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Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on your home of the Black and Gold, Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back. I'm Dale Alli here with Matt Williamson. You

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Speaker 1: were listening to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio,

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Speaker 1: and we're pleased to be joined as we are every

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Speaker 1: Wednesday at this time by the esteemed editor of Steelers

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Speaker 1: Digestive Steelers dot Com, Bob Labriola. Bob, how you doing.

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Speaker 1: Feeling very steamed? You should be. It's better than feeling steamed,

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Speaker 1: which is what you would have felt had the Steelers

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Speaker 1: lost Sunday in Cleveland. Yes, yes, that has been very disappointing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure, Bob. Let's just get this one out of

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Speaker 1: the way now, since I'm sure there's probably about a

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Speaker 1: dozen of these and asked and answered all ready. Uh,

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Speaker 1: she was a trading for Odell. Bet they're gonna pick

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Speaker 1: up Beckham when he's released by the Browns, right, They're

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Speaker 1: gonna put the claim in for him. Uh. Have we've

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Speaker 1: given up on the Shawn Watson? Uh? I'm disappointed. Um? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, Um, I guess that's where we are now

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Speaker 1: since the trading deadline is passed. But let me just

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Speaker 1: remind fans of days and I am serious. Um. Now

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Speaker 1: that the trading deadline has passed, all players are subject

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Speaker 1: to waivers and so regardless of you know, your status

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Speaker 1: as a vested veteran or not, Yeah, you just can't

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Speaker 1: sign with any team you are. So let's just you know,

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Speaker 1: you brought up Odell Beckham juniorial, let's just use him

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Speaker 1: for the sake of his conversation. I think it's cut

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Speaker 1: and Jacksonville claims him because they would be first in

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Speaker 1: the waiver priority it jackson villit he doesn't play, Actually

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be Detroit at this point since it's right, okay,

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Speaker 1: but you see where I'm going right, then many choices

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Speaker 1: at that point. And then but they would also have

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Speaker 1: to pick up at the rest of his contract I understand, mum,

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Speaker 1: which they they could absolutely not wait to do. We've

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Speaker 1: been lining up for that six million dollars over the

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Speaker 1: next two years. I mean, who wouldn't want that? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine it. So labs big picture question for you.

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Speaker 1: And we had this conversation last segment. Who's good in

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Speaker 1: the a f C? I mean Dale started the last

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Speaker 1: segment with can the Browns rebound from this. Can they

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Speaker 1: get back in the hunt? Can they be a contender?

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Speaker 1: I think that's debatable. You know, Tennessee loses Derrick Kennedy,

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Speaker 1: the Patriots gonna win, but you know, they haven't really

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Speaker 1: beaten anybody. I mean, all these teams have more works

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Speaker 1: than ever. Um, I'm gonna stick with what I believed

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Speaker 1: when the season opened. Buffalo is good. Um, and you know,

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Speaker 1: then I think we have to get you know, maybe, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, don some semantics a little bit, and what

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Speaker 1: do we define it's good? We're talking about a playoff team,

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Speaker 1: a division winning team, a super Bowl contender, you know

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Speaker 1: or what? Um? Because you know, and and it's the NFL.

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Speaker 1: Everything changes every four weeks too. I mean four weeks

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Speaker 1: ago Kansas City was, uh, you know, a super Bowl

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Speaker 1: team and waiting or so it seemed. Now, UM, you're

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Speaker 1: wondering are they gonna be able to hold it together

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Speaker 1: enough to even make the playoffs? So things come in cycles.

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Speaker 1: I think I do believe though, if you're gonna ask me, um,

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Speaker 1: you know about the best team in the a f

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Speaker 1: C before the Derrick Henry injury, UM, Tennessee would have

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Speaker 1: been very very much in that conversation. In my opinion,

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Speaker 1: now that Country is injured, I'm gonna go back to Buffalo.

