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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the drive. I'm Dale Lully here with

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Speaker 1: Matt Williamson. We're pleased to be joined now as we

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Speaker 1: are every Wednesday in season by our friend and colleague,

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Speaker 1: Bob Blabriola. How are you doing, Bobode? How are you

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Speaker 1: are you there? Bob? Yeah? Here, I'm not hearing him? Okay, okay,

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Speaker 1: Well I'll take over for now. Hi, Labs, how are

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Speaker 1: you paying Matt? How are you there? Have some technical

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Speaker 1: difficulty over here, but Dale must have paid extra for

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Speaker 1: those headsets that don't bring my voice across. Right. He

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Speaker 1: probably does to me more than I realized, come to

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Speaker 1: think of it. So I got a question for you.

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Speaker 1: You're a smidge older than I am, and as a

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Speaker 1: very young lad here in Pittsburgh, I was taught by

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Speaker 1: my family and everyone involved. You know that brought me

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Speaker 1: up in this football world. That it wasn't the Browns,

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Speaker 1: the Bengals, the Oilers that or even the Cowboys that

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Speaker 1: you hated most. It was the Raider. I mean, what

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Speaker 1: was that rivalry? Like? Um? It was um you know

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Speaker 1: right now, I think, uh, the hate is for the Ravens. Um.

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Speaker 1: That's a love affair compared to what it was with

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Speaker 1: the Raiders in the seventies. I mean it was, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, there was a game where the Steelers accused

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Speaker 1: the Raiders of you know, writing obscenities on the deflated

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Speaker 1: footballs that they were giving them for offense and no,

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Speaker 1: nobody deflate I can hear you now by the way, okay,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, greasing their jerseys and stuff. And

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Speaker 1: then the Raiders came back and accused the Steelers of

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Speaker 1: you know, purposely allowing the tarp on Free River Stadium

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Speaker 1: to tear and rip so that the turf was frozen

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Speaker 1: for the a f C Championship game in nine. You know,

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Speaker 1: then there's the Immacua reception that you know, Madden and

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Speaker 1: Fillipana they're still winding about that now, what is it

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Speaker 1: almost fifty years later? So yeah, that was it was

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Speaker 1: real hate. And uh, you know in a lot of

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Speaker 1: those games, you know there was the Criminal Element game.

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Speaker 1: Um yeah, there was. There was a lot of you know,

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Speaker 1: when you have a lot of games that have nicknames,

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Speaker 1: the Criminal Element game, um, uh, the Ice Bowl one

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Speaker 1: of them. Anyway, the game with the frozen turf. You know,

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Speaker 1: you always know that it's a real rivalry when when

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Speaker 1: the games between the teams have nicknames that would lasts

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Speaker 1: for generation. And when you know your head coach is

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Speaker 1: getting called him freak because he's being sued as part

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Speaker 1: of part of the lawsuits. Just things like that, little things,

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Speaker 1: little bit little things, right. But the Raiders were in

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Speaker 1: your opinion, I mean, just if you could be slightly impartial,

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Speaker 1: were they the second best team in the seventies. Um? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I would say that the Raiders over the Cowboys. Um.

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Speaker 1: The Hall of Famer seemed to agree. I think they're

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Speaker 1: like twelve Raiders from the from the seventies and the

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame and they win one Super Bowl two

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Speaker 1: one in the seventies, in the seventies one. Um. But

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Speaker 1: I mean you know there were um, there were those

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Speaker 1: those seasons. And really seventy two season was the Steelers

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Speaker 1: coming out of party. You know, Chuck mull had taken

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Speaker 1: over in nineteen sixty nine and they went one in

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Speaker 1: thirteen and started building. Um and they were below five

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty nine seventy and seventy one seventy two

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Speaker 1: when the season was getting ready to open. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of belief slash hope. You know

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Speaker 1: that the Steelers were going to break through and they're

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Speaker 1: a regular season opener was against and they smoking and

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Speaker 1: they beat up. They beat Oakland, um and that was

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Speaker 1: pointed to um by Dan Rooney as a as a

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Speaker 1: game that you know at the time was significant more

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Speaker 1: than just one win in a regular season game, but

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Speaker 1: it was significant for a young franchise, or not not

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Speaker 1: a young franchise, but a young group of players and

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Speaker 1: coaches who were you know, maybe needed to be convinced

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Speaker 1: a little bit that they were as good as everybody else.

