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Speaker 1: Least. He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt Williamson. Matt,

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Speaker 1: the Steelers are back at training camp. I was promised

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Speaker 1: expected probably lots to talk about, lots to get to. Uh,

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Speaker 1: but we heard from U two players yesterday and Mike

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Speaker 1: Tomlin Um Ben Roethlisberger spoke and kind of pooh pooh

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Speaker 1: the whole. Uh, he's slimmer all that. You know, he's

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Speaker 1: the chamber suddenly changed his diet and all this stuff.

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Speaker 1: As I said before, everyone's talking about this all the time.

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Speaker 1: He changed his diet like five years ago, right right right.

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Speaker 1: He brought a few times like he didn't just start working.

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Speaker 1: He got to his mid thirties and said, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I gotta start working a little bit harder to to

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Speaker 1: keep my my body in shape. And it has done

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Speaker 1: so this is nothing new. But the other thing that

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Speaker 1: he said is, look these reports coming out of quote unquote,

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Speaker 1: I'm using air quoture my camp. Uh. He says. My

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Speaker 1: camp is my wife, my agent, and my trainer, and

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Speaker 1: none of them talked to this guy. So you know,

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Speaker 1: who's who is this camp? What where do you find

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Speaker 1: a camp? Do you have a camp? I was actually

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Speaker 1: gonna ask you that I'd like to dig up an

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Speaker 1: entourage and a camp and whatnot. I mean, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: you know you do see athletes and celebrities of course

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Speaker 1: walking around with dudes or you know, camps, I guess.

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Speaker 1: But I do think that's funny that your reporter types

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Speaker 1: will be like news out of Roethlisberger camp. There's no amp,

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Speaker 1: there's no camp. He's not a bunch of people or

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Speaker 1: right in a tent or right right anything of that nature. Uh,

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Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, look, he looks the same

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Speaker 1: as he has the last forever. As I say, he

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Speaker 1: hasn't changed much. He's again looks a little differently with

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Speaker 1: the big, heavy beard. You don't call him little Ben,

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Speaker 1: big human being. You can speak to this even better

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Speaker 1: than I can. But still every time I'm near him,

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Speaker 1: I'm surprised how big he is. You know, Like if

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Speaker 1: he wanted, if he wanted to let himself go people,

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Speaker 1: he'd be three fifty, you know what I mean. Like

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Speaker 1: if he just wanted to sit around Drake Bear's any pizza,

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Speaker 1: he would be a massive human being and they would

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Speaker 1: call him massive Ben right, So he's never going to

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Speaker 1: be a little lean fella, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: And that's type really, you know, I don't know what

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Speaker 1: people expect. Did they expect him to come in at pounds? Right?

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Speaker 1: I don't think that's good for him. No, that's not

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Speaker 1: what you know. One of the reasons why he is

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Speaker 1: he is who he is is because he's able to

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Speaker 1: shake off defensive players coming in and trying to get

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Speaker 1: him on the ground. And honestly, at this point, would

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Speaker 1: he be a lot more agile or faster if he

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Speaker 1: lost ten pounds, No, you know, I mean it joints

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Speaker 1: in his lower bodies giving way or the prime condition.

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Speaker 1: He's still more agile than Tom Brady. Oh yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he always has been, he always will be. Now he's

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Speaker 1: not as agile as he once was. But look at

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Speaker 1: the rushing numbers from the last year. He rushed for

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Speaker 1: more yards and Brady, well Brady does all this each

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Speaker 1: avocado ice cream And go back and look at Tom

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Speaker 1: Brady's combine photo. Right, Yeah, he had a concave check chest.

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Speaker 1: I think that's a great conversation to people who were like,

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Speaker 1: how could Brady last a one? People don't know anything,

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Speaker 1: you know, The draft a total crapshoot. I'm like, looked

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Speaker 1: like some guy they pulled off the street in Indian Athletis. Okay,

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Speaker 1: stripped down your underwear and we're gonna take a photo

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Speaker 1: of him poker project. That's what he looked like. And

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Speaker 1: he was fighting Drew Henson, Hanson or Henson whatever was

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Speaker 1: for arting job at Michigan too. It wasn't like he

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Speaker 1: had this super profile coming out of school. And there

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Speaker 1: is something to seeing them in shorts and underwear and

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Speaker 1: be like, I'm gonna have a hard time pulling the

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Speaker 1: trigger on that game right standing next to Ben, and

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Speaker 1: people are like that, I mean, of course, So, I

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Speaker 1: mean what Brady's doing is miraculous. I mean there's no

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Speaker 1: question about that, and he's defying the odds at his age.

