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Speaker 1: Welcome to the drive. I'm Dale Ali. He is Matt Williamson.

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Speaker 2: And it is a well, a much better Wednesday day

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Speaker 2: after the fourth of July here in Pittsburgh, after some

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Speaker 2: rainy weather basically for I don't know, three straight days

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Speaker 2: now it is really.

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Speaker 1: Hot and it makes you take a training camp. Matt.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good point. It does kind of feel

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Speaker 3: like the two days that Joe Green and Chuck Nole

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Speaker 3: and you know, no air conditioning has that feel about

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Speaker 3: it today, sticky out there. I hope everyone had a

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Speaker 3: swell forth. Did you do any excited? Dal? I went

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Speaker 3: down and was on a boat at the point for

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Speaker 3: like five hours watching fireworks, had a good time.

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Speaker 2: That sounds way more exciting than what I did. I

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Speaker 2: watched the fireworks here in Washington from my front front yard,

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Speaker 2: so I ain't bad, no, you know, watching TV, did

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Speaker 2: a little cookout that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: Nice. My flat iron grill, I'm a little jealous. Have

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Speaker 1: you got you haven't gotten yours yet?

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Speaker 3: No, I do not have it, but I definitely want one,

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Speaker 3: which comes from the owners meeting, by.

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Speaker 1: The way, correct.

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Speaker 3: An evening with Dale and I in front of this

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Speaker 3: wonderful fella grilling things up to no end. It was

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Speaker 3: it a Weineberger? Is that what he called him?

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Speaker 1: I believe it was it Harvey's wineber Max's Weineberger.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: In Phoenix, Arizona, I guess it would be Scottdale area.

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Speaker 2: Tremendous place. Yeah, if you get a chance to go there,

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Speaker 2: go there and not.

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Speaker 3: Think it's ending great, and then you'll sit there and

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Speaker 3: watch this guy grill and you will want to grill

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Speaker 3: like us. It's awesome.

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Speaker 2: Well, speaking of awesome and things that can be well

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Speaker 2: that you want and can be better.

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Speaker 1: It was that was some thoughts about Deontay.

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Speaker 2: Johnson Matt Okay, so in in four seasons.

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Speaker 1: Now Deontay Johnson.

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Speaker 2: Has three hundred and forty catches for three thousand, six

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Speaker 2: four forty six.

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Speaker 1: Yards and twenty touchdowns.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sounds pretty good.

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Speaker 1: And yet people are talking about him like he stinks.

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Speaker 3: I know, he's overpriced. Why'd you give him that money?

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Speaker 3: Too many drops? What's he doing after the catch? Allergic

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Speaker 3: to the end zone? You know, let's give the guy

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Speaker 3: take a step back and try to be a critical

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Speaker 3: thinker and slightly impartial and watch this player, and I

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Speaker 3: think you'll be impressed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, his reception total last year was actually, if.

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Speaker 2: You break it down in terms of where he was

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Speaker 2: at in team history, you look, it was what fifteen, yeah,

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Speaker 2: fifteenth most receptions in team history.

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Speaker 3: Really okay, like.

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Speaker 2: The fifteenth fifteenth most receptions in team history. Would people

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Speaker 2: feel better if those twenty touchdown catches he has in

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Speaker 2: his first four seasons, if he had five touchdowns every year?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I was about say the exact same thing.

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Speaker 3: That's funny, you know, like that's not how touchdowns work.

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Speaker 3: Receptions do work that way a lot more, but that's

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Speaker 3: not how touchdowns work. You and I love fantasy football.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's great stuff we talk about on here

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Speaker 3: a lot. It's also a great tool for what we

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Speaker 3: do in the world world and NFL in general. But

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Speaker 3: I do think there's this sweeping thing across the nation

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Speaker 3: that Johnson is a worse player because he didn't score

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Speaker 3: as many fantasy points as people wanted to, you know,

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's bonkers. And the Steelers passing

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Speaker 3: game was a work in progress last year. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I think that goes without saying. And even Ben's last

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Speaker 3: season was unorthodox, is a way of putting it. For

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Speaker 3: the two and very different between the two quarterbacks. One

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Speaker 3: at the end of a great career, one hopefully at

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Speaker 3: the beginning of a great career. But I think this

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Speaker 3: year will be a lot more telling and allow Johnson

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Speaker 3: to show the world and stealeration the real value he has,

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Speaker 3: which I think is a meds I agree.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm just looking here at the first four

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Speaker 2: seasons of heinz Ward's career. Now, not saying that Johnson's

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Speaker 2: the same player as heines Ward or anything of that nature.

