nation Radiodc's not in Camper Report with Tom Opperman
(40:02):
and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Wrapping things up
here on today's training camp report. Practice today at one
fifty at St. Vincent College and Latrobe, only the second
to last one that is open to the public. So
if you want to get up there and see your
Steelers and you haven't yet, you only got today and
tomorrow to do so. LABS. One position group that I
(40:22):
think hasn't really been talked about much in a positive way,
but mainly in a negative way. It hasn't been brought
up either, is that secondary. And they've done some positive things.
You noticed, you know, a Kello Witherspen and author Molette
making a lot of plays and run support. You saw
that play out against Seattle on Saturday in the preseason
game with both of those gentlemen. Uh. The secondary just
seems to be very steady making plays in practice. Uh,
(40:46):
haven't really seen them get tested in the passing game,
yet in a game situation, I have a feeling that
might change this Saturday. Trevor Lawrence isn't exactly you know,
the next Joe Montana, but there's a lot of talent
with him, and I do expect him to play at
least a quarter, if not a full half for Jacksonville.
So I am sure that the Steeler secondary will get
a decent test through the air this week that they'll
(41:07):
have to, you know, pass with flying colors. Yeah. You know,
a lot of times you really don't see or um
really um that doesn't jump out at you as much
what the secondary does or doesn't do in practice versus games,
because you know, even in tackle football drills up here,
(41:28):
those are usually running plays. And so you know, as
you mentioned, some of the things that we have seen
from certain defensive backs and you know, doing in a
in a positive way, have come against the run. Um.
There's no hitting receivers, you know. I I do recall
a handful at least of occasions where you know, Minca
(41:52):
Fitzpatrick will occasionally do a fly by on a on
a receiver who's running across the middle, UM and you
he is moving fast, and you know if if you're
paying attention, and I like to pay attention to him.
I I liked make of Fitzpatrick as a player since
you know his college days at Alabama. I just thought,
(42:14):
this guy is a big play, always waiting to happen.
But you know, you watch him and he's working on
his technique and you know detail as well, because when
he's doing these fly bys pass receivers, you know he's
adjusting his body so that if he was going to
make contact, it would be with his shoulder into the
(42:38):
player's chest, which is legal. Um so you know in
games that collision is going to happen. You know, whether
it gets called or not. You know, we have to see.
I mean, I think too often defensive backs get penalized
for hit him too hard. Well, you know, if you
(43:00):
hit him according to the rules, too hard isn't against
the rules. Uh So those are things I think that
we won't see until the games are played. Um. You
know the cornerbacks Georgan well, George Pickens makes cornerbacks look bad.
And a lot of times in training camp practices, the
(43:22):
drills are structured in a way that you really can't
help but look bad as a defensive back because you
can't sack the quarterback the right so, um, you know,
try and cover George Pickens all over the field of
quarterback not being under you know, can't get hit. It's
it can't happen. Um. So anyway, I think we'll get
(43:47):
a better uh view of the Steelers secondary here, certainly
in Jacksonville and then maybe in the preseason finale, depending
upon how the two respective coaches, Dan Campbell and Mike
Tomlin choose to play that game. Um, because that that
could be anything from you know, glorified scrimmage to a
(44:09):
real dress rehearsal for the regular season. So we're gonna
have to see. But um, you know, Levi Wallace and
a color Weatherspoon have done some good things. Uh they've
gotten beat some. As I said, then that's going to
happen in training camp with the way you know, practices
are structured, with the rules which are allowed and not
allowed to do. So, Um, you know, I think that
(44:30):
you're right about the Jacksonville situation, and uh, we we
should get a better Well let me say this, we
should get more of a look or idea of what
the defensive secondary can be or what it needs to become.
Aside from Minka who is a superstar. Is Arthur willletta
guy that's really caught your attention throughout this camp. I
(44:52):
know he had a minor hamstring injury that came up yesterday.
Tooma described him as day to day. Shouldn't be a problem.
Expect him to probably make the fifty three man rosters
long as you know he can work his way back
pretty quickly. But Mollette makes a lot of plays in
the running game. I don't want to call him Mike Hilton,
but maybe we got a little Mike Hilton light going
on here with Mullett. Yeah, and I think that Arthur
(45:13):
Millette is um a lock to make the team. The
question in my mind is when games start to count,
what do they do with Cam Sutton? Because the you know,
the I won't say the easy thing, but it certainly
would the thing that makes sense if you're looking to
get your three best corners on the field, UH would
(45:37):
be Levi Wallace and a color weatherspoon on the outside
and Cam Sutton in the in the slot. Um. But
you know then that that kind of takes Arthur Millette
out of the regular mix. I don't know that I'm
ready to say that Arthur Millette is as good as
Cam Sutton in the in the middle there or in
(45:59):
the center of the field. But you mentioned, yes, he
has been making more plays against the run than he
did last year, plays that you know, we had come
to associate with Mike Kilton. So you know that the
comparisons I think are are natural and normal. But you know,
he's a guy that he has some NFL experience, has
(46:22):
played in the league a little bit. He played a
good bit last year. But I do think that the Steelers,
at I I don't know, early in the early middle
part of the season, made the decision that you know,
Cam Sutton, Joe Hayden, and um god, I can't I
(46:43):
can't think of who the other guy was. Um, all right,
Well anyway, but those were the those were the three best,
the three best corners. So, um, you know, there's still
two preseason games to go, a few more weeks of
preseason practice football like situations to use Mike Tomalinds phrase,
(47:04):
Uh so we'll find out how that all works out. Well.
