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Speaker 1: Lisk is The Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on your twenty four to seven home of the Black

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Speaker 1: and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to the Drive.

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Speaker 2: I'm Dale Lolly, he is Matt Williamson and Matt Well.

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Speaker 2: A little bit of news. We talked a lot of

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Speaker 2: quarterbacks on Wednesday show, and lo and behold, the Steelers

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Speaker 2: not only signed Mason Rudolph to a one year contract,

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Speaker 2: they give Mitch Trubisky essentially a new deal. He's now

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Speaker 2: signed through the twenty twenty five season as the Steelers

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Speaker 2: backup quarterback, gets a two year extension on his current deal,

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Speaker 2: which lowers the cap number for this year, but also

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Speaker 2: make sure that they have the quarterback room pretty much

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Speaker 2: in place now for the next few years. And again,

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Speaker 2: much like when we talked about Mason Rudolph, there's no downside.

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Speaker 3: With this, right and I find it amazing, Like I

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Speaker 3: keep thinking, boy, pretty soon we're not gonna have any

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Speaker 3: to talk about, you know, like.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be quiet.

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Speaker 3: And then you know, there's releases, there's signings, there's additions.

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Speaker 3: Now there's a little more cap space, there's more things

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Speaker 3: gonna come because of this. Who knows, you know, I mean, like,

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Speaker 3: but what it tells me is they like these three.

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Speaker 3: You know, they enjoyed working with them last year. They

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Speaker 3: see progress. I commented this on another outlet and said,

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Speaker 3: I think it's not crazy to say that all three

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Speaker 3: of these quarterbacks best football still might be ahead of them,

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Speaker 3: you know. I mean, I don't think any of their

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Speaker 3: book is written yet. And you and I went through

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Speaker 3: that exercise wednesday. I guess it was just talking about

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Speaker 3: quarterback depth. And they're as good as anyone in the

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Speaker 3: league right now in that department, and that's really important

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Speaker 3: in today's NFL.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you look at the quarterback room,

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Speaker 2: not only do they have depth.

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Speaker 1: They've got upside potential.

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Speaker 3: Yeah uh. You know.

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Speaker 2: So they've got the young guy in place, and it

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Speaker 2: just so happens that their young guy is their starter,

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Speaker 2: right right right, Unlike some other teams where they okay,

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Speaker 2: they got the starter in place and they draft of

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Speaker 2: one with some upside. They know who their starter is,

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Speaker 2: and the starter is the guy who is the young

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Speaker 2: guy with upside. They've also got experience on the bench.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and you know, if something were to happen

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Speaker 2: to picket, yeah, you know, if Picket were to falter

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Speaker 2: or Picket were to get hurt, They've got guys waiting

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Speaker 2: in the wings who who, as Mike Tomlin likes, they're

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Speaker 2: been there, done that kind of guys.

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Speaker 1: It's a great situation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And in addition to everything you just said, which

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Speaker 3: was spot on, it's very financially feasible, you know.

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Speaker 1: And that's the other part of this, Matt.

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Speaker 2: So if you look at this two year extension through

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Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five season, that gives them Mitch Trubisky

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Speaker 2: and a reasonable price until they have to start paying Picket.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right, all right, that's not an accident, right, They

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Speaker 3: did this.

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Speaker 2: They did this with that in mind, Like, Okay, we

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Speaker 2: we like Trubisky. Obviously, Mitch likes being here, and so

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Speaker 2: we'll make sure Dale is.

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Speaker 3: I got the you hears some people saying Rudolph wouldn't

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Speaker 3: return to this team they did him wrong, or it

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Speaker 3: feels like, you know what, he wouldn't want to stick around.

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Speaker 3: He thinks you should be the starter. Like I think

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Speaker 3: they're pretty happy. I think they want to be Steelers,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it speaks to the locker room culture that

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Speaker 2: they have here. I think it speaks to you know,

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Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin got a bad rap with with some of

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Speaker 2: the guys. For example, Melvin Ingram has his situation and

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Speaker 2: everybody says, why I didn't Mike tom You know, why

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Speaker 2: didn't Mike Tomlin nip in the butt? Here's what you

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Speaker 2: don't know in that situation. What was his agent telling

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Speaker 2: him when he signed that contract.