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Speaker 2: Point right, but sixty four games, two hundred and eighteen catches,

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Speaker 2: fifteen touchdowns, twenty five twenty five to fifty nine in

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Speaker 2: yardage total. We okay, I mean Deontay Johnson. That's on

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Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty two targets. Deontay Johnson has gotten

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Speaker 2: five hundred and fifty two targets in his four seasons.

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Speaker 3: That's that's almost the most impressive number.

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Speaker 2: Because the thing is, and you got to remember his

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen season, there was no Ben Roethlisberger for most

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Speaker 2: of that.

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Speaker 3: No good point, good point, I didn't even count about

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Speaker 3: that one.

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Speaker 2: You said, five hundred and fifty two over four over

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Speaker 2: four seasons, five hundred and fifty two targets.

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Speaker 3: Targets right, you demand targets, targets are earned. I can't

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Speaker 3: say that targets are earned. Quarterback doesn't throw you to

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Speaker 3: the ball if you're not open, you know, unless it's

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Speaker 3: the only chance he got.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the people like, for example, the people complaining that

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Speaker 2: that George Pickens didn't.

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Speaker 1: Get the ball enough last year.

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Speaker 2: If you look at the coverage stats, Pickens wasn't open

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Speaker 2: and a lot of that, especially when you have a

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Speaker 2: young rookie quarterback who's looking at that and expecting I mean,

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Speaker 2: he's coming out of college where opening college open is

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Speaker 2: way different than NFL open.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, with all respect to Pitt, I hope they go,

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Speaker 3: you know, undefeated. For my entire lifetime. It's a lot

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Speaker 3: easier to play against North Carolina and Virginia Tech and

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Speaker 3: those defenses than it is the worst defense you'll see

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Speaker 3: in the league in terms of what's open windows, timing,

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Speaker 3: the bad mofos that are chasing at you, you know,

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Speaker 3: I mean, like it's much much different. I'm glad you

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Speaker 3: brought a pines Ward because I think I know this

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Speaker 3: answer because the NFL has changed so much since the

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Speaker 3: swan in Stalworth years. I mean, those guys didn't get

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Speaker 3: five hundred and fifty two targets in any four year stretch, had.

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Speaker 1: Five hundred and fifty two targets in their career in

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Speaker 1: their career.

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Speaker 3: But I bet I'm just a total hunch, and maybe

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Speaker 3: you want to do the research if you're looking for

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Speaker 3: something to write about or whatever. I bet this four

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Speaker 3: year stretch for Deonta is the second most four productive

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Speaker 3: stretch in Steeler wide receiver history, behind something Antonio Brown

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Speaker 3: probably did in turn.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Ward had four years starting in two

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Speaker 2: thousand and one where he had four consecutive thousand yard

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Speaker 2: seasons and then in two thousand and five he had

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Speaker 2: nine to seventy five, so you know, and he had

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Speaker 2: he had one hundred and twelve. He had ninety four

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Speaker 2: catches in two thousand and one, one hundred and twelve, ninety five,

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Speaker 2: eighty and then sixty nine.

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Speaker 3: Okay, on fewer targets, I'm sure, and probably more time.

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Speaker 1: Well, fewer targets, I don't know. He had one hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty.

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Speaker 2: He went from one five to one sixty to one

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Speaker 2: fifty six. Now you only had one oh eight in

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Speaker 2: two thousand and four. That was Roethlisberger's rookie year if

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Speaker 2: you remember, and then one fourteen in two thousand and five.

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Speaker 2: They weren't exactly throwing the ball a lot.

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Speaker 3: That was I mean, just off the top of my head,

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Speaker 3: adding those up as you went almost is exactly five

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Speaker 3: point fifty two.

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Speaker 1: Well, I can do the math here real quick.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's like three hundred over those first

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Speaker 3: ones and then another four fifty and about one hundred

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Speaker 3: after that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So again the targets are earned.

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Speaker 3: M hm.

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Speaker 2: And you know, Deontay the people who were thinking that

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Speaker 2: Deontay Johnson is a bum now I just don't get it.

