August 4, 2022 • 46 mins
Bob Labriola and Tom Opferman discuss the strong showing from the offense and Mitch Trubisky yesterday. We also take a listen to Coach Tomlin's thoughts and just how important implementing situational football drills is for him and the team. TJ Watt spoke to the media yesterday and we take a listen to what he had to say, talk about the defense domination early in camp, a new running back being added into the mix, and preview the Friday Night Lights practice tomorrow at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. All that and more on the Steelers Training Camp Report!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get stuarded. And so now we take off. DC's the
training camp report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation radio coach Tomlin got his wish for hot,
miserable weather weather up at training camp in Latrobe yesterday,
and Steelers Nation got their wish of the offense looking
(00:28):
a little bit better. Labs. I know a lot of
people want to point and give the credit in a
lot of different directions to Whisky deserves some credit for
bouncing back. Maybe Canada did some different things offensively. Maybe
the fact that they just weren't in full pads and
just we're in shells and helmets helped out the offense.
But I know and you know that the real credit
belongs to this program right here, because yesterday we spoken
(00:49):
to existence the improved play from the offense and the
improved play from M. T. Whisky. So if you'd like,
you can take this moment to pat yourself on the back,
I'll be patting myself on the back as well. Great
job all around, you know, or for being you know
the cynic that I am. You could point to maybe
Cam Heyward t J. Watton, Miles Jack not being not
(01:12):
practicing because they got a Veterans Day off having something
to do with it too. But it is more us.
It is more us, and not only us on this program,
but also when we do ask any answered the podcast,
we managed to find a way to start with a
quarterback question throughout the entire off season. We're just the best.
(01:34):
I mean, so you can put it, but we're just
the best of all we do. Let's talk about the
quarterbacks for a little bit. We gotta get to Tom
and of course he was chatty yesterday too, so we
definitely want to hear what he has to say. But
with true bisky obviously running with the ones is he
has throughout all of camp, no question in your mind
and everybody's mind that yesterday was probably the best he's
looking this these sessions so far. Yeah, and he did
(01:56):
a lot of uh, a lot of different things to that.
We're all good. I mean, you saw, you know a
lot of the things that I believe that the team
was um, you know, was behind the team going after him,
you know during free agency. Uh, he he pulled the
ball down and and scoot it out of the pocket
(02:18):
and some very opportune times. Um, and it's watching it.
You never got the sense that, uh, you know, some
quarterbacks for whatever reason, either they're young or inexperienced, or
not have a good grasp of the offense or you
know whatever. Um, you know, they'll drop back and you know,
pull the ball down quickly and run. Maybe they look
(02:39):
at their first option, maybe this one and two and
then run. But um, Trabinsky yesterday when he was pulling
the ball down and making the decision uh to scramble
a little bit, well, actually it was run. He wasn't.
He wasn't buying time in the pocket on the occasions
that I'm referring to. He was actually you know, running
for positive yardage down the field. Uh. It was. It
(03:00):
was purposeful, and you know, from my vantage point up
a little bit, it was the right thing to do. Uh.
There was a big opening there that he took advantage of.
There were no players obviously wide open receivers. I mean,
and you know, as I said, it was it was
a good, solid decision. So you know, that's good to
see he did that well. Uh, he was much better
(03:22):
in seven shots. I mean, he might have been spectacular
if not for a couple of bubbled passes. Uh. And
then you know, Mike Tomlin closed with a two minute drill.
You know, situational football is one of you know Tomlin's
uh favorite things to work on and talk about and stress.
And so it was two minutes yesterday, um the and
(03:44):
then he always sets up a scenario. Okay, so yesterday's
scenario was the offense gets the ball at their own
forty seven yard line, minute nineteen left, one time out,
and you got to score a touchdown, your kid. It's
not just a field goal. And so you know that
gives the defense something, uh, some kind of parameters as
(04:04):
well that they're working to and trying to stop this.
And over the course of camp, there will be several
um segments of two minutes. UH. Different quarterbacks will get chances, UH,
the scenarios will change. Sometimes they will only need a
field goal. Sometimes they'll have more time outs, sometimes they'll
have fewer timeouts, and it's just the whole game management, um,
(04:28):
reality of the moment management stuff that uh they're working on,
both offensively and defensively. In that in that drill, and
um Rabinsky was he was everything you would want from uh,
your starting quarterback in that In that drill in that
situation yesterday. So hopefully this is a springboard for him
in the offense. We all know that Trubisky has a
(04:50):
lot of talent number two overall draft pick just a
few years ago. He's got a good arm, he can
move um, he's a little underrated as a runner. I
would say all of those things we already knew coming in.
Would you say, it's more important and it's more encouraging
to see kind of, like you said yesterday, him making
the right decisions, like Tomlin said, his communication was good.
Those are in the maturation of his game. That's got
(05:12):
to be what you know, the coaches are really looking for,
because again they know what he can do athletically. Yeah,
and and besides maturation, it's poise. You know, you want
the guy to be poised in those kinds of situations,
not only for the importance of poise for the position
that he plays, but everybody in that huddle is looking
(05:33):
at him too, And if he's poised, then you know,
kind of it's a it's a little bit of a
calming um that that goes over the the entire group,
permeates the entire group. You don't want that guy to
look like a deer in the headlights because he's thinking,
oh my god, you know, this guy's leading us right
into the valley of darkness. So yeah, you know, the maturation,
(05:56):
the understanding of the offense. Certainly, I would think you
could point to as um reasons for what we saw
yesterday on the practice field. But for me, the most
important thing would have been the poise that that takes
for him to do what he did, make those right decisions,
have everyone see him make the right decisions, and then
(06:17):
at the end you finish it. Because in the two
minute thing, there were there's two, um, two sets of
it for lack of a better word, and you know,
Mason Rudolph ran the second set. So in his set,
he drives the team, you know, right down the field,
but couldn't finish. Couldn't get the ball, you know, the
(06:39):
um he had a shot at the end zone. UM
didn't get it done. So yeah, it's a good thing
that you move the team into the position to score.
But then you've got a cap, you know, put the
cherry on the Sunday and sticking in the end zone.
And Travisky did it. Mason Rudolph didn't. Um, you know,
whatever that says for the pecking order of the these
(07:00):
guys moving down the road, we'll find out. But yesterday,
you know, Robinsky showed a better command of the drill
of the offense of his teammates than Mason Rudolph did. Yeah,
and it's important to note, as the you know, the
rest of the depth chart broke down yesterday, Rudolph was
back up with the twos. Can you pick a dropping
back down running with the threes. It's also true that
Rudolf was sprinkled in with the ones a little bit
(07:21):
throughout practice. Is that correct? Um? Maybe? Okay? Um, Well,
you know, sometimes it's difficult, um to see everything. Um,
you know, they mixed, they mixed the groups so much often,
and so it's hard to tell with offense because a
(07:43):
lot of times the personnel groupies groupings are changing every snap.
And the only real way to tell is if you're
paying very close attention to the offensive line, because you
know it's your point. A lot of the skill position
players excuse me, offensive lineman for saying that they're not
there for the ones. They're not participating right now, right,
so you know that's that's why. And um, pretty much
(08:07):
when practice starts. What I do is I, you know,
take a roll call of the offensive line to see,
you know, who's it left guard, you know, like for example,
Chucks was he was one of the ones who got
a veterans day off. So you couldn't even look at
the tackle, you know, the right tackle and say, okay,
this is the second offense. So, um, I confess, I
(08:32):
mean I really wasn't paying that close attention to the
offensive line yesterday. Uh that the practice wasn't in pads,
and so my my focus was shifting more to some
of the other things because you know, there's no hitting
going on. So you know my bother well, coach Tomlin,
as he always does, spoke with the media following practice,
(08:52):
had a lot of things to say. Like I said,
he was very chatty. So let's take a listen to
coach Tomlin right here on the training camp report on SNR.
Another good day for US. UM always good when you
can start moving towards situational football. And and we're at
that stage of development where we start working online the game,
like scenarios, possession downs. We finished practice with a two
(09:12):
minute um and and it's important that we not only
introduced that segment. But it's also important of when we
introduce that segment, we do it at the end of
practice thoughtfully, so that we're working work on developing conditioning
and and get displays of conditioning. It's important that guys
have the ability to operate and operate with great detail
and execute communication and all the things that are big
(09:35):
in that situation, but do so at the end of
practice when they're UM there's a little less gas in
the tank, and I just think that's reflective of what
transpires at the end of halfs or the end of games.
And so you know, this is football. Like we've been
talking a little bit about that the drill work that
we do UM, but as closely as we can relate
it to certain elements of ball, it just aids the
growth process. And so we'll continue to focus on those things.
(09:57):
Appreciate the efforts and the attention that we're getting. UM
Mastertigue has knew at the running back position will run
a little thin in those lines based on day to
day availability, So it's good to have him. Uh, We'll
we'll get him up to speeding, continue with that process.
All those that are missing work are really kind of
status quo. No new information in regards to those things.
(10:18):
The guys that are day to day continue to be
so Guys more extended like Marcus Allen continue to be
in that category as well. Questions like guys some veterans
some days off today. Yes, I'll and I'll do that
from time to time. And you guys know our approach there.
It's less about those guys, to be quite honest with you,
and it's just a means of of thinning the lines
and and provide more opportunities for younger guys. And you
(10:41):
know we're gonna treat everybody fairly. We're not gonna treat
everybody the same. More veteran players need less reps in
order to be game ready. Younger players need more, and
so we think of unique ways to provide everybody with
what they need. Officials here, like he said, it really
helps about situational aspect. But what else are the players there?
I think we saw Conner maybe you talk to them
hatching a couple of things out. How is it? How
(11:02):
are they able to kind of gain from that? Being
here today, you get to learn the unwritten rules of
the game there there there's an official rule book and
those are words on the page. But there's no substitute
for having these guys out here and getting the dialogue
and getting their perspective on on what the tipping points are.
We're having a O p I discussion offensive pass and
inferience and extended elbow contact above the waist is a
(11:26):
trigger for officials in terms of officiating that component of
a play. And so you know, they get here a
little minutia like that that helps them play the game
and play it at a professional level. But what did
you like about the way that Mitsisky ran that two
minute drill at the end? You know, he's a veteran
and he displayed that. I thought his communication was good. Um.
