1
00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: He is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

2
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:12,160
Speaker 1: on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

3
00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,239
Speaker 1: Welcome back. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt Williamson. Would

4
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,560
Speaker 1: please to be joined now as we are well almost

5
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,800
Speaker 1: every Wednesday. We we gave Bob the week off last

6
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,319
Speaker 1: week because that was the problem Thanksgiving. Yeah, you got

7
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 1: us out of the the our regular routine routine. Yeah,

8
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:40,120
Speaker 1: I was searching for Yes, that's exactly that we did

9
00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 1: not have you on. Yes. Bob Lavarola, editor of Steelers

10
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,600
Speaker 1: Digest and Steelers dot Com, joins us here on the

11
00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:52,320
Speaker 1: Drive and Bob, well, that was about as bad of

12
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,800
Speaker 1: a game as the Steelers could play last week. Yeah,

13
00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,200
Speaker 1: I mean it was pretty bad. But let me say this,

14
00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,760
Speaker 1: and I'm lot excusing, please, I agree with all of

15
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,440
Speaker 1: the assessments you know that were made by Mike Tomlin,

16
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,040
Speaker 1: by Cam Haywards, you know, by Ben etcetera, etcetera. Um,

17
00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,040
Speaker 1: But you know, Dale, You've been around, you know long

18
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:21,120
Speaker 1: enough to know that Steelers teams better Steelers teams. Steelers

19
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 1: teams went on to win championships and played awful games

20
00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,200
Speaker 1: and you know, look bad and got spanked and all

21
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,520
Speaker 1: of that kind of stuff. And so you know what

22
00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 1: I want to know before I'm ready to close the

23
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: book on um labeling this particular group, I want to

24
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 1: see how they respond to this. Right. If there's more

25
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,360
Speaker 1: of this, you know, in the next couple of weeks,

26
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 1: then you know, it's a totally different situation in my

27
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,400
Speaker 1: mind than if and I'm not saying they're gonna win

28
00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,360
Speaker 1: Sunday against the Ravens, but if they come back and

29
00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:02,120
Speaker 1: put together um what I would call varsity performance but

30
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:09,200
Speaker 1: still lose, that's different. So UM. You know, like I said, uh,

31
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,560
Speaker 1: I don't disagree that. UM. I think in uh one

32
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,480
Speaker 1: player's words, we sucked was the term, and I don't

33
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 1: disagree with that. Mike Commins said they got handled on

34
00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 1: both lines of scrimmage. I agree wholeheartedly with that. But

35
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,040
Speaker 1: let's see what happens now in the next couple of

36
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,799
Speaker 1: weeks before you know, I labeled this team where I

37
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,639
Speaker 1: believe this team deserves to be labeled or branded as

38
00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:40,040
Speaker 1: you know something you know that it would be very uncomplimentary.

39
00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 1: I think that's well said. It's a good way of

40
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:44,480
Speaker 1: looking at it. And you know, even some of the

41
00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,920
Speaker 1: very best teams in the league they had a stinker

42
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,880
Speaker 1: or two this year too. I mean the Bills lose

43
00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,960
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville and teams like it smokes by New Orleans

44
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:54,920
Speaker 1: and we got killed in week one. I mean, so

45
00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,920
Speaker 1: that happens in this league more than people want to

46
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:02,320
Speaker 1: read Miami Miami right, absolutely, the Raven Yeah. Absolutely, So

47
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,119
Speaker 1: look at um, that's that's the way this league is now,

48
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,120
Speaker 1: I think to some degree. And as I said, let's

49
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:10,959
Speaker 1: see what happens in the the next couple of weeks. Yeah,

50
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:12,919
Speaker 1: I mean there's there's you know a lot of people

51
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,519
Speaker 1: talking this week about the quote unquote Steeler way and

52
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,840
Speaker 1: and do you need to do change this at practice,

53
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,680
Speaker 1: change that at practice, music at practice. Sorry about playing

54
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 1: music on the intro for this, Bob by the way. Um,

55
00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,440
Speaker 1: but there is a pride there. There is you know