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Speaker 2: I just don't get it.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Could he be better? Absolutely every player out there could

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Speaker 2: be better. That's actually over that five year period, that's

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Speaker 2: six hundred and eighty three targets. If we just break

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Speaker 2: it down, Yeah, we break it into.

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Speaker 3: The game average per year. Yeah, I'm in one twenty

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Speaker 3: is one to fifteen targets per year or something.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, for Ward from two thousand and one through

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Speaker 2: two thousand and four. Now remember two, he's now four

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Speaker 2: years into the league. He's entering the window that Deontay

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Speaker 2: Johnson is now in.

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Speaker 3: Good point he's not a rookie. I mean, this includes

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Speaker 3: Johnson's rookie year as a sixty six pick in the draft.

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Speaker 3: He didn't come as Jamar Chase. It's gonna get targets

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Speaker 3: no matter what, you know, no matter what.

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Speaker 1: So this is years.

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Speaker 2: His year's twenty five through twenty eight, which again is

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Speaker 2: right where Johnson's at in the middle of this.

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Speaker 3: That's yeah.

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Speaker 2: Prime Ward had five hundred and sixty nine targets, three

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty one catches, four four hundred and ninety

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Speaker 2: nine yards, thirty touchdowns, so.

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Speaker 3: Ten more touchdowns on about the same number of targets,

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Speaker 3: but they're in the ballpark. I mean, maybe my point

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Speaker 3: about Johnson's four year stretch might be third best in

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Speaker 3: NFL or in Steeler history, or fourth, you know.

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Speaker 2: Which brings us to this year. I'll be very interested

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Speaker 2: to see what happens with Johnson this year. M hm,

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Speaker 2: because if we if we throw out his rookie year

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen, yeah, and start with this four to

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Speaker 2: start with, yes, start with twenty twenty through twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: three those four seasons, can he match or get close

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Speaker 2: to hines Wards numbers?

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Speaker 1: I think he can.

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Speaker 3: I bet he exceeds them, but doesn't get the thirty touchdowns.

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Speaker 1: The thirty touchdows will be tough. He need to score.

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Speaker 2: If you throw out that first year, he'd have to

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Speaker 2: score fifteen this year right right here. That Yeah, over

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Speaker 2: the last three seasons, he's got four hundred and sixty targets,

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Speaker 2: two hundred and eighty one catches, two nine hundred and

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Speaker 2: sixty six yards, fifteen touchdowns. Okay, yeah, that's that's in

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Speaker 2: forty eight games. Yeah, so again that's that's within reach.

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Speaker 2: That the yards and targets are are within reach, and

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Speaker 2: maybe he doesn't get quite get there. He would need

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Speaker 2: like about fourteen hundred yards. But this is a different

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Speaker 2: game than when you know, the early two thousands.

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Speaker 3: I mean, teams throw the ball more and they do

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Speaker 3: it better now than the Ward days, you know. So

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Speaker 3: it's not apples to oranges, but it's Granny Smith's the

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Speaker 3: juicy deliciouses or whatever, you know what I mean. It's

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Speaker 3: not exactly the same, but it isn't all that far off.

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Speaker 3: And we're comparing him to a great player, you know,

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Speaker 3: like we're not disparaging heines Ward in any way, not

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Speaker 3: one bit.

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Speaker 1: No, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 3: Comparing it to that guy. If I told you he

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Speaker 3: could do what Hines Ward did, every listener be like, yep,

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Speaker 3: check that box. I'm you know, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 3: Like that's a win for anyone.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, here's this so thus far over the

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Speaker 1: last three years. Here's his average season. His average season

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Speaker 1: over the last three seasons.

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Speaker 2: Ninety three point seven catches, nine and eighty eight point

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Speaker 2: seven yards, five touchdowns.

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Speaker 3: Wow, touchdowns aside, which I do think well, I have

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Speaker 3: mixed feelings about touchdowns. Like Andre Johnson and Julio Jones

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Speaker 3: or to the best receivers I've seen in the last

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Speaker 3: thirty years, they both have low touchdown numbers. Are they

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Speaker 3: bad at scoring touchdowns or getting you know, targets from

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Speaker 3: Matt Schaub and Fitzpatrick and things like that hurt your

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Speaker 3: touchdown numbers? Or did the whole world know that you're

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Speaker 3: getting the ball on fades and are doubling you. Or

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Speaker 3: maybe you're not a great jump ball receiver and you're

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Speaker 3: not a great touchdown producer, or not going to score

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Speaker 3: fifty yarders because you're not great after cat whatever it is.