Practice today starts at one five on the campus of St. Vincent.
Like I said, it is the penultimate practice of training
camp that is open to the pub. You like that.
I looked it up in the Breaks Out, but Ultimate
open to the public practice today up at St. Vincent.
So if you want to get up there and see
(47:25):
your stores at training Camp, you gotta do it today
or tomorrow. Those are your last two chances. Labs and
I will be back to wrap up the Training Camp report.
Our final episode will be tomorrow morning. We'll take a
look ahead to Jacksonville and preview everything you need to
look for in Saturday's preseason game. Wolf and Starks are
in the locker room up next right here on SNR
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 Report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio. So much to get to today on
this edition of the Training Camp Report. It's almost overwhelming
for me to look at my notes and see all
the things we have to touch on. But first and
(00:27):
foremost and the most important news, we got to talk
about Kenny Pickett or should I say Kenny Griffey Jr.
Winning the Steelers home run derby yesterday. Moon shots were
coming off at Kenny's bad. I saw a couple of
clips online. It's got to be the gloves, right, two
gloves when you wear uh when you're in the batter's
box for baseball. Two gloves for Kenny on his hands
(00:47):
and he's playing football. That's just it helps with that grip.
Easy money or either that or maybe you need to
check to see if the bat was corked. I don't
say that. Why Why do you have to just go
to the cheating side of things? Already? Was it was
a metal bat? He can't cork a metal back met bat.
Trust me, I don't think you need to that's whether
(01:08):
it's they use metal ones. But you know they used
to play an actual softball game before it was just
the derby, right. And well the problem with that was
is Mike Tomlin, when you know, he'd watch and then
he'd I'd ask him about it later the next day,
a couple of days later something. He would always say, yeah,
(01:30):
watching that softball game. Our guys picked the right sport
because I said, who plays? Because you figure, um, shortstop
and center field, of the two positions, you know where
you where you would put your most athletic people, because
I would imagine most of the balls go there. Um.
(01:54):
He said, yeah, there were only two guys on the
whole roster who could play short stuff, Ben and Troy.
Makes sense, he said. Every everybody else was a football player,
you know, trying to catch groundballs. Um. So then they
altered it to home run derby and yeah, um, but
(02:16):
my understanding is, aren't you know they play it on
the the baseball field here, and so there's actually a fense.
You know, it's it's like a legit because you've gotta
hit it over the fence. That's a snow fence, but
you gotta hit it over the fence, uh And there's
not a lot of guys who can do that either.
So maybe Kenny Pikett has some you know, baseball in
(02:38):
his background at high school or something. I don't know,
because usually the guys who win UM either have some
history with the sport or you know, are those kinds
of athletes that are just you know, maybe destined to
be in the Hall of Fame. Certainly from the Bend
and Troy uh Tree, that would be an accurate statements
(03:03):
to be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, right, Well,
first of all, he has to break all of Dan
Marino's records. Again, let's not compare. Of course people are
starting that already, but it's so unfair, just so unfair.
You know, that's such a good point, you know, it
really is. And it's the least favorite thing that happens
with any prospect that comes out of a draft. All
(03:23):
this guy looks like the next Marino, this guy looks
like the next Barry Sanders. We'll talk about a bar
that's just impossible to achieve. You're just going to set
the guy up for criticism no matter what he does, right,
and you know, just because you know, he broke Dan
Marino's records at pitt Um Alex vanpel broke the Marino um. So,
(03:48):
you know, it's again like I said, it's just so
unfair because you said, as you said, you set the
bar so ridiculously high. You know, let's let's remember that
Marino transformed the game in terms of quarterback play. I mean,
he threw touchdown passes that that that didn't happen, you know.
(04:10):
Now it's um you know, but teams throwing the ball
like they do and you know all that kind of stuff.
You know, forty plus touchdown passes is not a unicorn
stat like it was in the eighties. And just to
put that on a young player who hadn't taken you know,
(04:31):
an NFL snap is saying that he's going to be
the next Dan Marino is just like I said, God,
you know, let let him let him grow into his
career a little bit then and you know, find his way.
H Just it's just it's annoying. Everything has to be
(04:52):
um taken to the extreme. Uh So anyway, but yeah,
can you pick a one the the home run derby.
I don't know what you get for that. I think
you got accustomed On social media, he had a bat
it said Steelers on at home on Derby. Champ took
a picture with coach Tomlin afterwards. So he's got a
(05:12):
nice little black Steelers bat now to forever remember, right,
put it in the corner of his room. Uh, in
the room of his house. Um, you know. Yeah. Well,
it was a big day for Kenny beyond just winning
the home on Derby and we'll get to that in
just a second. I want to touch on a couple
of housekeeping things. Uh. It was roster moved day on Tuesday.
(05:34):
They had to cut down their rosters, so the Steelers
did so in compliance with the league. After practice. They
actually claimed center Ryan McCollum off of waivers from Detroit
and waived center Nate Gilliam earlier in the day. They
also signed guard William Dunkel, who was originally signed with
the Eagles as an undrafted rookie in May. He played
his college ball at San Diego State. A couple of
(05:55):
guys placed on injured reserved or reserve slash injured list,
Karl Joseph and Anthony Miller. So unfortunate news for both
of those guys. Their seasons will be done. And the
other waves that the team made to get down to
eight players defensive tackle Doug Coston, offensive tackle Jake Dixon,
punter Cameron Zaleck, and center Chris Owens. The next roster move,
(06:17):
I'm sorry that was to get the eighty five. The
next roster move is to get the eighty on Tuesday August. Uh.
