Speaker 1: This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
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Speaker 2: Good evening, Steeler Nation, How we doing well? That's good
Speaker 2: us too. It is our number three, the Bonus Hour
Speaker 2: here as we roll into Thursday evening and the Steelers
Speaker 2: second day of training camp proceeding second practice. They've been
Speaker 2: here for three days, but we kind of count the
Speaker 2: days and in terms of practices. And you know how
Speaker 2: we're gonna kick off this hour, Matt, it is by
Speaker 2: getting to the tweets and our buddy Michael Edesso passing
Speaker 2: this along. We I mentioned I'd love to see the
Speaker 2: numbers of Ohio state wide receiver contracts just over the
Speaker 2: last two years, Jack and Jackson Smith and Jig but
Speaker 2: four years over one hundred and sixty eight million.
Speaker 3: I think he's top of the market right now.
Speaker 2: He has the number one. Yeah, Chris o'lave four years,
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty two million, not bad. Garrett Wilson
Speaker 2: four years, one hundred and thirty million, I.
Speaker 3: Forgot, he already did get extended.
Speaker 2: And Terry McLaurin three years, ninety seven million.
Speaker 3: You forget about McLaurin sometimes in this max. He's a
Speaker 3: little older than the other group. He's a third round pick.
Speaker 3: He wasn't a top twenty pick.
Speaker 2: Like he's like the only Ohio State guy that wasn't
Speaker 2: a first round pick.
Speaker 3: Right. But think you said to Buka is on the
Speaker 3: on the war path coming up here, and you know
Speaker 3: Tate and I mean they got tons of them.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, Jeremiah Smith might be the first overall
Speaker 2: draft pick next year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he'll be first quarterback take non quarterback
Speaker 3: taking for sure.
Speaker 2: Chris Henry's son, Chris Henry Junior, who he's a Onster recruit, right,
Speaker 2: I think he's I think he was the number one
Speaker 2: recruit in last year's class.
Speaker 3: Daddy was talented.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes he was, he sure was.
Speaker 3: I watched Daddy at WU and I was with the Brownies.
Speaker 2: I watched Daddy at WU when I was knee high
Speaker 2: to a grasshopper. No, I mean I was like twelve thirteen,
Speaker 2: four year and so on topic. I think I was
Speaker 2: in middle school. Oh yeah, that was kind of like
Speaker 2: right the start of really becoming a sports fan. Steelers
Speaker 2: were kicking booty WVU was actually good. I didn't realize
Speaker 2: how good I had it at the time. I tell you.
Speaker 2: Matt tweets us and says, do you guys have any
Speaker 2: concerns about Rico Dowdell in pass protection? Could he be
Speaker 2: two one dimensional? In sort of a tell to the
Speaker 2: defense worried about him blocking for the quarterback who's a
Speaker 2: little bit older.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do. I think that's his number one negative
Speaker 3: and doesn't mean he's only going to be out there
Speaker 3: on first downs, but it has been a problem throughout
Speaker 3: his career at two different stops. Obviously, McCarthy is familiar
Speaker 3: with him and probably won't put him in those situations,
Speaker 3: but it definitely is a tell. I mean, when defense
Speaker 3: is no, you're running back is not. I don't want
Speaker 3: to say capable. I mean, because Dowdell's capable. It's not
Speaker 3: like he's just out there with and left and right.
Speaker 3: But if they know it's a problem, you're going to
Speaker 3: get more blitz, you know. But I also think Rogers
Speaker 3: helps alleviate that stuff too, you know, and Frasier at
Speaker 3: this point being smart just changing protections to try to
Speaker 3: A huge thing with pass rush schemes right now is
Speaker 3: trying to isolate backs against linebackers. But if you can
Speaker 3: defensive ends and edge rush shorts, you know, anytime you
Speaker 3: can isolate a running back, it's in the defensive advantage.
Speaker 3: Even if he's the best pass walking back in the league. Well,
Speaker 3: Dowdle's going to have more of a struggle with that,
Speaker 3: and Rogers might have to help them in terms of
Speaker 3: moving them around pre snap or setting them up to
Speaker 3: have easier matchups. But I want people to be aware.
Speaker 3: I mean, none of these guys are perfect players, and
Speaker 3: that's definitely one of his biggest negatives.
Speaker 2: Whereas for Jalen Warren, that's something that I think is
Speaker 2: actually a pretty very underrated element of his team. And
Speaker 2: I wonder if that ends up. I wonder if that
Speaker 2: ends up kind of being the difference in I don't
Speaker 2: think there's going to be a huge difference in this
Speaker 2: guy clearly RB one and this guy's clearly RB two.
Speaker 2: They're both gonna get a lot of spin, both gonna
Speaker 2: get a lot of reps. But maybe that pass pro
Speaker 2: stuff will be what important makes Warren more more usage
Speaker 2: than Doubtell, because it is very important. Not especially yeah, right,
Speaker 2: especially lev Bell was a spell a stud at it,
Speaker 2: and especially.
Speaker 3: Every down backs you better be more than capable in.
Speaker 2: Protection, especially when your quarterback is forty two years old. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, and and isn't Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson
Speaker 2: in terms of mobility back there, It's certainly gonna be
Speaker 2: something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 3: As for Dowbdell, I don't know how much we'll I
Speaker 3: don't think we'll see backs on backers. I don't know
Speaker 3: how much protection stuff will actually see here in Latrobe,
Speaker 3: and I don't I'm my hunches. He won't play a
Speaker 3: ton of snaps in the preseason either. I would think
Speaker 3: that it's gonna be Caleb Johnson and younger backs. I
Speaker 3: wouldn't think Warren and Dowbell you need to beat them
Speaker 3: up at all. In the preseason.