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Speaker 3: I do think that touchdown numbers are very hitting, hit

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Speaker 3: or miss, but I certainly will concede that some guys

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Speaker 3: are better at it than others.

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Speaker 2: You know that is, I mean, George Pickens, over the

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Speaker 2: course of his career, will score more touchdowns than Deontay Johnson.

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Speaker 3: Certainly on a per game basis.

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Speaker 1: Not going out on a limb there, you know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, he's a bigger wide receiver.

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Speaker 3: Yep, yep, yep, yep. Yet, but the other numbers that

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Speaker 3: you just cited for Deontae over a three year stretch, right,

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Speaker 3: you didn't include his rookie year, correct, aren't far off.

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Speaker 3: Stefan Diggs, Davonte Adams. You're the most prolific guys in

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Speaker 3: the league. He's in that tier in terms of targets, receptions,

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Speaker 3: et cetera.

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Speaker 2: Here's another thing the Pro Football Reference does here. You

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Speaker 2: could when you can look at this on a per

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Speaker 2: seventeen game basis.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so per seventeen games. I'm gonna give you numbers here.

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Speaker 2: First, Uh, this is the first guy one hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty one targets, one hundred and one catches, one and

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Speaker 2: ninety five yards, and eight touchdowns player number player number

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Speaker 2: two in a seventeen game stretch, one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: three targets, one hundred catches, one thousand.

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Speaker 1: And fifty yards, five touchdowns. Okay, almost identical.

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Speaker 3: Let's say, very very very similar. One's Deontay obviously.

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Speaker 1: It's the second one was Deontay. The first one was

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Speaker 1: heines Ward.

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Speaker 3: Wow, Okay, interesting. You know I just cited steph On Diggs,

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Speaker 3: Davante Adams, Hall of Fame career paths that have a

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Speaker 3: very strong body of work. All respect to Ben Kenny

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Speaker 3: and whoever. I'd rather get balls from those versions of

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Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen than rookie Kenny last year. Ben,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean?

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Speaker 2: Let alone the you know, the first you know, four

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Speaker 2: games with you know, with Mitch Trubisky where he's still learning.

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Speaker 2: You know where you're supposed to you know where's where's

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Speaker 2: Deante going to be at?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Remember he missed camp last year too, a good portion

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Speaker 1: of it.

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Speaker 3: Right right right, right, right right now. I might suggest

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Speaker 3: I would rather have days. I'd rather have Adams. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I could get corrective teen receivers better than him, but

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Speaker 3: I can't give you thirty, and I might not be

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Speaker 3: able to give you twenty, you know, Like I just

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Speaker 3: hope our audience realizes that this guy is still is

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Speaker 3: really good, you know, is the bottom line.

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Speaker 2: And that's the thing I you know, I just wanted

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Speaker 2: why I wanted to drive this point home because you

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Speaker 2: hear it time and again throughout this offseason. Oh, the

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Speaker 2: Steelers is just a Deontay Johnson. They're overpaying Deontay Johnson.

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Speaker 2: Sure know they shouldn't and know they're not right.

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Speaker 3: He's actually a pretty good bargain in my opinion when

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Speaker 3: you look at production versus dollars spent, and it's only

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Speaker 3: gonna get a better and better deal as more receiver

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Speaker 3: deals hit the market. Of course, there are some negatives.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know that they'll ever be a

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Speaker 3: huge touchdown producer. Everyone's gonna say, but man, he dropped

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Speaker 3: so many balls, Matt, Yeah, he has a lot of drops.

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Speaker 3: A lot of them were two years ago over a

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Speaker 3: one month stretch where he had the yips. I mean,

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Speaker 3: like it was not an enjoyable watch there for a

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Speaker 3: little stretch. It was two years ago or three years ago,

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Speaker 3: I forget what it was, but it was or five weeks.

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Speaker 1: Three years ago, I'm sorry, three years ago.

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Speaker 2: He had thirteen drops a year, far too many the

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Speaker 2: last two seasons.