Pretty easy to go from when you say yes, um
as I as I term it. My wife could do that. Um.
And you know Jake Dixon, just a quick little note
on him, the kid from he's the kid from Yeah, so, um,
(06:42):
you know local, some local ties. Uh. But you know,
Duke Kane is not a Power five conference school. Um.
He had a very uphill battle trying to make the team.
And you know a lot of times, Um, the eyes
even realize that themselves that you know, they're not cut
(07:05):
out for this. Uh. And again it's unfortunate a dream dies,
but you can always say you'd spend a training camp, yeah,
in an NFL for an NFL team and for the Steelers.
You know, I don't know if Jake Dixon was from
Pittsburgh originally he might have been, but spending his time
(07:25):
at Duquesne the past couple of seasons, you know, you
obviously get to know how important the Steelers are to
the city and how big of a deal it is.
So yeah, it's still an incredible life changing experience. And
the Steelers are pretty good at that, aren't They bringing
in some local college kids for those first couple of
weeks of training camp, you know, give him a run,
give him a try out, and then you know, most
likely send them on their way, but with a nice
(07:46):
experience under their belt. Yeah, and you know, Jake Dixon,
do respect to him. I mean, he had NFL size, um,
and you know they the Steelers don't. They don't really um,
you know, give out those contracts as party favors because
you do have to understand, well, he signs, you know,
(08:07):
a standard NFL contract, he has to be paid the
NFL rookie minimum. So let's just pretend, you know, it
didn't happen, fortunately for him, because you never want to
see someone injured. But I mean, if he ended up
like Anthony Miller or Karl Joseph, then you have to
he he earns his pay and you gotta and you
gotta take that money off the salary cap. So I'm
(08:29):
only saying that because just to make it clear that
it was one of those, Hey let's give the local
kid a contract, you know, one of those. You know,
they legitimately, legitimately saw some things in Jake Dixon that
maybe they thought they get developed or you know whatever.
Um and it didn't work out. And that's okay. I
(08:50):
pushed Jake Dixon nothing but the best, you know, moving forward,
whatever career he he decides on. I mean, the NFL
isn't for everyone. You know, you and I have done great,
were not NFL players. I don't know if I've done
so great. It's a little bit of stretch there. Gave
me a little too much credit Back to Kenny, though
I mentioned he had a big day. Beyond just winning
that home run, Derby got elevated the first team reps
(09:12):
during practice. Two minute drill took on the first team
was decently successful, but the drive stalled out at the
fourteen yard line as they were trying to punch it
in for a touchdown. You just keep seeing Kenny get
elevated more and more. I believe this was really the
first run he had with the first team. Uh. He
didn't drop below any below the second team at all
in the past couple of days. They keep saying this
(09:33):
is part of a plan. This is part of a plan,
but you're starting to see a little smoke maybe towards
this fire. Well, UM, let me say this. I think that, Um,
you know, there's only three preseason games. Uh, so I
think they want to get a look at him, you know,
you want to see him, um, both with better players
(09:55):
and against better players to maybe gauge his progress a
little bit. Uh. I still don't. I still think it's
it would be premature to say that, you know, he's
on track to be the starter on September eleven and Cincinnati.
But I mean, certainly he has not shown to my
(10:17):
untrained I at least that he is that it's too
big for him. So, as you mentioned, you know, he's
taking steps, he's he's progressing. But you know, here's the
other thing. When we were talking about this last night
on the d v H Live from Training Camp dv
special the third of the third of three, you know,
(10:41):
usually in the NFL, there has to be some accompanying, uh.
In addition to a player's good showing, there has to
be some accompanying bad performance by someone above you on
the depth chart for you to make a leap and
then have it be permanent. So you know, I don't
(11:02):
think that either of the two quarterbacks ahead of Kenny
Pickett on the depth chart. And I say that, you know,
understanding that the depth chart is not edged in stone, UM,
but they haven't performed poorly enough to compliment his improvement
for the coaching staff to make a permanent move beyond
(11:23):
would like to see him against better players. So you know,
we're gonna have to see how this works out. I know, UM,
fans don't like Mason Rudolph for whatever reason. UM, And
but he has not played poorly. He has not He
didn't play poorly in the game. He hasn't had poor practices.
I think he has and I don't keep this so
(11:46):
but this is the scuttle butt. He has thrown. Mason
Rudolph has thrown fewer interceptions than either of the other
two guys. So by that metric anyway, he's having the
best training camp. UM. So again, there's there's time. I
think that, uh, they the coaches will want to see
him in Jacksonville against better competition and then you see
(12:10):
how he does. UM or maybe UM, Mason Rudolph or
Mitch Robinsky or you know, has a bad game, and
then you have some thinking to do in terms of
weighing a good performance by one guy and a bad
performance by another guy and does that necessary necessitate a change.
(12:34):
So we'll have to see. We'll have to see it
how it unfolds. Coach Thomlins spoke to the media following
practice yesterday. Let's take a listen to some of coaches
thoughts on the training camp report. Another good day, UM,
get some point at work done, continue to work in
some situational football things that that we need to tune up,
but also just really excited about getting an extended look
(12:57):
at some guys that have missed time or a variety
of injuries and so forth. Um, We've got a significant
number of guys um that are working in in various
forms or levels of of work and and our goal
is to keep that moving forward and then affort to
get those guys to the stadium this week. And so
it's a big week for guys like Dots and and
Avery and others. And if you saw them getting additional reps.