56
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 1: when when when they were doing you know, when White Tomlins. Yeah,

57
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 1: when Mike Tomlins asked that his press conference, you know,

58
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,720
Speaker 1: but former Steelers criticizing the team, and he says, well,

59
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 1: they would know what the standard is. Uh. That's sending

60
00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:46,680
Speaker 1: a message to the locker room like, hey, you're not

61
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: living up to that. Yeah. And you know, and let's

62
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,080
Speaker 1: also again, I'm I'm old remember d White White calling

63
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,920
Speaker 1: them soft and cheesy in the eighties. I do, UM,

64
00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:03,720
Speaker 1: And so this is none of this is new. Um,

65
00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,400
Speaker 1: this has happened before. And you know, I think sometimes

66
00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:13,040
Speaker 1: where some people their opinions mean more than others. UM,

67
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,880
Speaker 1: because I do believe there is also an element of uh,

68
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 1: rip the Steelers on TV and attract a lot of

69
00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:28,760
Speaker 1: attention to yourself. So you know, um, and some of

70
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,359
Speaker 1: the people who are criticizing the Steelers deserve to be

71
00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,360
Speaker 1: referred to as Stealers legends and others do not, and

72
00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,880
Speaker 1: others do not more the uniform, but that doesn't mean

73
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,880
Speaker 1: you're a Steeler's legends, right, So again. Uh. One of

74
00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,080
Speaker 1: the things Chuck Goal always said that always struck me

75
00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,920
Speaker 1: as quite perceptive. He would say, when you lose, whatever

76
00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,840
Speaker 1: they say about you is true, and there you go. Yeah.

77
00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,000
Speaker 1: I had that conversation with Tim Ben's pretty much every

78
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,920
Speaker 1: week on the pregame show. Uh. You know, when when

79
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,520
Speaker 1: when teams win a game, they can say a lot

80
00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,560
Speaker 1: of different things, and sometimes it's true, sometimes it might

81
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 1: not be. We knew the plays and all this stuff.

82
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,360
Speaker 1: Come on, Okay, the same thing happens when they lose.

83
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,240
Speaker 1: You get a lot a lot of times you get, well,

84
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,560
Speaker 1: we need to do this better. There's that immediate reaction. Uh,

85
00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,760
Speaker 1: and hey, people get fired up about this stuff and

86
00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,440
Speaker 1: and it means something to them. What you don't want

87
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,359
Speaker 1: to happen is, you know, if you're the Lions and

88
00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,640
Speaker 1: you lose a game, he gets smoked like that. Well,

89
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,599
Speaker 1: it's just the same old, same old. And part of

90
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,280
Speaker 1: it's the nature of the sport too. I mean, if

91
00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,200
Speaker 1: the Yankees lose twelve nothing to the Pirates, no one

92
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,279
Speaker 1: bats an eye. They come back the next week, you know,

93
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,960
Speaker 1: even though they're a much inferior team or whatever. I mean,

94
00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,039
Speaker 1: everything's magnified. And that's what part of the fun of

95
00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: it really. Yeah, when when your whole season at seventeen

96
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:57,599
Speaker 1: games as opposed to two, um, you know, everything's magnified.

97
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,480
Speaker 1: And that the way that games in the NFL are played,

98
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,560
Speaker 1: you know, generally one every seven day, six days in

99
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,320
Speaker 1: some instances for and others. But there's a lot of

100
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,200
Speaker 1: between time. There's a lot of time to either analyze

101
00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,560
Speaker 1: what happened or speculate on what's about to happen. And again,

102
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,480
Speaker 1: you know, that's what makes it fun. That's why I

103
00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: believe it's one of the reasons why it's, you know,

104
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,720
Speaker 1: America's favorite sport that in the gambling of course. Um

105
00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 1: but um, you know again, Uh, it's it's that this

106
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,600
Speaker 1: is the the fabric of it and um, you know

107
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:42,760
Speaker 1: it's running on jackhammer for a living. Yeah, Labs coach

108
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,000
Speaker 1: Toman mentioned I forget exactly how he said it, but