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Speaker 1: The last two seasons, he has twelve combined drops.

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Speaker 3: Really, and I think most of them were last year.

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Speaker 1: Out of those twelve he had, he had seven last year.

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Speaker 1: That's on three hundred and six targets.

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Speaker 3: So you drink, you drop one out every thirty even less. Right, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: that's not too bad.

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Speaker 2: I mean it really isn't, especially where you when you

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Speaker 2: consider where he catches.

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Speaker 3: The football, especially in the bend era. I mean a

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Speaker 3: lot of quick hitters. You know, ball comes off fast.

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Speaker 3: He's catching the ball on traffic slant two seconds into

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Speaker 3: the play. That's exactly what I was gonna say too,

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Speaker 3: And I say this all the time, so I'm being redundant.

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Speaker 3: Wes Welker, Julian Edelman high drop numbers because they're getting

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Speaker 3: the ball quick with a linebacker in their face, and

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Speaker 3: they're getting the ball often. Stefan Diggs led the league

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Speaker 3: and drops this year. Does anybody care? No, you know,

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Speaker 3: Jamar Chase was second, Rosie Okay, Yeah, I mean Evans

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Speaker 3: has had stretches a lot of drops. Drops are the

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Speaker 3: most overrated stats for all receivers. Sure, you want to

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Speaker 3: catch everything, but most don't, especially the ones to get

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Speaker 3: the ball thrown to a ton.

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Speaker 2: Now, if he had seven drops on eighty targets, we're

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Speaker 2: having a different conversation.

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Speaker 3: One out of ten is a lot different than one

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Speaker 3: out of thirty.

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Speaker 1: Right, So, you know, I get it now.

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Speaker 2: I understand the frustration with him running backwards on some

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Speaker 2: of those catches where he's trying to you know, he's

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Speaker 2: giving ground.

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Speaker 1: Receivers have been doing that forever.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he got advised and he has to

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Speaker 3: get better at it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And I think he has to know when to do

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Speaker 2: it and when not to do it. That's the thing

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Speaker 2: I think is a thing that frustrated people so much

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Speaker 2: last year. There were times when he had a first

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Speaker 2: down and then gave ground on it, and there were

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Speaker 2: a few times where he got trapped behind the you know,

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Speaker 2: behind the line to gain and they had the punt.

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Speaker 3: Very frustrating, no doubt.

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Speaker 2: If I get it, that's one hundred percent. That is frustrating.

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Speaker 2: You sit there, you watch it.

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Speaker 3: You go. You got to know the situation, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: And he's he's a home run hitter. He's looking for

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Speaker 1: the home run.

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Speaker 3: He's been in the league too long for those mistakes.

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Speaker 3: But he also isn't in the mac anymore as the

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Speaker 3: best athlete on the field returning punts or you know,

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Speaker 3: making a future accountant and miss in the open field

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Speaker 3: and then take him to the house like he's schoolyarding it.

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Speaker 3: But you and I have talked about this a lot too. History, Well,

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Speaker 3: I don't say history. If you've watched as much Deontay

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Speaker 3: Johnson as you and me and many of our listeners.

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Speaker 3: He's good with the ball in his hands. I don't

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Speaker 3: think it's a weakness that he can't make people miss

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Speaker 3: or accelerate or stop, start, or change directions after the catch,

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Speaker 3: or even as a punt returner that he's shown capable of.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's He's the one Steeler since the sixties to

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Speaker 2: lead the league in punt return average. He was an

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Speaker 2: All Pro return guy in twenty nineteen. Yeah, he could

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Speaker 2: still be that guy if they if they chose to

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Speaker 2: use him in that fashion.

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Speaker 1: But they don't.

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Speaker 3: But they don't. Now this got better as the season

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Speaker 3: went on, too. A problem with the Steelers after the

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Speaker 3: catch numbers is a lot of them. Are their shoulders

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Speaker 3: are square to the line of scrimmage, or they're coming

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Speaker 3: back to the ball, They're not hitting them in stride

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Speaker 3: over the middle on a dig and taking it to

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Speaker 3: the house, you know. So some of it is schematics,

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Speaker 3: some of it is the quarterbacks. It's not all after

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Speaker 3: the catch is also a quarterback and scheme number as

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Speaker 3: much as it is a quarterback or.