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Speaker 1: But what he does also has nothing to do with Ben. Right. Well,

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Speaker 1: but that's the that's the thing we were talking, you know,

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Speaker 1: before the show started there about about the Saints. They

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Speaker 1: just lost Michael Thomas until until November. We're like, they're

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Speaker 1: going to be in for a tough year. They won

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Speaker 1: one super Bowl with Drew Brees and Sean Payton. If

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Speaker 1: you pull people around the country, who's a better quarterback,

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Speaker 1: Drew Brees or Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, bet people are gonna

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Speaker 1: say Drew Brees one super Bowl wineperl. If you could

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Speaker 1: you pull people around the league, who's a better coach,

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Speaker 1: A lot of people will say Sean Payton one super

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Speaker 1: Bowl win? And there's arguments for about I mean, I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying that those people even wrong, but but the

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Speaker 1: facts are main three losing seasons in the in the

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Speaker 1: last decade for them. Like people think that just because

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Speaker 1: you have a franchise quarterback and a great coach, well

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Speaker 1: you should win you know, eight team playoff games, window

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Speaker 1: you know all that kind of stuff. Um let's lump

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers into it too, because everyone listening I think

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Speaker 1: was say Aaron Rodgers had a better only differences that

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Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would consider Mike McCarthy and one

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Speaker 1: of the great coaches. I think if you look at

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Speaker 1: coach quarterback combos, Breeze, Peyton and and Tomlin, Yeah, and Tomlin,

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Speaker 1: Roethlisberger clearly stand above the Rogers. I think Roger stands

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Speaker 1: above the other two in terms of talent, That's what

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Speaker 1: I was gonna say. And he's coming off an m

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Speaker 1: VP season, you know. The other two are not what

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Speaker 1: they used to be. Rodgers had just had his best

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Speaker 1: year possibly. They've won thirteen games both of the floor

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Speaker 1: seasons and gone to the NFC Championship games, so they

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Speaker 1: were a game away and still didn't get there. And

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Speaker 1: Rogers has more m vps than Ben does, the more

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Speaker 1: Super Bowls he has won. And as I was saying

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Speaker 1: off the air to you know, you and I have

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Speaker 1: referenced Football Outsiders a lot, and I read the Saints

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Speaker 1: chapter yesterday morning, and I was kind of shocked by this.

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Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, they were number one in

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Speaker 1: d v o A last year. People forget how good

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Speaker 1: a team that was. They were good in all three phases,

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Speaker 1: you know, but they were number one in total d

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Speaker 1: v o A. And if you look at them over

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Speaker 1: the last four years, the worst they've been is three.

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Speaker 1: So over the last four years, they've been much better

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Speaker 1: than the Patriots, the Steelers, any other team by Football

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Speaker 1: Outsiders metrics. And they never won more than one playoff

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Speaker 1: game in any of those years, you know, and all

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Speaker 1: of them at home, you know, in the Dome. Now

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Speaker 1: say that. You know, they have five playoff wins since

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Speaker 1: their career since two Okay, I don't think I have

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Speaker 1: many before that either, Well, they went, they went, they

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Speaker 1: went three and oh won the Super Bowl in two

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Speaker 1: thousand nine. Since winning the Super Bowl in two thousand nine,

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Speaker 1: they have five playoffs five playoff points despite being the

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Speaker 1: best regular season team in the last half full of years.

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Speaker 1: You know, um, you know, so it's not easy to

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Speaker 1: win playoff games if it were. Here's the thing, getting

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Speaker 1: back to the Brady thing. Everybody in this era is

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Speaker 1: measured against Tom Brady and what he's done. So it's

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Speaker 1: it's Jordan esque. I don't know if that's fair enough

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Speaker 1: fair it's just well, yeah, to your point, it's it's like,

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Speaker 1: you know, when when Michael Jordan's in the in the

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Speaker 1: in the NBA, you're gonna be ring. Yeah, right. You

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Speaker 1: know there's a great player, you know, a great player.

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Speaker 1: You would have got a couple more. I mean, and again,

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Speaker 1: Brady's a champ. I mean, he's he's gone the goat

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Speaker 1: or whatever. But he is the best reside. I hate

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Speaker 1: that too, but he is the best resume in quarterbacking history.