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Speaker 1: Hey, you're gonna go in there and you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: a chance to start.

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Speaker 2: That may have never been the the k I'm sure

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Speaker 2: it wasn't because they liked Alex high Smith. But you

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Speaker 2: don't know what the agent's telling these guys, right.

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Speaker 3: Or maybe Ingram just selectively hears things. You know, maybe

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Speaker 3: the agent tells them, well, this might be a spot

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Speaker 3: where you can maybe start. Oh I'm a starter, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna stay right.

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Speaker 2: But because a lot of times anyway, Yeah, agents will

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Speaker 2: tell their clients what they want them to think based

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Speaker 2: on where they want them to sign with.

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Speaker 1: You know, maybe they have the it's the most money involved, Well.

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Speaker 2: Just go go there because you're gonna have you know,

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Speaker 2: they're gonna I'll make an extra one hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: if you sign here and oh but yeah, you could

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Speaker 2: start there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, you could start there.

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Speaker 3: But the reality is, I think that quarterback room is happy.

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Speaker 3: They want to be here. I'm sure, including Rudolph, had

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Speaker 3: other options. I mean, other teams talk to him, and

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Speaker 3: you know, I'm sure the Steelers kept in touch. I'm

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Speaker 3: sure they've talked about this with Trubisky for a while.

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Speaker 3: And frankly, you and I have been saying for two

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Speaker 3: months that they could always just tack a year on.

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Speaker 3: I didn't see him tacking two years on, but you

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Speaker 3: could tack a year on. You know, everyone was talking

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Speaker 3: about it, they're going to cut Trubisky, and I think

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Speaker 3: you came up with it before I did. Was the

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Speaker 3: smarter move is to extend them, you know, really cap space.

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Speaker 3: That was before free agency even open. You know, if

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Speaker 3: you're hurting for cap space, keep them and extend them. Well,

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Speaker 3: now you kind of did both.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I was listening to NFL Serious NFL

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Speaker 2: yesterday and Jim Miller and Pat Kerwin we're talking about this.

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Speaker 1: And Jim Miller lives in Chicago.

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Speaker 2: He played for the Bears, he's still tied in with

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Speaker 2: that team, and he was like, I don't know why Mitch,

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Speaker 2: Mitch Trubisky would want to do this, you know, doesn't

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Speaker 2: he want to go somewhere else and try to be

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Speaker 2: a starter.

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Speaker 3: You know, maybe ask is where you're going with that, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean he has a high, high opinion of him.

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Speaker 1: And you know the thing.

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Speaker 2: The thing about it is, Mitch Trubisky grew up just

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Speaker 2: south of Cleveland, Yeah, right, right, He's pretty close to

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Speaker 2: home right now. Mitch Trubisky's wife last year had their

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Speaker 2: had their first baby.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I mean people forget these guys a human beings. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean this is close to the home. Maybe grandparents

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Speaker 3: were moving here or who knows, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, and you know, you look at for example, you

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Speaker 2: look at you see what happened with Geno Smith last year.

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Speaker 2: Geno Smith's thirty two years old and had hadn't gotten

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Speaker 2: a chance to be a starter in the last ten years.

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Speaker 3: And his career was worse than Trubisky's before last year.

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Speaker 3: Without question, Oh, absolutely, Trubisky is a far better Trubisky's

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Speaker 3: been in a Pro Bowl, right right.

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Speaker 2: You know, not that that means anything, but he he

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Speaker 2: led the Bears to a thirteen and three record the

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Speaker 2: one year.

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Speaker 3: Right, and I don't think this is in the cards.

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Speaker 3: But what if Gino Smith gets hurt, Seattle might call

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Speaker 3: you for one of your guys too, you know, like,

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Speaker 3: it's never a bad idea to have three good quarterbacks

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Speaker 3: in the building, is my point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I hear people talking about, you know, the Rudolph signing, like, oh,

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Speaker 2: that's if Rudolph has to play. They're screwed anyways, are they?