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Speaker 1: Right, where's he throwing you? The battle?

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Speaker 2: Is he hitting you in stride? Is the pass behind

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Speaker 2: you a little bit and you have to adjust and

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Speaker 2: then you get knocked down, knocked off your feet, all

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Speaker 2: kinds of stuff.

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Speaker 1: Right right, right, right right.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there's I'm sure Montana had great yards after

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Speaker 3: the catch numbers because of the scheme and his accuracy

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Speaker 3: six inches in front of the numbers, you know, And

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Speaker 3: not that Johnson hasn't had good accurate quarterbacks. These guys

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Speaker 3: are fine, but I don't think he's been in optimal

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Speaker 3: positions to excel after the catch, doesn't scuz coming back

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Speaker 3: behind the yard marker and trying to make the big

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Speaker 3: play that needs to.

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Speaker 2: Stop, right, So there are things that he could still

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Speaker 2: work on. But again, he's he's just finished the year.

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Speaker 2: You know, he's twenty six years old, just finished that

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Speaker 2: that season. Four years in the league, he's had basically

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Speaker 2: four to five different quarterbacks now in those four seasons.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's the other thing that people don't think about here.

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Speaker 2: Twenty nineteen it was Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph and Duck hatches.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, it was Roethlisberger.

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Speaker 2: Not surprisingly, twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, you're looking

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Speaker 2: at a guy at one hundred and ninety five catches

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Speaker 2: for over over two thousand yards.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was over twenty one hundred yards actually, and.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't twenty eight year old Ben.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. With fifteen touchdown catches. Yeah, yeah, he could score touchdowns.

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Speaker 3: That's interesting that he had fifteen in the two full Ben.

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Speaker 2: Years, and then last year was last year again with

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Speaker 2: two different quarterbacks playing. So you know, again, I'm not

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Speaker 2: completely saying, oh, you know, he'll be fine, don't worry

401
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Speaker 2: about it.

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Speaker 1: There are things he needs to work on.

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Speaker 3: I kind of am saying he's fine.

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Speaker 1: I think he's good.

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Speaker 2: I think he's fine as a player, but there are

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Speaker 2: things that he still needs to work on as a player.

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Speaker 1: He's not more perfect, right, but he is a great

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Speaker 1: wide receiver.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's the that's the point here that I think

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Speaker 3: we're trying to drive home. I mean it's and I'm

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Speaker 3: looking it up real quick here too. It's easy to

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Speaker 3: harp on that crazy number of zero touchdown receptions. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's an anomaly. It's strange. But nobody on the team

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Speaker 3: had more than four. Or Nause he had three, Friarmuth

415
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Speaker 3: had two, and three guys had won.

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Speaker 2: Scored two touchdowns, and nobody's talking about what a bad

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Speaker 2: season he had last year.

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Speaker 3: I was gonna say, I mean, I think he's this season.

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Speaker 2: You know, So if De'ontay Johnson had had two touchdown catches,

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Speaker 2: ask yourself this, listeners, if Deontay Johnson had eighty six

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Speaker 2: catches for eight hundred and eighty two yards and two touchdowns,

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Speaker 2: would you feel differently about his season?

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Speaker 3: I think they would. I mean, that's such a glaring number.

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Speaker 3: It's this huge red flag standing out at you. But

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Speaker 3: it's gonna change history, show to before. If you only

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Speaker 3: throw twelve touchdown passes in the whole season, one of

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Speaker 3: some guy's not gonna have eight, right, you.

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Speaker 1: Know what I mean?

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Speaker 2: If things return to the meme this year, the Steelers

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Speaker 2: have twenty plus and I'm not even saying they're gonna

431
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Speaker 2: They're not gonna have thirty. Let's say they have twenty

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Speaker 2: two touchdown passes this year, which I think everybody would

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Speaker 2: kind of okay, that would be a nice jump forward.

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Speaker 3: Sure, it's clearly a jump forward.

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Speaker 1: Deontay Johnson's gonna score multiple touchdowns this year.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, there's many reasons for it, but the fact

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Speaker 3: that they threw twelve touchdowns last year is more of

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Speaker 3: a team problem than a Deonta problem.