109
00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,039
Speaker 1: I mean someone asked him, will will there be changes

110
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 1: going forward? And he said something along the lines of, hey,

111
00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,039
Speaker 1: we're open to it, you know, I mean, nobody's safe

112
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,880
Speaker 1: or something like that. Is there anything you would lean towards,

113
00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,640
Speaker 1: you know more Zack banner Dale and I have talked

114
00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,599
Speaker 1: about maybe there blitz rate goes up, I mean, any

115
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,719
Speaker 1: personnel changes. I mean, they're not gonna be wholesale changes, no,

116
00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,360
Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of these things are so interrelated.

117
00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,480
Speaker 1: You know, if you can't blitz more, if Joe Hayden

118
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,520
Speaker 1: isn't planned, you know, I mean, because then you're just

119
00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,720
Speaker 1: opening yourself up, you know, for down the field disaster.

120
00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,560
Speaker 1: I mean, so many of these things. Uh, it's it's

121
00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,280
Speaker 1: like you know, passing the pebble into the link. You know,

122
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,240
Speaker 1: the ripple effect is a lot more than you would

123
00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 1: initially think from just tossing that pebble. But since you asked,

124
00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,920
Speaker 1: the one thing that I would really look at and

125
00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,000
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is possible either is um

126
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,080
Speaker 1: I would either And what I'm gonna say does not

127
00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,200
Speaker 1: include Cam Haywood. Let me get that out front first,

128
00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,239
Speaker 1: the defensive line. I mean, if if there's some moves,

129
00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,160
Speaker 1: personnel changes, you can make reenforcements, you can bring up

130
00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:02,600
Speaker 1: something because um, you know again, the inside linebackers have

131
00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,440
Speaker 1: been getting a lot of heat, and a lot of

132
00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,840
Speaker 1: it is justified. But this, you know, I keep going

133
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 1: back to this. When Joe Schober first came to the

134
00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,000
Speaker 1: Steelers after that trade, one of the things he said was,

135
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,120
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about being able to play behind this

136
00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:25,120
Speaker 1: defensive line. I think he feels that way now, so, um,

137
00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,480
Speaker 1: you know, and here's another thing, you know again, you know,

138
00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: looking for reading the tea leaves to try and figure

139
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,000
Speaker 1: out what might happen on Sunday. Um, all of us

140
00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:38,480
Speaker 1: know Mike thomas disdain for depth charts. You know, he

141
00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,960
Speaker 1: does them because it's required. But this week Isaiah Bugs

142
00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:50,080
Speaker 1: got demoted from first team knows tackle, so um, you know,

143
00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,319
Speaker 1: Mike Palmlan does that stuff himself. Other coaches may let

144
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,800
Speaker 1: the PR guys do it or whatever he does not,

145
00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,400
Speaker 1: he does that himself. So if he took bugs out

146
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:05,319
Speaker 1: of that spot, something happened, either in performance or preparation

147
00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:10,280
Speaker 1: or something to precipitate that move. So I'm thinking that

148
00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 1: maybe Commin is thinking um similarly about the defensive line.

149
00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,520
Speaker 1: You either got to shake it up or mix it

150
00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:22,839
Speaker 1: up or something. Because if the defensive line again I'm

151
00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,200
Speaker 1: saying this, except for Cam Heyward plays like it did

152
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,680
Speaker 1: against the Bengals, you can't beat the Ravens. You can't

153
00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,480
Speaker 1: beat the Ravens and you know, blitzing more. Um, Matt,

154
00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,199
Speaker 1: you suggested that, right. Yeah, we've talked about a lot

155
00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,120
Speaker 1: this week, the two of us, but can you can

156
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,720
Speaker 1: you do it without t J Wat? I don't know

157
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:43,719
Speaker 1: how else do you get home? I mean part of

158
00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,839
Speaker 1: it's just Ravens related for us, so they don't know.

159
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,960
Speaker 1: If you watch the Ravens Miami game, are you referenced it.