Speaker 2: Would like to see a lot of Caleb Johnson in
Speaker 2: the preseason. Pittsburgh Conversation asks, could the attention to detail
Speaker 2: that my McCarthy has brought to camp just be the
Speaker 2: missing ingredient needed to make a playoff run?
Speaker 4: Sure?
Speaker 2: I hope so?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Right right?
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, you, you and I have laid this out.
Speaker 2: There is no perfect way to coach. There is no
Speaker 2: perfect offensive or defensive scheme. There is no perfect level
Speaker 2: of physicality or lack thereof in training camps. If there
Speaker 2: was a perfect way to do it, everybody would do
Speaker 2: it that way if if it was, he sure did
Speaker 2: there is uh, you know, it's it's funny, Matt, I
Speaker 2: always you know that phrase. There's more than one way
Speaker 2: to skin a cat. I don't know why we have
Speaker 2: to skin the cat, right, I'm not even a cat
Speaker 2: guy myself, but I don't need to skin the cats.
Speaker 2: Let's leave the cats alone and let them do their
Speaker 2: thing exactly exactly, exactly right. I'm good on all that.
Speaker 2: Let let the cats be. But you know, there's more
Speaker 2: than one way to peel a potato. I'm sorry, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I guess it works, but there really Isn'telle.
Speaker 2: You could go from the tob or from the bottom.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but there's really only one way to peel bit.
Speaker 2: I think you're right. I think you're the potato.
Speaker 3: You can go a lot of different directions.
Speaker 2: You certainly, you certainly could. I think the attention to detail,
Speaker 2: but really the attention to keeping these guys healthy matt
Speaker 2: to me. You know, to me, that feels like what
Speaker 2: could be the kicker. We talked a little bit about
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter defense struggles earlier in the show Brutal,
Speaker 2: as we mentioned a few weeks ago on the drive,
Speaker 2: you and I really dove deep into those numbers and
Speaker 2: they were not great. And he tweeted us and said,
Speaker 2: I won't soon forget your all's discussion about the Steelers
Speaker 2: fourth quarter defense. The numbers matched what our eyes were
Speaker 2: telling us, but it was still painful and sobering to
Speaker 2: have it quantified.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's the numbers were worse than what our eyes
Speaker 3: were telling us. And did you look back? It was
Speaker 3: that bad.
Speaker 2: And maybe that's the kind of attention to detail aspect
Speaker 2: of this. Of Hey, when we get to fourth quarters,
Speaker 2: particularly in you know, holiday season, late November December into January,
Speaker 2: when you're making that playoff push. We need these guys fresh,
Speaker 2: We need these guys you know, peaking at the right time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, then we wouldn't I mean not to reiterate it,
Speaker 3: because we will talk a lot about it a lot,
Speaker 3: but I mean going forward, But there's numerous reasons in
Speaker 3: my opinion why the fourth quarter defense flat out failed.
Speaker 3: One of them was being on the field too long. Definitely,
Speaker 3: lack of adjustments. One of them could be conditioning, slash age.
Speaker 3: And if you could maybe get better in two of
Speaker 3: those three areas great, I mean, there's almost nowhere to
Speaker 3: go but up. In terms of the fourth quarter defense.
Speaker 2: It was the numbers were drastic, they were jarring. They
Speaker 2: were the worst in the NFL. And yeah, if you
Speaker 2: go back, if you go back into our podcast feed
Speaker 2: into the last couple of weeks, and you want to
Speaker 2: find that also on the YouTube page, Matt did had
Speaker 2: some great numbers in terms of the Steelers fourth quarter
Speaker 2: defensive struggles. And that's one of the things every every offseason,
Speaker 2: you know, we've discussed points of emphasis for this team
Speaker 2: and not just oh you got to find a franchise quarterback,
Speaker 2: like real tangible you need to get back towards the
Speaker 2: top of the league. In sacks, you need to improve
Speaker 2: your yards per carry.
Speaker 3: Those are our two big ones we harped on last.
Speaker 2: Year, last year, this year, fourth quarter defense man has
Speaker 2: to be has to be better. And you know, you
Speaker 2: and I laugh normally when people say things like, well,
Speaker 2: it can't get any worse, but it.
Speaker 3: Always can always get worse.
Speaker 2: But it almost couldn't for the Steelers in terms of
Speaker 2: how bad that when you're last in the league, chances
Speaker 2: are you're going to go up, obviously, yes, but I
Speaker 2: do love when people are like, can't possibly be as
Speaker 2: injured as you were last?
Speaker 4: Are you?
Speaker 2: Certainly?
Speaker 3: This league's pretty rough.
Speaker 5: It's pretty rough, Yes it is, Ian says uh tuning
Speaker 5: in late so sorry if you guys already discussed this,
Speaker 5: But how has the offense looked so far under Mike
Speaker 5: McCarthy's new system seems to have a little bit of
Speaker 5: an air and out feel so far, and I dig it.
Speaker 2: Thanks, love you guys. Yeah, it's still early doors in
Speaker 2: that conversation.
Speaker 3: And they're also not going to work on the run
Speaker 3: game here, mashing people. You know, I mean not that
Speaker 3: you won't work on the run game, but you're gonna
Speaker 3: do more route concepts and stuff like that in this
Speaker 3: environment before the pads go on.
Speaker 2: Too too early to say, I do think it's too
Speaker 2: early to say.
Speaker 3: I think Growman Wilson's look good. I think Jeremy Bernard's
Speaker 3: look good. I mean, those are new additions that you're
Speaker 3: happy about.
Speaker 2: You know, Jeremy Bernard's a fun one to be keeping
Speaker 2: an eye on out here, because I think we're going
Speaker 2: to continue to see him get more and more on
Speaker 2: his plate. And how will he respond to that? Matt says, Hey, guys,
Speaker 2: happy training camp. Is there any chance that Joey Porter
Speaker 2: Junior could get franchised next year? Also, what do you
Speaker 2: like better? No red lights on the way to work
Speaker 2: or no red lights on the way home from work?