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Speaker 3: I don't know they are.

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Speaker 2: Does they've there's five, four and one as a starter,

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Speaker 2: And I might add that a couple of those starts

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Speaker 2: were with the JV team.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah they were. Yeah. I mean I think you

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Speaker 3: can win games with all three of these guys.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you could figure, I mean they did. They've done

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Speaker 2: it in the past. They've won games with these guys absolutely.

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Speaker 3: And again I think their best football could be is

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Speaker 3: possibly ahead of all three. And I say that full

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Speaker 3: well knowing. I think Kenny's is you know, the pickets,

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Speaker 3: the best best is in front of them. But I mean,

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Speaker 3: I don't have a crystal ball. And one year ago,

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Speaker 3: if you asked me about Mac Jones, I would say

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Speaker 3: he's the one rookie that's out of the woods. He's

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Speaker 3: a starter. I know, that about him, and now I don't.

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Speaker 2: Well there, I mean there's some caveats there, and we

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Speaker 2: talked about the I mean that that was again Belichicks Hubris.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna go into this season. He doesn't need an

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Speaker 2: offensive coordinator. I'm just gonna make I'm gonna make my

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Speaker 2: my defensive line coach. He's going to be the right

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Speaker 2: he's going to be the offensive coordinator because he's been

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Speaker 2: a head coach before.

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Speaker 1: He's really yeah, yeah that didn't work out.

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Speaker 3: Right right, I'm not even blaming mac Jones. My point

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Speaker 3: is just don't birds in the hand don't really exist

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Speaker 3: in the NFL. I think Kenny's gonna be really good.

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Speaker 2: But like, yeah, likewise, though, like if and I did

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Speaker 2: this for a five for Friday, I don't know, three

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Speaker 2: months ago, if you look back at Josh Allen's career,

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Speaker 2: right and how it went, like nobody was talking about

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Speaker 2: Brian Daball as a head coaching candidate in his After

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Speaker 2: his first season as the Bill's offensive coordinator, they averaged

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Speaker 2: sixteen points per game.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Allen was bad.

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Speaker 2: The next year they averaged about nineteen points per game,

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Speaker 2: and then they made that jump in year three and

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Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, Brian Dable is a genius.

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Speaker 3: I think that's when they traded for Diggs. And oh,

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Speaker 3: by the way, Allen did get a lot better, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and maybe those two things go hand in hand.

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Speaker 3: No doubt, no doubt he had.

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Speaker 1: Oh look, I got a number one receiver.

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Speaker 2: I'm just gonna throw the ball to him all the time, right.

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Speaker 2: That doesn't take a lot of you know, thinking there.

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Speaker 2: So you know, guys make quarterback.

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Speaker 3: These quarterback ascensions aren't linear. I mean, they're presets backwards,

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Speaker 3: five steps up, you know. I mean it's choppy. I

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Speaker 3: mean there's rough waters ahead for a picket.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you just hope that, you know, it's not super rough.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's why when you look at the

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Speaker 2: Steelers offense, what they've done.

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Speaker 1: Is really smart.

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Speaker 2: They're not putting they're not putting everything on pickets plate exactly.

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Speaker 2: They're gonna say, Hey, we're gonna come out and we're

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Speaker 2: gonna we're gonna be we want to be able to

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Speaker 2: run the football, and we're gonna get better. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: get better up front, and we're gonna run the football

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Speaker 2: better and take take some of the pressure off of

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Speaker 2: our young quarterback. It's the same exact thing that they

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Speaker 2: did with Ben Roethlisberger early in his career.

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Speaker 3: Now that's a good point. I hadn't thought of that, right.

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Speaker 2: Like, they didn't put it all on Ben's plate his

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Speaker 2: first years. There were times when they said, okay, Ben,

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Speaker 2: go cut it loose.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and he was able.

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Speaker 1: To do that. But by and large, they wanted to

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Speaker 1: run the football and play defense.

