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Speaker 1: The Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on Home

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Speaker 1: of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt Williams. I

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Speaker 1: think he just heard us. If you were listening on

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Speaker 1: the on the loop. There we are live right now

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Speaker 1: the New Morning Show. Um, it was an interesting day yesterday, Matt.

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Speaker 1: We've got to see the Steelers in pads for the

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Speaker 1: first time. We could actually see if there were fans

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Speaker 1: in the stadium as well. I think they say they

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Speaker 1: had or so tickets distributed. I don't know that there

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Speaker 1: were sixty people in the stadium watching the practice. It

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Speaker 1: was a Wednesday. It was, you know, the middle of

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Speaker 1: the afternoon. There were all kinds of traffic issue, the

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Speaker 1: pull back, the curt and here we're doing this this morning,

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Speaker 1: as as we have every day at our offices and

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Speaker 1: Green Studio. And then I leave here and I drive

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Speaker 1: down to the stadium, so I always go down the

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Speaker 1: backside of Green Tree Hill. I got over to the

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Speaker 1: west End west End yesterday to go across the west

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Speaker 1: End Bridge. Every traffic light over there was out. It

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Speaker 1: was out in the whole area. You don't realize how

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Speaker 1: important traffic lights, right, I was thinking of those guys

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Speaker 1: to coordinate them, how do they know how long to

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Speaker 1: keep it green? And getting to switch to this one

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Speaker 1: the reds, you don't have all the traffic jams. I

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Speaker 1: mean there's some some math involved there. So some of

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Speaker 1: the fans that tried to probably arrive late didn't get

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Speaker 1: there on time. And probably there was a good chance

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Speaker 1: because I pulled out, like I don't know what the

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Speaker 1: main street there, the road that you go on turn

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Speaker 1: onto to get onto the west End Bridge, it leads

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Speaker 1: you around the loop there. Yeah, yeah, and it was

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Speaker 1: backed up like it was game day, but I don't

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Speaker 1: think it was ends trying to get down to the stadium.

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Speaker 1: If it's it was just a regular traffic because then

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Speaker 1: you couldn't go Usually you can go right right before

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Speaker 1: you get to the west End Bridge and go loop

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Speaker 1: around and get back onto three seventy six. That's closed off.

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Speaker 1: So everybody was being forced across the West End Bridge

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Speaker 1: and you couldn't get there, and I'm like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: what's that? What's going on here? So I actually I

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Speaker 1: actually did a U turn, swung back around and went

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Speaker 1: through the tunnel like and that was bold move. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna go any I could see. I wasn't

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Speaker 1: gonna go in your future if you stuck where you're at. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but you got there on time. I got there in

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Speaker 1: plenty of time. Yeah, but in fact I got there

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Speaker 1: in time to see that nause Harris was no longer

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Speaker 1: wearing a mask and was out of the It wasn't

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Speaker 1: didn't have the little yellow thing on his wrist for

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Speaker 1: signifying that he was still in the uh unvaccinated. So

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Speaker 1: obviously he had his vaccination and they have to wait

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Speaker 1: fourteen days before YEAP. So I guess that also affects

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Speaker 1: all the NFL number across the league. This team is well,

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Speaker 1: they might have guys waiting on the fourteen day list

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Speaker 1: and still to poost that up. Yeah, but as I reported,

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Speaker 1: I don't know three weeks ago, the Steelers are over league. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: some of the teams are remarkably low to me, but

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Speaker 1: I don't I don't feel like going down that road necessarily.

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Speaker 1: But man, I mean, it's shocks mid summer. As low

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Speaker 1: as they are, it just you know, the rules that

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Speaker 1: are put in place make it very difficult for teams

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Speaker 1: to operate. If you've got a bunch of guys on

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Speaker 1: the coast. I mean you're gonna sacrifice games, all sorts

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Speaker 1: of things, to be honest with you, I mean meetings,

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Speaker 1: meetings and games and travel and yeah, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: mind boggling to me that every team is not at

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Speaker 1: ninety by now. Um. But so we we saw a

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Speaker 1: full practice that we could report what we saw. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the first time, jealous. Um, they had backs on backers

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Speaker 1: yesterday and La J Harris he won his reps. I

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Speaker 1: had him winning. Uh. I think he had five reps.

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Speaker 1: I had him winning for them. He got tested the most.

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Speaker 1: But they tested him. But did they I don't know

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Speaker 1: that they really tested tested him. But nice Vince Williams

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Speaker 1: is around, Yeah, someone of that nature, Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: or Lawrence Timmins, you know the guys. Um. What they

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Speaker 1: did was they matched the running backs up against the

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Speaker 1: inside linebackers, and the outside linebackers win against the tight

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Speaker 1: ends fair enough. Uh, the outside linebackers owned. That wasn't

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Speaker 1: a very competitive it was not just didn't get embarrassed.

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Speaker 1: He didn't get embarrassed. But he wasn't. No, he wasn't.

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Speaker 1: That's yeah, one on one against you know, Alex Highsmith

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Speaker 1: was not pretty sure. Alex Highsmith had himself a day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah he was good. Um, but they put Nauja Harris

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Speaker 1: up against uh Marcus Allen. The first four times he

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Speaker 1: owned Marcus Allen. Um, that's promising. Yeah, it would be

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Speaker 1: disappointed if it wasn't the other way around. Wrecked Um

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Speaker 1: Harris to me, past blocking is gonna be something well

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Speaker 1: as all rookies, I think will be a strength. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you noticed this or just something to

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Speaker 1: keep an eye on. I thought he ducked his head

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Speaker 1: a little bit in protection at Alabama. I'm sure you

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Speaker 1: know that's been mentioned to him in the past. But

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Speaker 1: he certainly has the size and the arm length and

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Speaker 1: the desire, which is the most important. That was that

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Speaker 1: was the big thing. The desire was there his first

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Speaker 1: rep Alan kind of again, I think he did duck

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Speaker 1: his head a little bit now and kind of got

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Speaker 1: the better of him on the first one. I thought

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Speaker 1: Mike pursued a disagreed, but it wasn't a clear wind.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't a clear wind. The next three he held

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Speaker 1: him up pretty well. That was the thing. You know

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Speaker 1: that drill um. You know there's there's handfuls of patting.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're you're grabbing handfuls and things that I

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Speaker 1: don't know if I don't know, if he gets called,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what, you know, what happens with that.

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Speaker 1: But they also don't have any protection either, right, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's just you yeah, you know, you don't know what.

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Speaker 1: You know, they're coming through necessarily, you know, it's it's

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Speaker 1: they can actually do anywhere they want. Yeah, it really

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Speaker 1: favors the defense because in a game, if that guy's

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Speaker 1: coming up the middle there, he's got a very small

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Speaker 1: lane and you know, the quarterbacks to my left and

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Speaker 1: you can drive him to the other side or right,

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Speaker 1: you have some advantages. Right. Um. On his last rep,

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Speaker 1: they put him up against Robert Spillane and he and

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Speaker 1: he did a nice job against Robert Spillane as well.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to seep against Bush a lot more. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Bush didn't do the drill. Yeah, yeah, But that was

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Speaker 1: the other thing about is like Wat's not doing it.