I thought he directed younger players and and and made
(11:48):
good use of opportunities to do so stoppages of the clock,
huddle scenarios, etcetera. Um. But but that's what you expect
veteran players to do. Like you're talking about the game
like situations. I'm gonna skip about the seven shot drill.
I believe you introduce that right when they change the
rule for extra points at that point, you, guys, one
of the things that really embraced going for two. Now
you're more like lead gaverage in terms of going for two,
(12:09):
where do you continue to see value in that? And
then in this situation, how much does the coaching staff
put stock into the performance, specifically the quarterbacks. That's a
lot of parts in that question. I'll touch a couple
of points. Okay, Um, there's always unintended consequences for everything
that we do. It is a two point play, but
it's very relatable to to the tight red zone um
(12:30):
third and three on the three for example, or possession down.
The difference in the four point swing, whether it's offensively
or defensively win it down at seven you lose the down,
you're running your field goal unit out, or you're forcing
your opponent to do the same. And so there's many
unintended consequences that gives us latitude regarding drill work is
not in a specific box. Like we have a chance
to talk to Lane yesterday and I know you have
(12:51):
a personal connection with the Stewart only just how much
does it mean having Blaine Stewart on your coaching step.
He's a young coach, is working hard. Not a lot
of acknowledgement for young hard working coaches, Like what do
you see from Dan Moore so far as he's entering
his second year, second candid, I think it's reasonable for
him to take a significant step. He's he's a second
year guy, he's been through this process and not only that, UM,
(13:13):
but he's got awesome experience UM through his first lap
around the track, and I think that he's been displayed
that UM and so it's exciting to watch that growth continue.
What if your impressions gonna Chris Ola, Joe Coon and
what kind of guy like that he's not getting many
opportunities have thrown through the distinction self here. You know,
when you're when you're quote unquote in the fourth quarterback slot,
(13:34):
you better be continually working while you wait for your opportunity. UM.
This is not a patient man's business. We're not going
to ask him to be patient. We will ask him
to work while he waits. UM. We've had others in
the past in that scenario. I talked to him a
lot about Joshua Dobbs, who was in a similar scenario
years ago, didn't get many opportunities, stormed on it to
finished and made the roster, and so UM, he has
(13:57):
that as an example. If he needs uh incurved. You've
had several chances to see the monte Casey in the
in the starting role because of making Patrick being out.
What's your evaluation of how he's taking on things and
the flexibility he's been able to give you guys, that's fine,
it's ongoing. He's done a nice job. But I think
that's a reasonable expectation given his his experience in in
(14:17):
the National Football League. It's the thought process behind the
way you guys rotated quarterbacks today with Mitch taking to
than Mason and kind of rotating it through there. We're
just thoughtfully mixing it up. Um, making those guys, are
just putting them with different groups, getting to watch them
in different groups and it'll continue. Is that a similar
mentality with a left guard position? And how do you
kind of assess that that battle with Kendrick very similar?
(14:39):
And still too early to tell. Um, both guys are
working well. What about the other guys in the huddle? Wise,
different quarterbacks, they get different from the faces. And now
how are the other guys in the offensive side adopting
the other three that you'd have to ask them. That's
coach Tomlin speaking with the media following practice yesterday and
labs you couldn't really tell the importance in his voice
(15:00):
when it comes to situational football. You touched about that
a little bit in the beginning of the segment here,
and you can just see how much he values that
experience as he starts to work that into camp practices. Well. Yeah,
and you know, one of the things that I could
have mentioned earlier when talking about that was seven shots
is situational football as well. Just as Mike tom Un explained,
(15:21):
I mean, you can look at it, as you know,
they call it close red zone UM, which means close
to the goal line. And as he said, you know,
if it's third down and goal at the two, you
either score a touchdown or you know, you're settling for
a very short field goal, which is usually kind of
a downer. UM the defense, Uh, from their perspective, you're
(15:43):
either allowing the opponent to score a touchdown or holding
them to the to a field goal, which often can
be a boost. And it's also good practice for short yardage,
you know, both trying to get the line to gain
and for the defense you know, to get off the fields.
Mike Tomas is a big situational football guy, UM, and
(16:05):
a lot of the things and drills that he conducts
at training camp point or in practice. UM are geared
towards those kinds of situations in games because he believes
that those are the situations that determine the outcome. We
come back, we're gonna switch things over to the defensive
side of the ball. There was a veterans day off
(16:25):
for several members of the defense, so we'll touch on
that and we will also hear from the defensive Player
of the Year. That's all on the way. Next on
the Steelers training camp report right here on snry PC's
no Training camp Report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
(16:47):
on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna get into the Steelers
defense and some of those veterans that had a day
off in just a second, But Labs, I was scrolling
Twitter here in our commercial break and I totally forgot
football's back tonight. We got the Hall of Fame game. Man,
Jags Raiders from Canton. How excited are you? UM, I
(17:07):
gotta be honest with you until you know, right before
we came out of the break, you mentioned that that
you were going to say something about it, and my
answer to you was that's fine, just don't ask me
who's playing because I don't know. You know, the Hall
of Fame, well, the Hall of Fame Game, it's you know,
it's more of a spectacle kind of thing, you know,
as as as you mentioned, it announces the return of
(17:30):
football uh for the year. And I think that maybe
you know, for the fans of the two teams participating, UH,
it carries more interest I think than maybe you know,
league wide fan wide all those kinds of things. UM.
And the Hall of Fame game is one where, even
when there were four pre regular preseason games in the
(17:52):
Hall of Fame game being the fifth, you don't really see,
you know, the front line players very often. And so
you know, as I said, if you're a Raiders fan
and you're familiar with what they did in the offseason
and who they drafted, or Jaguars fan, you know, the
same things, you might want to tune in to see
those things, UM or if teams playing those teams might
(18:16):
be tuning in to see what's going on there. But
I don't know that it UM for me. I'm just
gonna speak for me. It's not must see TV. No.
I mean I kind of agree to what you said
when you were talking about it being kind of a spectacle.
You know, I have no horse in the race between
the Jaguars and the Raiders at all. I don't think
you're gonna get a very good scouting report on the
Raiders based on what you see in Canton, Ohio and
(18:38):
August fourth through when the Steelers play them on Christmas
Eve this year. But it is that spectacle of it.
I will tune in to night just to see, you know,
two different helmets on the field against each other, maybe
a hit or to see a kickoff, and then probably
switched the channel after about ten minutes. But it's just
nice to you know, see football back on your TV
again and let you know, hey, the season is not
far away. Yeah, and let's let's look at the bright side.
(19:00):
You don't have to watch a baseball game. That's music
to my ears right there. Well, it was music to
the offenses years yesterday was the fact that Cam Hayward,
T J. Watt, and Miles jack All were some veterans
that got rest. According to Mike Tomlin. And I'm gonna
put on my tinfoil had a little bit here and
you can tell me how stupid I sound, Labs in
a second. But do you think there was a part
(19:20):
of this, and I know he likes to give veterans
a day off, and they've been working hard, so they've
definitely deserved it in their own right. But is there
a little part of this where Tomlin decided, you know what,
I'm gonna take the gap foot off the gas a
little bit on the defense, maybe get the off offenses
confidence up a little bit. Those three players have been
the three most impactful players so far defensively. Let's take
them away from the equation for a day. Well, I mean, um,
(19:44):
I doubt it. I mean I really think that, um,
Mike Tomlin or any NFL coach you know, wants to
pound into his team that they're going to have to
you know, perform and perform well against the best, you know,
whatever our opponent they're playing. UM, My thing was, it's
much more important, you know when you just think of
(20:06):
the three names that you just mentioned. Okay, the first
two names, Cam Hayward and t J. Watt, Um, what
you've seen from them so far? Um, you know, I
don't know that they need any more training camp, uh
to be ready. I mean they came ready. They're really
good players. Uh, they're really into it, you know. T J. Watt.
(20:28):
We've talked about how he has been destroying uh, offensive
plays in various ways, you know, both from non padded
practices the padded practices, I mean, just the whole thing. Um.
And in addition to that, you know, one of the
things I do up here is at lunchtime kind of
I go over into the fitness room and you know,
(20:49):
right the stationary bike for a little bit, trying to
you know, get uh whatever exercise I can. And t J.
Watts always in there lifting, whether it's a you know,
a pad of practice coming up, a nonpad practice coming up, whatever.
T J. Watts doing what he needs to do in
his mind, you know, to be the best player he
can be. So you know Cam Hayward, Uh, he's another
(21:10):
one of those same kind of guys. So there's no
question or even a miniscule iota of doubt. You know
that these guys are in it to win it, so
to speak, both individually and as a team. So um,
you know, given them a day off I think prevents
them from getting overly fatigued, because fatigue is usually a
(21:33):
contributor to the kinds of injuries that can linger in
or nag um the player and UM Miles Jack. I
think what we have seen from him so far, even
though he's new to the Steelers, UM, he has been
a significant presence in the middle of the defense, you know,
against the run, particularly, and he has also shown himself
(21:56):
not to be a liability in coverage, which we've talked about.
I'm pretty of your shows about the importance of the
inside linebackers, you know, not having a gigantic hole in
their game because opponents will invariably take advantage of that
with their play calling, in personnel groupings and and things
like that. So I think you can look at those
three guys, they have um not missed, They had not
(22:19):
missed any practice. They all showed up in good shape.
They're all veterans, and you know, you give them a
day off. It's it's just maintenance a little bit. I
mean you a lot of times, you know, what really
gets UM a lot of attention are quote unquote significant injuries.
But often what can derail a guy UM, you know,
(22:41):
is a nagging thing, you know, a hamstring that he
has to nurse for two or three weeks, or you know,
those kinds of things, and then they try and come
back and then they re injure it and it's just
a gigantic pain in the butt for the player and
often for the team, and it lingers. And so if
if you can um avoid that in a painless way,
(23:03):
you try and do it. And that's the way I
look at, um those some of those veteran days off
kinds of situations, because the worst thing, you know, for
Cam Hayward to get some nick injury, um, that then
he's got to deal with for two or three weeks.