Speaker 3: I don't really work both.
Speaker 2: I don't really work, he says. I would say probably
Speaker 2: on the way to work, because you know, I'm usually
Speaker 2: cutting it a little tight on razor thin margin.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be late.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be late. Yeah, you know, I'll
Speaker 2: get home when I get home. Although it is nice
Speaker 2: both ways.
Speaker 3: But that is a card in the Steelers back pocket.
Speaker 3: If they can't get a deal done, he will be
Speaker 3: up for free agency. I'm sure he won't like it.
Speaker 3: Nobody does. But it's also not the worst fate in
Speaker 3: the world to get X amount guaranteed is a top
Speaker 3: five corner that if he is an awesome season or
Speaker 3: a good season, or is playing like he is now,
Speaker 3: he's good enough to franchise. I mean Benton for example,
Speaker 3: I'm not picking on him, but he could have a
Speaker 3: real good year and he's not going to be franchise worthy.
Speaker 3: Porter could be franchise worthy.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, yes, I would be hard pressed to
Speaker 2: find a scenario where Joey Porter Junior is not a
Speaker 2: Steeler in twenty twenty seven, right, whether it's a contract extension,
Speaker 2: whether it's a franchise tag, it would have.
Speaker 3: To be something crazy like bad blood exists through this
Speaker 3: contact extension and he demands a trade or something crazy
Speaker 3: like that. I mean, I'm really reaching here though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely, it just it feels inevitable in some
Speaker 2: type of some type of regard.
Speaker 3: However, through two practices, his starting replacement of Sante Samuel's
Speaker 3: really shined. Oh yeah, he never gets talked about. But
Speaker 3: I mean, with all these corners out, Samuel's thriving.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely me tweets us and says doctor Wes and
Speaker 2: Professor Matt how we doing. Here's my biggest camp question
Speaker 2: for you. If you had a Godzilla sized Steely mcbeem
Speaker 2: versu a Godzilla size pirate parrot vers a God's Deli
Speaker 2: sized Iceberg, who wins and what's the finishing move?
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 2: Well, I like Steely mcbeam's chances if he's especially carrying
Speaker 2: around the steel beam.
Speaker 3: Yeah, some of these are very formidable in the mascot world, though,
Speaker 3: be like the.
Speaker 2: W W wrestler who comes into the ring with a chair,
Speaker 2: you know, and and just starts taking four had two
Speaker 2: by four Jim or whatever that sound. The iceberg, you know,
Speaker 2: could take his skates off and stab somebody with it,
Speaker 2: so he would have that going.
Speaker 3: For I would say in mascot world, though they're low
Speaker 3: on the list, there's there's gonna be some tougher mascots
Speaker 3: out than those three. Steele's kind of muscled.
Speaker 2: Hold on, hold on, are any mascots, I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: are any mascots intimidating and scary?
Speaker 3: And I think that kinds there like a San Jose
Speaker 3: or I'm sure there has to be tigers and lions
Speaker 3: and scary.
Speaker 2: You know some of those SEC schools they have real
Speaker 2: animals as their mascot, Like l s U has an
Speaker 2: actual tiger that sits there. You know, Texas has Beavo
Speaker 2: and yeah, Colorado has the Buffalo Bulldog and yeah there's
Speaker 2: the Georgia.
Speaker 3: Ugah.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's right. Ugah. Nate says, with you guys doing
Speaker 2: so much radio throughout training camp, how do you keep
Speaker 2: your voices fresh?
Speaker 3: So I did read that. I've never done one bit
Speaker 3: about that, you know, like I do that podcast with
Speaker 3: Peacock every morning. Yeah it's a morning for him because
Speaker 3: he's on the West Coast and he's like a professional
Speaker 3: radio guy. I guess I am too, But I've never
Speaker 3: had any training. Like he went to you know, school
Speaker 3: to do these things, and he does like exercises before
Speaker 3: because it's the first thing he talks all morning. Like
Speaker 3: he's got a young son. He's like, well, you're the
Speaker 3: first adult I talked to every day. I talked to
Speaker 3: my my not infant, but like five year old son.
Speaker 3: So I gotta warm my voice up. I'm like, I
Speaker 3: never do any of those things. You know, do you
Speaker 3: care one bit?
Speaker 2: I so you'll laugh.
Speaker 3: I've never got an issue.
Speaker 2: I never had an issue, and you know this, and
Speaker 2: I think I might have shared this with our audience
Speaker 2: a few months ago, but you know this, I never
Speaker 2: had an issue until a couple months ago.
Speaker 3: I didn't know if you were gonna bring it up
Speaker 3: or not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, back in back, it was around the NFL draft
Speaker 2: time for whatever. I had vocal cord inflammation and it
Speaker 2: was weird, and it was every day Matt and I.
Speaker 2: You know, it was like a couple of weeks where
Speaker 2: Matt and I would do the show and I'd be
Speaker 2: driving home and I'd be like, not like I was
Speaker 2: in a crazy amount of pain, but I'd be like,
Speaker 2: why is my voice so sore? Discomfort is that is
Speaker 2: the term that I would use. I'd say, I'm almost
Speaker 2: I had to do pregnant zone, which is a steroid
Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks. Like they told me to
Speaker 2: drink a ton of water, drink a ton of tea.