(13:21):
They need the exposure, We need the exposure to them,
and and equally as important, they need to readiness as
we as we step into a stadium this weekend. UM,
a few mining injury things, Arthur Millette. Um, appears they
have a minor um hamstring of some kind that could
be described as day to day. Uh. Mastertigue had at
a low ankle. Um. I think it could be described
(13:42):
as day to day at this juncture, but obviously we'll
have more information as we move forward. Questions because Benny
Snell one of those guys too that you wanted to
get more, No, he wasn't. Benny's been out here largely. UM,
we know Benny, he wouldn't fall into that category. Now, Michael,
what's a significance having Hayward and Manka be so involved
(14:04):
a couple of weeks into camp? Be that competitors? How
does that run off? You think of it? We expect
that from those guys. You can't leave from the back. Um.
And those guys are leaders for us and and and
their presence is always felt. Couple of us were speaking
to Coach Austin earlier today about Manka and instability to
create turnovers and maybe getting back to more of those
this year. Um, is there anything for you guys can
(14:26):
free him up to do more of that? Is there
anything more he can do believe me. There's nothing wrong
with Manka or his turnover ability or tally sometimes is circumstantial.
You know, Um, we just stopped to run well enough
a year ago. So if you're looking for something to
blame in regards to that or a storyline relative to that,
Mank was a great football player. There was no lack
of production in that area from him. Coach speeding of Maka.
(14:49):
He had several one on ones with George Haw Did
George fair against an opro Calgary? As George? You know
what I mean? The exposure was not for Maka, It
was for George. Is that something you guys don't think
the proctors in the UH it's thoughtful by us. Have
you been able to talk to Anthony at Carle since Ianal?
I have not. Yeah, make you talked to earlier about
(15:11):
being here in the market, Mattere and then off the
field development you get from this place. Can you feel
or measure that now or is it kind of a
wait and see how win things. I don't know that
you can ever measure it, but I think any of
us has been involved in team sports at any level
appreciates it that which we cannot measure. That component that
comprises team, uh, camaraderie, togetherness, selflessness, and things of that nature.
(15:36):
All of us have been on teams most of our lives.
We got a respect and appreciation for it, and we
thoughtfully pour into it. What are your thoughts? Another two
minute unfolded At the end, I look at the tape.
Obviously it's always EBB and flow. Defense appears to be
warming up to the drill. Offense was dominating the drill
at the early portions of camp. But as you guys know, uh,
(15:57):
it's football like not necessarily football. There's component us to
the drill that we control from an administrative standpoint to
get looks at certain things. And that's just the reality
of practice. That's coach Tomins speaking to the media following
yesterday's practice. He mentioned, you know, working guys back into
the fold a little extra hard that have missed some time.
Dotson was a guy's name that really popped up. Such
(16:18):
a crucial week for those guys, you know, Dotson, especially
still in that position battle with Kendrick Green, has kind
of fallen behind the eight ball a little bit due
to injury. Gonna get ramped up a lot more this
week leading into that game against Jacksonville, and if he
stays healthy, hopefully see a lot of playing time against Jacksonville. Yeah,
and that certainly will. I would imagine it's going to
(16:38):
test his conditioning too, because I cannot imagine, you know,
appear the last couple of days, I've actually worn a
jacket outside, which is you know, I don't think you know,
I was trying to remember except for an occasional rainy day,
I don't ever remember wearing anything except t shirts and
(17:00):
worts on campus because it's usually so miserably hot and human. Um.
But you know, all of a sudden, now we went
from tropical kind of conditions, meaning hot and humid and
then rain every afternoon. Um too, I don't like I said,
it's I don't know that my air conditioning in the
(17:21):
room has been on the last week plus. I mean,
that's that's how cold. It's even cold at night. So, um,
you know, Jacksonville is not going to be like that.
You know, we've heard Mike Tomlin say he practiced. He
likes to practice at two in the afternoon because it's
in the heat of the day. We'll kick off in
Jacksonville seven o'clock and that'll still be the heat of
(17:42):
the day down there, I would imagine. So, um, you
know you mentioned the left guard competition. Uh, this to
me is just worth noting. Uh. I think it was
not yesterday, but the day before Kendrick Green was injured
the first play of seven shots, and I kind of think,
(18:03):
you know, I was trying to look at it through
the binoculars and you see what it is. John Norwig
was out there, you know, looking at him. Maybe it
was a finger, you know, dislocated finger or something, because
he walked them and they walked up to the you know,
back into the locker room and then Kendrick Green came
back up and finished practice. So, um, you know he's
(18:25):
not he's not missing any significant time. Uh. And then
he was out there yesterday doing you know, the regular
He was out there from the beginning and he was
the um, you know, he took his they alternate thoughts
and Kendrick Green h at left guard with the number
ones and so he took his normal you know shift
(18:48):
at that position, rotating through in team drills. So you know,
he is continuing to to work to get better. And again,
you know, the offensive line experts will beyond at ten o'clock.
So you can tune into that. I'm serious. Um, they
are better at it than me for sure. So um
(19:09):
you know as far as who's winning it or not.
But you know, Kevin Dotson that his and that has
been one of the things that have held him back
is his um minor injury history. So yeah, I do
think that, um, you know, getting him back, playing him
a lot. It's part of the plan not only to
(19:31):
catch him up, so to speak, but also to you know,
see his durability. Can he can he? Is he someone
that you can count on on a consistent basis, because
I don't think you want to be constantly, um changing
your left guard because one guy is always nicked up.