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Speaker 1: Bush fence isn't here. Yeah, right. Um. So they went

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Speaker 1: immediately from that last rep, everybody run, jog over to

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Speaker 1: two here, and we're gonna start the inside run drill.

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Speaker 1: And so the first four carries were Naja Harris. So

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Speaker 1: he went straight to the while straight from a pass

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Speaker 1: blocking drill fifty yards fifty yards away, jogged down to

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Speaker 1: the middle of the field. Let's do inside run. First

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Speaker 1: four carries were Naja Harris. I bet that was not

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Speaker 1: an accident. It was. It was very want to say,

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Speaker 1: what's the best way I can figure out if this

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Speaker 1: guy still has juice in the fourth quarter. Yeah, let's

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Speaker 1: let's test your conditioning here a little bit in football stuff,

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Speaker 1: just running gassers or whatever. You know, that's interesting. So

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Speaker 1: he ran still have his paths down on that fourth carry,

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Speaker 1: you know, so he got twelve yards in the first carry,

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Speaker 1: he broke he broke a tackle. Took three guys to

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Speaker 1: get him on the ground. They were tackling live. Now

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Speaker 1: he carried some people. He didn't carry them, but he

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Speaker 1: broke a tackle, broke it out to his his left,

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Speaker 1: and then you know, three guys converged on him and

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Speaker 1: he kind of, you know, moved him a little bit

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Speaker 1: and went down effort. Twelve yard game, Yeah, right right.

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Speaker 1: It was a nice run. His next game, I believe

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Speaker 1: he got another. Uh it was a one yard game.

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Speaker 1: He got kind of stopped at the line of scrimmage,

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Speaker 1: but he fell forward and then Alex Highsmith just completely

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Speaker 1: blew up the next two runs. I mean he was

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Speaker 1: in the backfield, his Harris was taking the hand off. Um.

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Speaker 1: Beat Friar Muth and Dan Damn Moore on the first

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Speaker 1: one like just blew by him, the three yard loss,

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Speaker 1: and then the next one was a two yard loss,

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Speaker 1: the same thing. They tried to go to that side

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Speaker 1: again and Highsmith just blew it up. Um. And you

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Speaker 1: said he was really good in backs on backers too,

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Speaker 1: He was really good in backs on backers. Yeah, he'd be.

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Speaker 1: I mean he'd just he'd beat Friar muth in uh

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Speaker 1: and uhumbbron. Yeah, consistently one on ones. You know, they

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Speaker 1: did some some live one on ones, not live, but

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Speaker 1: they're in pad so yeah, it's actual. And again he

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Speaker 1: just owned whoever they put in front of him until

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Speaker 1: the last two reps they put him up against Aviante

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Speaker 1: Collins h and Aviante Collins did a nice job on him. Um.

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Speaker 1: I mean we may never mention that name again, but

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Speaker 1: first day of patent practices to get named against the

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Speaker 1: guy who's reckoned, you know, shop for the whole defense. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that could be a guy to keep an eye on.

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Speaker 1: I I looked him up his you know, did a

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Speaker 1: little research on him. He came out in at a TCU,

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Speaker 1: ran a four eight one at the combine. He was

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Speaker 1: the fastest, the fastest offensive lineman at the combine. Then

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Speaker 1: did thirty four reps on the bench, he was the

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Speaker 1: second had the second most watching he spent. His previous

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Speaker 1: three years were all with the Vikings. He's played in

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Speaker 1: five games, he started one, but most of the time

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Speaker 1: was spent on their practice squad. I'm like, he's one

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Speaker 1: of those signings you pick up and like no one

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Speaker 1: thinks twice about it. But he does game experience. You know,

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Speaker 1: he got game experience. He's been around the league for

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Speaker 1: a while, so obviously now I don't know, if you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe at that point Highsmith's a little bit, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was it was the last the last two reps

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Speaker 1: of their practice, you know, was he a little tired

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Speaker 1: and Collins was more friends. I don't know, but I

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Speaker 1: put Collins on my on my radar a little bit.

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Speaker 1: They've been playing him at left tackle. He's been the

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Speaker 1: third string left tackle. Um again, chooser. People don't know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's how these things happen, Like early in camp, Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's a nice played by that guy whatever. You remember

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Speaker 1: the number, and maybe you do and you watch him

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Speaker 1: the next day. Okay, okay, he saw embarrassing himself, or

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Speaker 1: a coach happens to mention them three days from now,

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Speaker 1: or boy he's running with the two's in the Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame game. I didn't see that coming. You know,

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Speaker 1: these guys study every rep, every the position, coaches on everything.

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Speaker 1: So they brought him in for a reason. They didn't

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Speaker 1: bring him in just because we need a warm body,

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Speaker 1: you know, something they liked there and if they can

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Speaker 1: cultivate that and you know throughout camp, he makes a

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Speaker 1: name for himself. Great. I mean again, I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be the starting left hackle or anything, but

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Speaker 1: I mean he's just a name to know. And that

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Speaker 1: was the thing that you have to take with the

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Speaker 1: Green as salt. As I mentioned, Um, they're still holding

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Speaker 1: guys out there. They still haven't had their entire starting

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Speaker 1: offensive line out there. Choos a core for still not

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Speaker 1: not doing anything, impadded Kevin Dotson, studies like super injured. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, no, no, it's nothing, you know, Mike Toma

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Speaker 1: keeps saying that that you know they'll they'll be out

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Speaker 1: here at some point. And again this Eelers are looking

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Speaker 1: at this first week as bonus. As I said, they

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Speaker 1: have more time than everybody else, right, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think you know, after the Hall of Fame game, you'll

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Speaker 1: see those guys start to ramp up, ramp it up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So it was it was kind of look, you know,

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Speaker 1: when the when the defense is out there, um and

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Speaker 1: Harris breaks off that that first run, It's like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: Terrell Evans wasn't out there. They didn't let him do

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Speaker 1: any of the of the padded live tackling stuff. He's

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Speaker 1: recovering from I think his shoulder or something you know

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Speaker 1: that he had late last year. But no, uh to

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Speaker 1: it's still not out there those kind of things that

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Speaker 1: that you know, you look at. They didn't They did

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Speaker 1: allow Bush to play, but he didn't do but he

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Speaker 1: didn't do backs on backers. But when they went live,

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Speaker 1: he did some of that. So, um, you know, you're

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Speaker 1: getting getting to that point. We'll see how it goes today.

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Speaker 1: But not a bad showing by Harrison and Highsmith, I know.

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Speaker 1: Say that's the way that I felt that just construing

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Speaker 1: your thoughts there. It looked like Harris held his own

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Speaker 1: in protection. You know, he didn't block Lawrence Taylor. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, and he looks good running the football. And

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Speaker 1: Mike Thomas said, you know, he's he's a very willing guy.

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Speaker 1: The first rep when um, when he got I don't

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Speaker 1: want to say beaten, but it was it was not.

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Speaker 1: I don't know that he expected what the drill to be.

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Speaker 1: What it was the first time he's ever done. It

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Speaker 1: is the first time he's ever done. And usually he's

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Speaker 1: the guys struggle with the first time that they do it.

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Speaker 1: He immediately called for him to run it back again

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Speaker 1: on his own. He's like, hey, let's do that again.

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Speaker 1: H So you know that's what you want to see.