I mean that that doesn't do anybody any good. And
so that's why I think the primary motivation is behind
(23:25):
that stuff. But you know, for someone with a lot
of Reynolds wrap in their kitchen like you, um, you know,
make make some hats, and don't forget to make one
in Craig wolf Lee's size, because he's a big fanily
for aluminum foil ads himself, and I have several for
Wolflely on reserve whenever he needs them, So don't worry
about that. One of the biggest, you know, things of
(23:47):
optimism that fans can grab onto has been the play
of the defense early on in camp. And I think
it's important to note too that you know, obviously Hayward
and Watt and Jack have been participants except for when
Tomlin deems that they won't be, but they're other key
contributors are expected to be key contributors that have not
been able to step foot on the field yet due
to injury or working their way back from injury. Most
notably the big three in my mind make a Fitzpatrick
(24:10):
in the secondary and Ogan Job and Alu Alu up front.
So there's a lot of optimism for the defense already
and it's not even close to at its full strength yet.
So that's got to be very encouraging for the coaching staff,
for the fans, for everybody. Yeah, and you know the
thing about the names that you just mentioned, a lot
of times, you know, full disclosure here by me. Um,
(24:32):
during practice, when they get into some of the special
teams periods, you know, I'll let my eyes wander, you know,
around to see what else is going on. And those
guys are busting, but on a separate field obviously they're
not practicing, but um, you know they're working. I mean, MIKEA.
Fitzpatrick never stops. And there are even times when in between,
(24:55):
like for example, in a special teams period, Minka Fitzpatrick
and a couple of the other DB's camp Sutton Kello
Witherspoon and others. I mean, I don't want to leave
anybody out, but they'll find it. One of the quarterbacks
and run routes so that they're practicing you know, running
(25:15):
turning to the football and getting their hands up and
making an interception of a ball that's thrown, you know,
by an NFL quarterback in NFL caliber pace and stuff
like that. So, um, you know, make of Fitzpatrick. Is
um not taking you know, time off? I mean, he's
he's involved. I mean I can see him. He's standing
(25:35):
next to Um often either the defensive coordinator Tarall Austin
or the defensive backs coach, and you know, he has
a play script and he's you know, as they say,
taking mental reps. You know, I always thought that that
was kind of a borderline joke, but it is valuable
(25:56):
depending upon the guy who's doing it, and is he
putting a lot into it and not just standing around,
you know, kind of looking at cloud formations. So I
agree with you that, um, those are three players that
are going to hopefully play significant roles once the season
rolls around. But I'm not real UM concerned about them
(26:19):
not being on the practice field, because I remember this,
one of the best seasons Casey Hampton had was when
he reported the camp uh in less than stellar shape
and did not complete the run test, and so he
was put on the pup list, and and so instead
of you know, being in the middle of the line
(26:40):
of scrimmage and you know, hitting and all that stuff,
he was off to the side conditioning. And so then
you know, once the season started he was in good
shape but had a fresh body, and he had a
good year. The defense had a good year. So you know,
sometimes for some guys, they really don't need a lot
of physical pounding on themselves. And I'm saying that because
(27:04):
the guys think about UM in that way a lot.
Is Cam Heyward not that he came to camp and
failed the run test. That's not That's not what I mean.
That's not what I'm implying. I'm just saying that some guys,
if they just work on their conditioning and UM get
their bodies ready, that's more important than taking reps and
(27:26):
you know, live tackling drill. Well, everybody in Steelers Nation
certainly helps that the defense will be good. This year,
and one guy who will contribute mightily towards that is
the Rainy defensive Player of the Year. The media caught
up with t J. Watt yesterday before practice. Let's take
a lesson right now in SNR. I wonder if you're
thinking about letting the office get a playoff us a while.
(27:46):
We're having fun hour flying around. Still a lot to
improve on, but it's been a good start so far.
From defense. Did you notice anything specific from any one
or two players that think specifically you get how worked
on in the offseason right now? Oh, I think it's
still earlier to see. Guys are making a lot of plays.
But uh, like, like we talked about it, you can't
win off the lack execution on the other side. You
(28:07):
gotta be able to have clean, nice wins, um good
execution on your side. And uh one you No, I mean,
I think there's a lot of guys doing some really
good things. I think Devin looks nice inside, Miles Jack
looks good inside. Guys are coming down taking the double
teams off the big guys. So it uh, it's it's
been nice to see you. What do you do for
(28:28):
another court after Player of the Year and if you
have advanced expectations, be on that. How do you get there?
We gotta win a Super bowls simple as that. How
about the dynamic of this camp is interesting because everyone
judges everything and the offense going to defense. There's gonna
be winners and losers. Everybody's is a defense is ahead
of the offense early. If that's true, Why is that?
I don't know. It's like I said, it's way too
really for any of that stuff. It's it's all based
(28:50):
on you know what, who we the drill slanted towards,
if its offense or defense. Right now, just just trying
to get better each and every day. Put your best
foot forward. Watch the film, learn how watch film learned?
How to accept constructive criticism, not take things too personally. Uh,
and just build camaraderie as a team. I think that's
what this time of years all along offensive mind gets
to see you guys on a regular basis. Oh of course,
(29:12):
I mean I don't get to see the young offensive
alone too much, but uh, and any time they get
to see our advanced three four defense is hard for
those guys a block, especially the amount of pressures and
different guys coming. Um, you know, the guys dropping a
covered it's difficult for them. So it's good to see
early board the defense it has had just a lot
of energy, but you specifically look like you're having so
much fun out there, Like, what is it about camp?
(29:33):
About this environment that just gives you the second? Yeah,
I think part of it is just in my role
now and being more of a leader, just trying to
set the tone and understand that it's very hard to
make plays and at the end of the day we
have to remember that we're having fun. And I know
a lot of guys, younger guys have so much going
on mentally, Uh, if they're in the right spot for
doing the right thing that you can't forget at the
(29:54):
end of the day. It's very tough to make a
place when you make when you got to celebrate and
we just try to feed off the crowd and as
a D fence, we always enjoy that. Did you did
you miss being able to do that last year? Now
you're obviously working through the contract stuff and that's the priority,
but did you miss being able to celebrate and do
those things on the field when you make a big
play in camp a little bit it helps with leadership
(30:14):
just as far as you can only do so much
from the sidelines and um as hard as I was
working last year, you're not able to actually show it
on the field. So it's definitely refreshing will be able
to be out there. You could talk a lot about
the maturation process, specifically you're cutting somebody down to your guys.
How much is that plays in? How much do you
see of that process play out in pain? It's huge.
I mean just even from oti as to today, guys
(30:36):
are just being able to get way more comfortable. Uh.
And obviously when you have good vets in front of
you to show you how to do it. I think
we don't have a lot of guys here that keep
a lot to themselves, and we have so many veterans
that are able to just be an open book for
these young guys to show them the way how we
do things, how we watch them, how we play, and
I think that helps speed up that process. Suggs last
(30:58):
year image, it's that like that, I'm gonna snap and
snap on basis for jus. Yeah, I think he's gaining
confidence and it's always good to see. Obviously we're very
comfortable each other now. Whatever it is three or four
or five years going against each other, and uh, I'm
gonna get the best of him sometimes he's gonna get
the best of me sometimes. But as long as we're
getting better together, that's all that matters. I just you know,
(31:20):
sometimes you black out and you're just trying to have fun,
get people involved, and uh, it's a little skirmish. I
don't know, probably not. You talked about it. You have
more of leader. That's an evolution that's haff the last
five years. But when did you sort of is it
after the contract last year if you thought or is
it when did you sort of feel like, all right,
I'm the position now where I'm like one of those
(31:40):
big voices in the I think it's always been on
the plane. It's just each year you kind of take
one more step, one more step, and just feeling really
comfortable with where I am. Um, Like I said, in
order that really help guys out and be a leader,
you have to be very comfortable with who you are
in this defense, in the locker room, everything. So I
just I'm very comfortable. I feel like I have so
much more to give to the game, not only for
(32:01):
myself but also for my teammates and not just on
the field, but all from the developmental standpoint. That Steelers
linebacker and reigning Defensive Player of the Year t J.
Watt speaking to the media while fighting against the b Labs.
It was incredible stuff. At the beginning of that, he
got distracted little because of b was trying to fly
into his eyes. So laser focus from t J. Watt
on the field as well as off the field. UH.
(32:22):
Colleague Mike Presuta was talking to him and kind of
joking around it is he ever gonna, you know, in
the defense going to give the offense a chance to
get a playoff? And you know that's not entirely false Labs.
So far, t J. Watt and the defense has really
been disrupting a lot of what the offense is trying
to you know, implement and you know, work through in
these early processes. Yeah, before I get to that, I
(32:42):
just wanted to point something up. You know, listening to
t J. Watt just now and you know throughout his
um time with the Steelers and what I'm gonna say,
I say with utmost respect and in a complimentary way. Uh.
T J. Watt mentally is much older as an NFL
player than his chronological age. And by that, I mean
(33:06):
this guy is serious, he is focused. Um, he he
says the right thing, he does the right thing. I mean,
this guy, you know, as a rookie, came across as
a much more seasoned veteran. Now maybe that's because he's
a part of an NFL family. Maybe that's just his makeup.
(33:26):
You know, I don't know what it is specifically, and
it really doesn't matter where he gets it. He has it,
and so um, you know, I just think that sometimes, uh,
we we focus a lot on the on field things
that we can see and quantify and you know, statistics
we can count, but there's a lot more than that
(33:46):
that makes t J. Watt uh the great player he is.
And I really believe that, you know, when it's all
said and done for him, he's going to be remembered.
You know. It's one of the significant players in franchise
history and and you know that's a that's that's a
pretty high bar that I think he's going to meet.
So anyway, all right, now back to what you were
(34:08):
you were we were talking about, Um, yeah, he has
been I don't know, uh, for me anyway, from what
I can see and quantify everything, you would want, especially
from a guy that um earned a significant individual honor
last year, you know, uh, tied the all time NFL
(34:30):
record for saxon the season and one defensive Player of
the Year. Now, you know, I don't know, it's it's
it would seem to me to be somewhat normal human behavior.