You heard coach Tom would say at the end of
(19:52):
his little press conference there about the defense really winning
a lot more of the EB and the flow of
the two minute drill h thus far in camp. We'll
get into that on the other side of the break,
and we're also going to hear from defensive Captain Cam Hayward.
That's on the way right here on the Training Camp
Report on snr PC's No Training Camper Report with Tom
(20:17):
Opperman at Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna
get into the defense and just a little bit here,
but it's so important and it helps a defense so
much when you're dominating the field position battle and having
a great punter can go a long way when it
comes to winning that battle and labs. A lot of
people have question marks about Pressley Harvin, but yesterday was
(20:39):
one of the most impressive days of Harvin's young Steeler's
career as far as the booming punts that he was
letting go at Saint Vincent College really put on a
show yesterday. I mean, I don't know if it had
anything to do with the fact that by the time
they took the field he was the only punter on
the nine man roster um, but you know that one
(21:00):
of the couple of the things I think that uh
sometimes college punters have needs some time to adjust to
coming to the NFL. Are the k balls. K balls
are the balls that in the NFL that they use
just for kicking. And so those those footballs, you know,
(21:22):
they are shipped directly to the referee um before the
game and they come right from you know, even the
manufacturer of the league. You know, they're they're they're monitored. Okay,
So what used to happen in the eighties was you know,
the balls would um arrive and the home team kind
(21:44):
of had uh quote unquote control over them. So the
kickers a lot of times will get those footballs and
you know, rub them down, scuff them up a little bit.
You know. One of the things that was somewhat popular
at the time, which you know, uh football team have
those big industrial um dryers to dry loads of clothes,
(22:05):
a lot of clothes and towels and stuff. That put
the footballs in the dryer for a while, you know,
heat them up, um, make them more balloonish, you know, softer,
and you could really kick them, boom them. Well that's over.
That doesn't happen anymore. And so the referee gets the
footballs in a sealed container their ship to him to
(22:26):
this whatever stadium, uh, the home team and um, you know,
the referee has total control over those at all time.
So you're kicking footballs that are uh if you've ever
felt a football that um comes directly you know, new
out of the box, an NFL ball especially, it has
a little bit of glaze on it maybe and they're
(22:50):
hard is bricks, so okay, So there's that you have
to adjust to. And then the other thing is UH,
NFL special teams coaches mann that you kicked the ball
to a spot because in college maybe UM, in addition
to the softer balls, that they'll just let the punter
(23:11):
punt punt it far you know, or or try and
you know, if you're at the round the fifth yard line,
you know, you try and drop it in somewhere you
know where they can down it. But in the NFL,
they expect you to kick, for example, UM, outside the
numbers to the left, or outside the numbers to the right,
(23:31):
or you know, the directional punting because that's how they
set the coverage. Because if you don't do that, you know,
you just boom the ball down the middle of the field,
you know, kicking your coverage. You've heard that phrase, Um,
the NFL returners will you know, bring it right back. Uh.
And so that's that's also part of the adjustment for
(23:54):
these new new kickers. So Presley Harvin was inconsistent last year,
I think is a fair um judgment. I don't know
that it's it had specifically to do with you know,
his directional punting, UM, but I would imagine that that
was you know, an adjustment and the cables are an adjustment.
(24:16):
But yesterday, I mean he was he really aired out
his I was used the draft pick on him yesterday. Yes,
I mean he had at least six and I'm I'm
keeping you know, the way I keep these stats is
um from what you measure punts from the line of
scrimmage and then wherever the ball would hit because you know,
(24:38):
it's not a specific um. You know, you don't count
the role. I don't because it's it's practice. So he
had at least six that were sixty plus and then
he kicked one out of the end zone that traveled
over seventy yards in the air um and they were high,
(24:59):
so you can certainly see you know, how he could
you know, light up a workout for NFL scouts. Uh.
And I gotta, like you said, that's a big help
to the defense, especially if you can flip the field
um in terms of field position. So, uh, yeah, it was.
(25:20):
It's weird when you let's let me say this, it's
very unusual for me to be totally captivated by a
punter m during a practice. You know, all due respect
to the punters, um, they're putterers, uh and valuable in
their own way. But to say the punter was the
(25:42):
star of a practice, to me, really, you better, you
better be doing something like Presley Arvin did yesterday. And
what it was, it was a show truly, and he
was again as I mentioned, he was the only punter,
so he was kicking everyone. I mean, it wasn't like,
you know, you kicked too, and you have guy kicks too,
so you get a little bit of a break. I mean,
(26:02):
he was out there for the entire period eleven twelve
minutes whatever they are, and uh, he took every rep
and they were not using the jugs machine to shoot
those down the field. He was. He was using his
right leg. So yeah, very impressive display. And I'm sure
that Danny Smith special teams coordinators looking for more of
(26:22):
that from him. Uh for this season. Defense is especially
liking what they see out of him so far. That's
going to help them tremendously. And Tom and talked about
the defense at the end of his press conference that
we played in the last segment. You know, he talked
about the two minute drill and how the defense appears
to be warming up to the drill. Offense was dominant
early in camp, but now it seems to be leaning
(26:42):
towards the defensive side more often than not. Uh, you know,
I don't want to, you know, make any assumptions here, labs,
but I got a feeling that there's gonna be a
handful of games this year where the defense is going
to be on the field minute fifty left. You need
to stop this offense from getting into field goal range
getting a touchdown to win the game for your team.