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Speaker 3: And that's not an outdated philosophy. I think that that translates.

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Speaker 3: And I don't mean to talk to you about this,

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Speaker 3: and I wish I knew where I stole it from,

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Speaker 3: to be honest, because I didn't come up with this

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Speaker 3: idea and I listened to a million podcasts. But when

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Speaker 3: you have a run game, I heard, I forget who

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Speaker 3: was ascribing it this way, your offense has a very

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Speaker 3: nice floor if you have a run game. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like that's the jump off point.

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Speaker 3: And you really want your run game, I mean, trust me,

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Speaker 3: I harp on this more than anything. You need big plays,

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Speaker 3: you need explosives. Steelers need to generate explosives. But explosive

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Speaker 3: generating explosives in the run game is a little not

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Speaker 3: as sticky year to year, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 3: like someone's got to get free, and you know, you

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Speaker 3: got to bust a long Onely, what you want from

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Speaker 3: your run game is efficiency, and then you have a

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Speaker 3: floor as an entire offense. And I think that might

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Speaker 3: already be in place before the editions.

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Speaker 2: They did that in the second half of last season.

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Speaker 2: Their floor was pretty darn good with that run game. Now,

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Speaker 2: there were some there were some circumstances that held the

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Speaker 2: offense back a little bit in the second half, mostly

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Speaker 2: weather related. If you think about they average twenty one

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Speaker 2: points per game over their last nine games. If they

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Speaker 2: had done that for the season they would have it

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Speaker 2: would have been twentieth in the league in offense.

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Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, So I don't know if you saw this either,

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Speaker 3: and I don't think Pro football focus is gospel, but

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Speaker 3: they had a breakout player for every team in the league,

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Speaker 3: who do they expect to take the biggest leap? And

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Speaker 3: to their credit, they went third safeties. You know, guards

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Speaker 3: that had three hundred snaps last year that might be

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Speaker 3: starters this year. So they didn't just take the hanging fruit, right,

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Speaker 3: But they took Kenny Pickett for the Steelers and I

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Speaker 3: think we've ranked and mentioned this before, but I just

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Speaker 3: want to read like two sentences that they wrote, is okay,

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Speaker 3: pickets seventy five point five overall grade for the whole

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Speaker 3: year ranked eighteenth amongst quarterbacks, and he was second best

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Speaker 3: and oh no, I'm sorry, and he was amongst the

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Speaker 3: best at the position during the last seven weeks of

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Speaker 3: the season. In fact, he earned the second highest PFF

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Speaker 3: passing grade during those seven weeks, behind only Joe Burrow,

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Speaker 3: and was second in Big Time throw percentage and also

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Speaker 3: posted the lowest turnover worthy play percentage. So he was

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Speaker 3: second in Big Time throws, first in turnover worthy plays,

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Speaker 3: and second in their grading scale over the last seven weeks.

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Speaker 3: That's pretty good. I mean the names mentioned here are

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Speaker 3: Joe Burrow and Pat Mahomes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why you know when people talk about the

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Speaker 2: Steelers and I think they're classically underrated going into this season,

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Speaker 2: Like people, well, Kim Penny, can Kenny Pickett take the

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Speaker 2: next step?

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Speaker 1: Can Kenny Pickett do this? Can Ny Pickett do that?

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Speaker 2: And then they want to say, way, he threw seven

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Speaker 2: touchdown passes and nine interceptions in his rookie year. M

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Speaker 2: Like they're they're just looking at the stats.

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Speaker 1: They didn't watch him play.

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Speaker 3: Don't grab his football card and look at the back

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Speaker 3: of it and be like, ah, he's not good. You know,

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Speaker 3: that's that's basically what you're doing.

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Speaker 2: He did everything that they asked him to do in

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Speaker 2: the second half of last year.

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Speaker 1: They didn't put a lot on his plate.

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Speaker 2: They didn't want him going out there and throwing the

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Speaker 2: football forty five times a game. They did that early

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Speaker 2: in when he first started. Because they're playing Buffalo, they're

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Speaker 2: playing Philadelphia, You're playing some of those teams that they

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Speaker 2: needed to go out there and be you know, they

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Speaker 2: got behind early.