Take a little bit of a breath. We did good
last year, you know, But I mean, yeah, if anything,
I mean that this just seems to have energized him
(34:52):
to be more, to be better. Uh and and and
and in a lot of ways that may not show
up on the stats chart, you know, the total So um,
I don't know, I I this guy is just such
a tremendous asset to this team and in ways that
you know, I don't even know that I could fully list,
(35:13):
even if I had the time to try and attempt
to do that, because there's just so many things that
are happening either behind the scenes or you know, as
they always say, champions are made when nobody's watching, and
so in those areas, you know, that's where t J.
Watt Um to me, might really be a difference maker. Uh.
(35:35):
And it's something that maybe none of us even see
or know or realize um. But as Mike Tomlins says,
it's about other things. It's something that you can't quantify,
but you acknowledge that it exists. And that's that's how
I would describe t J. Watt and a lot of
the things that he does when nobody's watching. A new
(35:57):
running back was added into the mix for your Pittsburgh
Steelers yesterday. Will get into that and wrap things up
here on the Training Camp Report. On the other side
of the break, you're listening to Steelers Nation Radio. He
sees the training camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. A common theme so far
(36:20):
throughout training camp has just been the plethora of running
backs that the Steelers have utilized on the offensive side
of the ball. And there's another one added to the
mix yesterday. Labs is Mastertigue got some run with the offense.
Tomlin spoke a bit about him in his press conference
and said again he liked what he saw. He came
in conditioned, highly conditioned, which is what you want to
see from guys that you're gonna throw into the mix.
So is this reaching a point though where it might
(36:43):
be maybe too many cooks in the kitchen or can
they simply not get enough of a tryout portion with
all these different backs. I just think that this is
a reaction to Jeremy mcnichol's injury, maybe a little more well,
you don't want you know, again, these will rotate guys
in and out with these kinds of things. I mean,
(37:04):
there are some guys, uh, players who have a role
or a you know, a part of the team that
makes them worth waiting for when they get nicked up
during training camp. Other guys, you know, you need numbers.
You don't want too many reps for, you know, too
few players because as we were talking about earlier, then
(37:24):
fatigue sets in and then more injuries happened. So and
it was too bad for Jeremy McNichols. He was signed,
you know right before camp opened, looked good in backs
on backers, had had a few moments. But you know,
his shoulder injury is one that was determined. I mean
I don't know exactly what it was or anything, but
it was determined, um that it was going to keep
(37:46):
him out longer than he would be worth waiting for.
And so you know, you make a move, um, you know, mastertigue.
Um he maybe next. You know, you just don't know.
I mean I don't think that you know, the Steelers
signed him because they are seriously considering, seriously considering him, um,
(38:08):
you know, for a role on the fifty three man roster.
I mean, they just need someone right now to get
through practices. And if Master Tigue shows something significant you
know that's worth keeping, then certainly you know they would
keep him. But um, these are these are camp moves.
I mean, this is this is the kind of stuff
(38:28):
that happens. I wouldn't read too much into this at all.
And again, when it comes to all the running backs
behind number twenty two that's getting carries, whoever's with the two,
whoever's with the threes, it really doesn't matter if things
are going well with number twenty two, like you've said before,
because yeah, they've talked about, you know, we want to
pull the reins back a little bit on him this
year and make sure we don't run him completely into
the ground. But I mean, he's going to be the
(38:50):
focal point of the offense and if he's healthy and
playing well, he's going to be fed the ball more
times than not. Absolutely, uh And you know, um Najy Harris,
I think showed you know that he is capable of
being a significant part of a championship team back in college.
(39:11):
And um, you know, so you draft him where you
drafted him, and you know he's your main guy at
that position. And it's not like, you know, running the
ball in the NFL isn't like it was in the
sixties and seventies where you had two guys in the
backfield and they both carried the ball. Now throughout the NFL,
it's one guy at a time, even if you spell them,
(39:33):
which is fine, but one guy's running back. You know.
It's not like Franco and Rocky where one guy would
block for the other. So I think the Steelers know
and appreciate what they have. And Nagy Harrison, as you mentioned,
he's he's the man. And so you know what I
was mentioning to about, you know, some veterans days off
about the defensive guys. You know, I think that also
(39:55):
applies to Nagy Harris. Uh Now, he had he got
his footstep uppt on and so it's it's more than
just a veteran's day off. But with him, um, I
don't know that you need him, you know, out there
getting banged up or banged around or you know those
kinds of things in training camp. And I don't even
know how much we would see of him in the
(40:17):
preseason if he was healthy. This is a guy who
you know shows up ready to go. He was ready
to go in May when O t a s started.
You see him. I mean, I don't know he passes
the eye test. Let me tell you that. I mean
he has sculpted. And so I think that the most
important thing for Nagi Harris is get his body ready
(40:38):
for the demands that are going to be placed on
it once the regular season starts. Steel was practice today,
Day eight practice up at St. Vincent College and Latrobe
starts at one. Tomorrow's practice, however, is Friday Night Lights
at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. Practice kicks off then at seven pm.
Quick programming note, we will not be giving you a
training camp report tomorrow. I know, know, I can hear
(41:00):
you booing through your radios right now. But LABS and
I are big wigs, right, We've got things that we
gotta do, so we won't be on the air tomorrow morning,
but we will be back Saturday morning to recap Friday
Night Lights practice. But since we won't you know, be
able to do a preview tomorrow, Labs, Why don't you
just touch on real quick before we wrap things up,
just how great of a tradition it is for the
Steelers to continue to bus everybody over to Latrobe Memorial
(41:21):
Stadium and have that Friday Night Light Friday Night Lights
practice for the fans. Yeah, I mean it's it's a
it's an event, um, and it's gonna be extremely well
attended tomorrow, I'm very certain. And you know, as for
what fans are going to see or experience if if
you haven't ever been there, you know, it starts off
with an autograph session. The entire team participates, um, and
(41:45):
there's a you know a certain amount of time. You know,
they hit the horn and it begins. They hit the
horn and it's over uh and a lot of people
and this is their choice. I'm not being critical. They
come for the autographs and then they leave, um, you know,
to each his own. But you know it started during
the Bill Kawer era and Bill Kauer in terms of
(42:08):
what do he had the team do at Friday Night Lights.
He made it. He made something special. You know, he
had goal line drill, what it was which was at
the end. Uh, and it was live hitting from the
two yard line and it's kind of like seven shots,
only it was all running the ball. Uh. Mike Tomlin
doesn't do that. He just has a regular practice. He'll
(42:28):
probably have you know, backs on backers, things that they
would normally do, but he doesn't um cater or anything
to the specific event. Um, so you know, it's it's practice.
You'll see some hitting. There will be some hitting, there'll
be live tackling. I'm sure there will be in pads.
It's at least that is what the plan is, according
(42:49):
to the schedule, and um, you know it's it's a
I would imagine it's a fun night because, uh, you
can say whatever you want about it. It is very
well tended and the and the proceeds all go to
different programs, you know, sports programs at Latrobe High School
and you know, various charities in the community. You know,
(43:10):
the the Latrobe handles all of that. And let me
tell you this too. This started a couple of years ago.
A few years ago was well, you know, the previous
two years we weren't there, so there wasn't any of that.
But even before the pandemic seat licenses they sold, you know,
to raise more money. And this is this is totally
the high school's decision. It was their idea. They set
(43:32):
the price and they get the money. So I don't
want anybody thinking, you know that the Steelers are trying
to make fifty cents on these fans. But they set
up chairs along the one side of the field and
their reserve chairs and people pay. My recollection was a
(43:52):
hundred bucks the last time we were up here for
the for you know, like a court side seat in
an NBA game, and they were filled. So and and
as I said, people are serious about this. They're happy
to pay the money, uh, both for the experience of
sitting there and also you know, for what the what
(44:14):
the proceeds are designed to help. And um, you know,
it's just the way that the Steelers have decided that
they can um give back to the community up here
while continuing the process of getting ready for their NFL season.
No question about, It's going to be an absolute blast
at La Tree Memorial Stadium tomorrow night. Practice again starts
(44:37):
at seven for that, so make sure you get up
there for those festivities. But first things first, we got
to get through practice today. Labs is the biggest thing
you're kind of looking for today, Just a continuance of
the success that we saw from the offense yesterday, you know,
start stacking those successful days in a row now, yeah,
and today again the schedule is back in pads. Okay, Um,
(44:58):
there's some potentially if you weather. You know, we'll have
to see how that develops and plays out as we
get closer the you know, one starting time, but you
know a lot of times, uh, these are the kinds
of situations. You know what I've mentioned it before, We've
talked about it before. The key in the NFL is
you've got to do it more than one in a row.
(45:18):
One in a row. Anybody can do one in a row.
So yes, I think that there is going to be
some interest in uh, for the offense and continuing with
they were able to accomplish yesterday. But here's the other
thing that I've learned up here too. Um, I'm sure
that the defense is a little tired of hearing about
how good the offense did yesterday. And it's impossible to
(45:40):
stay away from you know, that kind of stuff. So um,
I wouldn't be surprised, you know, if there wasn't some
pushback from the defense and bounce back trying to show
that you know, there's still the big dogs in this fight,
and you know that breeds the kind of competition you
really need. Yeah, actually, you know, assuming that the big
(46:01):
dogs Cam Heyward, T J. Watton, Miles Jack will be
back from their veterans Day off yesterday and in pads
today ready to participate practice again today kicks off at
one pm, so if you're headed up, make sure you're
in your seat by that time. A lot of stuff
to uh entertain you before then, though, including our Steelers
Legend series. We can get a photo op with a
former Steelers legend. Today is John Banazak, So you can
(46:23):
go up to John Banazak, get a nice little autograph
and your picture taken with him. That will do it
for us here today on the training camp report. Remember
no training camp report tomorrow, so we will be back
again with you on Saturday morning at nine am following
Friday Nights Light. Friday Night Lights practice. That's a really
tough tongue twister. Formulalabs up next and enjoy your SPA
(46:43):
day tomorrow. Thank you. I supposed to tell you that
I mean We're doing important Steelers stuff, not spaw days.
He's Babba, I'm Tom afremn Wolf and stocks are up
next in the locker room right here on Steelers Nation
Radio
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get stuarded. And so now we take off. DC's the
training camp report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation radio coach Tomlin got his wish for hot,
miserable weather weather up at training camp in Latrobe yesterday,
and Steelers Nation got their wish of the offense looking
(00:28):
a little bit better. Labs. I know a lot of
people want to point and give the credit in a
lot of different directions to Whisky deserves some credit for
bouncing back. Maybe Canada did some different things offensively. Maybe
the fact that they just weren't in full pads and
just we're in shells and helmets helped out the offense.
But I know and you know that the real credit
belongs to this program right here, because yesterday we spoken
(00:49):
to existence the improved play from the offense and the
improved play from M. T. Whisky. So if you'd like,
you can take this moment to pat yourself on the back,
I'll be patting myself on the back as well. Great
job all around, you know, or for being you know
the cynic that I am. You could point to maybe
Cam Heyward t J. Watton, Miles Jack not being not
(01:12):
practicing because they got a Veterans Day off having something
to do with it too. But it is more us.
It is more us, and not only us on this program,
but also when we do ask any answered the podcast,
we managed to find a way to start with a
quarterback question throughout the entire off season. We're just the best.
(01:34):
I mean, so you can put it, but we're just
the best of all we do. Let's talk about the
quarterbacks for a little bit. We gotta get to Tom
and of course he was chatty yesterday too, so we
definitely want to hear what he has to say. But
with true bisky obviously running with the ones is he
has throughout all of camp, no question in your mind
and everybody's mind that yesterday was probably the best he's
looking this these sessions so far. Yeah, and he did
(01:56):
a lot of uh, a lot of different things to that.
We're all good. I mean, you saw, you know a
lot of the things that I believe that the team
was um, you know, was behind the team going after him,
you know during free agency. Uh, he he pulled the
ball down and and scoot it out of the pocket
(02:18):
and some very opportune times. Um, and it's watching it.
You never got the sense that, uh, you know, some
quarterbacks for whatever reason, either they're young or inexperienced, or
not have a good grasp of the offense or you
know whatever. Um, you know, they'll drop back and you know,
pull the ball down quickly and run. Maybe they look
(02:39):
at their first option, maybe this one and two and
then run. But um, Trabinsky yesterday when he was pulling
the ball down and making the decision uh to scramble
a little bit, well, actually it was run. He wasn't.
He wasn't buying time in the pocket on the occasions
that I'm referring to. He was actually you know, running
for positive yardage down the field. Uh. It was. It
(03:00):
was purposeful, and you know, from my vantage point up
a little bit, it was the right thing to do. Uh.
There was a big opening there that he took advantage of.
There were no players obviously wide open receivers. I mean,
and you know, as I said, it was it was
a good, solid decision. So you know, that's good to
see he did that well. Uh, he was much better
(03:22):
in seven shots. I mean, he might have been spectacular
if not for a couple of bubbled passes. Uh. And
then you know, Mike Tomlin closed with a two minute drill.
You know, situational football is one of you know Tomlin's
uh favorite things to work on and talk about and stress.
And so it was two minutes yesterday, um the and
(03:44):
then he always sets up a scenario. Okay, so yesterday's
scenario was the offense gets the ball at their own
forty seven yard line, minute nineteen left, one time out,
and you got to score a touchdown, your kid. It's
not just a field goal. And so you know that
gives the defense something, uh, some kind of parameters as
(04:04):
well that they're working to and trying to stop this.
And over the course of camp, there will be several
um segments of two minutes. UH. Different quarterbacks will get chances, UH,
the scenarios will change. Sometimes they will only need a
field goal. Sometimes they'll have more time outs, sometimes they'll
have fewer timeouts, and it's just the whole game management, um,
(04:28):
reality of the moment management stuff that uh they're working on,
both offensively and defensively. In that in that drill, and
um Rabinsky was he was everything you would want from uh,
your starting quarterback in that In that drill in that
situation yesterday. So hopefully this is a springboard for him
in the offense. We all know that Trubisky has a
(04:50):
lot of talent number two overall draft pick just a
few years ago. He's got a good arm, he can
move um, he's a little underrated as a runner. I
would say all of those things we already knew coming in.
Would you say, it's more important and it's more encouraging
to see kind of, like you said yesterday, him making
the right decisions, like Tomlin said, his communication was good.
Those are in the maturation of his game. That's got
(05:12):
to be what you know, the coaches are really looking for,
because again they know what he can do athletically. Yeah,
and and besides maturation, it's poise. You know, you want
the guy to be poised in those kinds of situations,
not only for the importance of poise for the position
that he plays, but everybody in that huddle is looking
(05:33):
at him too, And if he's poised, then you know,
kind of it's a it's a little bit of a
calming um that that goes over the the entire group,
permeates the entire group. You don't want that guy to
look like a deer in the headlights because he's thinking,
oh my god, you know, this guy's leading us right
into the valley of darkness. So yeah, you know, the maturation,
(05:56):
the understanding of the offense. Certainly, I would think you
could point to as um reasons for what we saw
yesterday on the practice field. But for me, the most
important thing would have been the poise that that takes
for him to do what he did, make those right decisions,
have everyone see him make the right decisions, and then
(06:17):
at the end you finish it. Because in the two
minute thing, there were there's two, um, two sets of
it for lack of a better word, and you know,
Mason Rudolph ran the second set. So in his set,
he drives the team, you know, right down the field,
but couldn't finish. Couldn't get the ball, you know, the
(06:39):
um he had a shot at the end zone. UM
didn't get it done. So yeah, it's a good thing
that you move the team into the position to score.
But then you've got a cap, you know, put the
cherry on the Sunday and sticking in the end zone.
And Travisky did it. Mason Rudolph didn't. Um, you know,
whatever that says for the pecking order of the these
(07:00):
guys moving down the road, we'll find out. But yesterday,
you know, Robinsky showed a better command of the drill
of the offense of his teammates than Mason Rudolph did. Yeah,
and it's important to note, as the you know, the
rest of the depth chart broke down yesterday, Rudolph was
back up with the twos. Can you pick a dropping
back down running with the threes. It's also true that
Rudolf was sprinkled in with the ones a little bit
(07:21):
throughout practice. Is that correct? Um? Maybe? Okay? Um, Well,
you know, sometimes it's difficult, um to see everything. Um,
you know, they mixed, they mixed the groups so much often,
and so it's hard to tell with offense because a
(07:43):
lot of times the personnel groupies groupings are changing every snap.
And the only real way to tell is if you're
paying very close attention to the offensive line, because you
know it's your point. A lot of the skill position
players excuse me, offensive lineman for saying that they're not
there for the ones. They're not participating right now, right,
so you know that's that's why. And um, pretty much
(08:07):
when practice starts. What I do is I, you know,
take a roll call of the offensive line to see,
you know, who's it left guard, you know, like for example,
Chucks was he was one of the ones who got
a veterans day off. So you couldn't even look at
the tackle, you know, the right tackle and say, okay,
this is the second offense. So, um, I confess, I
(08:32):
mean I really wasn't paying that close attention to the
offensive line yesterday. Uh that the practice wasn't in pads,
and so my my focus was shifting more to some
of the other things because you know, there's no hitting
going on. So you know my bother well, coach Tomlin,
as he always does, spoke with the media following practice,
(08:52):
had a lot of things to say. Like I said,
he was very chatty. So let's take a listen to
coach Tomlin right here on the training camp report on SNR.
Another good day for US. UM always good when you
can start moving towards situational football. And and we're at
that stage of development where we start working online the game,
like scenarios, possession downs. We finished practice with a two
(09:12):
minute um and and it's important that we not only
introduced that segment. But it's also important of when we
introduce that segment, we do it at the end of
practice thoughtfully, so that we're working work on developing conditioning
and and get displays of conditioning. It's important that guys
have the ability to operate and operate with great detail
and execute communication and all the things that are big
(09:35):
in that situation, but do so at the end of
practice when they're UM there's a little less gas in
the tank, and I just think that's reflective of what
transpires at the end of halfs or the end of games.
And so you know, this is football. Like we've been
talking a little bit about that the drill work that
we do UM, but as closely as we can relate
it to certain elements of ball, it just aids the
growth process. And so we'll continue to focus on those things.
(09:57):
Appreciate the efforts and the attention that we're getting. UM
Mastertigue has knew at the running back position will run
a little thin in those lines based on day to
day availability, So it's good to have him. Uh, We'll
we'll get him up to speeding, continue with that process.
All those that are missing work are really kind of
status quo. No new information in regards to those things.
(10:18):
The guys that are day to day continue to be
so Guys more extended like Marcus Allen continue to be
in that category as well. Questions like guys some veterans
some days off today. Yes, I'll and I'll do that
from time to time. And you guys know our approach there.
It's less about those guys, to be quite honest with you,
and it's just a means of of thinning the lines
and and provide more opportunities for younger guys. And you
(10:41):
know we're gonna treat everybody fairly. We're not gonna treat
everybody the same. More veteran players need less reps in
order to be game ready. Younger players need more, and
so we think of unique ways to provide everybody with
what they need. Officials here, like he said, it really
helps about situational aspect. But what else are the players there?
I think we saw Conner maybe you talk to them
hatching a couple of things out. How is it? How
(11:02):
are they able to kind of gain from that? Being
here today, you get to learn the unwritten rules of
the game there there there's an official rule book and
those are words on the page. But there's no substitute
for having these guys out here and getting the dialogue
and getting their perspective on on what the tipping points are.
We're having a O p I discussion offensive pass and
inferience and extended elbow contact above the waist is a
(11:26):
trigger for officials in terms of officiating that component of
a play. And so you know, they get here a
little minutia like that that helps them play the game
and play it at a professional level. But what did
you like about the way that Mitsisky ran that two
minute drill at the end? You know, he's a veteran
and he displayed that. I thought his communication was good. Um.
I thought he directed younger players and and and made
(11:48):
good use of opportunities to do so stoppages of the clock,
huddle scenarios, etcetera. Um. But but that's what you expect
veteran players to do. Like you're talking about the game
like situations. I'm gonna skip about the seven shot drill.
I believe you introduce that right when they change the
rule for extra points at that point, you, guys, one
of the things that really embraced going for two. Now
you're more like lead gaverage in terms of going for two,
(12:09):
where do you continue to see value in that? And
then in this situation, how much does the coaching staff
put stock into the performance, specifically the quarterbacks. That's a
lot of parts in that question. I'll touch a couple
of points. Okay, Um, there's always unintended consequences for everything
that we do. It is a two point play, but
it's very relatable to to the tight red zone um
(12:30):
third and three on the three for example, or possession down.
The difference in the four point swing, whether it's offensively
or defensively win it down at seven you lose the down,
you're running your field goal unit out, or you're forcing
your opponent to do the same. And so there's many
unintended consequences that gives us latitude regarding drill work is
not in a specific box. Like we have a chance
to talk to Lane yesterday and I know you have
(12:51):
a personal connection with the Stewart only just how much
does it mean having Blaine Stewart on your coaching step.
He's a young coach, is working hard. Not a lot
of acknowledgement for young hard working coaches, Like what do
you see from Dan Moore so far as he's entering
his second year, second candid, I think it's reasonable for
him to take a significant step. He's he's a second
year guy, he's been through this process and not only that, UM,
(13:13):
but he's got awesome experience UM through his first lap
around the track, and I think that he's been displayed
that UM and so it's exciting to watch that growth continue.
What if your impressions gonna Chris Ola, Joe Coon and
what kind of guy like that he's not getting many
opportunities have thrown through the distinction self here. You know,
when you're when you're quote unquote in the fourth quarterback slot,
(13:34):
you better be continually working while you wait for your opportunity. UM.
This is not a patient man's business. We're not going
to ask him to be patient. We will ask him
to work while he waits. UM. We've had others in
the past in that scenario. I talked to him a
lot about Joshua Dobbs, who was in a similar scenario
years ago, didn't get many opportunities, stormed on it to
finished and made the roster, and so UM, he has
(13:57):
that as an example. If he needs uh incurved. You've
had several chances to see the monte Casey in the
in the starting role because of making Patrick being out.
What's your evaluation of how he's taking on things and
the flexibility he's been able to give you guys, that's fine,
it's ongoing. He's done a nice job. But I think
that's a reasonable expectation given his his experience in in
(14:17):
the National Football League. It's the thought process behind the
way you guys rotated quarterbacks today with Mitch taking to
than Mason and kind of rotating it through there. We're
just thoughtfully mixing it up. Um, making those guys, are
just putting them with different groups, getting to watch them
in different groups and it'll continue. Is that a similar
mentality with a left guard position? And how do you
kind of assess that that battle with Kendrick very similar?
(14:39):
And still too early to tell. Um, both guys are
working well. What about the other guys in the huddle? Wise,
different quarterbacks, they get different from the faces. And now
how are the other guys in the offensive side adopting
the other three that you'd have to ask them. That's
coach Tomlin speaking with the media following practice yesterday and
labs you couldn't really tell the importance in his voice
(15:00):
when it comes to situational football. You touched about that
a little bit in the beginning of the segment here,
and you can just see how much he values that
experience as he starts to work that into camp practices. Well. Yeah,
and you know, one of the things that I could
have mentioned earlier when talking about that was seven shots
is situational football as well. Just as Mike tom Un explained,
(15:21):
I mean, you can look at it, as you know,
they call it close red zone UM, which means close
to the goal line. And as he said, you know,
if it's third down and goal at the two, you
either score a touchdown or you know, you're settling for
a very short field goal, which is usually kind of
a downer. UM the defense, Uh, from their perspective, you're
(15:43):
either allowing the opponent to score a touchdown or holding
them to the to a field goal, which often can
be a boost. And it's also good practice for short yardage,
you know, both trying to get the line to gain
and for the defense you know, to get off the fields.
Mike Tomas is a big situational football guy, UM, and
(16:05):
a lot of the things and drills that he conducts
at training camp point or in practice. UM are geared
towards those kinds of situations in games because he believes
that those are the situations that determine the outcome. We
come back, we're gonna switch things over to the defensive
side of the ball. There was a veterans day off
(16:25):
for several members of the defense, so we'll touch on
that and we will also hear from the defensive Player
of the Year. That's all on the way. Next on
the Steelers training camp report right here on snry PC's
no Training camp Report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola
(16:47):
on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna get into the Steelers
defense and some of those veterans that had a day
off in just a second, But Labs, I was scrolling
Twitter here in our commercial break and I totally forgot
football's back tonight. We got the Hall of Fame game. Man,
Jags Raiders from Canton. How excited are you? UM, I
(17:07):
gotta be honest with you until you know, right before
we came out of the break, you mentioned that that
you were going to say something about it, and my
answer to you was that's fine, just don't ask me
who's playing because I don't know. You know, the Hall
of Fame, well, the Hall of Fame Game, it's you know,
it's more of a spectacle kind of thing, you know,
as as as you mentioned, it announces the return of
(17:30):
football uh for the year. And I think that maybe
you know, for the fans of the two teams participating, UH,
it carries more interest I think than maybe you know,
league wide fan wide all those kinds of things. UM.
And the Hall of Fame game is one where, even
when there were four pre regular preseason games in the
(17:52):
Hall of Fame game being the fifth, you don't really see,
you know, the front line players very often. And so
you know, as I said, if you're a Raiders fan
and you're familiar with what they did in the offseason
and who they drafted, or Jaguars fan, you know, the
same things, you might want to tune in to see
those things, UM or if teams playing those teams might
(18:16):
be tuning in to see what's going on there. But
I don't know that it UM for me. I'm just
gonna speak for me. It's not must see TV. No.
I mean I kind of agree to what you said
when you were talking about it being kind of a spectacle.
You know, I have no horse in the race between
the Jaguars and the Raiders at all. I don't think
you're gonna get a very good scouting report on the
Raiders based on what you see in Canton, Ohio and
(18:38):
August fourth through when the Steelers play them on Christmas
Eve this year. But it is that spectacle of it.
I will tune in to night just to see, you know,
two different helmets on the field against each other, maybe
a hit or to see a kickoff, and then probably
switched the channel after about ten minutes. But it's just
nice to you know, see football back on your TV
again and let you know, hey, the season is not
far away. Yeah, and let's let's look at the bright side.
(19:00):
You don't have to watch a baseball game. That's music
to my ears right there. Well, it was music to
the offenses years yesterday was the fact that Cam Hayward,
T J. Watt, and Miles jack All were some veterans
that got rest. According to Mike Tomlin. And I'm gonna
put on my tinfoil had a little bit here and
you can tell me how stupid I sound, Labs in
a second. But do you think there was a part
(19:20):
of this, and I know he likes to give veterans
a day off, and they've been working hard, so they've
definitely deserved it in their own right. But is there
a little part of this where Tomlin decided, you know what,
I'm gonna take the gap foot off the gas a
little bit on the defense, maybe get the off offenses
confidence up a little bit. Those three players have been
the three most impactful players so far defensively. Let's take
them away from the equation for a day. Well, I mean, um,
(19:44):
I doubt it. I mean I really think that, um,
Mike Tomlin or any NFL coach you know, wants to
pound into his team that they're going to have to
you know, perform and perform well against the best, you know,
whatever our opponent they're playing. UM, My thing was, it's
much more important, you know when you just think of
(20:06):
the three names that you just mentioned. Okay, the first
two names, Cam Hayward and t J. Watt, Um, what
you've seen from them so far? Um, you know, I
don't know that they need any more training camp, uh
to be ready. I mean they came ready. They're really
good players. Uh, they're really into it, you know. T J. Watt.
(20:28):
We've talked about how he has been destroying uh, offensive
plays in various ways, you know, both from non padded
practices the padded practices, I mean, just the whole thing. Um.
And in addition to that, you know, one of the
things I do up here is at lunchtime kind of
I go over into the fitness room and you know,
(20:49):
right the stationary bike for a little bit, trying to
you know, get uh whatever exercise I can. And t J.
Watts always in there lifting, whether it's a you know,
a pad of practice coming up, a nonpad practice coming up, whatever.
T J. Watts doing what he needs to do in
his mind, you know, to be the best player he
can be. So you know Cam Hayward, Uh, he's another
(21:10):
one of those same kind of guys. So there's no
question or even a miniscule iota of doubt. You know
that these guys are in it to win it, so
to speak, both individually and as a team. So um,
you know, given them a day off I think prevents
them from getting overly fatigued, because fatigue is usually a
(21:33):
contributor to the kinds of injuries that can linger in
or nag um the player and UM Miles Jack. I
think what we have seen from him so far, even
though he's new to the Steelers, UM, he has been
a significant presence in the middle of the defense, you know,
against the run, particularly, and he has also shown himself
(21:56):
not to be a liability in coverage, which we've talked about.
I'm pretty of your shows about the importance of the
inside linebackers, you know, not having a gigantic hole in
their game because opponents will invariably take advantage of that
with their play calling, in personnel groupings and and things
like that. So I think you can look at those
three guys, they have um not missed, They had not
(22:19):
missed any practice. They all showed up in good shape.
They're all veterans, and you know, you give them a
day off. It's it's just maintenance a little bit. I
mean you a lot of times, you know, what really
gets UM a lot of attention are quote unquote significant injuries.
But often what can derail a guy UM, you know,
(22:41):
is a nagging thing, you know, a hamstring that he
has to nurse for two or three weeks, or you know,
those kinds of things, and then they try and come
back and then they re injure it and it's just
a gigantic pain in the butt for the player and
often for the team, and it lingers. And so if
if you can um avoid that in a painless way,
(23:03):
you try and do it. And that's the way I
look at, um those some of those veteran days off
kinds of situations, because the worst thing, you know, for
Cam Hayward to get some nick injury, um, that then
he's got to deal with for two or three weeks.
I mean that that doesn't do anybody any good. And
so that's why I think the primary motivation is behind
(23:25):
that stuff. But you know, for someone with a lot
of Reynolds wrap in their kitchen like you, um, you know,
make make some hats, and don't forget to make one
in Craig wolf Lee's size, because he's a big fanily
for aluminum foil ads himself, and I have several for
Wolflely on reserve whenever he needs them, So don't worry
about that. One of the biggest, you know, things of
(23:47):
optimism that fans can grab onto has been the play
of the defense early on in camp. And I think
it's important to note too that you know, obviously Hayward
and Watt and Jack have been participants except for when
Tomlin deems that they won't be, but they're other key
contributors are expected to be key contributors that have not
been able to step foot on the field yet due
to injury or working their way back from injury. Most
notably the big three in my mind make a Fitzpatrick
(24:10):
in the secondary and Ogan Job and Alu Alu up front.
So there's a lot of optimism for the defense already
and it's not even close to at its full strength yet.
So that's got to be very encouraging for the coaching staff,
for the fans, for everybody. Yeah, and you know the
thing about the names that you just mentioned, a lot
of times, you know, full disclosure here by me. Um,
(24:32):
during practice, when they get into some of the special
teams periods, you know, I'll let my eyes wander, you know,
around to see what else is going on. And those
guys are busting, but on a separate field obviously they're
not practicing, but um, you know they're working. I mean, MIKEA.
Fitzpatrick never stops. And there are even times when in between,
(24:55):
like for example, in a special teams period, Minka Fitzpatrick
and a couple of the other DB's camp Sutton Kello
Witherspoon and others. I mean, I don't want to leave
anybody out, but they'll find it. One of the quarterbacks
and run routes so that they're practicing you know, running
(25:15):
turning to the football and getting their hands up and
making an interception of a ball that's thrown, you know,
by an NFL quarterback in NFL caliber pace and stuff
like that. So, um, you know, make of Fitzpatrick. Is
um not taking you know, time off? I mean, he's
he's involved. I mean I can see him. He's standing
(25:35):
next to Um often either the defensive coordinator Tarall Austin
or the defensive backs coach, and you know, he has
a play script and he's you know, as they say,
taking mental reps. You know, I always thought that that
was kind of a borderline joke, but it is valuable
(25:56):
depending upon the guy who's doing it, and is he
putting a lot into it and not just standing around,
you know, kind of looking at cloud formations. So I
agree with you that, um, those are three players that
are going to hopefully play significant roles once the season
rolls around. But I'm not real UM concerned about them
(26:19):
not being on the practice field, because I remember this,
one of the best seasons Casey Hampton had was when
he reported the camp uh in less than stellar shape
and did not complete the run test, and so he
was put on the pup list, and and so instead
of you know, being in the middle of the line
(26:40):
of scrimmage and you know, hitting and all that stuff,
he was off to the side conditioning. And so then
you know, once the season started he was in good
shape but had a fresh body, and he had a
good year. The defense had a good year. So you know,
sometimes for some guys, they really don't need a lot
of physical pounding on themselves. And I'm saying that because
(27:04):
the guys think about UM in that way a lot.
Is Cam Heyward not that he came to camp and
failed the run test. That's not That's not what I mean.
That's not what I'm implying. I'm just saying that some guys,
if they just work on their conditioning and UM get
their bodies ready, that's more important than taking reps and
(27:26):
you know, live tackling drill. Well, everybody in Steelers Nation
certainly helps that the defense will be good. This year,
and one guy who will contribute mightily towards that is
the Rainy defensive Player of the Year. The media caught
up with t J. Watt yesterday before practice. Let's take
a lesson right now in SNR. I wonder if you're
thinking about letting the office get a playoff us a while.
(27:46):
We're having fun hour flying around. Still a lot to
improve on, but it's been a good start so far.
From defense. Did you notice anything specific from any one
or two players that think specifically you get how worked
on in the offseason right now? Oh, I think it's
still earlier to see. Guys are making a lot of plays.
But uh, like, like we talked about it, you can't
win off the lack execution on the other side. You
(28:07):
gotta be able to have clean, nice wins, um good
execution on your side. And uh one you No, I mean,
I think there's a lot of guys doing some really
good things. I think Devin looks nice inside, Miles Jack
looks good inside. Guys are coming down taking the double
teams off the big guys. So it uh, it's it's
been nice to see you. What do you do for
(28:28):
another court after Player of the Year and if you
have advanced expectations, be on that. How do you get there?
We gotta win a Super bowls simple as that. How
about the dynamic of this camp is interesting because everyone
judges everything and the offense going to defense. There's gonna
be winners and losers. Everybody's is a defense is ahead
of the offense early. If that's true, Why is that?
I don't know. It's like I said, it's way too
really for any of that stuff. It's it's all based
(28:50):
on you know what, who we the drill slanted towards,
if its offense or defense. Right now, just just trying
to get better each and every day. Put your best
foot forward. Watch the film, learn how watch film learned?
How to accept constructive criticism, not take things too personally. Uh,
and just build camaraderie as a team. I think that's
what this time of years all along offensive mind gets
to see you guys on a regular basis. Oh of course,
(29:12):
I mean I don't get to see the young offensive
alone too much, but uh, and any time they get
to see our advanced three four defense is hard for
those guys a block, especially the amount of pressures and
different guys coming. Um, you know, the guys dropping a
covered it's difficult for them. So it's good to see
early board the defense it has had just a lot
of energy, but you specifically look like you're having so
much fun out there, Like, what is it about camp?
(29:33):
About this environment that just gives you the second? Yeah,
I think part of it is just in my role
now and being more of a leader, just trying to
set the tone and understand that it's very hard to
make plays and at the end of the day we
have to remember that we're having fun. And I know
a lot of guys, younger guys have so much going
on mentally, Uh, if they're in the right spot for
doing the right thing that you can't forget at the
(29:54):
end of the day. It's very tough to make a
place when you make when you got to celebrate and
we just try to feed off the crowd and as
a D fence, we always enjoy that. Did you did
you miss being able to do that last year? Now
you're obviously working through the contract stuff and that's the priority,
but did you miss being able to celebrate and do
those things on the field when you make a big
play in camp a little bit it helps with leadership
(30:14):
just as far as you can only do so much
from the sidelines and um as hard as I was
working last year, you're not able to actually show it
on the field. So it's definitely refreshing will be able
to be out there. You could talk a lot about
the maturation process, specifically you're cutting somebody down to your guys.
How much is that plays in? How much do you
see of that process play out in pain? It's huge.
I mean just even from oti as to today, guys
(30:36):
are just being able to get way more comfortable. Uh.
And obviously when you have good vets in front of
you to show you how to do it. I think
we don't have a lot of guys here that keep
a lot to themselves, and we have so many veterans
that are able to just be an open book for
these young guys to show them the way how we
do things, how we watch them, how we play, and
I think that helps speed up that process. Suggs last
(30:58):
year image, it's that like that, I'm gonna snap and
snap on basis for jus. Yeah, I think he's gaining
confidence and it's always good to see. Obviously we're very
comfortable each other now. Whatever it is three or four
or five years going against each other, and uh, I'm
gonna get the best of him sometimes he's gonna get
the best of me sometimes. But as long as we're
getting better together, that's all that matters. I just you know,
(31:20):
sometimes you black out and you're just trying to have fun,
get people involved, and uh, it's a little skirmish. I
don't know, probably not. You talked about it. You have
more of leader. That's an evolution that's haff the last
five years. But when did you sort of is it
after the contract last year if you thought or is
it when did you sort of feel like, all right,
I'm the position now where I'm like one of those
(31:40):
big voices in the I think it's always been on
the plane. It's just each year you kind of take
one more step, one more step, and just feeling really
comfortable with where I am. Um, Like I said, in
order that really help guys out and be a leader,
you have to be very comfortable with who you are
in this defense, in the locker room, everything. So I
just I'm very comfortable. I feel like I have so
much more to give to the game, not only for
(32:01):
myself but also for my teammates and not just on
the field, but all from the developmental standpoint. That Steelers
linebacker and reigning Defensive Player of the Year t J.
Watt speaking to the media while fighting against the b Labs.
It was incredible stuff. At the beginning of that, he
got distracted little because of b was trying to fly
into his eyes. So laser focus from t J. Watt
on the field as well as off the field. UH.
(32:22):
Colleague Mike Presuta was talking to him and kind of
joking around it is he ever gonna, you know, in
the defense going to give the offense a chance to
get a playoff? And you know that's not entirely false Labs.
So far, t J. Watt and the defense has really
been disrupting a lot of what the offense is trying
to you know, implement and you know, work through in
these early processes. Yeah, before I get to that, I
(32:42):
just wanted to point something up. You know, listening to
t J. Watt just now and you know throughout his
um time with the Steelers and what I'm gonna say,
I say with utmost respect and in a complimentary way. Uh.
T J. Watt mentally is much older as an NFL
player than his chronological age. And by that, I mean
(33:06):
this guy is serious, he is focused. Um, he he
says the right thing, he does the right thing. I mean,
this guy, you know, as a rookie, came across as
a much more seasoned veteran. Now maybe that's because he's
a part of an NFL family. Maybe that's just his makeup.
(33:26):
You know, I don't know what it is specifically, and
it really doesn't matter where he gets it. He has it,
and so um, you know, I just think that sometimes, uh,
we we focus a lot on the on field things
that we can see and quantify and you know, statistics
we can count, but there's a lot more than that
(33:46):
that makes t J. Watt uh the great player he is.
And I really believe that, you know, when it's all
said and done for him, he's going to be remembered.
You know. It's one of the significant players in franchise
history and and you know that's a that's that's a
pretty high bar that I think he's going to meet.
So anyway, all right, now back to what you were
(34:08):
you were we were talking about, Um, yeah, he has
been I don't know, uh, for me anyway, from what
I can see and quantify everything, you would want, especially
from a guy that um earned a significant individual honor
last year, you know, uh, tied the all time NFL
(34:30):
record for saxon the season and one defensive Player of
the Year. Now, you know, I don't know, it's it's
it would seem to me to be somewhat normal human behavior.
Take a little bit of a breath. We did good
last year, you know, But I mean, yeah, if anything,
I mean that this just seems to have energized him
(34:52):
to be more, to be better. Uh and and and
and in a lot of ways that may not show
up on the stats chart, you know, the total So um,
I don't know, I I this guy is just such
a tremendous asset to this team and in ways that
you know, I don't even know that I could fully list,
(35:13):
even if I had the time to try and attempt
to do that, because there's just so many things that
are happening either behind the scenes or you know, as
they always say, champions are made when nobody's watching, and
so in those areas, you know, that's where t J.
Watt Um to me, might really be a difference maker. Uh.
(35:35):
And it's something that maybe none of us even see
or know or realize um. But as Mike Tomlins says,
it's about other things. It's something that you can't quantify,
but you acknowledge that it exists. And that's that's how
I would describe t J. Watt and a lot of
the things that he does when nobody's watching. A new
(35:57):
running back was added into the mix for your Pittsburgh
Steelers yesterday. Will get into that and wrap things up
here on the Training Camp Report. On the other side
of the break, you're listening to Steelers Nation Radio. He
sees the training camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob
Labriola on Steelers Nation Radio. A common theme so far
(36:20):
throughout training camp has just been the plethora of running
backs that the Steelers have utilized on the offensive side
of the ball. And there's another one added to the
mix yesterday. Labs is Mastertigue got some run with the offense.
Tomlin spoke a bit about him in his press conference
and said again he liked what he saw. He came
in conditioned, highly conditioned, which is what you want to
see from guys that you're gonna throw into the mix.
So is this reaching a point though where it might
(36:43):
be maybe too many cooks in the kitchen or can
they simply not get enough of a tryout portion with
all these different backs. I just think that this is
a reaction to Jeremy mcnichol's injury, maybe a little more well,
you don't want you know, again, these will rotate guys
in and out with these kinds of things. I mean,
(37:04):
there are some guys, uh, players who have a role
or a you know, a part of the team that
makes them worth waiting for when they get nicked up
during training camp. Other guys, you know, you need numbers.
You don't want too many reps for, you know, too
few players because as we were talking about earlier, then
(37:24):
fatigue sets in and then more injuries happened. So and
it was too bad for Jeremy McNichols. He was signed,
you know right before camp opened, looked good in backs
on backers, had had a few moments. But you know,
his shoulder injury is one that was determined. I mean
I don't know exactly what it was or anything, but
it was determined, um that it was going to keep
(37:46):
him out longer than he would be worth waiting for.
And so you know, you make a move, um, you know, mastertigue.
Um he maybe next. You know, you just don't know.
I mean I don't think that you know, the Steelers
signed him because they are seriously considering, seriously considering him, um,
(38:08):
you know, for a role on the fifty three man roster.
I mean, they just need someone right now to get
through practices. And if Master Tigue shows something significant you
know that's worth keeping, then certainly you know they would
keep him. But um, these are these are camp moves.
I mean, this is this is the kind of stuff
(38:28):
that happens. I wouldn't read too much into this at all.
And again, when it comes to all the running backs
behind number twenty two that's getting carries, whoever's with the two,
whoever's with the threes, it really doesn't matter if things
are going well with number twenty two, like you've said before,
because yeah, they've talked about, you know, we want to
pull the reins back a little bit on him this
year and make sure we don't run him completely into
the ground. But I mean, he's going to be the
(38:50):
focal point of the offense and if he's healthy and
playing well, he's going to be fed the ball more
times than not. Absolutely, uh And you know, um Najy Harris,
I think showed you know that he is capable of
being a significant part of a championship team back in college.
(39:11):
And um, you know, so you draft him where you
drafted him, and you know he's your main guy at
that position. And it's not like, you know, running the
ball in the NFL isn't like it was in the
sixties and seventies where you had two guys in the
backfield and they both carried the ball. Now throughout the NFL,
it's one guy at a time, even if you spell them,
(39:33):
which is fine, but one guy's running back. You know.
It's not like Franco and Rocky where one guy would
block for the other. So I think the Steelers know
and appreciate what they have. And Nagy Harrison, as you mentioned,
he's he's the man. And so you know what I
was mentioning to about, you know, some veterans days off
about the defensive guys. You know, I think that also
(39:55):
applies to Nagy Harris. Uh Now, he had he got
his footstep uppt on and so it's it's more than
just a veteran's day off. But with him, um, I
don't know that you need him, you know, out there
getting banged up or banged around or you know those
kinds of things in training camp. And I don't even
know how much we would see of him in the
(40:17):
preseason if he was healthy. This is a guy who
you know shows up ready to go. He was ready
to go in May when O t a s started.
You see him. I mean, I don't know he passes
the eye test. Let me tell you that. I mean
he has sculpted. And so I think that the most
important thing for Nagi Harris is get his body ready
(40:38):
for the demands that are going to be placed on
it once the regular season starts. Steel was practice today,
Day eight practice up at St. Vincent College and Latrobe
starts at one. Tomorrow's practice, however, is Friday Night Lights
at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. Practice kicks off then at seven pm.
Quick programming note, we will not be giving you a
training camp report tomorrow. I know, know, I can hear
(41:00):
you booing through your radios right now. But LABS and
I are big wigs, right, We've got things that we
gotta do, so we won't be on the air tomorrow morning,
but we will be back Saturday morning to recap Friday
Night Lights practice. But since we won't you know, be
able to do a preview tomorrow, Labs, Why don't you
just touch on real quick before we wrap things up,
just how great of a tradition it is for the
Steelers to continue to bus everybody over to Latrobe Memorial
(41:21):
Stadium and have that Friday Night Light Friday Night Lights
practice for the fans. Yeah, I mean it's it's a
it's an event, um, and it's gonna be extremely well
attended tomorrow, I'm very certain. And you know, as for
what fans are going to see or experience if if
you haven't ever been there, you know, it starts off
with an autograph session. The entire team participates, um, and
(41:45):
there's a you know a certain amount of time. You know,
they hit the horn and it begins. They hit the
horn and it's over uh and a lot of people
and this is their choice. I'm not being critical. They
come for the autographs and then they leave, um, you know,
to each his own. But you know it started during
the Bill Kawer era and Bill Kauer in terms of
(42:08):
what do he had the team do at Friday Night Lights.
He made it. He made something special. You know, he
had goal line drill, what it was which was at
the end. Uh, and it was live hitting from the
two yard line and it's kind of like seven shots,
only it was all running the ball. Uh. Mike Tomlin
doesn't do that. He just has a regular practice. He'll
(42:28):
probably have you know, backs on backers, things that they
would normally do, but he doesn't um cater or anything
to the specific event. Um, so you know, it's it's practice.
You'll see some hitting. There will be some hitting, there'll
be live tackling. I'm sure there will be in pads.
It's at least that is what the plan is, according
(42:49):
to the schedule, and um, you know it's it's a
I would imagine it's a fun night because, uh, you
can say whatever you want about it. It is very
well tended and the and the proceeds all go to
different programs, you know, sports programs at Latrobe High School
and you know, various charities in the community. You know,
(43:10):
the the Latrobe handles all of that. And let me
tell you this too. This started a couple of years ago.
A few years ago was well, you know, the previous
two years we weren't there, so there wasn't any of that.
But even before the pandemic seat licenses they sold, you know,
to raise more money. And this is this is totally
the high school's decision. It was their idea. They set
(43:32):
the price and they get the money. So I don't
want anybody thinking, you know that the Steelers are trying
to make fifty cents on these fans. But they set
up chairs along the one side of the field and
their reserve chairs and people pay. My recollection was a
(43:52):
hundred bucks the last time we were up here for
the for you know, like a court side seat in
an NBA game, and they were filled. So and and
as I said, people are serious about this. They're happy
to pay the money, uh, both for the experience of
sitting there and also you know, for what the what
(44:14):
the proceeds are designed to help. And um, you know,
it's just the way that the Steelers have decided that
they can um give back to the community up here
while continuing the process of getting ready for their NFL season.
No question about, It's going to be an absolute blast
at La Tree Memorial Stadium tomorrow night. Practice again starts
(44:37):
at seven for that, so make sure you get up
there for those festivities. But first things first, we got
to get through practice today. Labs is the biggest thing
you're kind of looking for today, Just a continuance of
the success that we saw from the offense yesterday, you know,
start stacking those successful days in a row now, yeah,
and today again the schedule is back in pads. Okay, Um,
(44:58):
there's some potentially if you weather. You know, we'll have
to see how that develops and plays out as we
get closer the you know, one starting time, but you
know a lot of times, uh, these are the kinds
of situations. You know what I've mentioned it before, We've
talked about it before. The key in the NFL is
you've got to do it more than one in a row.
(45:18):
One in a row. Anybody can do one in a row.
So yes, I think that there is going to be
some interest in uh, for the offense and continuing with
they were able to accomplish yesterday. But here's the other
thing that I've learned up here too. Um, I'm sure
that the defense is a little tired of hearing about
how good the offense did yesterday. And it's impossible to
(45:40):
stay away from you know, that kind of stuff. So um,
I wouldn't be surprised, you know, if there wasn't some
pushback from the defense and bounce back trying to show
that you know, there's still the big dogs in this fight,
and you know that breeds the kind of competition you
really need. Yeah, actually, you know, assuming that the big
(46:01):
dogs Cam Heyward, T J. Watton, Miles Jack will be
back from their veterans Day off yesterday and in pads
today ready to participate practice again today kicks off at
one pm, so if you're headed up, make sure you're
in your seat by that time. A lot of stuff
to uh entertain you before then, though, including our Steelers
Legend series. We can get a photo op with a
former Steelers legend. Today is John Banazak, So you can
(46:23):
go up to John Banazak, get a nice little autograph
and your picture taken with him. That will do it
for us here today on the training camp report. Remember
no training camp report tomorrow, so we will be back
again with you on Saturday morning at nine am following
Friday Nights Light. Friday Night Lights practice. That's a really
tough tongue twister. Formulalabs up next and enjoy your SPA
(46:43):
day tomorrow. Thank you. I supposed to tell you that
I mean We're doing important Steelers stuff, not spaw days.
He's Babba, I'm Tom afremn Wolf and stocks are up
next in the locker room right here on Steelers Nation
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