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Speaker 1: He wouldn't be my first pick if we were picking

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Speaker 1: up teams. You know, if everyone that's ever played the

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Speaker 1: position but that's in the side, it just makes it

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Speaker 1: tough for everybody else. And you know, Brady has more

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Speaker 1: wins over NFC teams than the Saints have wins in

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Speaker 1: their existence when you can super Bowls and stuff, and

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Speaker 1: he had three last year against as a buck being

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Speaker 1: for one year. You know, like some of his numbers

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Speaker 1: are just remarkable. Yeah, so you know, I get it.

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Speaker 1: I also saw I wrote, of course. I wrote several

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Speaker 1: stories yesterday for for d K Pittsburgh Sports dot Com

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Speaker 1: and in the comments section said, somebody, uh reports out

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Speaker 1: of camp where that you know Ben didn't look any

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Speaker 1: better or worse throwing the football than he did last

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Speaker 1: year at camp. I'm like, I said, yes, he was.

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Speaker 1: He was. Last year at this time was the first

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Speaker 1: time we saw him throw a football since since he

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Speaker 1: threw against the Seahawks in person. Now we've seen videos.

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Speaker 1: So anybody saying that he didn't look any better or

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Speaker 1: worse than what he did a year ago this time,

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Speaker 1: I want him drug tested right now. I don't even

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Speaker 1: think we got to the point last year at the

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Speaker 1: stage of the game where Tomlin saying the spirals aren't there,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. You know there's some of those.

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Speaker 1: I mean last year at this time, you were just okay,

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Speaker 1: Oh hey, Ben s throwing That's good, That's what I

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Speaker 1: cared about. Nobody was looking at, oh, judging those throws

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Speaker 1: or anything like that. Oh boy, he didn't have much

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Speaker 1: zip on that one. Like you're just okay, he's throwing

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Speaker 1: the football, right. You know, I also have a problem,

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Speaker 1: And I'm not bashing your profession at all, And frankly,

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Speaker 1: I think you're way as your way above the line

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Speaker 1: when it comes to beat reporters across the country in

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Speaker 1: this regard, I'm not sure a lot of those colleagues

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Speaker 1: or of ours are all that great of analysts to

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Speaker 1: telling me about the way Bens throwing the ball after

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Speaker 1: two practices, not in pad with no pass rush. You know,

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Speaker 1: what's what's he trying to do? Is he trying to

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Speaker 1: just drop it in the bucket here? Is he just

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Speaker 1: warming up? Is he driving it into a tiny window

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Speaker 1: in Baltimore in December? You know what I mean? Like

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Speaker 1: I can, I can tell you for a fact, not

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Speaker 1: that i'd get him, all right, He was throwing the

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Speaker 1: ball better yesterday than he didn't he was on the

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Speaker 1: first day of practice last year. It's not even And

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Speaker 1: as he said, may be concerning if he wasn't right,

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Speaker 1: you're right, right, that's the expectations. You know, he hadn't

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Speaker 1: thrown a football other than with his son in the backyard.

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Speaker 1: And his son's like six years old. He's not firing

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Speaker 1: it at right. I'm sure he's a good athlete at six,

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Speaker 1: but I don't think that counts, right. But he hadn't

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Speaker 1: throw him one since minicamp. He's like, my arm feels

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Speaker 1: great because last year he was still throwing every day

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Speaker 1: to get that arm in the shape. And I think

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Speaker 1: we saw that manifest itself late in the year. You know,

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Speaker 1: when when you're a thirty eight year old quarterback throwing

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Speaker 1: every day leading up to the season to get your

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Speaker 1: arm in shape four the season, you're gonna wear down. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and all older quarterbacks do. I bet almost all quarterbacks do.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I don't look a picture you

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Speaker 1: you you know you do throw the same way in

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Speaker 1: October as you do in spring training. You're gonna lose

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Speaker 1: some velocity on the fastball. That's just a natural progression

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Speaker 1: of things, and especially if you go deep in games

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Speaker 1: a lot. That's why they have pitch counts and things

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Speaker 1: of that nature. I don't know this for a fact,

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Speaker 1: but I wonder if Mahomes and Josh Allen and guys

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Speaker 1: in their prime that are remarkably talented or feeling it

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Speaker 1: in December, I bet they are. The more times you're

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Speaker 1: getting hit, you're getting hit under the you know, you're

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Speaker 1: throwing and getting hit hitting under the arm. As you're throwing,

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Speaker 1: different parts hurt and lower bodies not as strong. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's a there's a there's a price to pay for them.