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Speaker 3: And I forget how he just phrased it. He said

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Speaker 3: something about can Pickett take the next step? Well, he

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Speaker 3: took a huge step throwing the by You.

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Speaker 1: Know, absolutely.

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Speaker 2: They different plays and so if you make those again,

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Speaker 2: if you go into this season and you say, Kenny,

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Speaker 2: we don't need you to be superman out there. We

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Speaker 2: don't need you to be twenty fifteen Ben Roethlisberger. What

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Speaker 2: we need from you is that is to get us

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Speaker 2: in and out a good place, which he should be

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Speaker 2: much better at this year. I would assume he's got

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Speaker 2: more experience under his belt. They'll give him a little

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Speaker 2: more leeway to do that kind of stuff and also

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Speaker 2: make five big, big time throws for us a game.

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Speaker 3: That's what I saying, Like if he's second, which she

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Speaker 3: won't be second again, and quote big time throws, which

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Speaker 3: isn't gospel. I mean that's sort of a subjective term.

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Speaker 3: But if you're high in that neighborhood, you're making big

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Speaker 3: plays too. I mean you're not just not handing the

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Speaker 3: ball off and scrambling here and there and throwing screens.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you're making big time quarterback plays. And what

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Speaker 3: more do you ask for?

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Speaker 1: Right? That's exactly what you want out of your quarterback.

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Speaker 2: That's what the Steelers wanted from Ben Roethlisberger essentially his

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Speaker 2: three or four years in the league.

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Speaker 1: That's what he did. That's what he was. He got

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Speaker 1: the tag of game manager. Well he didn't.

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Speaker 2: He wasn't a game manager like people. Look at his

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Speaker 2: his Super Bowl in two thousand and five. He was

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Speaker 2: nine for twenty one or whatever it was. He didn't

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Speaker 2: play well, but he made a couple of big time throws.

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Speaker 3: It's funny because I don't know what the deal is lately,

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Speaker 3: but on NFL network. There's been so much Steeler stuff,

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Speaker 3: and they showed that entire game, and I watched every

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Speaker 3: play of it within the last four days or whatever

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Speaker 3: and thought the same thing. I'm like, man, I hardly

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Speaker 3: even recognize that Ben. He looks lost at times, but

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Speaker 3: there were five or six that were okay. I mean

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Speaker 3: the game.

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Speaker 2: He's one of like three guys on the planet that

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Speaker 2: could make that play right, right, And if you think

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Speaker 2: about that run through the playoffs that year, they came

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Speaker 2: out throwing in the playoffs to be able to run later.

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Speaker 3: So you have a better memory than I do, and

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Speaker 3: we're closer to the team. He played better in the

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Speaker 3: playoffs than he did the Super Bowl, so.

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Speaker 1: Easily like his game he tore.

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Speaker 2: He tore the Denver Broncos apart in that AFC championship.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Three, I think he had three touchdown passes in the

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Speaker 2: first half, and then they just took.

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Speaker 1: The air out of the ball because they knew Denver

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Speaker 1: wasn't going to score and was good.

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Speaker 3: They were a Super Bowl team.

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Speaker 2: Seattle was a good I mean, oh, by the way,

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Speaker 2: they beat the Colts the week before that, because Ben

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Speaker 2: came out throwing the football like yeah, you know, they

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Speaker 2: beat they came back. That the Bengals were up on

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Speaker 2: them in that game. People forget that Carson Palmer hit

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Speaker 2: kick Chris Henry down the sideline for a long touchdown

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Speaker 2: and Steelers I think, if I remember correctly, they might

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Speaker 2: have been down two scores and.

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Speaker 3: Ben stuff was showing up then already. But it's already

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Speaker 3: shown up with Kenny. I mean a lot of the

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Speaker 3: clutch plays he made in the second half of the

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Speaker 3: year without putting the ball in harm's way are really encouraging.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean that's the one thing that you can't

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Speaker 2: there's no measurement for that.