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Speaker 1: As Tomlas said, he was a willing participant. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure a lot of our listeners understand this,

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Speaker 1: but when you're the top recruit in the country, he

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Speaker 1: probably in past block a lot in high school, even

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Speaker 1: at Bama where everybody has to pay their dues, you're

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Speaker 1: still a superstar. And most of these guys, I mean,

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Speaker 1: the coach's job is to win games. If you have

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Speaker 1: Ladinian Tom, it's in you you run him on a

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Speaker 1: pass pattern, Alora, you're handing the football. You don't have

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Speaker 1: them block a linebacker, you know. Speaking of that, they

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Speaker 1: go seven shots to open practices. They all understand. The

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Speaker 1: second play. The first play they try, they try uh

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Speaker 1: pass from Roethlisberger to Chase Claypool on the left side

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Speaker 1: of the end zone. Camp Sutton breaks it up against

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Speaker 1: against Chase Claypool again. A six ft four wide receiver

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Speaker 1: gets up, knocks the ball loose. Okay, nice play. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The second play, Roethlisberger motions Harris out to the left,

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Speaker 1: out to the outside of the receivers. He didn't get

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Speaker 1: deep enough, so he motions him a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: Still not still not out as far as Roethlisberger motions

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Speaker 1: him out again and then hits him on a slant um.

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Speaker 1: After the receiver's clear it out, Boom, he comes up.

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Speaker 1: He comes underneath, He's got Bush on him. Man covers

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Speaker 1: Bushes imposition to make the play. Harris screens him off,

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Speaker 1: catches the football touchdown. Wow. I mean, and the negative

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Speaker 1: spin is I wish Bush was two inches taller and

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Speaker 1: a longer arms. I don't think being taller would have helped,

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Speaker 1: but I just love the idea of him because I've

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Speaker 1: seen him catch fadeballs and from that situation like outside

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Speaker 1: the numbers down you know, near the red zone. But

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Speaker 1: to also have the slant, you know, that's those are

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Speaker 1: two complimentary routes. You know that at that at that area,

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Speaker 1: that's pretty impressive. You know, to get your shoulders to

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Speaker 1: the point where you can box that guy out but

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Speaker 1: still being on the move and still make the catch.

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Speaker 1: It's enticing. I don't know that there are any linebackers.

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Speaker 1: I I don't know what you do to stop that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because you I mean again, he's coming underneath the receivers

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Speaker 1: who are clearing it out. There's a little tip on

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Speaker 1: the one in a little natural pick there. Yeah. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but Bush was in Yeah, Bush was in position, and

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Speaker 1: and Harris just beat him on it. Interesting. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: good to see from Sutton as well. I'm not worried

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Speaker 1: about Bush at that situation, don't get me wrong, but

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Speaker 1: it sounds like Harris because everything he's lived up to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of what we thought. And I keep

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Speaker 1: parking on this too. I'm not sure our listeners know

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Speaker 1: what he might bring in the passing game. You know,

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Speaker 1: the dynamic plays, the wild plays, and the consistency of

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Speaker 1: her his receiving ability. I just wonder if if this

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Speaker 1: whole thing brings the two point conversion back into play.

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Speaker 1: The Steelers haven't done a whole lot of it the

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Speaker 1: last few years, but throwing fire when they had, when

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Speaker 1: they had Levy on belt the height of his powers,

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Speaker 1: first score of the game was often too. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: didn't need to go for two, but they I liked

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Speaker 1: it too. I mean, if it's if it's over, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I guess the math tells you you should do it,

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Speaker 1: because not like every extra point goes in, right, you know,

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Speaker 1: most do, but not everyone. I mean, Boss Wall has

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Speaker 1: missed some every year every A lot of kickers do.

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Speaker 1: Now since they moved it back, you're kicking so many

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Speaker 1: of them. It's not like, yeah, it's not a gimmy anymore,

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Speaker 1: you know, right. So, no, I think that's a great

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Speaker 1: spot with their defense. You know, being down eight points

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Speaker 1: right out of the gate, that's a trend setter. Or

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Speaker 1: if it's if you're down six, it's not like, okay,

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Speaker 1: it's not. But if you're down eight now, all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, the other team those if we give up

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Speaker 1: another one of those and we're down six team, maybe

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Speaker 1: we have to go on fourth when we don't want to,

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Speaker 1: or yeah, you shouldn't change your tone. But it's this

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Speaker 1: human nature. Yeah, that's an interesting point. We probably touches

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Speaker 1: that more. Yeah we should we let's do that when

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Speaker 1: we get back. He is Uh, Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lally.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be back with more right after this. Your

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Speaker 1: tunes about Drive on Home of the Black and Goal

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Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back. I'm Dale Lally here with

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Speaker 1: Matt Williamson. And Matt we're talking about the possibilities because

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Speaker 1: of of uh, the addition of Naja Harris. Um, what

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Speaker 1: that could mean for the Steelers offensively in terms of

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Speaker 1: going for two, which could also again it affects your

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Speaker 1: defense and how you played the game. And right, um,

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Speaker 1: a couple of notes. I mean, I just think that

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Speaker 1: Tomlin has shown a very aggressive nature in doing so,

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Speaker 1: you know, not when the chart tells you should go

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Speaker 1: for two, but to set set the tone in the game.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's better than I but I guess, well,

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Speaker 1: maybe wouldn't because you don't go to thirty one other practices,

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Speaker 1: but it seemed like in those level bell days they

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Speaker 1: practice two points more than most teams, and they do

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Speaker 1: the yeah seven shot basically the same thing. So that's

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Speaker 1: it's probably under present true Harris. As we mentioned, first

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Speaker 1: of all, it's not quite short yardage. Is not Jerome

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Speaker 1: picking up half a yard just you know, to see

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Speaker 1: a touchdown or whatever. But he's a very good short

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Speaker 1: yardage runner. So I think their run package from that

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Speaker 1: alignment or from that distance is going to be improved

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Speaker 1: just from the ball carrier. Even the line struggles we've seen,

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Speaker 1: you know, end a sounds when jet motions with Claypool,

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Speaker 1: and some of these guys work in those type of

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Speaker 1: instances as well. So if you do, if you rep

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Speaker 1: that more and you're better at it, I gotta think

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Speaker 1: that you have more success. You mentioned that Sutton broke

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Speaker 1: up a Claypool play, but that doesn't mean him to

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Speaker 1: stop throwing fades to Claypool. No. I mean that's a

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Speaker 1: weapon down there. I mean in that situation, Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: we don't know whether you know they said they uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, Cam, We're gonna throw a fade here, or

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Speaker 1: if he just read it. But either way, I mean,

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Speaker 1: Claypool is still gonna be a guy. I'm gonna throw

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Speaker 1: the ball up for grabs and let him go up

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Speaker 1: and be big. And I think it would be even

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Speaker 1: better at it in the second season. Um. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know how much Friar Muth will play in those situations,

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Speaker 1: but part of me thinks, well, I mean that the

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Speaker 1: famous play where Ebron couldn't get in the way of

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Speaker 1: Chase Young, I bet Friar Muth at least gets in

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Speaker 1: the way. And we know Friar Muth has a great

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Speaker 1: history of finding the end zone at the college level

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Speaker 1: with a big catching radius and soft hands, so I

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Speaker 1: think he's a weapon down there too. So um, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I also think they have a better ability now

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Speaker 1: to roll out a sixth offensive lineman and muscle their way. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think there there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: different options, and I think there's a lot of approaches

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Speaker 1: they could take again going for two, especially early in

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Speaker 1: the game. Um. Now, there have been some instances where

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Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin did it, uh and they didn't get it. Yeah. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you're gonna be criticized, of course, everybody kill you,

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Speaker 1: but you know, nobody kills you for it when you're

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Speaker 1: going to work. Yeah, when it works. Um So, I

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Speaker 1: just wanted that if this whole situation with with Naja

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Speaker 1: Harris brings that back into play, makes it a weapon.