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Speaker 1: That's why a lot of times when you see a

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Speaker 1: guy who misses the first you know, half of the

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Speaker 1: season or first part of the season comes back in,

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Speaker 1: he looks like he's running faster and everybody, boy, he

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Speaker 1: has some real spring in his step. Well, yeah, he's

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Speaker 1: a percent healthy. And everybody's playing with against is about

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Speaker 1: if they're at best. How often if we picked up

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Speaker 1: a running back in fantasy and we twelve who hardly

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Speaker 1: played all year, looks great, you know what I mean? Like, well,

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Speaker 1: he looks faster. Everybody, Yeah, anything a year, everybody's gotting

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Speaker 1: beaten um and back to Ben. We talked about this

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Speaker 1: a lot too. I mean, like there's a common misconcept

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Speaker 1: option that it was his arm strength is why the

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Speaker 1: Steelers didn't win games down the stretch. It's like I

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Speaker 1: thought he could throw the ball with velocity. I mean,

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Speaker 1: his power in his arm to me, isn't my biggest concern. No,

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Speaker 1: it was the touch. And I saw some of the

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Speaker 1: touch yesterday. I saw some of you know, he made

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Speaker 1: some he made some touch throws that were like, oh

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Speaker 1: that was pretty good. Yeah. That that you look at,

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Speaker 1: you know, practicing, practicing against a good defense. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know that's that's the thing that that you know, you

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Speaker 1: can't overlook here. Um, yes he knows the defense and

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Speaker 1: yes he know yeah, and they're not gonna hit him.

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Speaker 1: But they know him too and they know you know.

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Speaker 1: So but you know, I thought I thought he looked good. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I thought he was, you know, in a

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Speaker 1: great place. Uh. And and it's it's got to be

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Speaker 1: an odd mental stage for him because Palty is on

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Speaker 1: snapping on the ball. The castro is not here. Villain

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Speaker 1: a wave was on the block. Offense line. It's a

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Speaker 1: whole new offensive line. I mean Yeah, Cam Hayward's an

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Speaker 1: older dude and Hayden, but Bend's a lot older than

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Speaker 1: most of the people he's playing with. Let's talk about

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Speaker 1: that real quick, because they had a surprise. The Steelers

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Speaker 1: had a surprise retirement Wednesday after we did the show

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Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Yeah. Um, he gave Wednesday was their reporting day. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And Vince Williams informed the team Wednesday afternoon that he

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Speaker 1: was gonna retire. He wasn't gonna show up, he was

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Speaker 1: going to retire instead. Uh. Mike Tomlin saying yesterday he

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Speaker 1: was He was caught by surprise by that. They didn't

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Speaker 1: have any inkling that that bench was even thinking about retirement.

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Speaker 1: Did you get any answers as why. I mean, I've

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Speaker 1: been asked us over and over, and I just thought

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Speaker 1: maybe his heart really wasn't in it, you know, and

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Speaker 1: just decided, I'm I don't love this like I used to,

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Speaker 1: or looked around and thought, I'm not sure I'm even

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Speaker 1: to make this team, or you know, something like he was.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't going to be a starter. I think that's

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Speaker 1: probably clear. And I think, you know, because the team

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Speaker 1: wanted to get younger and go, you know, they caught

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Speaker 1: him in at the beginning of of the off season

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Speaker 1: to save salary, then brought him back. But even during

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Speaker 1: O T A S he didn't do a whole lot.

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Speaker 1: It was a lot more standing and watching the young

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Speaker 1: guys because that's what you do in O T S

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Speaker 1: and and even made them a chance to Yeah, kind

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Speaker 1: of like at that point, we weren't thinking to Castro

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Speaker 1: too much of it, you know, like, oh, he's not practiced,

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Speaker 1: so what you know, you guys that need it, you know,

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Speaker 1: but you know it clearly hurts their depth at that partition.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he was one of the guys you should go.

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Speaker 1: We think Vince Williams on the bench there. Um, I

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Speaker 1: think Williamson gets a call or do you think they

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Speaker 1: roll with what they have They're gonna I think they're

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Speaker 1: gonna roll with what they have for now and see

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Speaker 1: how it looks. Um. You know, Avery Williamson is still

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Speaker 1: out there. Uh, you know, it's not like he's going

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Speaker 1: to need a bunch of training camp reps to know

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Speaker 1: he got he got thrown into it last year. I

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Speaker 1: would think he has a pretty good idea of you know,

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Speaker 1: if they bring him back in three weeks from now,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd rather Vent or Avery. To

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Speaker 1: be honest with you, I think they're on the same tier,

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Speaker 1: a little bit different skill sets, but you'd be bringing

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Speaker 1: him back not to start, but to be a backup.