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Speaker 3: No, no, no, there's no all this.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's there's no h this guy makes plays

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Speaker 2: in the clutch statistic other than you know, game winning

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Speaker 2: drives and fourth quarter comebacks and things of that nature,

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Speaker 2: and those are those can be subjective as well. Thank

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Speaker 2: you that you know, your defense picks one off and

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Speaker 2: returns it to the five yard line and you hand

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Speaker 2: it off twice and it goes in for a touchdown

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Speaker 2: and the quarterback gets a credit for you know, a

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Speaker 2: game winning drive and a fourth quarter comeback.

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Speaker 3: He didn't do anything, or you kickoff return or has

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Speaker 3: a nice return and you complete a pass and then

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Speaker 3: you hand it to Bettest and then Boswall comes out

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Speaker 3: and kicks a field goal. It's like, well, yeah, sometimes

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Speaker 3: you're on your own five and you l weigh it

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Speaker 3: down the field like it's not too Yeah.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's what we saw from picket lat those

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Speaker 2: situations he was in last year. That's what he did.

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Speaker 2: He took the team down the field. We saw that

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Speaker 2: early in Ben Roethlisberger's career that he was able to

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Speaker 2: do that and take the team down the field. That's

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Speaker 2: that clutch gene. Not everybody has that.

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Speaker 3: No, right right, I mean I don't think his heart

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Speaker 3: races or the moment doesn't feel too big for those

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Speaker 3: type of things.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes it narrows their focus. Even they get they

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Speaker 2: get better in those situations.

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Speaker 3: Laser focused, you know Montana's and those.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, those are the guys that that you know, become

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Speaker 2: the legends. You know, look at Drew Brees' career, what

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Speaker 2: he played twenty years.

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Speaker 1: In a league or whatever it was.

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Speaker 2: I mean, he was the all time leader, but when

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Speaker 2: you look at the fourth quarter comebacks and game winning

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Speaker 2: drives and that kind of stuff, he wasn't up there

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Speaker 2: with the Bradys in the Roethlisbergers and the Mannings.

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Speaker 1: He played. He played as many, if not more games

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Speaker 1: than those guys.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I adore Aaron Rodgers. But that's his one

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Speaker 3: blemish too.

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Speaker 2: That's not Yeah, he's not He's not up among those

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Speaker 2: those leaders in that you know.

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Speaker 3: So sometimes I hope people don't take this conversation as

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Speaker 3: Kenny's the next breeze run.

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Speaker 1: That's all we're saying at all. And you know, but

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Speaker 1: he does, he does have some traits he does.

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Speaker 3: And again, I mean, the only chance this team has

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Speaker 3: if Kenny takes a big step forward. I've already seen

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Speaker 3: him take a step forward. There's been a lot of

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Speaker 3: quarterbacks that have been drafting the last five years that

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Speaker 3: didn't already take a step forward to the size that

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Speaker 3: he did.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely right.

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Speaker 2: Did you see what Jason Kelsey had to say about

404
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Speaker 2: Isaac Samalo.

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Speaker 3: No, but I bet it's high, high praise.

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Speaker 2: It's extremely high praise. Let me let me get the

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Speaker 2: exact quotes here for you.

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Speaker 3: Man.

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Speaker 1: I added it into my FI.

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Speaker 3: Again, I haven't seen it. I what what I didn't

411
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Speaker 3: know about Salomolo until I really started digging into him

412
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Speaker 3: after the signing was his football intelligence is like rare.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that's that's exactly what I was talking about here.

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Speaker 3: If he's not shouldered to shoulder with a Hall of

415
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Speaker 3: Fame center, he's probably in charge of every other line

416
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Speaker 3: calls in the league except for the Eagles, you know

417
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Speaker 3: what I mean?

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Speaker 2: He said, I think he's one of the best guards

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Speaker 2: in the NFL, and I think he has been. I

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Speaker 2: think he he's one of the most consistent players I've

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Speaker 2: ever been around.

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Speaker 1: I'm one of the most consistent people.

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Speaker 2: I've ever been around. So we're not going to replace Isaac.