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Speaker 1: I think that the Bills, um, you know, have a

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Speaker 1: lot of what it takes to beat a lot of

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Speaker 1: the upper echelon teams in the league. And so if

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Speaker 1: you have to pick, if you if you're asking me

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Speaker 1: to pick one, that's my pick, let me phrase it

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Speaker 1: differently or go a little different direction. Then, I mean,

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Speaker 1: do you think the Steelers are in the conversation with

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Speaker 1: the best teams in the a f C that aren't Buffalo.

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Speaker 1: I think the Steelers are in the conversation in the

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Speaker 1: a f C North, and I think that that's that's

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Speaker 1: where they should focus their energies. Uh and and just

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Speaker 1: kind of uh be a little bit more my opic

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Speaker 1: in their approach to the rest of this season. Don't

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Speaker 1: look around the rest of the conference, keep your eye

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Speaker 1: on the a f C North, um, and let's you know,

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Speaker 1: let's see what happens. I do think that, you know,

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Speaker 1: just win in Cleveland certainly opened my eyes to some

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Speaker 1: things about the Steelers that I didn't really think that

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Speaker 1: we're in their immediate future. And you beat you beat

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Speaker 1: the Browns in Cleveland, that way along with some of

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Speaker 1: the um things that it seemed to be developing with

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Speaker 1: the team in terms of you know, we we can

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Speaker 1: talk about the statistical advances in the running game and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that, but what I like even more than

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Speaker 1: that stuff is it seems to me that there's there

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Speaker 1: is that developing um meeting of the mind between the

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Speaker 1: quarterback and the coordinator, and uh, that to me is

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Speaker 1: every bit as uh exciting as you know Naujy Harris lately.

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Speaker 1: And you know some of the other things Pat friar

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Speaker 1: Muth's development, uh, you know, Zach Gentry Um. A lot

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Speaker 1: of these kinds of things that you know more than

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Speaker 1: the individual kind of things. I think that a lot

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Speaker 1: of times what's going on I won't say psychologically because

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Speaker 1: that's really not the word I'm looking for, But it's

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Speaker 1: not necessarily the physical things happening on the field that

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Speaker 1: can be either encouraging or discouraging. But you know, some

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Speaker 1: of the other relationships or acceptance of um plans and

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Speaker 1: schemes and the willingness to adjust both ways players to

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Speaker 1: schemes and schemes. The players that you know seem to

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Speaker 1: me to have the Steeler's arrow pointing up at this point.

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Speaker 1: That's what Matt and I just talked about in the

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Speaker 1: previous segment, that the vibe surrounding this team right now

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Speaker 1: is different. You know, when you when you look at

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Speaker 1: the teams, the other teams in the a f C,

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Speaker 1: the other teams in the a f C North, even

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Speaker 1: if you look at them, um, you know, you can

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Speaker 1: see the worts and you wonder, can this get better? Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't you know? Is the Bengals past defense, for example,

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Speaker 1: going to get better? Are they gonna suddenly find a

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Speaker 1: running back? Now? Their offensive line is an issue? You know?

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Speaker 1: Is Cleveland gonna find its way out of this dysfunction

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Speaker 1: that has developed up there? Are they gonna finally? Are

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Speaker 1: they gonna get healthy in time to even for that?

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Speaker 1: Even the matter, Cincinnati just showed that it can go

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Speaker 1: to a game it should win. We were when we

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Speaker 1: praised him a couple of weeks ago when they did this,

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Speaker 1: went into Detroit and took care of business after a

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Speaker 1: big win over the Steelers, and they go in and

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Speaker 1: they and they didn't take care of business. The following

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Speaker 1: week they beat the Ravens and oh boy, the here

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Speaker 1: they are since the Bengals have arrived and then they

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Speaker 1: go lose to the Jets. You know, so their low

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Speaker 1: line there and their offensive line got exposed. You know,

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Speaker 1: you don't see those things necessarily getting better right now,

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Speaker 1: but you see the improvement in the Steelers offensive line.