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Speaker 1: The two point conversion becomes a weapon more of a

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Speaker 1: tactic that they lean on as opposed to and I

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Speaker 1: don't have as much quite as much confidence in this situation.

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Speaker 1: We'll just take the one again. I mean, if they

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Speaker 1: think they can convert on those two point conversions in

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Speaker 1: the end, you're gonna be up. I mean, there might

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Speaker 1: be a game that you're over four and you lose

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Speaker 1: by two and everyone kills you. But there might be

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Speaker 1: three games that you win by one that nobody thinks

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Speaker 1: twice about it. And that's the that's you know, that's

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Speaker 1: the line that the coaches walk. And I know, same

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Speaker 1: with on site kicks, same with going any decisions that

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Speaker 1: you make, and it goes back to, you know, the

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Speaker 1: one time it doesn't work, you hear about it a

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Speaker 1: tenfold of the ones that do. It's like going for

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Speaker 1: it on fourth and one and you don't make you know,

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Speaker 1: go for and fourth and one from your own forty

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Speaker 1: and you don't make it right, you're gonna get killed.

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Speaker 1: What do you do if you make it all? You're

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Speaker 1: a genius. You're a genius, absolutely, And these are the

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Speaker 1: decisions that have to be made um in a split

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Speaker 1: second with you know, seventy tho screaming fans and and

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Speaker 1: you got thirty seconds and do it and your quarter

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Speaker 1: your left tackles limping off the field at the time,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, is gonna be in this next player?

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Speaker 1: And that's the thing, you know, A personnel's the defense

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Speaker 1: gonna give us. I can't remember. Do we talk about

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Speaker 1: it earlier this year on this show about that particular

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Speaker 1: phase of this. I've seen her read it somewhere the

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Speaker 1: guys somebody was talking about so much of that is

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Speaker 1: dependent upon I know that the analytics says, you know,

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Speaker 1: you get the card, and the analytics says, you know,

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Speaker 1: you should go for it. It's funny because I was

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Speaker 1: because you know, these last couple of months, we've seen

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Speaker 1: a million lists and there's been head coaching rankings and

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Speaker 1: the analytics. This has been my biggest problem with the

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Speaker 1: head coaching rankings that I've read from all the analytics sites,

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Speaker 1: because they all cite willingness to go for it on

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Speaker 1: fourth down. And I understand the analytics tell you this

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Speaker 1: that the more aggressive you are on fourth down the better.

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Speaker 1: As a rule of thumb, that doesn't me should go

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Speaker 1: for a cent time. But you know, as a rule,

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Speaker 1: analytics folks think head coaches are way too conservative on

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Speaker 1: fourth down. Okay, that's fine in a nutshell, that's absolutely fine.

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Speaker 1: But if you're doing head coaches and banks and you're

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Speaker 1: consistently mentioning that, like let's say, for example, Mike Tomlin

424
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,800
Speaker 1: went to Super Bowls. Here, he retires and the routineys

425
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 1: have to fire a new coach and I sit down

426
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,399
Speaker 1: with ten head coaches willingness to go for it on

427
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,880
Speaker 1: fourth down? The thing on my list of if I'm

428
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 1: hiring a new head coach, you know what I mean, Like,

429
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,800
Speaker 1: come on, what's the game situation? Where are we at

430
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 1: on the field? Just more important head coaching things to do.

431
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 1: What's my defense doing in this game? Exactly? You know,

432
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: my center is getting killed and I don't have an

433
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 1: outside running game, you know, like how am I going

434
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 1: to pick up this yard? Or how? You know what

435
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,320
Speaker 1: I mean? So those things are hard for me. And

436
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 1: even like Belichick used to be super aggressive this last

437
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,920
Speaker 1: year or two even very conservative. He's a different team. Yeah,

438
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,919
Speaker 1: so that these analytics folks, Wow, Andy Reid has been

439
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: more aggressive, So he should be one in Belichick should

440
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,720
Speaker 1: be two and is the best head coach. Two years ago,

441
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 1: hardball went for him a lot. Yeah when he had

442
00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 1: lamar Okay, last year. Last year not as much because

443
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 1: I remember that was a year that the Ravens lost

444
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,760
Speaker 1: to the Titans in the playoffs because they went for

445
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:07,880
Speaker 1: it on fourth in that game, the wild card game.

446
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,040
Speaker 1: Get it like five times. It happened to be over

447
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 1: five in that game, and everyone's lamarquet went the big one.

448
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,680
Speaker 1: But that's that's all. There was a game I believe

449
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: it was in in tifteen the Steelers went for it

450
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: on or they went for a two point conversion. There

451
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 1: were four for four. A lot of those situations were

452
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: when they were losing leading game, situational they were eight

453
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: for eleven on two point for over here. Basically at

454
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 1: seventy two, you're you're way ahead of the game ahead again, right,

455
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 1: that's just the essentially you you made sixteen out of eleven,

456
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: so he came up five points ahead. Yeah, that's okay,

457
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,120
Speaker 1: you're plus five. The next year in twenty sixteen, three

458
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,240
Speaker 1: of nine. So now you came out on the on

459
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 1: the So there were I think there was a game

460
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,359
Speaker 1: in there where Tomlin went forward early on on the

461
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:00,959
Speaker 1: two point conversion. They didn't get it. I think they

462
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,640
Speaker 1: ended up being over two or over three, maybe even

463
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,640
Speaker 1: four in that game, and they kind of took him

464
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 1: away from that, like you know, you get gun shot,

465
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,920
Speaker 1: you get a little gun shot. Same thing with Hardball.

466
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,400
Speaker 1: Hardball was the most aggressive coach in the league going

467
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: for it on fourth down two years ago. You get

468
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 1: stopped five times in the playoffs and you lose the game. Right,

469
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,680
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, now you're gonna scale it back a little.

470
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,080
Speaker 1: Maybe I was getting maybe I was getting a little

471
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: too aggressive there, I got. I gotta knocked this back

472
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,919
Speaker 1: in it. So the last few years people the other thing,

473
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,919
Speaker 1: people get the game plans on you too. They know

474
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: what your go to plays are in those crucial situation,

475
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do it all the time. Like people

476
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: think that these guys have playbooks that are like the

477
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 1: Manhattan phone Book. You can only rep so much stuff

478
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: from the week. I mean, I guarantee this every team

479
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: there two point conversion sheets a handful of their favorite calls,

480
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: and by week ten or you've used them all and

481
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: every defense knows are coming. But they're still your best plays,

482
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: you know. So it's not like we're to choose from

483
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 1: any different plays because then you're not good at it. It

484
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,360
Speaker 1: It goes back to what we've initially started this conversation

485
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,800
Speaker 1: with the fact that naj Harris. You said, Okay, I've

486
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: seen him run fades. Yeah, there and then, and now

487
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: he has a slant in his repertoire. I'm assuming he

488
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,919
Speaker 1: can do a little, you know, three yards down and

489
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: turn around me. But if they have different things that

490
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 1: you can do off of that, because if you just run,

491
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 1: if you just run the fade down there every time,

492
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: well the defense could you know, maybe the quarterback makes

493
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,400
Speaker 1: the perfect throw on one of those. You can't stop it,

494
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,400
Speaker 1: but you can defend the fade he just plays outside shoulder.