160
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,439
Speaker 1: I mean they blitzed them like crazy and Baltimore did

161
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,679
Speaker 1: not handle it well. And you know, Dale and I've

162
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: also talked well, Hilton and Vince Williams were great, blitzers

163
00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,280
Speaker 1: who were great blitzers on this team. I'm not certain, yeah,

164
00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:07,560
Speaker 1: you know, and um uh and if if you don't

165
00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,920
Speaker 1: have T. J. Watt beyond blitzing, can you count on

166
00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:16,280
Speaker 1: whoever you do send after Lamar jack Jackson to maintain

167
00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:21,160
Speaker 1: the integrity of the pocket. If you leave, let this

168
00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,280
Speaker 1: guy out the side door, you know, eighty yards later

169
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,040
Speaker 1: they're lining up for an extra point. So a lot

170
00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:29,880
Speaker 1: of you know, this goes back to what I said

171
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,400
Speaker 1: earlier about the ripple effect of the pebble in the lake.

172
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 1: You know, if a lot of this stuff sounds good,

173
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,680
Speaker 1: you know, and or uh, you know, if you watch

174
00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,880
Speaker 1: the Browns against the Ravens, they didn't blitz at all

175
00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:45,240
Speaker 1: and intercept that Jackson four times. Okay, Well, so let's

176
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,840
Speaker 1: you know, like kind of contain rush and drop everybody back,

177
00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,760
Speaker 1: you know, and try and do the same thing. Well,

178
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,480
Speaker 1: if you don't have Hayden, you know, who are you playing?

179
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,000
Speaker 1: Who who are you who would be your seven defensive

180
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,439
Speaker 1: backs or seven people in coverage? And you know, I

181
00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:07,800
Speaker 1: don't know, but it's not it's not necessarily good enough

182
00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:10,840
Speaker 1: without some of your top players who may not play

183
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,640
Speaker 1: this weekend. Along those lines, if Hayden doesn't play, are

184
00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:16,920
Speaker 1: you trotting Pierre back out there? Are you taking your

185
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:24,760
Speaker 1: chances with Witherspoon or Lane? Um, I'm not taking my

186
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:31,520
Speaker 1: chances with Lane. No, He's a very very valuable part

187
00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:36,319
Speaker 1: of the game. Dave Ross and Special Teams, special question. Um,

188
00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,840
Speaker 1: but you know, get traded for Witherspoon. Um technically because

189
00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,760
Speaker 1: of injuries at outside corner. Um So, I would you know,

190
00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:51,160
Speaker 1: think about Witherspoon. But yeah, but I don't know enough

191
00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,880
Speaker 1: about you know, the details of how he has been playing,

192
00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,160
Speaker 1: you know, watching the game on TV two days on TV.

193
00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,760
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just like anybody else sitting on their cops.

194
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,480
Speaker 1: What do I know? I know? Um? And so that's

195
00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,800
Speaker 1: that's another thing I'm wondering about. Why not, um so,

196
00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,679
Speaker 1: because it's not like they really, um gave a lot

197
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:19,920
Speaker 1: for him, you know, fifth round pick in two years

198
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,839
Speaker 1: two years from now, is you know it's it's it's

199
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,960
Speaker 1: worth a shot, you know, take a flyer. But he

200
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,800
Speaker 1: did start a bunch of games for the when they

201
00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,360
Speaker 1: won't won the NFC Championship, went to the Super Bowl.

202
00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:38,120
Speaker 1: So you know, unless there has been something determined either

203
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 1: by his previous play or his practice participation that you

204
00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,560
Speaker 1: know he is below the line. That's who I would

205
00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,880
Speaker 1: go to in that situation you describe. Yeah, one interesting,

206
00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,640
Speaker 1: interesting move the Steelers made on Monday, Bob was to

207
00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:56,440
Speaker 1: sign on Travius Adams. And he's a big defensive tackle.