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Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I think they really want

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Speaker 1: to see what they have in Ulysses, Gilbert and Buddy Johnson. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which makes perfect sense, and it might end up being

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Speaker 1: for the I mean, this is really a glass half

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Speaker 1: full situation. But if those guys get that many more

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Speaker 1: reps and not many more attention, you know, even on

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Speaker 1: game day early in the season, you don't have you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe on first and tent against the Ravens, Vince would

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Speaker 1: have been in there, and instead you put Buddy Johnson

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Speaker 1: in there because you have to. And he has a

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Speaker 1: sink or swim and he swims. Okay, you know, but

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Speaker 1: I mean, they got some guys. I think it's the

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Speaker 1: weakest spot in the defense. But but I do think

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Speaker 1: I think, I do think that it hurts the team

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Speaker 1: in the locker room. He certainly has a presidence. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there was there was a presence. There there was you know,

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Speaker 1: you could look at he's one more guy. He's a

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Speaker 1: guy that they could look to and you know, kind

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Speaker 1: of like the Darius Heyward bass situation. Like, look, here's

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Speaker 1: a guy six round draft pick played the most snaps

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Speaker 1: of any player out of his draft. Wow, that's amazing.

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Speaker 1: I mean I believe that was what the two thousand

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Speaker 1: twelve draft. Um. I don't know if it was the

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Speaker 1: most there was some kind of stature he was or

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Speaker 1: he was in the top ten in terms of WO

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Speaker 1: snaps played from that that two thousand twelve draft. Um.

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Speaker 1: But he's kind of I mean, he's not a super recruit.

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Speaker 1: I mean, his brother got more talent than him. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and he was a little bit of a dinosaur in

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Speaker 1: today's NFL and that you know, he's a downhill linebacker

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Speaker 1: in a league where that was changing dramatically quickly. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, in a way, he's lucky he didn't show

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Speaker 1: up two or three years later than he did, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, and he might have been pushed

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Speaker 1: out even earlier. Not that he doesn't have a role,

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Speaker 1: especially on this team as a blitzer. I mean, his

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Speaker 1: blitzings obviously stands out. He's a good run stuff for

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Speaker 1: the locker room things, as you mentioned, I think is

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Speaker 1: very big because you would like to have the castro

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Speaker 1: villa in the way of a Palency Williams. You know

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Speaker 1: all those guys because there's a The old guard was

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Speaker 1: a good guard, you know what I mean? You know, um,

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Speaker 1: but you know, I think in terms of of how

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Speaker 1: they replace him on the field, we saw the Steelers

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Speaker 1: use that three outside linebacker package at times last year,

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Speaker 1: especially against the Ravens, and it was effective. Um do

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Speaker 1: we see more of that? Do we? You know you've

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Speaker 1: got you got three good ones now that you know,

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Speaker 1: you can do some different things with um. I mean

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Speaker 1: Ingram has lined up inside. I mean, dude, you could

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Speaker 1: put a pretty formidable five man front there with two

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Speaker 1: at Hayward and those three guys and move them around

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Speaker 1: to some degree. You know you and I called forward

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Speaker 1: a lot. Why wouldn't see Bud do it more how

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Speaker 1: they used to use Clowney. They would use them, you know,

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Speaker 1: coming right up the middle of the middle, not even

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Speaker 1: totally second level, like a yard or two off the ball,

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Speaker 1: A gaps, B gaps. I think Ingram could do that

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Speaker 1: without question. You can also line up, you know, head

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Speaker 1: up on a guard or whatever. You can move to

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Speaker 1: it and Hayward around too. They have versatile alignment from

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Speaker 1: you know to the as well. It would be nice.

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Speaker 1: So if one more kill a brew type player emerged,

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Speaker 1: you know, the running hit linebacker that makes you know,

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Speaker 1: Dime a little more feasible if you call that guys,

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Speaker 1: I really think, and I hate to say it because

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Speaker 1: of his injury history, but I think Gilbert could be

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Speaker 1: that just needs to stay healthy, right, just needs to

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Speaker 1: stay healthy, and it maybe it's been the couple things. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it happens to guys and then

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Speaker 1: they get that tag, well, he's injury prone. If you

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Speaker 1: have two injuries in an early part of your career

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Speaker 1: and then none after, that doesn't mean your injury right,

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Speaker 1: you know. And that's I always say the hardest thing

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Speaker 1: of my job to comment on his injuries because I

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Speaker 1: read the reports. I get what the team tells you,

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Speaker 1: but I've been on the other side where you sit

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Speaker 1: there in a coach's meeting and the doc tells you

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Speaker 1: I'm doing everything I can to keep this guy's kneeds serviceable,

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Speaker 1: and then you know, deep down, this guy's injury prone.