Speaker 2: Just give it time, you know, rest your voice. This
Speaker 2: time of year when you can type thing, it's it's
Speaker 2: so much better now than it was a few months ago,
Speaker 2: but it's still from time. Like yesterday, you and I
Speaker 2: did five straight hours of radio today and and and
Speaker 2: last night, like I I had a throat laws enge
Speaker 2: and you know, some stuff like that. So I would
Speaker 2: say I pay a little more attention to it now,
Speaker 2: but I never used to until a few months ago.
Speaker 3: I'm almost never on the air. I'm never on the
Speaker 3: air without either coffee or water in front of me.
Speaker 3: I maybe that helps, but I don't do any I
Speaker 3: don't give it any thought ever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I didn't either, like I said, until a
Speaker 2: couple months ago when I was kind of forced to.
Speaker 2: But hopefully that was just a little just a little roadblock,
Speaker 2: and it won't be won't be an issue moving forward.
Speaker 2: All we're going to get to a break here in
Speaker 2: this hour. Maybe we'll get to some more tweets as
Speaker 2: we roll along. I do want to, though, hear a
Speaker 2: little bit from Broderick Jones. He spoke today for the
Speaker 2: first time about that neck, about the new look coaching
Speaker 2: staff and offensive line. As we'll kind of continue, you know,
Speaker 2: it's just been an offensive line day here on the program,
Speaker 2: highlighting the big guys and making tungching Wolf happy in
Speaker 2: the process too. Matt, we'll hear a little bit from
Speaker 2: Broderick talk a little bit more about Broderick and that
Speaker 2: O line. When we return here in our bonus hour
Speaker 2: of the Drive, West Shuler, Matt Williamson, It's all happening
Speaker 2: on the campus of Saint Vincent College. We are at
Speaker 2: Chuck Nolefield and Fabulous Latrobe. It is the Drive Steelers
Speaker 2: Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1: This is live Cobry Chup Dot twenty twenty six, Steelers
Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Speaker 1: Easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and brought to you
Speaker 1: in part by your neighborhood, Ford Store Creator, Pittsburgh Community
Speaker 1: Food Bank, First National Bank. Let's get started, remember FDIC
Speaker 1: West Shore Home Remodeling re Imagine by Leecom Digital, Donz
Speaker 1: Appliances Visit Donzappliances dot Com. Guaranteed lowest prices, free next
Speaker 1: day delivery, CGR Wholesale, and by Haas's Steak and Seahouse.
Speaker 1: Hass Is his hospitality.
Speaker 2: Back on the Drive here as we roll along in
Speaker 2: the bonus hour, There's been a lot of offensive line
Speaker 2: conversation on the show today and really these first couple
Speaker 2: of days. Matt, it's a big X factor for the
Speaker 2: Steeler's success and the guy who might personify that the most.
Speaker 2: Maybe not necessarily for the overall unit's success, Matt, but
Speaker 2: certainly for him in a crossroads year and a crossroads
Speaker 2: moment is Broderck Jones.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think he could reach his immense ceiling and wow,
Speaker 3: what are we gonna do with them now? Contracts up,
Speaker 3: he ends up being your starting right tackle or maybe
Speaker 3: factors in a guard and what I've seen through two
Speaker 3: practices he's only aligned at left tackle as a backup,
Speaker 3: but subject to change. Who knows.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And obviously we were all encouraged that he was
Speaker 2: here and ready to go after that scary neck injury
Speaker 2: back in was I think early November when we were
Speaker 2: in Chicago there at Soldier Field in that loss to
Speaker 2: the to the Bears. Roger Jones speaking today talking about
Speaker 2: his neck, his recovery, this new look coaching staff and
Speaker 2: offensive line. Here's what the big man had to say
Speaker 2: after practice. How you feeling good?
Speaker 4: Good? Glad to be back with the team. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm knocking the rust off.
Speaker 6: It's been a long time since I've been out there
Speaker 6: on the field with the guys, so you know, I'm
Speaker 6: just glad to be back with him. Well, the biggest
Speaker 6: hurdle for you, the biggest hurdle I'm getting back here
Speaker 6: and healthy. Probably just the conditioning part, like on the
Speaker 6: back end of like rehabing stuff, like trying to get
Speaker 6: clear knowing we're coming back to camp, Noring's gonna be hoigh,
Speaker 6: you know, just trying to because I wasn't doing nothing
Speaker 6: for like I would say, like three months, three or
Speaker 6: four months, so you know, just trying to get back
Speaker 6: in shape, hitting the gym hard, you know, just enjoying,
Speaker 6: enjoying the time out.
Speaker 4: Here with the team.
Speaker 2: So were you ever concerned?
Speaker 4: Were you ever concerned this was gonna be a career
Speaker 4: ending injury?
Speaker 6: Yes, and no at first when it first happened, just
Speaker 6: because of how serious it was. That was that was
Speaker 6: my first like serious injury ever, like, so it was
Speaker 6: it was kind of an eye opener for me. But
Speaker 6: you know, now, I know talking with the team docs
Speaker 6: and talking with doctor doctor Oh, he did a great job.
Speaker 6: He said, the MRIs and stuff are coming back great.
Speaker 6: So you know, I'm just trying to continue to get better.
Speaker 4: It was a pretty serious rember, know I did it.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, no, like yeah, it was after the MRI,
Speaker 6: I like they made me go the following morning, Like
Speaker 6: after after the game, I felt fine. I told like,
Speaker 6: I went in the next day and I was telling
Speaker 6: Gaye like, this is the best I ever felt after
Speaker 6: a game.
Speaker 4: And he was like, I don't know how because you're done.
Speaker 4: I'm like what. But you know that's how that conversation went.
Speaker 4: But you know, for the most part, it wasn't.
Speaker 6: It was a shock, but you know, God always has
Speaker 6: plans for us, so you know, it's it's nothing that
Speaker 6: I can't overcome.
Speaker 4: I just got to continue to battle through it.