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Speaker 1: You see a defensive performance like the Steelers put on

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Speaker 1: in Cleveland, stopping the run, and you say, okay, these

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Speaker 1: things are getting better for this team. Yeah, and you

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Speaker 1: mentioned you use the word vibe and that's why Ingram

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Speaker 1: had to go. Yeah, I agree that going to him

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Speaker 1: up and go. I don't I don't care that there

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Speaker 1: isn't anyone as good as him, uh to take his

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Speaker 1: place as the number three. I don't care that they

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Speaker 1: only got a sixth round pick. I don't care that

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Speaker 1: they had to trade him within the a f C.

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Speaker 1: He had to go, and he didn't go to a

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Speaker 1: division team. And that's as if that's as good as

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Speaker 1: it can be. Fine, that's the two things in the division,

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Speaker 1: right And honestly, he wasn't a missing He's not the

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Speaker 1: missing ingredient in Kansas City. They've got they've got bigger

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Speaker 1: issues beyond what doesn't even sound like you care, lads,

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Speaker 1: You just need him out of the building, right, you

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Speaker 1: had to get him out and uh, because you can't

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Speaker 1: have another lagarret blump set, you just can't. So um,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's unfortunate that had happened that way. I

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Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not saying he's a bad guy. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if he was a bad guy. I don't

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Speaker 1: know any of that stuff. But it had reached, in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, critical mass where he was not happy, he

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Speaker 1: didn't want to play here. And so um, it's additioned

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Speaker 1: by subtraction, to use an often overused phrase, he had

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Speaker 1: to go. They got what they could, they kept him

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Speaker 1: out of the division, and you know, we'll see, you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. And here's the other thing I'm

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Speaker 1: starting to look at two. When we look at the

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Speaker 1: a f C West, you know there's gonna be at

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Speaker 1: least one team that makes the playoffs from the ad

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Speaker 1: from every division, and that's the team that wins the division.

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Speaker 1: So if Kansas City and there's no reason in my

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Speaker 1: mind where the Chiefs can't come back and win that division.

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Speaker 1: Because all of a sudden, the Chargers seemed very Charger

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Speaker 1: like and um, the Raiders, you know they're they're they're

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Speaker 1: just disaster after another. I mean, the coach thing, Henry Ruggs.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's just you know, you know, the rate,

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Speaker 1: the rade excuse. The Raiders long have been a franchise

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Speaker 1: that has um, you know, thrived under these kinds of situations.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, I would imagine there's a limited to

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Speaker 1: any of this. So again, the Chiefs don't look very

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Speaker 1: good right now. And I get it, there are five hundred.

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Speaker 1: You are what your record says you are, and that's

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Speaker 1: what the record says they are. But in my mind,

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Speaker 1: they're still very capable of winning the a f C

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Speaker 1: West and if they do, then that really doesn't impact

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Speaker 1: the Steelers, um you know, looking for a wild card

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Speaker 1: if that's what it comes down to, because they're going

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Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. So again, I understand, and I

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Speaker 1: wish it didn't have to happen to trade Ingram, but

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Speaker 1: it had to happen. Yeah, it's good points and one

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Speaker 1: of the well, clearly this coaching staff, Tomlin in particular,

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Speaker 1: probably the whole organization made a conscious decision early in

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Speaker 1: the two thousand one process that they were gonna play

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Speaker 1: a lot of young guys that their their rookies are

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Speaker 1: gonna get a lot of snaps. And part of that

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Speaker 1: because you draft a running back in the first round

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Speaker 1: and just insert them. But still, I mean, this rookie class,

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Speaker 1: to me, has been incredibly impressive, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: a big reason why they're trending up. You knew the

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Speaker 1: speed bumps of rookies playing early was gonna be difficult

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Speaker 1: and it's gonna take time. Now all these snaps to

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Speaker 1: me really make this whole thing promising, not only for

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Speaker 1: this year, but just during the you know, all those

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Speaker 1: rookie contracts, I mean, the next four or five years,

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Speaker 1: all the experience are getting. Yeah, it is. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a nice draft class, um, you know

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Speaker 1: I do, and a cautioned um people's fans um, you know,

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Speaker 1: because it's it's always it seems to be now in

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Speaker 1: the social media era in which we live, you know,

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Speaker 1: knee jerk quit the proclaim quick to anoint uh And

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Speaker 1: people are already hitting me with it's this the second

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Speaker 1: best draft class franchise they might want to take a

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Speaker 1: look at like nineteen seventy one, or even like two

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Speaker 1: thousand seventeen, you know, I mean, yeah, And once I

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Speaker 1: said to someone Okay, I said, I'm not even thinking

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Speaker 1: very much about this at all, but I can tell

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Speaker 1: you in nineteen seventy they picked transformative Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: players with their first and third pick. Blunt. There you go.

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Speaker 1: I mean, so it's hard to beat, right. I mean, yes,

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Speaker 1: you may get um six players in this class where

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Speaker 1: contributors starters, but that's two Hall of famers, um, and

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Speaker 1: that you know too, Hall of Famous Trump's. You know

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Speaker 1: it was a card game. I mean, you know whatever, Um,

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Speaker 1: even recent classes labs. I mean, just getting Cam Hayward,

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Speaker 1: just getting T. J. Watt carries as much. That's what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying. Like you got you what James Conner, Juju Smith, Schuster,

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Speaker 1: Cam Sutton all right, right, you know those guys have

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Speaker 1: been pretty important to you over the last four years. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: but anyway that I'm just saying, yes, this is a

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Speaker 1: a very very nice draft class. Tudos to Tomlin and

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Speaker 1: Kevin Colbert and all the personnel people and all that

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Speaker 1: for putting it together. Um, but people just need to

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Speaker 1: realize that the Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, as a you know,

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Speaker 1: a um, you know, a story franchise in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: they would do pretty good with drafting since you know

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Speaker 1: nineteen nine, So um, you know this isn't this is

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Speaker 1: more the norm than the exception that they're able to

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Speaker 1: add productive and quality players as rookies. But yes, I agree,

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Speaker 1: and again all of these young guys and are the

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Speaker 1: rules that they have and then rolls are expanding and

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Speaker 1: and you know even guys like high Smith and that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Again, that's why Ingram had to go.

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Speaker 1: You cannot have um one dissenting voice or um under

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Speaker 1: the attitude right, everybody's in this and this way. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, when you're asking guys do things to make sacrifices,

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Speaker 1: to give up playing time whatever it is, except roles,

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Speaker 1: they have to be able to look around and see

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Speaker 1: everybody else doing it. And so um, you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: Ingram wasn't good enough. He's not good enough as a

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Speaker 1: player to make the kinds of concessions I believe you

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Speaker 1: would have had to make to keep them. And so again,

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Speaker 1: unfortunate it didn't work out, But I think that this

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Speaker 1: is this was their best option moving forward. And I

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Speaker 1: the fact that it happened and he's gone, and you

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Speaker 1: see that the Browns game and what we've been talking

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Speaker 1: about things developing and you know, guys uh individually and

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Speaker 1: as units. Uh. The vibe UM. Some of the things

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Speaker 1: that are happening in terms of as I mentioned between

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Speaker 1: it seems to me between the quarterback and the coordinator

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Speaker 1: a um, a meeting of the minds. Uh. Those are

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Speaker 1: all very positive things. And that's why as a Steelers

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Speaker 1: fan out there, I would just suggest keep your focus

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Speaker 1: on the division and um, you know, let's see what

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Speaker 1: happens to your To your point about that, Bob, one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I always tell um, you know

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Speaker 1: when I when I coach, and I still coached some sports. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I've played on a lot of different teams

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Speaker 1: and I didn't have the same role on every team.

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Speaker 1: Some some teams you're counted on to Michael Jordan. Some

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Speaker 1: teams you're counting on to be the score. Some teams

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Speaker 1: you're counted on to be the the the point guard

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Speaker 1: or the defender or you know, you're the clean up

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Speaker 1: hitter or you're the three hitter, depending on you know

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Speaker 1: that particular team and what it needs. You don't have

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Speaker 1: to like your role. Everybody wants to be the star

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Speaker 1: the Belichick. Do your job, but you do have to

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Speaker 1: accept your role. Yeah, for the team to for the

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Speaker 1: team to have success, because it is a team sport.

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Speaker 1: And if that's not what you're interested in, play tennis,

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Speaker 1: play goal. I'm just saying there are individual sports that

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Speaker 1: can feed that part of of an athlete, a competitor

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Speaker 1: or whatever. Uh you know, and and then uh, go

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Speaker 1: go go for that. But if if, if you decide

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Speaker 1: upon team sports and you don't want to accept a

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Speaker 1: lot of those things that you just said, Neil, uh,

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Speaker 1: you become a detriment to your team instead of an asset. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it comes down to to what would you rather be?

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Speaker 1: Would you rather be the best player on a bad

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Speaker 1: team or a good player or a key member of

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Speaker 1: a good team? Which is more fun? Is winning? Is? When?

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Speaker 1: Is it about the winning? Or is it about your accolades?

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Speaker 1: You were about you? And this to me, you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the earliest Tomlin is ms that, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I really it really resonates to me as he tells players,

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Speaker 1: I know what you're capable of, What are you willing

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Speaker 1: to do? You think about that, especially at at the

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Speaker 1: professional level, What are you willing to do? I thought

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Speaker 1: it was also telling it as press conference on Tuesday

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Speaker 1: when He talked about when you bring guys in in

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Speaker 1: free agency, Um, you don't get that you don't have

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Speaker 1: that relationship with with them that you do with guys

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Speaker 1: that you drafted. He said, that's why we that's why

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Speaker 1: the Steelers. We the Steelers are a team that builds

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Speaker 1: through the draft. We we we have that. And you

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Speaker 1: have that relationship with that guy, you watch the role

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Speaker 1: grow as opposed to forcing it with with with what

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Speaker 1: you do with the free agent you bring him in.

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Speaker 1: He he has an expectation of playing right away. And

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Speaker 1: you know, he was just Melvin Ingram was adopting a kid.

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Speaker 1: Ingram was a first round draft pick for the Chargers.

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Speaker 1: He was, you know, he was the guy, you know,

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Speaker 1: the star and is he going to accept that role?

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Speaker 1: La Garrett Blunt was a thousand yard rusher in previous stops.

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Speaker 1: You know, is he going to accept that role? And

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Speaker 1: so that's what you don't know, right And you know

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Speaker 1: what with both of those guys, you know, with Blunt

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Speaker 1: it was Levy on Bell and with Ingram it's Alex Heismith.

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Speaker 1: I think both of those guys, if if they were

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Speaker 1: guilty of anything, it was underestimating how good the guys

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Speaker 1: who were already here actually are you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: think Ingram had any idea that Alex Heismith was going

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Speaker 1: to be better than him almost immediately, and he was.

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Speaker 1: You know, the same thing with La Garrett Blunt and

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Speaker 1: leave On. So um. You know that's the thing. If

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Speaker 1: you come up with a certain franchise, a certain organization,

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Speaker 1: a certain way of doing business. You know, at one

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Speaker 1: point in time you were Laby On or Alex Heissmith,

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Speaker 1: and you saw how you got treated. And then when

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Speaker 1: you become you know, the older guy, the limited role guy,

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Speaker 1: the backup guy. Well then you're willing, well, this is

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Speaker 1: how they do this because I've benefited from it when

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Speaker 1: I was a young up and coming player and now

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Speaker 1: you know, it's time for me to take that back

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Speaker 1: seat and allow the next guy, you know, to to

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Speaker 1: flourish or have the opportunity to flourish. And uh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's right. You don't get that with a free agent.

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Speaker 1: And but again it's something that it's an avenue and

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Speaker 1: it's an avenue that has to be explored. Because I was,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know about you guys. I

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Speaker 1: was just speak for myself. I was a dent favorite.

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Speaker 1: This move, the Melvin Ingram move, um, and but you

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Speaker 1: know it didn't work out. Uh. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: I don't know anything about Melvin Ingram and Monck trying

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Speaker 1: to paint him as a bad guy or you know,

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Speaker 1: a malcontent or any of that stuff. But it was

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Speaker 1: clear that he didn't want to be here anymore. And so,

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Speaker 1: you know, while it stings allowing players to you know, um,

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Speaker 1: get their way out of a situation they don't like. Um, Hey,

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Speaker 1: it's what's best for the team, is best for the team,

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Speaker 1: and that's what you've gotta do. Labs one guy, I

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Speaker 1: think that's kind of figuring it out. And as a

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Speaker 1: young homegrown players Chase Claypool. If players were like Stocks,

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Speaker 1: I would be buying heavily into Claypool. I think his

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Speaker 1: stocks a little down and stealer nation. I think that

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Speaker 1: the second half of the season projects for him to

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Speaker 1: really take a big step forward, partially because you jus

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Speaker 1: out of the equation. But I think he's starting to

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Speaker 1: figure it out. And it really hasn't blown up on

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Speaker 1: the stat sheet yet, but I think that's really coming. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, I hope you're right. I have no way

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Speaker 1: of knowing whether you are or not. I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to presume, um, you know, to be any be capable

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Speaker 1: of uh analyzing you know, Chase Claypool's mindset or you know,

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Speaker 1: any of that stuff. I will say this, the Steelers

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Speaker 1: need him to be everything you just said. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: I do think also that, um, you know, I kill you,

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Speaker 1: there's going to be an asset the wide receivers coach

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Speaker 1: and helping Chase Claypool. You know, realize some of the

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Speaker 1: things you just said, Matt, uh So, because I kill you.

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Speaker 1: It impresses me as a very you know, he's a

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Speaker 1: truth teller, he's an experience. He had a career for

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Speaker 1: himself as a wide receiver in the league. I do

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Speaker 1: believe he understands what it takes to succeed and what

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Speaker 1: it takes to become a success along the way. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I think he's seen again. He seems to

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Speaker 1: me as someone who was direct, uh. And I'm assuming

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Speaker 1: that in his conversations with the players at his position. Um,

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Speaker 1: he is blunt and direct. And you know, sometimes that's

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Speaker 1: what guys need. And so you know, like Deante Johnson

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Speaker 1: with the drop passes or you know, whatever, happens to

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Speaker 1: be an individual's um, you know, windmill, you know, to

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Speaker 1: tilt or whatever, you know, whatever they need to conquer um.

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Speaker 1: And so we'll see about Chase Claypool because you know

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Speaker 1: a recent I Kill Your interview that I watched, Uh,

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Speaker 1: he was quite candid about we need to make more

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Speaker 1: combat catches and things of that nature. And while he

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Speaker 1: didn't say Chase Claypool needs to do this, if you

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Speaker 1: look at the players at that at that position, that's

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Speaker 1: the guy, you know who was most built for that. Yeah, absolutely, Bob.

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Speaker 1: We we gotta let you go here where time is

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Speaker 1: up on for interinally, but we do appreciate you stopping

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Speaker 1: by on the drive here. He is Matt Williams and

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Speaker 1: I'm Dale Lawley. You're listening to the drive here on

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Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio, and we're gonna take a break. When

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Speaker 1: we come back time for the Fantasy Football Focus. We'll

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Speaker 1: do that right after this