So I love that I see the defense, you know,
(27:03):
really starting to put together a consistent streak of closing
out these drills. Hopefully that translates to the regular season
and closing out other teams and getting wins. Yeah. I mean, because, um,
we talked about this a little bit last week in
advance of the preseason opener. Um, you know, Mike Tomlin
used the word dominant too unless his expectations during that
(27:27):
appearance on the d V Morning Show and so um
for the Mike Tomlin Show that appears on the Steelers
Radio Network in advance of all games. One of the
things I asked him was, you know, I read him
back his quote and I said, so, what in your
mind qualifies as dominant is its statistics, as winning awards, um,
(27:51):
you know, rankings, you know whatever. And he said that, Um,
dominant defenses smile in the face of adversity, said, the
offense turns the ball over and puts them on the
short field, they stand up, They stand up in the
weighty moments, goal line, short yardage, two minutes. You know,
dominant means a lot of things. And I was thoughtful
when I said it, because I want them to be
(28:12):
what we need them to be whenever we need them
to be it. So there you go. Uh. And I
do believe that there are gonna be games, especially maybe
early in the season as the offense, you know, tries
to find its footing with the new quarterback and you
know all that kind of stuff where yeah, you're gonna
(28:32):
need the defense, uh, not only to stop the opponent,
as you mentioned, but maybe to create some opportunity for
the offense with takeaways. Uh. So, um yeah, I think
for uh, if you look at the makeup of this
current team and what we projected to be here in
(28:53):
a couple of weeks, once they get down a fifty
three players, most of the stars are on defense, and
you know they're gonna need those guys to produce. They're
gonna need their stars to play like stars, and you know,
Cam Hayward just want to make Fitzpatrick was one. T J.
Watts one. I mean that's that's just three obvious ones
(29:14):
and you have one at each level of the defense.
So um yeah, it's early in camp when as Mike
Toomblas was saying, the offense was dominating these drills. Early,
I was thinking, you know, it's kind of a good
news bad news thing. You know, Wow, the offense is
better than I thought. And then you started thinking, wow,
this this defense is not going to be as good
(29:34):
as I thought. Um, but again things have turned now
after that one um two minutes session where Mason Rudolph
took the team down the field and stuck it in
the end zone and then Kenny pick it to place
he only needed to plays and he did it again,
I thought, you know, this is kind of really a
(29:54):
good news bad news thing because you're a rookie quarterback
should not be making it look that easy against your defense,
even if it's the second group. So uh yeah, it's
it's kind of come back now to more of what
I expected in terms of how these grills are working out. Uh,
you know, as to which unit wins. Well, one guy
(30:15):
that I'm sure is letting the offense here about it
every time the defense wins is Cam Hayward, and the
defensive captain spoke to the media before practice yesterday. Let's
take a listen to what Cam had to say. Isn't
about way. He's vocal and loves to have fun. But
I think it goes down to, you know, um, understanding
(30:37):
what the offering for the end. Um, they need a
kick in the butt sometimes you gotta give it to you,
you know, if they're really you know, rolling on all
fo those uh you know hatt and guys that are
back under making them understand that you know, we're doing
a great job and make sure that the littlementum built
on the right way. Sometimes weird. Best quality is just
(30:57):
understanding the blow again, pretty pretty what's the difference between
one and two? How much you change? How much? What
are you gonna do with? Are you looking for this second?
I don't know. Um. You know coach he's got a plan.
It doesn't share it with us often. UM, but you
know my goal was to be ready for a week
(31:18):
one to do that. UM, getting reps right now in practice?
If I play, I'm play. If I don't. I don't.
I can't talked about this confidence that will come out
to DA last year wasn't able to play confidence? What
have you seen to them so far? And later on
the way guys struggling a confidence I think, Um, everybody
(31:40):
goes through confidence uh issues, and you know, you start
to question what you're doing out there. Obviously, when you
feel like you have more confidence in your knee, you're
able to do a lot more. Um. You know, you're
able to you know, accelerate plant um. And we're just
looking for him to keep doing that. Um. You know,
he's only had one showing and I know he's been
(32:00):
going through practice and just trying to get really good
reps and really pushed the thing. So um, you know
he's just gonna grow in that confidence on ex time. Yeah,
you know, I think, Um, every year a young player
should be a Sunday Uh. And I think for a
guy like Devon obviously didn't have the year he wanted,
(32:22):
but you know he's coming with the right mindset. He's running, Um,
he seems like he's a lot more confident what he's
doing out there. Uh. And that's just a growth in
the defense as well from him to Uh, I don't know. Um,
you know there'll be a player too. You'll see and
be like, um, you know the world stand out. But
(32:45):
the thing I loved about that what Devon did in
the last game that didn't get a lot of credit. Uh.
He moved around the ball. Um, he was able to
stem on the line before the play was actually snapped.
That let us know, like he really understands the defense.
He understands what the quarterbacks thinking. Uh. And those are
the things you look for and uh, you know a
third or fourth year guy. Um. And so you know,
(33:06):
Devin is gonna grow and like physically, but I think
the mental part of the game is just gonna exceed
itself as well. That's Steeler's defensive captain speaking to the
media before practice, and he really sounded like a captain
the way he handled those Devon Bush questions. You know,
he kind of conceded. You know, yeah, I understand why
these questions are being asked. And there's a lot riding
on devin shoulders this year for him to bounce back,
(33:27):
but he handled it so well, talked about how he
believes that he will ascend this year, and that last
answer especially, you know, giving us some insight on something
that he did well in the preseason game. A little
refreshing to hear because you turn on the radio labs
the past couple of days, it's been how terrible Devon
Bush was in the game. Nice to hear Cam Heyward,
you know, say, hey, you know, it's not all bad.