495
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean you still gotta win the win

496
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: the ball in the air, but it makes it a

497
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 1: heck a lot harder. I mean, I was very, very

498
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,120
Speaker 1: fortunate to witness his firsthand with Larry at Pitt. I mean,

499
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,960
Speaker 1: we could have I mean this wholeheartedly, we could have

500
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 1: put it up on the scoreboard when we were on

501
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: the five yard line, We're throwing a fade the Larry

502
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald in the corner of the end zone. And it

503
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 1: didn't matter if it was Pacman Jones or Dante Hall

504
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: or any of the good corners we played against. Larry

505
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 1: was coming down with that thing. But by his second year,

506
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: with the slant to him once in a while too,

507
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,959
Speaker 1: and the corner would be like in the corner like

508
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 1: he's just playing fade forever and Larry still because that's

509
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: what you do. But he wouldn't he throws that quick slant.

510
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 1: He's all alone. I mean, Rutherford could have like underhanded

511
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 1: it to him. You know, it was crazy. Um, you

512
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: know those advantages in the NFL. You don't have the

513
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: fifth pick in the draft again, you know, some guys

514
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: being in an insurance firm and two right, and that

515
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 1: was running back. Isn't gonna abuse corners like that. But

516
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: you know, so we've really seen you know, starting with

517
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 1: that teen season. Before that, Tomlin from two thousand seven

518
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: through two thousand thirteen never went for two more than

519
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,919
Speaker 1: twice in a year. Nobody really was back then. I

520
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 1: think it was the season where they really started making it.

521
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: That might be where they when they moved the that

522
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 1: was the year they moved. That's when they moved the

523
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 1: kick the p A T back. Yeah, So then it

524
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: became an option like gonna make of these Maybe if

525
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: we get to fifty five or whatever on the two pointers,

526
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: I'm not doing very good math here, and then it's

527
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:11,680
Speaker 1: worth our time. But twenty sixteen, three of nine, seventeen,

528
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: two of four, eighteen, four out of five twenty nineteen,

529
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: I thought those numbers were highed to, to be honest

530
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 1: with you, For one, that doesn't surprise because of who

531
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: you had a quarterback. It's not a weapon for you anymore.

532
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,880
Speaker 1: Now it's a necessity thing. Yeah, just just I'll take

533
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,160
Speaker 1: boss in the one. Yeah, last year they were two

534
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:36,120
Speaker 1: of four on two point conversions. I wonder if nine

535
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,119
Speaker 1: this year. I'll bet you becomes more of a weapon

536
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:40,680
Speaker 1: this year, now that you've got again, you look back

537
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:48,200
Speaker 1: the last season that they had, uh, Levy on Belly. Yeah,

538
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: those three years when Levy on Bell four years, really

539
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: if you go four four attempts, eleven attempts, nine attempts,

540
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 1: four attempts when when Levy on Bell was at the

541
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 1: height of his powers, it's a it's a it's a

542
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: small thing in the scheme of things. But like you said,

543
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:08,400
Speaker 1: I mean, over those four years, that's probably twenty more

544
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 1: points you scored. I wonder if the analytics folks that

545
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 1: say you shouldn't take running backs in the first round

546
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: factor and things like that, you know what I mean.

547
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,479
Speaker 1: You know, it's like, Okay, I mean, you can make

548
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: strong arguments that running backs are replaceable all those things.

549
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,119
Speaker 1: But if I go for two more because I have

550
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 1: a Bell or a Harris or right right right, I mean,

551
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,719
Speaker 1: I wonder how you would. I'm not analytically you're mathematically

552
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: inclined to figure out how you'd even do that. But

553
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,040
Speaker 1: I bet those people don't factor those things in. Probably not.

554
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: Just this is what you do and you can get

555
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: those running back That was the that was the argument

556
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: we heard all the time, Well you can get a

557
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: running back anywhere in the draft. Well, yeah, you can

558
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: get a running back. It's someone that plays a position.

559
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 1: Is he that guy? Right, he's Connor McFarland, Snell, Samuel

560
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: there's less of a guarantee, right, and those guys. That's

561
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: the thing. You know again, I did the research into

562
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: this on the number of backs, the thousand yard backs

563
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: who were drafted in the first three rounds versus the

564
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: thousand yard backs who have been drafted later that. Yeah,

565
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: you can find thousand yeard backs later in the draft.

566
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: It happens, doesn't There's no guarantee, right right, I mean

567
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,560
Speaker 1: trusted me. When the Jags signed James Robinson, they weren't

568
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: like our back problems solved, and then they drafted one

569
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: next year in the first round. Was out of necessity,

570
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: right right? You know? He his James Robinson's thousand yards

571
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: season last year was more about opportunity than anything else. Yeah,

572
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 1: he was He wasn't their starter when they opened camp.

573
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 1: He wasn't going to be the starter. Who was the guy?

574
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: Who was the guy gonna it? Was? Uh And he

575
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: got Covid Armstead Armstead Like to their credit, they liked

576
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: those two enough to say four and I'm done with

577
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: your nonsense. We're gonna cut you so and they knew

578
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: they weren't win a game, but that you would have

579
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 1: been four nets out there and he's on social media

580
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 1: and he's he's insulting their owner and doing things like that.

581
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,400
Speaker 1: He wanted out, they wanted to get rid of. Yeah,

582
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: it was additioned by subtraction. Yeah, they want to get

583
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: rid of him. Um and a lot of Robinson's yards.

584
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: Even though he's a he was a it was a

585
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: nice story. He's a successful story. They were losing by

586
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: twenty and he was getting carried, you know. I mean

587
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 1: he did a lot of work. Verse like it was

588
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: a little bit of Joe Mix and a couple of

589
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: years ago when you're you know, they're in the fourth quarter,

590
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: you're down eight team points. You're just trying to get

591
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: out of the game, and you're handing the ball off

592
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 1: to Mix and just to get out of the game clock.

593
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a different level. And I think

594
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: you may even done the study if he didn't have

595
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: a big deal. But all the running backs in the

596
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, there's a super hypercentage of first round picks.

597
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 1: You know, there's like Terrell Davis and a bunch of

598
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: first round Curtis Martin was a third because n and

599
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: you know, Frank this was the first round draft pick.

600
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean everything. It was the third pick

601
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: in the draft. And I know times to change, but

602
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 1: O J. Goes you know, super high and Earl Campbell

603
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: and I mean all these guys. I mean, there's less

604
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 1: of a running backs are less important than those days.

605
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, but the great ones standing out if O. J.