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Speaker 1: He's got a chronic injury. I have no clue if

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Speaker 1: that's the case with Gilbert or not. But we also

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Speaker 1: often say teams tell you what they think, and they

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Speaker 1: haven't moved on from him. They've not been super active

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Speaker 1: to find that second linebacker. And I doubt they look

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Speaker 1: at Spillane and say, wow, we got the next coming

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Speaker 1: to jack Ham. You know what I mean. I mean

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Speaker 1: he's okay, but I mean their actions kind of show

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Speaker 1: that they might have something in their back pocket that

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Speaker 1: they liked. Justin Lane and Gilbert and some of these

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Speaker 1: dudes we haven't seen a lot of, especially with no

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Speaker 1: preseason last year. I'll say it was a killer in

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Speaker 1: preseason two years ago. Oh absolutely just had a fantastic preseason.

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Speaker 1: If you look at Melvin Ingram's career stats his first

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Speaker 1: three years in the league, Oh he's a Pro Bowl type.

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Speaker 1: His No. His first three years, he played sixteen games

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Speaker 1: as a rookie, but only started to had one sack.

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Speaker 1: The next year he played in four games. H The

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Speaker 1: year after that, in two thousand and fourteen, he played nine.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't until two thousand fifteen that he finally broke out.

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Speaker 1: He started all sixteen games, had ten and a half

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Speaker 1: sacks that you're all of a sudden, oh, hey, this

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Speaker 1: guy finally gets there. Was a Bud Dupre like he

395
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Speaker 1: was even probably worse than Dupre probably early on when

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Speaker 1: you look at the early track record, but then he

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Speaker 1: had his breakout, and you know, so it happens the guys.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure if I go back and look at the clips, well,

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Speaker 1: Melvin Ringram's injury prone, you know, without question. And now

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Speaker 1: we're hearing that too because the last two seasons he's

401
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Speaker 1: had something. Again. I don't know how to comment on that,

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Speaker 1: but I don't think the Steelers are super worried about

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Speaker 1: it or they don't sign him. I think he's going

404
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Speaker 1: to play a big role because in between there he

405
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Speaker 1: had four straight seasons where he played all sixteen games

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Speaker 1: and he was a Pro Bowl player, and three of

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Speaker 1: those years not surprisingly. So you know sometimes that you

408
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Speaker 1: just have bad luck. Yeah, I was also I've heard

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Speaker 1: people also mentioned if the Chargers were in the thick

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Speaker 1: of it or the playoffs, maybe he could have been,

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Speaker 1: you know, more of a factor of these last two

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Speaker 1: years too. I don't know that for sure, but whatever

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Speaker 1: I saw you tweeted out, he's gont wear eight makes

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Speaker 1: you look fast. I like that the NFL can do

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Speaker 1: that now. Yeah, yeah, I think you'll see a lot

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Speaker 1: of number eight on the field, though. I think you're

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Speaker 1: gonna they'll figure out ways to get all three of

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Speaker 1: those guys on the field together and it should be interesting.

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Speaker 1: I assume you've seen him in person. Now he's there.

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Speaker 1: His body type, he's not real, real long right now,

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Speaker 1: he's six to shorter. He's kind of built like Highsmith. Okay, okay,

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Speaker 1: I mean like James Harrison's the off the charts example

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Speaker 1: of those style of guys. But they don't always want

424
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: the DeMarcus where six five six six track athletes pterodactyl arms.

425
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 1: You know, Woodley was a shorter, thicker guy. That's that

426
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,280
Speaker 1: same guy. In fact, Woodley is the guy that I

427
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: looked at. Heisman said he kind of like a thinner version.

428
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: I mean Woodley had huge guys, and yeah, he was

429
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,400
Speaker 1: wider to like I made a wider waist than real

430
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: long arm. I mean he did have the long arms

431
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 1: despite being a shorter guy. I don't think Ingram had

432
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,639
Speaker 1: short arms or anything like that either. But he's not

433
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,880
Speaker 1: real He doesn't look like a power forward. But Mike

434
00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: Tomlin saying yesterday that you know, one of the reasons

435
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 1: they felt comfortable signing him is They liked him when

436
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,440
Speaker 1: he came out in the draft. He said he fit

437
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 1: the profile of what we look for. There no kids, um.