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Speaker 1: He said.

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Speaker 2: Isaac is a really really special player. I know we've

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Speaker 2: said that for a long time, and I still don't people.

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Speaker 2: I still don't think people really have a true grasp

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Speaker 2: of what he did for our room and me personally.

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Speaker 2: I think he's probably the smartest player I've ever been around,

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Speaker 2: really really gifted physically mentally across the board. So I

431
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Speaker 2: think the Steelers are getting a steal.

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Speaker 1: That's a good pun.

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Speaker 2: I guess this is coming from a guy who's a

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Speaker 2: potential Hall of Fame center.

435
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Speaker 3: Oh he's going, yeah, yeah, who is the.

436
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Speaker 1: Best center of this generation?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? And I'm sure they're friends, you know, I mean,

438
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 3: but he doesn't have to say all that.

439
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:43,200
Speaker 1: No, he didn't have to say that.

440
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,439
Speaker 2: Guy's know his teammate anymore, right, right, and he's and oh,

441
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,240
Speaker 2: by the way, you know, in these kinds of situations,

442
00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,960
Speaker 2: I fans get upset a lot of times when, for example,

443
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,040
Speaker 2: Juju Smith Schuster goes to Kansas City and says, oh,

444
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:57,200
Speaker 2: this is the best offense I've ever been in. I've

445
00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,280
Speaker 2: learned so much. And then he goes to New England

446
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 2: and says, oh, this this situation.

447
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,040
Speaker 1: Is so great. Like Cosby Stills and Nash said, you

448
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:04,880
Speaker 1: love the one you're with.

449
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you don't go in there and trash and

450
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:08,840
Speaker 2: do Oh this this stinks.

451
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,760
Speaker 1: This is awful. You know, we did this better in Pittsburgh.

452
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,679
Speaker 2: You don't say that, you know, you don't say that

453
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 2: in the same token if you're Travis, if you if

454
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,480
Speaker 2: you're Jason Kelcey and you're gonna be lining up with

455
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,480
Speaker 2: a new guy next to you, Yeah, he said, oh, well,

456
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, we really liked Isaac Samalu, but we

457
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:26,360
Speaker 2: got this guy and he's gonna be just as good.

458
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:28,680
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, Beef Dragons has been here for a year.

459
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:31,120
Speaker 3: He ready to step right in, you know, right exactly,

460
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 3: And we drafted Tyler Steen. He could be a really

461
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 3: good guard or tackle for us. Well, we won't miss

462
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,120
Speaker 3: a beat. We're fine. We should have the best line

463
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:37,600
Speaker 3: in the league.

464
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 1: That's somebody said. He said, oh, I'm gonna miss this guy.

465
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, and by no means am I giving Mason Cole

466
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,040
Speaker 3: a tough time. He's a center, But I guarantee you

467
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,520
Speaker 3: Solamalu could be a star center too. I mean, I

468
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 3: have no doubt in my mind he could do any

469
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,359
Speaker 3: of those. And frankly, I'm sure I even said this

470
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 3: on the show. Before that signing and the heat of

471
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,080
Speaker 3: free agency, I probably said, well, they're done in an

472
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,720
Speaker 3: interior line. And I was shocked when that one came

473
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,919
Speaker 3: across science. Oh he's a big ticket item and they

474
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,720
Speaker 3: got him a nice price, and I thought, man, that's

475
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 3: almost an embarrassment of interior riches. But then you start

476
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 3: looking at him, I'm like, why wouldn't you. I mean,

477
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 3: this guy's maybe the best. He's a clear upgrade yeah

478
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:19,880
Speaker 3: what they had.

479
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 2: So yeah, So I think they they should be able

480
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 2: to run the football much more consistently. They should be

481
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 2: able to protect Kenny Pickett much more consistently.

482
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: And if they're.

483
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 2: Able to do those things, this offense should take off again.

484
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,680
Speaker 1: I I I'm not gonna say they're.