208
00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:58,640
Speaker 1: Has started some games in the league, including a game

209
00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:03,160
Speaker 1: this year for the fort for the the Saints. UM

210
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,720
Speaker 1: Chris Warmly saying today that after practice that Montravius Adams

211
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 1: was lining up at nose tackle getting some snaps there

212
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,080
Speaker 1: as they try to get him in. You know, you

213
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,360
Speaker 1: also have you know, some other guys there that you

214
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,520
Speaker 1: can take a look at potentially. Um, I don't love

215
00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:20,640
Speaker 1: Cam being there. No, I don't like that either. Takes

216
00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,480
Speaker 1: it takes one of your weapons away. Uh. And Carlos

217
00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:25,760
Speaker 1: Davis is due to come back here at some point,

218
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,840
Speaker 1: So there are some bodies you can throw at that

219
00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,400
Speaker 1: at those It's the same thing people are talking about

220
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,640
Speaker 1: when they say, why aren't they playing Buddy Johnson? Give

221
00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,880
Speaker 1: Bud Give Buddy Johnson a chance, simply because he's not

222
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,000
Speaker 1: Devin Bush. Yeah, yeah, and that doesn't mean he think.

223
00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:42,840
Speaker 1: I think we've seen enough of these other guys. They've

224
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,840
Speaker 1: been exposed enough now to say, Okay, this is not

225
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:47,840
Speaker 1: the answer, Try one of these other guys in there

226
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,680
Speaker 1: and see if they are the answer. Well, here's the

227
00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:53,800
Speaker 1: other thing that I always mentioned when those kinds of

228
00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,520
Speaker 1: things come up, you know, and even Vince Williams, you know,

229
00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,839
Speaker 1: now everybody's kind of pine and Province Willen right, no, seriously,

230
00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:06,440
Speaker 1: and Vince Williams down. But last year all I heard

231
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:10,079
Speaker 1: was he can't cover anybody. And that's what the opposing

232
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,600
Speaker 1: offense will do. You put Buddy Johnson and Vince Williams

233
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 1: and those kind of people in an inside linebacker, do

234
00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,040
Speaker 1: you think they're going to cooperate and run the ball.

235
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,160
Speaker 1: They're going to create a matchup where those guys are

236
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,960
Speaker 1: covering somebody they can't cover market believe it or not,

237
00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: the other team gets paid too well. And you know,

238
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: unlike unlike previous airs in the NFL, where you know,

239
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,120
Speaker 1: I won't say that unwritten rules or anything, but teams

240
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,000
Speaker 1: generally ran the ball on Starston Fent, teams didn't throw

241
00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,640
Speaker 1: the ball every down unless they were behind or was

242
00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,160
Speaker 1: the end of the half. I remember really when that

243
00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,880
Speaker 1: changed was you know, two thousand one, the Steelers defense

244
00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,960
Speaker 1: ranked number one in so many different categories. The O

245
00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,240
Speaker 1: two opener against New England. Up there, Brady threw the

246
00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,560
Speaker 1: ball straight times from the middle of the first quarter

247
00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:08,200
Speaker 1: to the middle of the second quarter. Right they they

248
00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,360
Speaker 1: tried to run a couple of times. It didn't work,

249
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,160
Speaker 1: and they said forget about it. They stayed in base

250
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:17,720
Speaker 1: personnel and spread everybody out and Jason Gilden and covered.

251
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,200
Speaker 1: Uh you know a receiver, Tory Brown or get Tory Brown,

252
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,480
Speaker 1: that was the name, right, Yes, okay, Now what are

253
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,240
Speaker 1: you gonna do about that? You know, when when the

254
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,040
Speaker 1: other team says, well, we're gonna break tendency, we don't

255
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,080
Speaker 1: care about what other teams normally do or what the

256
00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,080
Speaker 1: rule of somethings around the league, or we're just gonna

257
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,720
Speaker 1: throw the ball forty straight times and we're gonna do

258
00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,239
Speaker 1: it out of a personnel said, well, we're not substantuting

259
00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:46,200
Speaker 1: on every play, So you've got to play with who

260
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,560
Speaker 1: you've got on the field. Now, what you've got for me? Huh?