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Speaker 2: That to me is the bigger anomaly than Deontay Johnson

440
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 2: not catching a touchdown pass. The fact that a team

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00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,400
Speaker 2: played a seventeen game NFL season in today's day and age,

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00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,439
Speaker 2: it only had twelve touchdown passes. That, to me, is

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00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 2: is the thing that really needs to change.

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00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 3: That's what needs to change. I mean, we're we're looking

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00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 3: at the symptoms, not the cause of the disease.

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00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: Right, and we both think that's going to change.

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00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, rookie quarterbacks don't throw a lot

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00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,440
Speaker 3: of touchdowns, right.

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00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to touch on that. I thought

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00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,760
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting. It was just something I

451
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 1: was looking at it today, and.

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00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,119
Speaker 2: You know, again, I keep hearing on and off throughout

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00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,560
Speaker 2: this offseason Steelers need to trade Deontay Johnson.

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00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: They need to do this, they need to do that.

455
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:46,159
Speaker 1: No they don't.

456
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's still there.

457
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: He's still their number one receiver.

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00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,200
Speaker 2: He is, and I think until otherwise, until somebody else

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00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 2: proves otherwise.

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00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 3: And I bet both of us would put a lot

461
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 3: of money down that he leads the team and targets

462
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,199
Speaker 3: per game. Maybe he doesn't play all seventeen, you know,

463
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 3: but I bet the games he's out there, he is

464
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 3: the most targeted guy more often than.

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00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 2: Not, and deservedly so he's the guy that he's the

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00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 2: guy that gets open. He's the guy who beats man coverage,

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00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,200
Speaker 2: who beats zone coverage. He is Again, those targets are earned.

468
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 3: Earned, So I reference him. His name's Matt Harmon, and

469
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 3: he has a site called Reception Perception. It's a pay

470
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 3: site and all he does is look at receivers. So,

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00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 3: just to show that this isn't us being Homers. On

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00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 3: steel Nation Radio, he time and time again talks about

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00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 3: how Johnson's one of the most underrated players in the

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00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 3: league and his skill set, his route running, his ability

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00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,400
Speaker 3: versus man multiple positions at the receiver position are near

476
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,439
Speaker 3: the top of the league. You know, like people that

477
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 3: just do that for a living understand his value.

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00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah.

479
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 2: I just think that, you know, I think Steeler fans

480
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:56,800
Speaker 2: need to take a step back and look at this

481
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 2: big picture wise from you know, a thousand feet again,

482
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 2: not saying he's a perfect player, not saying there aren't

483
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,919
Speaker 2: things that he doesn't need to get better at, but

484
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 2: he's pretty good.

485
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:12,120
Speaker 1: Right now and dat no no. But they're also they're

486
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 1: also not paying him like.

487
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 3: Those guys right right, right, right, good point.

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00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 1: And that's the other Yeah, that's the other part of

489
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 1: the equation.

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00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,800
Speaker 2: Like, Okay, if he goes out and has Christian kirk

491
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 2: numbers this year, because everybody is comparing that contract to

492
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,360
Speaker 2: Christian Kirker, people are gonna be happy if he scores

493
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 2: I don't know, seven touchdowns this year.

494
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,160
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, right right, I mean you take that number. Sure.

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00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 1: Yeah.

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00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 2: So I mean he's he's right there in terms of

497
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,120
Speaker 2: everything else. Now it's just a matter of getting back

498
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 2: in the end zone again. And I think people will

499
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 2: realize and this guy's pretty good.

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00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think that is the bottom line and is

501
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:52,119
Speaker 3: getting he has no business being in Steelers fans doghouses whatsoever,

502
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 3: and none he.

503
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 1: Is a little as bonkers crazy to me.

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00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 2: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolley. You're listening

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00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,160
Speaker 2: to the drive here on Dealer's Nation Radio. We're gonna

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00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:02,360
Speaker 2: take a break. When we come back.

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00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see where we go with that.

508
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 2: We like to do our free form jazz radio shows here.

509
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 2: Matt often has no idea where I'm going to take

510
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,639
Speaker 2: this thing. Sometimes I don't even know where we're gonna go.

511
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,199
Speaker 2: It's kind of what makes it what it is. We're

512
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 2: two guys sitting here talking football, just like we would

513
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 2: if we were sitting out at Sharky's later.

514
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 3: This month, say a local watering hole, Bret, we.

515
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 1: Would do that. But we'll be back with more right

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00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: after this