485
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,720
Speaker 2: Gonna you know, nobody again, Nobody in the league last

486
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,640
Speaker 2: year averaged thirty points per game. Let me just say

487
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,200
Speaker 2: that again. Nobody in the league averaged thirty points per game.

488
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 2: Nobody in the league averaged twenty nine points per game

489
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 2: last year. Scoring is down. Yeah, scoring is down. So

490
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,520
Speaker 2: if you could get that scoring average up from the

491
00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,440
Speaker 2: eighteen that they averaged last year, if you can get

492
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 2: it up into that twenty three to twenty four points

493
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,879
Speaker 2: per game range, they should win a lot of football games.

494
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you said this well the other day. I

495
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 3: bet Boswell has a better percentage of putting it through

496
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 3: the uprights. And I absolutely bet the offense, specifically pick

497
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 3: it will be better in the red zone.

498
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:14,879
Speaker 2: And not only that, but I mean a lot of

499
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 2: times they would get down in the red zone, holding penalty,

500
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 2: all start things of that nature. That just kind of

501
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,600
Speaker 2: because they led the league last year in ten plus

502
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 2: play drives.

503
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was the Steelers and the Chiefs.

504
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:35,479
Speaker 2: Well, the Steelers and the Chiefs think about that like

505
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 2: they were stringing successful plays together, you know, to the

506
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,240
Speaker 2: point where they're getting these ten play drives. A lot

507
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 2: of times they just didn't finish them because they get

508
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,200
Speaker 2: to a play eleven or twelve, and.

509
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 1: There again there'd be a holding penalty, there'd be.

510
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 3: A false start.

511
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:52,919
Speaker 1: Mahomes overcome some of that.

512
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, So you know, if they continue doing that,

513
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 2: but they don't have the holding penalties or they don't

514
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 2: have the false starts, and that was that's one of

515
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 2: the big problems that they had with Kevin Dotson. That's

516
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,640
Speaker 2: what I was gonna say, is Kevin Dotson and more

517
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,439
Speaker 2: are guys you can win with, especially Dotson. But I

518
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 2: do think some of the inconsistencies on the left side

519
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 2: of the line, especially at left guard, were costly in

520
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 2: a timely.

521
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: Those two combined for twenty penalties last year.

522
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, the offensive line as a whole, I think, if

523
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,239
Speaker 2: I remember correctly had twenty six penalties and those two

524
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 2: had twenty of them.

525
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 3: They had twenty of them. Yeah. Again, I mean, that's.

526
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 2: It's no accident that they that they've decided, hey, we're

527
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 2: going to try to replace these guys.

528
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,720
Speaker 3: M Yeah. And even speaking of the line, I'm and

529
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 3: say this earlier looking at their starting five last year.

530
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 3: They exceeded my expectations and it ended up being a

531
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,400
Speaker 3: good line, not just a serviceable line. But I still

532
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 3: thought when you graded each player, Daniels was the only

533
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,639
Speaker 3: one I would say that's an above average NFL starter

534
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,719
Speaker 3: or you know, you know the other ones were average below,

535
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 3: none of them were terrible. But now I think you

536
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:07,679
Speaker 3: have two above average guards and potentially well above average

537
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 3: left tackle. We'll see how that happen. I mean, rookies

538
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 3: are gonna struggle, but I mean you have the potential

539
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 3: to have three fifths of your line as above average starters.

540
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna take a break.

541
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 2: Here is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lallie. You're listening

542
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 2: to the drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. And Matt,

543
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 2: did you know that you can listen to Steelers Nation

544
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,919
Speaker 2: Radio anytime, anywhere, and you're smart speaker. All you have

545
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,640
Speaker 2: to do is say Alexa, play Steelers Nation Radio from

546
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:34,159
Speaker 2: my heart, and Alexa will take.

547
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 1: Care of the rest. We're gonna talk more quarterback stuff

548
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 1: here when we come back.

549
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 2: At NFL dot Com, broke down the best quarterback or

550
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 2: the best divisions by quarterback you might be surprised where

551
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:49,159
Speaker 2: the AFC North comes in.

552
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that when we come back right after this.

553
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: On the drive