438
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: And they also coached him at the Pro Bowl in

439
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,720
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, you know, so they get they got to

440
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,239
Speaker 1: know him a little bit. T J. Watt knew him

441
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:20,280
Speaker 1: from that. T J. Watt was talking about his look.

442
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,240
Speaker 1: He played for the Chargers. My brother was playing for

443
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 1: the Chargers at the same time. That makes perfect sound.

444
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:26,639
Speaker 1: I watched him a lot, he said, I can learn

445
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: a lot from him. He has a great spin move

446
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,719
Speaker 1: that you know, it's different things that you can learn. Oh.

447
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be useful in that room too.

448
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: But it's interesting now a lot of former Chargers keep

449
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,679
Speaker 1: they keep adding Chargers. I guess that's a good point too.

450
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,159
Speaker 1: And I don't know that they're the most stable or

451
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: strongest organization, either in terms of keeping their own or

452
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,879
Speaker 1: people wanting to be there despite it being like the

453
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 1: best weather in the world in greatest place to live.

454
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:51,960
Speaker 1: Maybe that changes with new staff, but I think a

455
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:53,440
Speaker 1: lot of people MABE changes now that they're in l

456
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,160
Speaker 1: A too. It's not l A. That's a good point,

457
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,119
Speaker 1: but I bet I mean I think a lot of

458
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: people were not unhappy about leaving that organization. But it's

459
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 1: it's interesting. So you bring in a guy like that.

460
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: Now he's only you know, he just joined the team.

461
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 1: But you look at it and you say, okay, but

462
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,160
Speaker 1: he has instantcreib. Yeah, he's a he's a veteran guy.

463
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,679
Speaker 1: That's the same thing Roethlisberger talked about with Trey Turner.

464
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,199
Speaker 1: Somebody said, well, you got this young offensive line because well,

465
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 1: we've got a guy like Trey Turner up here who's

466
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,880
Speaker 1: a five time Pro Bowl player. There's a little there's

467
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: a little there. He's got a resume that this this

468
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: is not you know, we're not starting over here with

469
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 1: with you know, five rookies. Uh, you know, this is

470
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: a guy that's played a lot of football and played

471
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,119
Speaker 1: it at a high level. No, that's true, And the

472
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 1: old lines are really interesting situation because there's a lot

473
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,399
Speaker 1: of there's a lot of bodies there that I think

474
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 1: are capable. I think we pretty much have an idea

475
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 1: who the starting lineup is gonna be, with the exception

476
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,080
Speaker 1: of maybe center. But I think you and I both

477
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: have opened yesterday with with Kendrick Green at center, and

478
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 1: I don't know that that changes. That's great. Yeah, that's

479
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 1: exactly what you want to hear. Isn't exactly what they

480
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,400
Speaker 1: did with Palsy to like, Yeah, you're the starting center,

481
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 1: we use the first round pick on you figured it

482
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 1: out and then he really figured it out. Yeah, I

483
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,160
Speaker 1: mean you and I both love the kid coming out

484
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: of Illinois. The tape was great. The athleticism that you

485
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 1: see there. If he fits the athletic profile of what

486
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,440
Speaker 1: they've had centers in the past, do they definitely have

487
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: something that they look for, an athletic skill set that

488
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 1: they look for in the center. And a lot of

489
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: people wanted them to take Creed Humphrey and there were

490
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,080
Speaker 1: some other good centers in this draft. Myers out of

491
00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,879
Speaker 1: Ohio States especially comes to mind. They may not have

492
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 1: been quite as athletic as they wanted, you know what

493
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,239
Speaker 1: I mean when it's all said and done, I mean,

494
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,639
Speaker 1: Green is a former d lineman that can run, and

495
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: watching him in Illinois, the thing that really stood out

496
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: was he he gets to the second level quick. Yeah,

497
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: he gets off the ball very abruptly, and then he's

498
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: looking for someone to hit after he you know, brushes

499
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: a super strong yea fast and there's a lot to

500
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,239
Speaker 1: mold there. So I'd rather him learn on the fly

501
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,439
Speaker 1: and make mistakes, and and three years down the road

502
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 1: you're super happy about it because he's figured out the mistakes.