Speaker 3: You're trying to replay of it, well, I mean, it
Speaker 3: looked kind of like.
Speaker 4: A freakish injury on this It did, but it didn't.
Speaker 6: At the same time, you know, we're all out there
Speaker 6: playing football at the end of the day. I'm not
Speaker 6: saying it was a dirty player or anything. You know,
Speaker 6: I just feel like you wanted to make a football
Speaker 6: play and you know it's just wrong place at wrong.
Speaker 4: Time type type scenario. So you know, I gotta be better,
Speaker 4: you know, having my hands up, not not shooting for
Speaker 4: you know, leaning and stuff like that to prevent things
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 2: But you know, it's football.
Speaker 4: It's a physical game, so those things around that happening.
Speaker 6: That's my biggest folks, that's my biggest focus on my
Speaker 6: technique and my strength because at the end of the day,
Speaker 6: that's all.
Speaker 4: It comes down to.
Speaker 7: Did your eyebrows raise when they drafted masks and were you?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: You know, it's a business as you just said. You
Speaker 4: know that it's new player.
Speaker 6: You know, I was in the same situation when I
Speaker 6: came in and Dan was here, so it was the
Speaker 6: same way. You know, it wasn't It wasn't really a
Speaker 6: shock for me because I was hurt. You know, you
Speaker 6: never know what the future hole. So you know, it's
Speaker 6: a business decision on their part. You know, I just
Speaker 6: got to continue what I can do for the team
Speaker 6: and then just try and.
Speaker 4: Continue to show up and get better.
Speaker 6: You both. What are the conversations done, like with this
Speaker 6: coaching staff about hid for you, just just continue to
Speaker 6: get healthy, you know, that's that's the first thing. That's
Speaker 6: the main goal, because if I'm not healthy, you know,
Speaker 6: I'm not gonna be out there. So uh but that
Speaker 6: that was like the main focus for them, you know,
Speaker 6: just talking to me like, don't try and rush it,
Speaker 6: you know, because anything can happen, so you know, just
Speaker 6: take me your time and actually like listening to the
Speaker 6: points that they're giving you and.
Speaker 4: And just implementing them into your day to day. You
Speaker 4: be a starter again this year, I believe happened. What
Speaker 4: did you feel when it happened?
Speaker 6: It felt like a stinger. It just felt like a stinger, honestly,
Speaker 6: down both arms.
Speaker 8: And then.
Speaker 4: That was that was honestly about it. It went away.
Speaker 4: Probably it took a little longer to go away than usual.
Speaker 6: I think like the stingers didn't go away until we
Speaker 6: got an a tent and then it was kind of like, uh,
Speaker 6: that's why they took me to get an X ray
Speaker 6: and then.
Speaker 4: They pulled me. So right, you played both whit and
Speaker 4: left tack. I've been doing that since I've been here,
Speaker 4: so right, Yeah, So what.
Speaker 2: Is what is your focus right now?
Speaker 4: Is it just getting open wall technique back?
Speaker 6: Yeah, just wherever the team meets. You know, as as
Speaker 6: I just got back, it's only my second day. You know,
Speaker 6: I'm not trying to rush trying to get back into
Speaker 6: the starting lineup because you know, it's it's it's things
Speaker 6: and and plans in place for that. So you know,
Speaker 6: I'm just trying to stay the course.
Speaker 2: And you know care what side you.
Speaker 4: Work on and you're gonna Bemily on the right or.
Speaker 6: The left, you know, not really, So you know, at
Speaker 6: the end of the day, I gotta work both. I
Speaker 6: gotta be able to play both because you never know.
Speaker 6: Troy can go down, I can go down, Max can
Speaker 6: go down. Anybody can go down, So you know, we
Speaker 6: all have to be prepared to play both sides.
Speaker 2: As Roger Jones there speaking after today's practice, and you
Speaker 2: hear some of that, I mean almost I would call
Speaker 2: it vulnerability, like him talking about how you know, the
Speaker 2: disappointment and some of the uncertainty around that neck injury.
Speaker 2: I mean, Matt, Even for an average person a neck
Speaker 2: injury is a massive deal, but when you play in
Speaker 2: the trenches, in a violent position and a violent league,
Speaker 2: that's something that rightfully so I understand the uncertainty, the
Speaker 2: concerns of like, am I ever going to get back
Speaker 2: to where I want to be? Is this gonna not
Speaker 2: only affect my NFL career but for the rest of
Speaker 2: my life? But it sounds like so far, so good,
Speaker 2: and he is on the right path and maybe even
Speaker 2: a little bit ahead of schedule.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is all very promising. The one thing I
Speaker 3: wanted to mention though, is he does look lean. I mean,
Speaker 3: he doesn't look like the three hundred and twenty pound
Speaker 3: guy that you drafted. And frankly, he's smaller than Darnell
Speaker 3: Washing and Georgia Buddies. You see him walking around, you
Speaker 3: would think Washington's the tackle and Jones is the big
Speaker 3: tight end. And I'm sure the neck injury had to
Speaker 3: really hinder some of his weight stuff, you know, I
Speaker 3: mean some of these.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think anytime you go dry serious surgical procedures and
Speaker 2: all that, you're you're not eating and doing all the
Speaker 2: typical stuff that you normally would. But all the best
Speaker 2: of Broderick and hopefully we'll have some champagne problems on
Speaker 2: the offensive line, Matt, where you've got more than five
Speaker 2: guys that are that look the part, Yeah, and go
Speaker 2: along way with that. They certainly could, certainly could. We'll
Speaker 2: have our final segment of the day. We'll wrap up
Speaker 2: the day's proceedings when we return. It's all happening here
Speaker 2: at Chuck Nolefield on the campus of Saint Vincent College
Speaker 2: and fabulous sunny lay Trow, Pennsylvania Westchhuler Matt Williams said,
Speaker 2: it's the Drive. Are part of our ongoing training camp
Speaker 2: coverage Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1: This is live coverage up the twenty twenty six Steelers
Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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Speaker 2: Final segment of the day here for our day two
Speaker 2: coverage at Steelers Training Camp, Weshooler Matt Williamson is the
Speaker 2: Drive and Mike McCarthy a lot of man just different,
Speaker 2: a training camp of change here certainly. Yeah, And with that,
Speaker 2: we're hearing from Mike McCarthy every single day, which has
Speaker 2: been fun. He kind of you know, outlines the day's proceedings.
Speaker 2: The standard operating procedure of how he wants things to
Speaker 2: go out out here pretty precise to man, very precise,
Speaker 2: very detail oriented. Like you mentioned, if practice is supposed
Speaker 2: to go until twelve forty six, it goes till twelve
Speaker 2: forty six, not twelve forty five, not twelve forty seven.
Speaker 2: It reminds me, Matt of one of our favorite movies
Speaker 2: to quote Monty Python in The Holy Grail when they
Speaker 2: are lobbing the Holy hand grenade at the at the
Speaker 2: Killer Rabbit, right, three shall be the number of counting,
Speaker 2: and the number of counting shall be three, not two,
Speaker 2: not five. Three. Here's what Mike McCarthy had to say
Speaker 2: on day number two.
Speaker 9: Hey, you said the other day, Mike, by your feelings
Speaker 9: by tackle a camp? How you know, I know, do
Speaker 9: you wig with the veteran team and how do you
Speaker 9: think about it? Maybe installing physicality if you don't tackle
Speaker 9: in camp.
Speaker 8: Or yeah, I think there's so much the football I
Speaker 8: think when you have a definition of having a physical camp,
Speaker 8: I feel I have great confidence of just let's just
Speaker 8: get to the end of the camp and you can
Speaker 8: you can grave my camp. So you know I've tackled
Speaker 8: before in camp. Uh, it's it's a risk assessment decision.
Speaker 8: The fundamentals of tackling we work every day, so I
Speaker 8: have confidence in that. I mean, the option of tackling
Speaker 8: and goal line, it's it's it's always a conversation. You know,
Speaker 8: there's years I've done it, there's years I haven't done it.
Speaker 4: It's it's a hard.
Speaker 8: Drill to do. I think there's more brought it up yesterday,
Speaker 8: So that's that's part of it. But there's there's so
Speaker 8: much more that we can do in that area to
Speaker 8: emphasize that, you know, the long stride, short stride, the
Speaker 8: specifics of how the fundamentals are being taught to the
Speaker 8: the you know, the approach to strike, the wrap to finish.
Speaker 8: Uh So these are constants that are taught, you know,
Speaker 8: throughout you know, our our whole our whole team, you
Speaker 8: know defense obviously special teams and our offensive players that
Speaker 8: play special teams. So it's a it's a primary fundamental.
Speaker 8: We call it the Steeler six. You know, we have
Speaker 8: six fundamentals of Steeler football of emphasized. Obviously, tackling and
Speaker 8: breaking tackles is one of those six. So those six
Speaker 8: fundamentals are emphasized daily. We have a period just fourteen
Speaker 8: fundamentals to emphasize that, so, you know, doing it for
Speaker 8: a long time, I have great confidence and frankly, evaluating
Speaker 8: the team last year, you know, I think that's definitely
Speaker 8: I would say, is an asset, you know, moving forward.
Speaker 8: So it is a veteran team. But we have preseason
Speaker 8: games too, you know, so that's that's always part of it.
Speaker 8: Who plays the preseason who doesn't, So I mean, all
Speaker 8: those things are discussed, and I think that's why I'll
Speaker 8: continue to say there's a systematic approach to everything we do.
Speaker 8: You know, we have a plan, but the plan has
Speaker 8: proactive adjustice that it gives us in a systematic mindset.
Speaker 3: You share the other five?
Speaker 4: Do you share?
Speaker 8: The other five have ball security obviously taking care of it,
Speaker 8: extracting it. Ball security is number one. Blocking obviously, sustaining
Speaker 8: break you know, obviously getting off blocks, already hit tackling
Speaker 8: about big plays as the fundamentals. You can't win in
Speaker 8: the National Football League without big plays just you know,
Speaker 8: each game. If you look at the league average average
Speaker 8: is about thirty six a game. So uh so you
Speaker 8: get you got it. You gotta emphasize it. The finish,
Speaker 8: the pursuit and finish. UH is clearly a big part
Speaker 8: of that too, But in one that we you know,
Speaker 8: spend a lot of time in, particularly because the way
Speaker 8: we have to train more than everyone else season is
Speaker 8: the mannerisms. Mannerisms in disguise is a big part of
Speaker 8: pro football. I think it's particularly coming from the quarterback position.
Speaker 8: You know my history, you spend time there, but you
Speaker 8: know the games evolved that way. We're both sides of
Speaker 8: the of the ball are doing it a lot more
Speaker 8: here and seeing it more in special teams. So those
Speaker 8: are the six, you know, fundamentals of still the.
Speaker 4: Football is it?
Speaker 7: Are you on the tackling end, yes, was any part
Speaker 7: of evaluating the team and last season and what you
Speaker 7: saw and they mis tackles that showed up that went
Speaker 7: into your decision to not have live tackling this year,
Speaker 7: Like any concern about Rosco.
Speaker 8: Teams, there wasn't anything anything from the l this UH
Speaker 8: end of season evaluations that affected the way we trained
Speaker 8: in the team today. You know, it's a it's a
Speaker 8: clean slate for everybody, coaches and players. You know, the
Speaker 8: teaching environment that you want to create. I feel good
Speaker 8: about it. We're off the good start. I think I
Speaker 8: think we hit the target in the spring. We're doing
Speaker 8: some things here in camp that you know, we have
Speaker 8: we have you know, a talk through, a walk through
Speaker 8: type thing in a gymnasium. So that's been very productive
Speaker 8: last today. So the teaching environments is clearly there, and
Speaker 8: then the you know, the competitive nature of the practice.
Speaker 4: Environment will improve.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 4: Obviously we're doing we're.
Speaker 8: In shells and protective shirts again today. You know, we're
Speaker 8: on the clock. We'll emphasize two minute again.
Speaker 4: Today.
Speaker 8: You'll see you know that, you'll see the two minute
Speaker 8: team go today. We're still we're still hitting the end
Speaker 8: of the game. Talked to that yesterday. We got some
Speaker 8: end of the game things we're looking at, uh just
Speaker 8: because you know, finishing the install coming out of spring,
Speaker 8: and we'll you know, always have a fundamental sections and
Speaker 8: so forth. So you know, we're working in accordance uh
Speaker 8: to the you know, the CBA with like everybody you know,
Speaker 8: and I think practicing and helmets and shirts, you can
Speaker 8: emphasize things more on the perimeter, you know, ball in
Speaker 8: space and those types of things, and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 2: Like when that two minute emphasis at the end of
Speaker 2: practice yesterday at the hearing was you got four seconds
Speaker 2: different down in distances starting points? Just what's kind of your.
Speaker 5: Mythology methodology behind that and what do you guys kind
Speaker 5: of gain out of some of that chaoticness and going.
Speaker 9: Through those plays?
Speaker 8: Well, big, a big part of the game of football
Speaker 8: is you know, the understanding of time clocks, you know,
Speaker 8: and you know and particularly when you talk about the
Speaker 8: two minute situation. I mean, if you look at a
Speaker 8: seventeen game season and the really numbers haven't moved a
Speaker 8: whole lot in my time in the league. You know,
Speaker 8: on an average of seventeen games, eight games a year
Speaker 8: on an average will come down to the last series.
Speaker 8: You look at play a football almost it's probably even
Speaker 8: closer to ninety ninety five percent of the games come
Speaker 8: down to the last series. So those those the things
Speaker 8: I look at. So when I'm when I'm putting together
Speaker 8: a training regiment, so the opportunity to win games. We're
Speaker 8: the Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, we're gonna get everybody's best shot,
Speaker 8: so uh so maybe ours will be ten eleven. So
Speaker 8: that's how I evaluate it. That's how I when I
Speaker 8: look at the training how we're gonna set up the practices,
Speaker 8: the reps, the quarterback school. Obviously, I think we all
Speaker 8: start somewhere as coaches. You know, my starting point was,
Speaker 8: you know, the quarterback room. So uh, that's I trained
Speaker 8: the team in a lot of ways. How I learned
Speaker 8: learned you know, the training of the quarterback position. And
Speaker 8: I think you know and then you take it down
Speaker 8: any either further into the science of what every play represents,
Speaker 8: like today when the emphasis in the team meeting today
Speaker 8: was the anatomy of a play, you know, and the
Speaker 8: pre snap is the first part of a play.
Speaker 4: So everything that goes on in the pre.
Speaker 8: Snap up until the ball snap, you know, the specifics,
Speaker 8: the mannerism, disguise, that's why, that's why it's it's a fundamental, uh,
Speaker 8: the cadence, the substitution patterns, you know, the ability to
Speaker 8: get to get this personnelity and quickly in the red zones.
Speaker 8: So you have to practice all those little things now
Speaker 8: because it's going to show up in preseason games. It's
Speaker 8: going to show up when you get out there for
Speaker 8: the first time with the ninety maninion rosters. So so
Speaker 8: you got the pre snap, but then if you go
Speaker 8: if you watch as you watch film, you study the film,
Speaker 8: you'll see in the first two point three seconds, that's
Speaker 8: really the actually, that's the execution battleground. That's where really
Speaker 8: the play gets established in the first two point three.
Speaker 4: So that's another time block.
Speaker 8: So and then above two point three two point five,
Speaker 8: now you get into extended play. Okay, so now we're
Speaker 8: talking about extended plays, which is what big plays, big
Speaker 8: play opportunities, which is another still er fundamental. So that's
Speaker 8: that's the way my brain works. That's the way I've
Speaker 8: learned it through the as of a quarterback in my
Speaker 8: time this league, and that's why we train our team.
Speaker 8: So all our situational emphasis, you know, really is broken
Speaker 8: down every specific play and how we can train in
Speaker 8: those in those little segments in our and hopefully, as
Speaker 8: I expressed this, you know, hopefully hopefully you see that
Speaker 8: in our practice structure.
Speaker 4: It seeming you get a pretty aggressive caseence in terms
Speaker 4: of how the plays get called the practice. How did
Speaker 4: you come to that? And can you push that too far?
Speaker 4: We're going too fast loses some things in some other
Speaker 4: areas well.
Speaker 8: Everything's calculated, everything is regulated, so you know, there's obviously
Speaker 8: science behind it. You know, we're we're in tune with
Speaker 8: the conditioning of our players.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 8: The commandment that players made in the spring was was evident,
Speaker 8: you know, and I like, I like what I've seen
Speaker 8: so far, what they've done away from here, particularly the
Speaker 8: men that you know got together in their individual groups.
Speaker 8: So my point is it's showing up. Yeah, So it's
Speaker 8: it's all this is all by design. There's history behind it.
Speaker 8: So we're learning each other's you know there everybody has
Speaker 8: a genetic you know, you know background that that that
Speaker 8: you pay attention to. Some guys can rev higher than others.