261
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,640
Speaker 1: Now what you got for me? Right? That's why you

262
00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,280
Speaker 1: need guys like Devin Bush. And I'm not saying he's

263
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,840
Speaker 1: playing great right now, but that's why you have to

264
00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,280
Speaker 1: have guys or at least make attempts to have guys

265
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,080
Speaker 1: on the field who can do both things without substituty

266
00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,280
Speaker 1: because the other team's not gonna cooperate and allow you

267
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,000
Speaker 1: to substitute to get your best players on the field.

268
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,600
Speaker 1: That's why you can't have. You know again, Casey Hampton

269
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,040
Speaker 1: is a name spoken reverentially, you know around here like

270
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,280
Speaker 1: Leam Hey, I love Casey and he contributed a lot

271
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,800
Speaker 1: to teams and won Super Bowls, but he came out

272
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,120
Speaker 1: and throws down every time there were games were case

273
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,920
Speaker 1: I can remember Casey Hampton stood on the sideline for

274
00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,720
Speaker 1: all but you know it does in plays and you

275
00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:35,120
Speaker 1: talk to him on Monday, you know, Monday or Wednesday,

276
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,520
Speaker 1: like Casey would happen there. Well, they stayed in three

277
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,360
Speaker 1: wide receiver sets. I wasn't on the field remember talking

278
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,680
Speaker 1: about it back then to like having an elite nose

279
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,160
Speaker 1: tackle Hampton a will fork in that era even was

280
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:48,920
Speaker 1: a catch twenty two because if you were three or

281
00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:51,680
Speaker 1: four team without one, they're gonna run it down your throat.

282
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:53,640
Speaker 1: But if you do have a good one, he should

283
00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:55,000
Speaker 1: be on the sideline the whole game. You know, like

284
00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:56,760
Speaker 1: how much do you invest in that player? Then you know,

285
00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,200
Speaker 1: it's really hard because and that's the other thing about

286
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,920
Speaker 1: the defensive line. If you know, a team shows nickel

287
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,679
Speaker 1: personnel or something, then you know, you excuse me if

288
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:11,640
Speaker 1: they can't show whye, three wide receivers personnel, no fullback. Um,

289
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,480
Speaker 1: you go to your nickel. Okay, so then they run

290
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,960
Speaker 1: the ball. But okay, now you have to be able

291
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,760
Speaker 1: to deal with that because if you don't go to

292
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,440
Speaker 1: your nickel, then they'll throw the ball. And that's why

293
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,639
Speaker 1: your defensive line has to be able, you know, to

294
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,520
Speaker 1: do more than one thing. You can't just ask Okay,

295
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,919
Speaker 1: this is our run against the run defensive line, this

296
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,639
Speaker 1: is our against the past defensive line, This is our

297
00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:40,560
Speaker 1: against the run inside linebackers, this is a nah, they're

298
00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,200
Speaker 1: not going to cooperate with that. That it doesn't work

299
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,399
Speaker 1: like that anymore. And so um, that's why you know

300
00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:51,879
Speaker 1: we're talking about changes, you know, and I keep saying, well, okay, yeah,

301
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,920
Speaker 1: you know, blitzing more it sounds good, but who's gonna

302
00:17:54,960 --> 00:18:01,720
Speaker 1: cover and or playing? You know, coverage work sounds good,

303
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,080
Speaker 1: and we saw it worked very recently. Um, but who

304
00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:09,639
Speaker 1: who who's your six or seven coverage guys? You know,

305
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,919
Speaker 1: I just Uh. To me, Oh, so much of it

306
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:17,919
Speaker 1: just goes back to personnel, what is available, what you

307
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:23,119
Speaker 1: have that you could depend on. And um so, I

308
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,200
Speaker 1: don't know when we get to the game Sunday A,

309
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,760
Speaker 1: whatever changes are made, I just wonder if we're gonna

310
00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,160
Speaker 1: be able to notice them or is it gonna be subtle,

311
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:39,200
Speaker 1: you know, little adjustments, things that maybe might mess up

312
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,639
Speaker 1: the Ravens offensive line blocking patterns for some play. But

313
00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,040
Speaker 1: as a fan sitting up, you know, in the stands

314
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,200
Speaker 1: and watching it on TV with binoculars, do you actually

315
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,800
Speaker 1: notice the distance? Yeah, that'll be interesting, Bob. One last

316
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,400
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to talk about with you and Matt

317
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,400
Speaker 1: and I disagreed on this a little bit, and there's

318
00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,440
Speaker 1: been It's pretty much a thing. Maybe some other people

319
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:10,280
Speaker 1: look at it differently, but the idea in the other

320
00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:15,480
Speaker 1: day leaving guys like Ben Roethlisberger, UH, Cam Hayward, T J.