503
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: Then frankly b j or you know one of the

504
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,440
Speaker 1: other guys that just doesn't have a ceiling. This was

505
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: the opening of training camp. I can probably count on

506
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: if not one hand, certainly two, the number of times

507
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: they've opened with rookies. It's it started like the first okay,

508
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 1: first practice, first snap, who's out there. If those rookies

509
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 1: are out there, they like him, they like him, and

510
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 1: they typically end up being the starter. Well, actually there's

511
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: two this year, right, Harris him, Harris, you know we're

512
00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 1: the guys. That's no shock. But you're saying in your

513
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 1: history that you can't remember. It doesn't happen often, you know,

514
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: Ryan Shays here and guys of that nature. That. Okay,

515
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:54,199
Speaker 1: the Castro Troy wasn't great. I mean, I guess they

516
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,200
Speaker 1: haven't had many picks in the top ten that would

517
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: you know, usually get that on her but still green

518
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: the third round pick, right, yeah, this is not right,

519
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: you know, so I think they had a plan there.

520
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: You know, he maybe he was the target all along,

521
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 1: maybe and they felt, well, we could take fire move

522
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,360
Speaker 1: here in the second round because we think Kendrick Green

523
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 1: is going to be available in the third round. Or

524
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,439
Speaker 1: I mean, and again we've talked about it, and if

525
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 1: you go to draft history, you'll see there's five centers

526
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 1: or so, and they've probably been happy with any of them.

527
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: But I think to your point, Green fits extremely well,

528
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of what they're looking for. I

529
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: think he might have as much upside as a healthy

530
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,959
Speaker 1: Dickerson or Humphrey, maybe more um And again it's all

531
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,239
Speaker 1: about knowing the league too. If if you look at

532
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: the board and think, man, I only think five teams

533
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: are in the center market, and one of them is

534
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: has ten other needs that he's probably too short for

535
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,239
Speaker 1: most teams to look at as a true guarden, right

536
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 1: right right, you know. I mean, maybe they were shocked

537
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 1: when Humphrey went to Casey, the Casey. I didn't think

538
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: Casey was one of those center teams. But we still

539
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,680
Speaker 1: have a little bit of leeway chances of you know,

540
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 1: set that position when there's only one in the field

541
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 1: and the backup doesn't even get his uniform dirty, you know,

542
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 1: like it's I'm sure you can scout that position easier

543
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 1: than others and say, these are our teams were competing

544
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: with for four or five guys. We like they had

545
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,880
Speaker 1: him making all the calls, the line calls yesterday as well. Yeah,

546
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 1: so getting getting him used to doing that. And Roethlisberger said, hey,

547
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: we didn't have any there were no balls on the ground,

548
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 1: and which is the first's first thing? Yeah, been a

549
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,679
Speaker 1: little suspect with that, and he said the second thing,

550
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,239
Speaker 1: he made all the all the calls and they were

551
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: all the right calls. Okay, let's move forward. Here we go. Yeah,

552
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: I would say they're thinking, like, I understand there's a

553
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,159
Speaker 1: veteran to his right now, but he's new, you know.

554
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not it would be nice if the

555
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: castro was there whisper in his ear, like make this check.

556
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 1: You know. In some ways though, with the with the

557
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 1: new offense and everything, you've got, you know, new play calls,

558
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: so they're all kind of learning it together. The fact

559
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: you got Trade Turner on his right, and you know,

560
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 1: I thought Kevin Dawson didn't practice yesterday, but so you

561
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:03,720
Speaker 1: had Coward on his left. Um, everybody's new. Everybody they're

562
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: all learning it together, so you know, it's it's it's

563
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 1: not like it's you know, hey, rookie, you don't know

564
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: what you're talking about right right, Like, let's learn this together.

565
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 1: And I guess Turner certainly will have value of we

566
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: did it this way, we're just calling it something different.

567
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 1: Or try this, you know for you know, hey, they'll

568
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 1: cut defensive end or this this the mic linebacker here's

569
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: not who you think it is, or something you know,

570
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: kind of helping him along the way in a veteran quarterback,

571
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 1: he's Pepper in the a gap, but he's not coming,

572
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: you know, that type of thing. Right. He'll certainly help

573
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 1: with that kind of stuff. But I don't know. I mean,

574
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic right now a period and I always warn

575
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: people this is the time of false optimism. But I

576
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: have some hope for this line. And I definitely understand

577
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: they'll be growing pains this year. I mean, I recognize that,

578
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: I accept that. But I bet if we have this

579
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: conversation two years from now, there's some pieces in place

580
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 1: now for that line in two thousand and twenty three,

581
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 1: you know what they're happy with, you know what I mean?

582
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: But that's gonna do it for this show, So for

583
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 1: my partner Matt Williamson, for Jacob lect here in site

584
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: keeping us on the air. I'm Dale Lally. We thank

585
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: you for listening to this segment of the Drive on

586
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio