Speaker 1: So Mason, you made it three year, your first year
Speaker 1: with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Um, what did you learn about
Speaker 1: yourself about your teammates this year? Uh? Yeah, just really
Speaker 1: proud of this group and how we responded. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously didn't go well early in the year, but um,
Speaker 1: just having the faith in in the culture and the
Speaker 1: trust and coach Towmon to lead us in the right direction. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's what got us at this point. And
Speaker 1: haven't winning record, obviously we were throwing the playoffs, but um,
Speaker 1: to end the season on the right note. How we did, Um,
Speaker 1: I think it's a testament to just the guys just
Speaker 1: putting their heads down to working and just proud of
Speaker 1: those guys. Um, proud of our room for doing that
Speaker 1: and and not necessarily listening to all the noise all
Speaker 1: the time. How much are you looking forward eight and
Speaker 1: you're gonna get some time off here, but then bet
Speaker 1: just to come rolling into next year based on what
Speaker 1: you guys were able to do. Yeah, it's always it's
Speaker 1: always funnier than the season. Like you're you're so looking
Speaker 1: forward to a few weeks off, giving your body a break,
Speaker 1: spending time with family. But um, after like three weeks
Speaker 1: you're like you just you just you had that itch
Speaker 1: to want to get back to it, and um, which
Speaker 1: is good. I think it should be that way. I
Speaker 1: think you should take some time off. But um, like
Speaker 1: I said towards the end of those three or four weeks,
Speaker 1: I think guys, at least me personally, just um, you
Speaker 1: had started at the urge and had that want to do,
Speaker 1: want to be, UM in the best shape going the
Speaker 1: next year, and just carry this momentum we had at
Speaker 1: the end of the year in the next year. You
Speaker 1: feel like that not making the playoffs this year is
Speaker 1: going to maybe build a little hunger from this group,
Speaker 1: knowing how you finished. And I think so, I think
Speaker 1: just how good we were at least offensively, um, late
Speaker 1: in the year. Um, just that momentum, just knowing how
Speaker 1: good we can be, just with the guys in our room.
Speaker 1: We don't nothing that has to change. We were really
Speaker 1: good in the second half of the year. Um, And
Speaker 1: just that confidence, having the confidence going in the next year,
Speaker 1: knowing that, uh, how efficient we can be as an offense. Now,
Speaker 1: you said at the beginning of the year before anything started,
Speaker 1: when when we first started the O T s and
Speaker 1: those things you wanted to place enter you thought you
Speaker 1: were a center. What gave you that confidence? Is the
Speaker 1: place center as opposed to guard? What made you feel
Speaker 1: that way? I just thought physically, I thought the center
Speaker 1: was the best position for me. Um. I'd played guard
Speaker 1: but only started um a handful of game to guard,
Speaker 1: had plenty of starts at center. UM, And I just
Speaker 1: like the leadership aspect, um, the vocal aspect of playing
Speaker 1: center and just having control and understanding of what's going
Speaker 1: on and helping the guys around me. So UM, it's
Speaker 1: a unique position, but it's a fun position, and there's
Speaker 1: certainly some challenges with it, but um, I'm not a
Speaker 1: tackle on an island out there block and Miles Carrot,
Speaker 1: so there's some benefits to you mentioned the vocal part.
Speaker 1: How important was that this year with a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: in there? It's huge and and Kenny was great all year.
Speaker 1: M His want and will to understand stuff like protections
Speaker 1: and defensive fronts is is really special. You don't see
Speaker 1: that in a lot of quarterbacks, especially young quarterbacks, So
Speaker 1: um it was really cool. And for him to pick
Speaker 1: my ear and me be able to teach him something, Um,
Speaker 1: it's a cool relationship to have. You had again a
Speaker 1: young offensive line. You guys are all around the same age. Um,
Speaker 1: obviously come from different backgrounds and those kind of things,
Speaker 1: but you jelled together pretty quickly. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: even said in the off seat during the preseason the
Speaker 1: game in JACKSONVI, where you guys struggled like Rome wasn't
Speaker 1: built in a day, but you guys figured it out
Speaker 1: pretty quickly. Yeah, you know, I think sometimes good things
Speaker 1: take with time, and obviously took a little more time
Speaker 1: than we probably wanted to. But um man, we just
Speaker 1: got a really good room and the guys showed together.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Like you said, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different personalities in our room, and we come from all
Speaker 1: over the place, but um we got a really special
Speaker 1: group in there. And just really proud of those guys
Speaker 1: and um how they stuck together through through the ups
Speaker 1: and downs of the season, because it's not always like that.
Speaker 1: But um, for these guys to stick through it and
Speaker 1: and and putting their head down to keep working and
Speaker 1: and seeing some success at the end of the years
Speaker 1: is I'm really happy for those guys. In terms of growth,
Speaker 1: where do you guys, where do you think you got
Speaker 1: can grow the most from this year to next year.
Speaker 1: It's offensive line or as an offense or both. I
Speaker 1: think offensive line, I think we just, um, we just
Speaker 1: at a more efficient um rate. We can be more consistent,
Speaker 1: we could be we could always be better. You're always learning,
Speaker 1: you're always um trying to do things to be better.
Speaker 1: And I think we saw that as an offense too. UM.
Speaker 1: I think we just have to be at a better operations.
Speaker 1: I think I think our procedural stuff has to But
Speaker 1: we can't have all sides. We can't have too many penalties. UM.
Speaker 1: We saw that, especially earlier year. We're getting behind the
Speaker 1: chains and then we're we're really bad on third down.
Speaker 1: UM that's because you're on third and fifteen half the time,
Speaker 1: not third and six. But um, as you operate officially
Speaker 1: as an offense, usually good things come with it, and
Speaker 1: I think that that should be our focus going in
Speaker 1: the next year. I believe over your last nine games
Speaker 1: on third downs led the league over that time period
Speaker 1: is have an offensive line staff. Uh, certainly at least
Speaker 1: Nagre Harris at. I mean, we take a lot of
Speaker 1: credit for some of the run game, but man Naji
Speaker 1: and Jalen and Benny and and man, all those backs
Speaker 1: had had a really good year. Just um, we can
Speaker 1: block for them, but they still got to run the
Speaker 1: freaking ball, and that proble is still falls forward. When
Speaker 1: Nadre is putting his head down there, it's just it's
Speaker 1: excited to see. But yeah, when you're when you're third
Speaker 1: and five versus third and fifteen, it's it's certainly a
Speaker 1: good feeling and it lets you operate at a more
Speaker 1: efficient level. Thanks Mason, appreciate it.