321
00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,919
Speaker 1: Watt in the game in those situations, where do you

322
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 1: fall on that? Um, I think that you know, it's

323
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:26,359
Speaker 1: a uh, it definitely it's a difference. You don't treat

324
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 1: it all the same way. And this is what I

325
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,720
Speaker 1: mean by that, you can have your quarterback in there

326
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,679
Speaker 1: and not put him at risk at all, you know, handoff,

327
00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,200
Speaker 1: quick throws, um, that kind of thing if he wants

328
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,240
Speaker 1: to stay in. And that's the thing with Ben is

329
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,800
Speaker 1: I don't you know, you really have to um get

330
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,960
Speaker 1: stern and you know, to sit him down. I think

331
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:54,800
Speaker 1: now other guys like I was all the favor and

332
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,440
Speaker 1: them taking nausea out. Uh. Cam Hayward is another guy

333
00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,399
Speaker 1: that I would have rather not been on the field.

334
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,880
Speaker 1: But he's another guy where you know you might need

335
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,159
Speaker 1: a restraining order from a court to get him to

336
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,919
Speaker 1: stay on the sideline. And you know he's a defensive

337
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,600
Speaker 1: captain and you know it's a it's a it's a

338
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:17,840
Speaker 1: calculated risk. I mean you also want, I believe, to

339
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 1: some degree, to get the message across to the rest

340
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 1: of your players that you know, we don't quit. We're

341
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:28,840
Speaker 1: not giving up here. And I'm I'm we're showing that

342
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,159
Speaker 1: with some of our leaders refusing to come out of

343
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,560
Speaker 1: the game. Um. And then there's this, which is a

344
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 1: little bit centical, but you know I could get on

345
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,800
Speaker 1: board with it too. I'm gonna punish you players. You're

346
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,639
Speaker 1: gonna play every snap because this is how bad you

347
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,800
Speaker 1: were bad. You don't write, you don't get to come

348
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,880
Speaker 1: out and sit on the bench and sip some gay

349
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,560
Speaker 1: rade on on a heated bench. You gotta be out

350
00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,119
Speaker 1: there suffering with the rest of us. So, um, if

351
00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,439
Speaker 1: it doesn't get anybody hurt, but if it does, I'm

352
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,080
Speaker 1: the second guest back. Of course, right, I could have

353
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,800
Speaker 1: gone worse. Right, That's what we do. Absolutely, he has

354
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,400
Speaker 1: been Bob Labriola, editor of Steelers Digest and Steelers dot Com.

355
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: You appreciate that you stop him by, Bob, as we

356
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,080
Speaker 1: always do. Uh well, I we'll see you on Sunday

357
00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,240
Speaker 1: over at the stadium, see how this how this all

358
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 1: plays out? Yeah, And one thing I keep going back

359
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 1: and forth on is is it a good thing that

360
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,640
Speaker 1: the Steelers are playing the Ravens do a bad thing?

361
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: And I guess we'll find that out on Sunday, as

362
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 1: I think you have to look at it as an

363
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: opportunity and same with the rest of the the schedule being difficult,

364
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:48,640
Speaker 1: because is it just a bad match up? Yeah, now

365
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,120
Speaker 1: that's what we'll find out, but we gotta take a break.

366
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,399
Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lally. You're listening to

367
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,360
Speaker 1: the drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back

368
00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,879
Speaker 1: with the fantasy football focus right after. This is black

369
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,720
Speaker 1: and Gold fan Heaven. Listen to the crowd, SNR