He did a couple of things that I really noticed
(33:49):
and really liked out there, and Cambell know because he
was watching from the sidelines and the coaches kind of you. Yeah,
I have to admit, you know that my ability to
break down the intricacies of inside linebacker play are are
not you know, up to maybe other experts, so to speak,
(34:10):
his teammates, other people who have played the game, who
understand the Steelers scheme, you know that that kind of stuff. Um.
So you know, I hesitate to to try and really
delve into this too deeply because you know, I don't know,
um if if this is necessarily you know, if if
(34:30):
a running play games eight yards, is it Devin Bush's fault?
I don't know that. Um. You know, I do know
that last year's defensive line was kind of ruined by injuries,
and that certainly had to impact things that were going
On in terms of trying to stop the run. Stefon too,
it didn't play at all. Uh Tyson played I think
(34:52):
a game and a quarter or something like that before
you know he had that injury and then was lost
for the rest of the season. And the the makeup
of the Steelers defensive line at that point of that season,
it wasn't yet capable to absorb those kinds of losses
to the top of the depth chart and perform the
way you know it needed to perform. I've told the
(35:15):
story a bunch of times that one of the first things,
one of the first media availabilities that Joe Schobert had
after the Steelers acquired him for that six round pick,
and like about this, well maybe a little later around
this time, a little later in August last year, one
of the things he said, you know, this is guy
was a Pro Bowl inside linebacker. He said, I can't
(35:37):
wait to play behind this defensive line. Okay, And at
that time, you know, I'm sure Joe schober thought that
that defensive line was going to include those two guys
that I just mentioned who didn't who played not at
all or very little last year. And there's no question
that run defense on a three four. Uh, the inside
(36:00):
linebackers depend on the defensive lineman to occupy blockers, create
lanes for them to be able to, you know, go
sideline to sideline or up the field and make tackles. Um,
Devin Bush's to twenty something like that. I mean, he's
not a big guy, and so I'm sure that he
(36:22):
was impacted by the defensive line issues last year as well,
in addition to trying to come back from um that
knee injury. So there are factors that work there that
and I can't get I can't put a finger on
it and say let's ten this, this, this, if you
fix those things, and he's a you know, I just
(36:45):
I just can't do that. Um. I do know. Also,
in conversations years ago with Jack Ham, you know, he
would talk lowingly about the work that the Steelers defensive
line did and keeping those linebackers clean. You know, And
two of those guys are in the Hall of Fame,
by the way, So you know, how good would Jack
Lambert have been if Joe Green and Ernie Holmes weren't
(37:08):
in front of him in the middle just torturing those
offensive linemen. I don't know, I'm not gonna try and
demean Jack Lambert's Hall of Fame career by saying that,
you know, he owes it all to the defensive lineman.
But I do think that, you know, that kind of
stuff goes hand in hand. Um, just like I'm sure
the defensive line needed, uh, the aggressiveness and the ability
(37:32):
to diagnose plays that you know, Ham and Lambert brought
to it. Ham and Lambert needed L. C. Greenwood and
those guys to keep them clean so that they could
do some of those things. Um. I wish, I wish
I had the Devin Bush answer. I really do. I
don't think though that. Yeah, I do think that, you know,
(37:53):
inside linebacker is an issue that the Steelers have to
somehow find a solution too, because while Robert Spillane has
has some qualities, uh, he is not the kind of
guy you want to have out there if the other
team is throwing the ball a lot. He's just not
(38:14):
that kind of player that he can really good and
coverage someone that you can put on uh opposing receivers
and have a high level of confidence that he's gonna
be able to neutralize them. So that's kind of what
you've spent the draft capital and money that comes with
it to move up to the tenth overall pick to
(38:37):
pick Devin Bush. And the thing to me is, I
remember him as a rookie. I thought the guy was
a real player. Uh and his statistics back that up.
Now he hasn't been that guy since he injured his knee.
So you know, the detective in me says, the knee
injury was part of the problem. Um, So now it's
(38:58):
is it a physical thing within me or is it
a mental thing that he has to rebuild the confidence
in a part of his body that he's depended on
for his entire athletic life doing some doing things that
all of a sudden and he couldn't do anymore. So, Um,
you know, as I said, I don't I don't have
(39:20):
the answer. I do think that the Steelers need to
investigate this and either find different ways of doing things
with the personnel that they have, or you know, um,
maybe maybe you have to seek other solutions elsewhere. They
certainly do need to investigate it, though it is certainly
something that is worrying a lot of fans and I'm
(39:41):
sure coaches. As we approach the start of the season,
we come back, we're gonna look at the Steelers secondary
been a very steady force for the Steelers throughout all
of training camp, So we'll touch on them briefly as
we wrap things up on the training camp report on
Steelers Nation Radiodc's not in Camper Report with Tom Opperman
(40:02):
and Bob Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. Wrapping things up
here on today's training camp report. Practice today at one
fifty at St. Vincent College and Latrobe, only the second
to last one that is open to the public. So
if you want to get up there and see your
Steelers and you haven't yet, you only got today and
tomorrow to do so. LABS. One position group that I
(40:22):
think hasn't really been talked about much in a positive way,
but mainly in a negative way. It hasn't been brought
up either, is that secondary. And they've done some positive things.