606
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: Simpson or Earl Campbell were coming out in today's NF

607
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: in today's draft, that there's if O. J. Simpson, Walter Payton,

608
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: who you name them are coming into the league next year,

609
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: they're high first round draft picks. High first round I mean,

610
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: if Barkley comes out again, ze Elliott, right, you know,

611
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: those guys get drafted high. I still think even a

612
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 1: McCaffrey because he's such a good receiver. Yeah, I do too,

613
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 1: I absolutely do. You know Kamara didn't get drafted that

614
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 1: high because he shared time at Tennessee. Oh yeah, he

615
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 1: wasn't a full time player. He wasn't the starter for

616
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: a lot. Jalen Heard, who's a receiver now, was a

617
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: starter ahead of him for a while. Tennessee goes back

618
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 1: to the Antonio Gibson thing. Like right, Tennessee also was

619
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 1: a little dysfunctional and didn't know what they had and

620
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 1: the guy too. Yeah, but that's just the way it goes. Yeah,

621
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,720
Speaker 1: I mean there's examples. You have third rounders, but they're

622
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 1: the outliers of the great ones. Yeah, Dick Ourson, and

623
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: I mean you go on and on and on. Look

624
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 1: at the Hall of Fame running backs, they're all super

625
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 1: high picks. Yeah, I I agree, and and so I'm

626
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: you know, Mike Tomlins said yesterday, we can all we

627
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: can all talk ourselves into thinking that our running back

628
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 1: issues are solved because we got that. You know, we

629
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,880
Speaker 1: used that a first round pick on that guy. And

630
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen what we've seen thus far, but

631
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 1: we're still gonna We're likes what he's seeing. But he's

632
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: gonna keep tapping the brakes on this because that's what

633
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 1: he does. That's what he does. But then I don't

634
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: I've never been behind stage with those guys. But then

635
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: you get back in the coaches room, like you can

636
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 1: read it. You can read his face and the way

637
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 1: he's he's reacting to things. They're very happy. Yeah, we're

638
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 1: gonna take him another break. Here he is Matt Williams

639
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 1: and I'm Dale Lally. You're listening to the Drive here

640
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with more right

641
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: after this. Your tunes about Drive home of the Black

642
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: Goal Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back to the Drive. I'm

643
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 1: Dale lay with Matt Williamson. Man. I was listening to

644
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 1: a fantasy football show in Old Beast and they were

645
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: talking about wide receiver targets being a I don't want

646
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 1: to make this a fantasy football segment. I'll give me

647
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:29,800
Speaker 1: some slack here and I'll show you where we're going

648
00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 1: with this, targets being a big indicator of success for

649
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 1: wide receivers. There were three wide receivers last year who

650
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 1: had ten games or more with ten or more targets.

651
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: Deonte was one of Deonte Johnson was one of the

652
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 1: three in the league. The other guys were. It was like, uh,

653
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins. Um. I kind of think who else would be?

654
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 1: Maybe Adams on a good day, and it was Adams.

655
00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:02,240
Speaker 1: It was Adams, Hopkins and Deonta Johnson. Adams, Hopkins and

656
00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:09,279
Speaker 1: DeAndre Johnson. Pretty good company. Let me say this again, Adams,

657
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,799
Speaker 1: Hopkins and Deonta Johnson. All right, let me start there.

658
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,680
Speaker 1: First of all, The one little negative is I do

659
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: think the Steeler pass attempts overall will go down a

660
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,880
Speaker 1: little bit. I mean, it's why Harris is here and

661
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,360
Speaker 1: we get all that, um. But I also believe that

662
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 1: without question, Johnson will be once again, the most targeted

663
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 1: player on the field. And every time I was brought

664
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:36,440
Speaker 1: on radio outside you know, uh talking fantasy or whatever,

665
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: who's the number one in Pittsburgh. Look at the targets.

666
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,239
Speaker 1: I mean, I know he missed some time here and

667
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:46,840
Speaker 1: that's the that's his targets are very consistent. Ten targets.

668
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I got his his season in front of

669
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 1: me here. Last year, everybody focused on the drops. Okay, yeah,

670
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 1: he dropped because first of all, why targets are so

671
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,479
Speaker 1: important for production. Our targets are earned. Like we're sitting

672
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,480
Speaker 1: here watching Fell Network right now, and Davonte Smith is

673
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: on the field. They target him because he was open

674
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, it's not they don't throw

675
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 1: it to you when you're covered, right. You know, targets

676
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: are earned, you know, more so than anything. I mean,

677
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: like a highly targeted receiver coming out of college is

678
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: a great indicator as opposed to their forty times. You know,

679
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 1: like forty times doesn't mean you get targets. And if

680
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,759
Speaker 1: you get targeted a lot, you dropped more than the

681
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,760
Speaker 1: average bear, you know, especially if they're in the short

682
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 1: five yards six seven yards off the line of scrimmage.

683
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: Where you're gonna get blasted. West Welker got targeted more

684
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 1: than anyone in the league, and he always let a

685
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 1: league and drops, nobody remembers that part. You know, drops

686
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,400
Speaker 1: are a product of being targeted, and that seems to

687
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: be the only thing people remember about Deante dealing with

688
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,320
Speaker 1: that right now too. You know, I know by the

689
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 1: way his quarterback didn't wasn't super accurate with a lot

690
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,320
Speaker 1: of those. So he had ten targets in the opener,

691
00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 1: thirteen targets in the second game, then he got hurt

692
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 1: early against Houston. Some of these games he didn't play

693
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 1: six two targets in the game, one target the next game,

694
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 1: same thing. He was kind of like he was out there,

695
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,360
Speaker 1: but I think I think he was around. Yeah, he

696
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: gott returning a punt and he got hit in the

697
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: back in the game against the Eagles and left that game.

698
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 1: So three targets combined in those two games. Came back

699
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 1: fifteen targets against Tennessee. Then he get hurt again. He

700
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 1: had three targets against Baltimore in the first one after that.

701
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: If you look at his targets ten eleven, sixteen, thirteen, twelve,

702
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: seven against Buffalo because he remember he got bench for

703
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: a period of time, uh thirteen, fourteen and then four

704
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: in the in the finale against Cleveland, he was very consistent.

705
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: What was happening there. I would love to know his

706
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: targets per snap numbers compared to the whole league. I mean,

707
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: I guess I bet their top three or four as well.

708
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,680
Speaker 1: He was on page that. I mean, there were stretches.

709
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:00,120
Speaker 1: If he plays all sixteen games and plays all the

710
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,520
Speaker 1: way through, he finishes the season with over a hundred

711
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 1: sixty targets, yeah, by design, by design because they're earned,

712
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 1: and he finishes. If he gets to the hundred and

713
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,920
Speaker 1: sixty targets. He finished last year with eighty eight catches,

714
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: it'll be a one you know, right, even if he

715
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 1: has ten drops, you know, yeah, I mean, well, and

716
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 1: hopefully hopefully his A dot goes up a little, you know,

717
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,960
Speaker 1: his average at the target um, and not that other

718
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: guys aren't deserving of targets. And I think that Pie

719
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 1: is gonna be a little smaller, as we mentioned. So

720
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 1: maybe it's hundred forty five targets or you know what

721
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 1: I mean, But he's probably gonna be over a hundred

722
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,359
Speaker 1: catches and he's not Antonio Brown, but they don't use

723
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,319
Speaker 1: them much differently. I mean, this offense has featured a

724
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:47,000
Speaker 1: guy that at all levels as the number one. It's him,

725
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 1: it's him, it's him, right. I don't know why the

726
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 1: rest of the world doesn't know this. And I think

727
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: Claypool is their Martavis Bryant, but a better version. But

728
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,719
Speaker 1: a better version, but a more polished version, I think,

729
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 1: more more reliable. Yeah, I mean they wanted Sammy Coach

730
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: to be that guy, you know, but yes, he's that

731
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 1: role without question. He's just two or thirty five pounds. Yeah.