Speaker 8: And so this is part of the process. You know,
Speaker 8: we meet, we meet up, meet, we meet on it daily,
Speaker 8: so we're aware of that. And but yeah, it's clearly
Speaker 8: design because you know, you go back to religious talk
Speaker 8: about the pre snap.
Speaker 4: You know, we need you.
Speaker 8: Everybody talks about the physical and the mental you know,
Speaker 8: stress of a of a physical camp. Well, what the
Speaker 8: hell about the nervous system? You know, who's training that?
Speaker 8: You know, how you how you tapping at, how you
Speaker 8: pushing that, where you getting that at? Where's the mental toughness,
Speaker 8: where's the emotional toughness? How do how do you train
Speaker 8: that on? A football field. So that's this is all
Speaker 8: by design. I mean, that's and like I said, a
Speaker 8: lot of a lot of my ideas, a lot of
Speaker 8: my approaches, you know, the systematic things really comes from
Speaker 8: the days as a quarterback coach.
Speaker 2: Early on.
Speaker 5: But I know, I know it's early on in general.
Speaker 2: After day one, what did you see that you liked?
Speaker 2: What did you see that you didn't like?
Speaker 4: After what practice?
Speaker 8: We were on time and we finished on time, so
Speaker 8: we won't we're in compliance with the CVA rules. You know,
Speaker 8: m I say that with total sarcasm. I think that,
Speaker 8: you know, the big thing there was I I liked
Speaker 8: the way they came out of the meetings, they came
Speaker 8: out of talk through. You can see that they had
Speaker 8: they you know, they were sharp. Now the execution part
Speaker 8: we got. We got a ton of work to do.
Speaker 8: I mean we that's that's what training camp looks like.
Speaker 8: And then when we get pads next week, pads are
Speaker 8: not going to be consistently low enough. And so I
Speaker 8: mean we look, you know, it looked like a normal
Speaker 8: starting day. You know, I really is trying to watch
Speaker 8: the individual players, particularly in the fundamental work. You know,
Speaker 8: that's usually where my eyes go, you know, to see
Speaker 8: to see if they're you know, closing that gap with
Speaker 8: the veterans. So but I thought we got off the
Speaker 8: off to a nice start. It's been about eight years
Speaker 8: since you've last coached Aaron.
Speaker 2: What's it been like getting reacclimated with him and how
Speaker 2: do you feel like both you and him have changed.
Speaker 3: And evolved over those ears.
Speaker 4: Uh, it's been fun.
Speaker 8: I mean it, you know, personally, it's it's it's been awesome.
Speaker 8: But you know, the big, the big, big thing is
Speaker 8: really for him and I is how we're connected and
Speaker 8: engaged with everybody else. It's it's I'm not I'm not
Speaker 8: as concerned about being on the same page when and
Speaker 8: it's make sure and the whole group is connected, you know.
Speaker 8: You know, conversations that you know, him and I have
Speaker 8: are on the level of a coach, you know, uh,
Speaker 8: leadership level coach, so as far as how we want
Speaker 8: to play, you know, getting connected to the particular young
Speaker 8: guys in the perimeter. You know, I feel really good
Speaker 8: about what he's already has established with the offensive line
Speaker 8: and the tight ends. You can see that. You know,
Speaker 8: obviously him and d K. I thought they showed some
Speaker 8: big time things, you know, just in the OTAs so
Speaker 8: but it's it's it's really it's really the younger guys.
Speaker 8: And frankly, we got new coaching staff, so I mean
Speaker 8: that's that. You know, he's worked with some of those guys,
Speaker 8: and you can see the relationship with James Camping and
Speaker 8: and and the guys he's worked with before. But just
Speaker 8: getting that all connected just because you know, once again,
Speaker 8: we you know, we we we want to be a
Speaker 8: master of our offense, you know, and play the right way.
Speaker 4: We're not.
Speaker 8: We don't want to be jack of all trades and
Speaker 8: try to you know, run a little bit of this,
Speaker 8: run a little bit of that. You know, he knows
Speaker 8: me and he feel he thinks the same way. It's
Speaker 8: got to fit together. It's got to line up at
Speaker 8: the end of the day, every offense I've ever coordinated,
Speaker 8: and that it'll never change. It's built around making a
Speaker 8: quarterback successful and that's that's the design of it. No
Speaker 8: one knows it better than he does. And then we
Speaker 8: just got to make sure we get that thing lined
Speaker 8: up and get the reps all right, thank you, that'll.
Speaker 2: Do it, Matt. We hear from the big man, Mike
Speaker 2: McCarthy as we see the Steelers getting into the walk
Speaker 2: through portion of the day's proceedings. The mental side to
Speaker 2: close down today for the Steelers and that will do
Speaker 2: it for us. Matt here on our second day of
Speaker 2: training camp coverage. Well, we will be back on Friday.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on Saturday as we roll along throughout
Speaker 2: these acclamation days. Thank you, Matthew. Great stuff today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's always It's been a good start to camp
Speaker 3: for sure. Weather and luck going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, big, big thanks to Mike the Fabo of
Speaker 2: the Athletic for stopping buy in the first hour talking
Speaker 2: about his Mike McCarthy story. Make sure you check that out.
Speaker 2: It's it's free to view, and it is just a
Speaker 2: really great profile on the Steelers new head coach, how
Speaker 2: much it means to him to his family and the
Speaker 2: weight that he carries of the loss of his brother
Speaker 2: while he has the great honor of coaching his hometown
Speaker 2: football team. Thanks to Mike the Fabo for joining us.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Ed for producing here on site, Justin for
Speaker 2: producing back at the ranch. Take care everybody, and we
Speaker 2: will talk to you tomorrow. As always, you know where
Speaker 2: to find us. It's on your twenty four to seven,
Speaker 2: home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio on
Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network