You noticed, you know, a Kello Witherspen and author Molette
making a lot of plays and run support. You saw
that play out against Seattle on Saturday in the preseason
game with both of those gentlemen. Uh. The secondary just
seems to be very steady making plays in practice. Uh,
(40:46):
haven't really seen them get tested in the passing game,
yet in a game situation, I have a feeling that
might change this Saturday. Trevor Lawrence isn't exactly you know,
the next Joe Montana, but there's a lot of talent
with him, and I do expect him to play at
least a quarter, if not a full half for Jacksonville.
So I am sure that the Steeler secondary will get
a decent test through the air this week that they'll
(41:07):
have to, you know, pass with flying colors. Yeah. You know,
a lot of times you really don't see or um
really um that doesn't jump out at you as much
what the secondary does or doesn't do in practice versus games,
because you know, even in tackle football drills up here,
(41:28):
those are usually running plays. And so you know, as
you mentioned, some of the things that we have seen
from certain defensive backs and you know, doing in a
in a positive way, have come against the run. Um.
There's no hitting receivers, you know. I I do recall
a handful at least of occasions where you know, Minca
(41:52):
Fitzpatrick will occasionally do a fly by on a on
a receiver who's running across the middle, UM and you
he is moving fast, and you know if if you're
paying attention, and I like to pay attention to him.
I I liked make of Fitzpatrick as a player since
you know his college days at Alabama. I just thought,
(42:14):
this guy is a big play, always waiting to happen.
But you know, you watch him and he's working on
his technique and you know detail as well, because when
he's doing these fly bys pass receivers, you know he's
adjusting his body so that if he was going to
make contact, it would be with his shoulder into the
(42:38):
player's chest, which is legal. Um so you know in
games that collision is going to happen. You know, whether
it gets called or not. You know, we have to see.
I mean, I think too often defensive backs get penalized
for hit him too hard. Well, you know, if you
(43:00):
hit him according to the rules, too hard isn't against
the rules. Uh So those are things I think that
we won't see until the games are played. Um. You
know the cornerbacks Georgan well, George Pickens makes cornerbacks look bad.
And a lot of times in training camp practices, the
(43:22):
drills are structured in a way that you really can't
help but look bad as a defensive back because you
can't sack the quarterback the right so, um, you know,
try and cover George Pickens all over the field of
quarterback not being under you know, can't get hit. It's
it can't happen. Um. So anyway, I think we'll get
(43:47):
a better uh view of the Steelers secondary here, certainly
in Jacksonville and then maybe in the preseason finale, depending
upon how the two respective coaches, Dan Campbell and Mike
Tomlin choose to play that game. Um, because that that
could be anything from you know, glorified scrimmage to a
(44:09):
real dress rehearsal for the regular season. So we're gonna
have to see. But um, you know, Levi Wallace and
a color Weatherspoon have done some good things. Uh they've
gotten beat some. As I said, then that's going to
happen in training camp with the way you know, practices
are structured, with the rules which are allowed and not
allowed to do. So, Um, you know, I think that
(44:30):
you're right about the Jacksonville situation, and uh, we we
should get a better Well let me say this, we
should get more of a look or idea of what
the defensive secondary can be or what it needs to become.
Aside from Minka who is a superstar. Is Arthur willletta
guy that's really caught your attention throughout this camp. I
(44:52):
know he had a minor hamstring injury that came up yesterday.
Tooma described him as day to day. Shouldn't be a problem.
Expect him to probably make the fifty three man rosters
long as you know he can work his way back
pretty quickly. But Mollette makes a lot of plays in
the running game. I don't want to call him Mike Hilton,
but maybe we got a little Mike Hilton light going
on here with Mullett. Yeah, and I think that Arthur
(45:13):
Millette is um a lock to make the team. The
question in my mind is when games start to count,
what do they do with Cam Sutton? Because the you know,
the I won't say the easy thing, but it certainly
would the thing that makes sense if you're looking to
get your three best corners on the field, UH would
(45:37):
be Levi Wallace and a color weatherspoon on the outside
and Cam Sutton in the in the slot. Um. But
you know then that that kind of takes Arthur Millette
out of the regular mix. I don't know that I'm
ready to say that Arthur Millette is as good as
Cam Sutton in the in the middle there or in
(45:59):
the center of the field. But you mentioned, yes, he
has been making more plays against the run than he
did last year, plays that you know, we had come
to associate with Mike Kilton. So you know that the
comparisons I think are are natural and normal. But you know,
he's a guy that he has some NFL experience, has
(46:22):
played in the league a little bit. He played a
good bit last year. But I do think that the Steelers,
at I I don't know, early in the early middle
part of the season, made the decision that you know,
Cam Sutton, Joe Hayden, and um god, I can't I
(46:43):
can't think of who the other guy was. Um, all right,
Well anyway, but those were the those were the three best,
the three best corners. So, um, you know, there's still
two preseason games to go, a few more weeks of
preseason practice football like situations to use Mike Tomalinds phrase,
(47:04):
Uh so we'll find out how that all works out. Well.
Practice today starts at one five on the campus of St. Vincent.
Like I said, it is the penultimate practice of training
camp that is open to the pub. You like that.
I looked it up in the Breaks Out, but Ultimate
open to the public practice today up at St. Vincent.
So if you want to get up there and see
(47:25):
your stores at training Camp, you gotta do it today
or tomorrow. Those are your last two chances. Labs and
I will be back to wrap up the Training Camp report.
Our final episode will be tomorrow morning. We'll take a
look ahead to Jacksonville and preview everything you need to
look for in Saturday's preseason game. Wolf and Starks are
in the locker room up next right here on SNR
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.