732
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 1: Bryant was to me was super impressive and maybe even

733
00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: more gifted than all these guys, but not quite as reliable. Yeah.

734
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 1: I mean his ability to run by people at the

735
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: NFL level was contort his body and you know, yeah,

736
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,720
Speaker 1: he had rare physical gifts from birth and then juju.

737
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 1: If he's your slot and maybe he will play outside

738
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 1: more and he's better than the usual slots they've had too, yeah,

739
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 1: without question. Yeah, so it could be a pretty dangerous

740
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 1: passing game. I expect it to be. Yeah. I think

741
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:44,520
Speaker 1: it's going to be better than it was last year.

742
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,480
Speaker 1: I I keep going back to the fact that Roethlisberger

743
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,239
Speaker 1: was less than a year removed from his surgery when

744
00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 1: the season started last year. He hadn't he'd been throwing

745
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 1: a football for less than a year when they played

746
00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:00,040
Speaker 1: their playoff game, right right, Wow, that's a good and

747
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: a lot of it, to me depends on the ability

748
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 1: to protect, to expand on the short passing game, you know,

749
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 1: which has nothing to do with bad Well I guess

750
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: it does, but I mean all protection of something to

751
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: do with the quarterback. But if the lines are really

752
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 1: a problem and longer developing plays are a problem, I

753
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,080
Speaker 1: still like the ability to keep Harris and Friar muth

754
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: In as opposed to what they were playing with lais right.

755
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:27,840
Speaker 1: I mean, you've still got three good players out and

756
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,880
Speaker 1: out in the route and after and again after after Harris,

757
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 1: you know, Chip somebody or does whatever he's you know

758
00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:36,399
Speaker 1: what he's doing in the past. Com you can leak,

759
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 1: you can leak out and dump it off to him

760
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,360
Speaker 1: and he can get you eight yards. Yeah, that's my

761
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: famous flight football players. Everybody go deep and little Benny

762
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: the running back, you stay close. In the case things

763
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: don't go well, you know, it works out well, So

764
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 1: you know, But I think Deante Johnson. I brought this

765
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 1: up because UM on nfl uh dot com, Greg Rosenthal

766
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: does good work for them. U listed the breakout candidates

767
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 1: around the how do they? How did the title this?

768
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: It was Canadas to make the leap for leap from

769
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,400
Speaker 1: each team, each a FC team and for the Steelers

770
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:15,719
Speaker 1: it's Deante Johnson. And you're talking about a guy making

771
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 1: the leap who at eighty eight catches last year. So

772
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: I wondered if he means this could be a Pro

773
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,959
Speaker 1: Bowl player, you know, this could be. Here's what he says.

774
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 1: You have to get open a lot to drop the

775
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:31,280
Speaker 1: ball as much as Johnson did, because, yeah, while the streak,

776
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 1: the streakiness is frustrated or was frustrating, Johnson makes too

777
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:37,640
Speaker 1: many excellent hand catches and grabs in tight traffic to

778
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,320
Speaker 1: believe he's destined to struggle with drops forever. In the

779
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: league increasingly reliant on man coverage, Johnson's ability to beat

780
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:47,080
Speaker 1: one on one matchups is nearly unmatched. As our old

781
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 1: friend Matt Harmon loves to point out, yeah, I'll take

782
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: the nineteen third round rounder over Chase Claypool as the

783
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,799
Speaker 1: Steelers number one wide out this year and I'll take

784
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: Johnson to go over twelve yards in his third pro season.

785
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,720
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree with all that, And to expand

786
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:04,680
Speaker 1: on it, I have a quick question for you, because

787
00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:07,760
Speaker 1: my memory serves me that there was like a three

788
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,359
Speaker 1: game stretch where Johnson struggled to catch football. I mean

789
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,759
Speaker 1: that's when it was. It was late in years. It

790
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:17,440
Speaker 1: was the I think it was the Baltimore Washington Buffalo game,

791
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: really struggle and Buffalo was kind of the he dropped

792
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 1: like his first three passes in that more Washington Buffalo

793
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,839
Speaker 1: and three great defenses my first impression. But the Buffalo game,

794
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: if you remember, he dropped, he dropped the thick a

795
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 1: quick screen pass and he dropped a little slant that

796
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: would have gone from first down, and they sat him

797
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: out the rest of the first half. Then they came

798
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,280
Speaker 1: back to him in the second half and he finished

799
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,719
Speaker 1: with four catches on seven targets for forty yards. But

800
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:46,239
Speaker 1: that was after struggling sitting out. Okay, yeah, you need

801
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,920
Speaker 1: to take some time out here and just you know,

802
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:50,920
Speaker 1: it's in your head now. So what I'm saying is

803
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: I'm not excusing it away, but he had a slump. Yeah,

804
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 1: you know, he had a slump there in the middle

805
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,320
Speaker 1: of the year where the majority of his draw about

806
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:01,359
Speaker 1: half of his draw came in those three games. Yeah,

807
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,560
Speaker 1: so I'm not saying it's an anomaly. It could happen again,

808
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 1: but I think it's encouraging that they all happen at

809
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 1: one time, that he have a thumb problem we didn't

810
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 1: know about. I mean, I'm not making excuses for the guy,

811
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:12,760
Speaker 1: but the fact that they all happen in one stretch,

812
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:15,879
Speaker 1: it was in his head. Um. You mentioned Matt Harmon.

813
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,319
Speaker 1: I'm sure's a lot of people that aren't familiar with him.

814
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: He worked for NFL or NFL for one network for

815
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 1: a while. He's worked he's now at Yahoo. He has

816
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,400
Speaker 1: his own site called Reception Perception, and he goes and

817
00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:32,360
Speaker 1: he watches almost every snap of every receiver and especially

818
00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:34,719
Speaker 1: the guys, including the guys coming out of college. And

819
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,120
Speaker 1: he's been doing it for five, maybe even up to

820
00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: ten years. And one of the biggest indicators he's seen

821
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 1: a success is ability to beat man coverage. And Deante

822
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,240
Speaker 1: is near the top of the league beating man coverage,

823
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 1: I mean, and and his short area quickness is special.

824
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:56,279
Speaker 1: It's great. He you know, he doesn't get muscled off

825
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: the ball. Even though he's not Claypool like strength and size,

826
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,759
Speaker 1: he has great release hand usage, almost like a pass

827
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,920
Speaker 1: rusher getting off the line of scrimmage. And going back

828
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:08,120
Speaker 1: to my scouting days, the first thing I was told

829
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 1: when I was employed by the Browns by both the

830
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 1: wide receivers coach and the corner coach, was watch every

831
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:16,839
Speaker 1: snap of man coverage. At the college level, when you're

832
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,440
Speaker 1: everyone the zone ones, you'll it's to be hard to

833
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:24,240
Speaker 1: find press man because that's that's what makes the separates

834
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: the big guys from the little guys up here, because

835
00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:29,840
Speaker 1: there's quickly the book is if you can beat this

836
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:31,640
Speaker 1: guy up the line of scrimmage, he can't get off,

837
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:36,360
Speaker 1: you're doomed. And again, Harmon really has a great history

838
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: of this guy kills man coverage. I mean he has

839
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:42,040
Speaker 1: some guys like Stefon Diggs early in his career and

840
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 1: Allen Robinson and guys that were you know, really got

841
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:49,440
Speaker 1: better when their quarterbacks improved. And Johnson's very much in

842
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,279
Speaker 1: that mold. Yeah, I mean there's a reason that's that's

843
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 1: the reason why he gets the targets a little bit

844
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 1: to more I think about it. Good route runner sharp

845
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 1: out of his brake's not the biggest strongest, you know. Yeah, um,

846
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 1: if he takes that kind of jump, you know, I

847
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 1: don't know he's gonna lead the league in receptions or

848
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,640
Speaker 1: like digs. But I mean crazy, he ever just ten

849
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,600
Speaker 1: targets again, he only played fifteen games last year total,

850
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: and he missed large portions of those. I mean, he's

851
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: averaging ten targets a game essentially. Yeah, right, that's rare.

852
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,200
Speaker 1: That's rare. And as we talked about to open this segment,

853
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 1: there are only three guys who did it last year consistently,

854
00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 1: to the best guys in league. Yeah, so it wouldn't

855
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 1: be surprising to see Deante Johnson make that kind of

856
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,680
Speaker 1: leap again. He got he got sixty one point one

857
00:44:35,719 --> 00:44:38,840
Speaker 1: percent of his passes thrown his way last year. I

858
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,439
Speaker 1: expect that number to go up. Yeah, but I also

859
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 1: hope that more of them are thirty yards on field too.

860
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,880
Speaker 1: You know, but again he's you know, if he's I

861
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:48,759
Speaker 1: don't think the drops will be is. I don't think

862
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:50,319
Speaker 1: he drops will be there. I think that you know,

863
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,040
Speaker 1: he if he catches more than he ever's ten and

864
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 1: a half yards catch last year, which I bet that

865
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:56,040
Speaker 1: goes up. I bet it goes up. Yeah, I think

866
00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:58,719
Speaker 1: that's I'm more worried about that going up than the

867
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 1: drops staying an issue. Yeah, So I I just think

868
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,239
Speaker 1: he could be an extreme weapon in this offense. And

869
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 1: earlier last week we talked to Chase Claypool and I

870
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,040
Speaker 1: asked him specifically, I said, did you see as the

871
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: season went on, more defenses rolling the safety to your side?

872
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 1: He's all absolutely is to see, you know, And teams

873
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: kind of figured out I was the you know on

874
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 1: the deep gay, Um, I saw that, you know, more

875
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,160
Speaker 1: safety help over the top and that kind of thing. Well,

876
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: that's happening to him. That means Johnson is getting a

877
00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 1: lot more one on one coverage. My biggest problem with

878
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 1: the passing game outside the short zones, it seemed like

879
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:40,759
Speaker 1: to me, and then looking at some of the heat

880
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,799
Speaker 1: maps after the fact, every deep balls to Claypool down

881
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:45,759
Speaker 1: the right side on the right sideline, Like I mean,

882
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: there's this stretch of the outside the numbers on the

883
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 1: right all the way down the field, and then there's

884
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 1: a stretch you know, within ten yards of the line

885
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,879
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, and then there's this big square that isn't

886
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:01,320
Speaker 1: being attacked and the on the field and the left

887
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 1: hash that everyone had to catch on too. You know,

888
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 1: I think I think that changes this year. I think

889
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:08,279
Speaker 1: you're gonna I think you're gonna do with this, something

890
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 1: to do with that, you know, and you'll see those

891
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,520
Speaker 1: receivers moving around. I don't know how much. Again, they

892
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:15,800
Speaker 1: had four team practices to get ready for the season,

893
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,800
Speaker 1: no offseason at all. Once you get into the season,

894
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 1: you're not necessarily well, we gotta keep developing Claypool here

895
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:26,839
Speaker 1: so he can move around and do those kind of things.

896
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:28,879
Speaker 1: And then if you remember, there was a stretch there

897
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 1: late in the season where they didn't play him as

898
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:34,280
Speaker 1: much and people were going to wren't they playing Claypool

899
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,560
Speaker 1: as much well? Or whatever? You can hear him out.

900
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 1: They may have. You know, he had Mike tom and

901
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,720
Speaker 1: at least he used to have these guys take tests,

902
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 1: pregame tests on their assignments that day. If you didn't

903
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,439
Speaker 1: do well on the test, they were going to play

904
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,520
Speaker 1: as much. But that happened. I thought Tomlin's just gonna say,

905
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,680
Speaker 1: you know, he said we were avoiding the rookie wall.

906
00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:59,800
Speaker 1: That's him taking arrows from the media. You know, he

907
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:01,520
Speaker 1: hit the wall. Yeah, coach, you don't know what you're

908
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 1: talking about. He's probably there's something going on behind the

909
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 1: scenes and Tomlinds will take the arrow for him. If

910
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,720
Speaker 1: you remember Claypool was playing special teams. Oh yeah, yeah,

911
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:11,399
Speaker 1: he's running never played that many games in life. He's

912
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:15,600
Speaker 1: running go routes like crazy. It's like last note. I

913
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 1: don't know if we even have time for it though,

914
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:21,320
Speaker 1: but most teams get their number one in the slot

915
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: and scheme things up for them a lot. Jujus talked

916
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:28,360
Speaker 1: about wanting to play outside. I bet we see less

917
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,800
Speaker 1: static formations where Claypool's a deep guy, Jujus a slot

918
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 1: Johnson's the go to guy you know x Y, you know,

919
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,920
Speaker 1: ex receivers or whatever, and not because Juju wants to

920
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:46,400
Speaker 1: play outside. But you start, you know, divis, your candidates

921
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 1: talked about this. I want to get the right matchups.

922
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:54,960
Speaker 1: I want to get matchups that are that worked for us. Okay, well, yeah,

923
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:56,800
Speaker 1: that's all part of it. Yeah. I mean, if Johnson

924
00:47:56,800 --> 00:47:59,720
Speaker 1: can line up at the slot too against slot corners

925
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,720
Speaker 1: and he getting open against you know, the top guys

926
00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 1: on the outside, and you're giving him slot corners, he's

927
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:07,719
Speaker 1: gonna beat them up to, you know, so interesting, it

928
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 1: should be interesting. We'll contain to keep an eye and

929
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:11,920
Speaker 1: that a lot of options there on offense. Washington is

930
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 1: not a bad player, and it goes back to what

931
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:17,040
Speaker 1: we talked about, the two point conversions. So he was

932
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: gonna take another break. That's gonna do it for the

933
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,440
Speaker 1: first hour here of the drive on Steelers Nation Radio.

934
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I'm D. L. Lally. We'll be

935
00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:25,640
Speaker 1: back with our two right after this.