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Speaker 1: And that game he always sided, Dan Rooney always sided

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Speaker 1: that game that year and the game against the Minnesota

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Speaker 1: Vikings that year the Steelers also won that as two

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Speaker 1: games that victories that really kind of convinced a lot

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Speaker 1: of the players, uh that they were good enough, and

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Speaker 1: it certainly did a lot of convincing in terms of

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Speaker 1: fans in the in the city. Do you see any

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Speaker 1: correlation there, Bob, with what happened in follow last week

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Speaker 1: young football team, Yes, Ben, Ralph Roethlisberger, Yes, Cam Hayward

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Speaker 1: and some others know what it takes to win in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. But a lot of those guys, is particularly

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Speaker 1: on offense, who were playing in their first game. We're

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Speaker 1: playing in their first game in the NFL with fans

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't know. Hey, this is this is why we

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Speaker 1: do all the stuff that they have us do. Uh,

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Speaker 1: this is why we're there. Hey, you gotta pay attention

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Speaker 1: to these details. You go into to Buffalo and you

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Speaker 1: beat a very good Bills team and it and it

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Speaker 1: can be something of a springboard maybe for something else. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, in some ways, um I could agree with you,

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Speaker 1: but you know, in others, um I certainly wouldn't want

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Speaker 1: to compare. Uh, you know where the Steelers are with

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Speaker 1: where the neither nor am I. But yeah, because there

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Speaker 1: was there's there was no history then, you know, I

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Speaker 1: mean now you know, there was no thing on the

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Speaker 1: on the wall underneath outside of the locker room. The

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Speaker 1: standard as the standard because then the standards standard, well,

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Speaker 1: the standard was, uh you know, play good for a while,

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Speaker 1: beat up the opponent, and then lose. That was the standard.

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Speaker 1: They hadn't been in the playoffs before that seventy two season,

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Speaker 1: walked by a bunch of trophies on the way of

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Speaker 1: the meeting room either right, yeah, so, but I I

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Speaker 1: don't want to you know, it's one game they beat Buffalo.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a significant win. Uh, it's certainly you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of gets things off on the right foot this season. Um.

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Speaker 1: But you know, they could lose the Oakland or excuse me,

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Speaker 1: excuse me, they could lose the Las Vegas Sunday because

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Speaker 1: the Raiders are are not a bad team this year.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this isn't one of those. Um. Oh, these

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Speaker 1: Steelers were looking ahead, looking past the Raiders for that

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Speaker 1: you know, big game against the Bengals the next week. Um.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you know, I don't I I just I

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Speaker 1: don't want I don't want to go too far either

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Speaker 1: way with what happened against the Bills, positively or negatively

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Speaker 1: had they lost. I just think it's positive reinforcement for

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Speaker 1: everything that like Mike Tomlin has been preaching to these

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Speaker 1: young players that Ben Roethlisberger has been preaching, especially to

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Speaker 1: the guys on his side of the ball. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: the offensive players. Hey, we had a crappy first half.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you can't play the worst first half potentially

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Speaker 1: than what the what the Steelers obviously can if you

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Speaker 1: turn the ball over a bunch of times. But fifty

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Speaker 1: four yards of offense in the first half of that game,

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Speaker 1: and yet you come out then and you you start

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Speaker 1: moving the football in the second half. I think it

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Speaker 1: kind of it can be something that drives some points home,

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Speaker 1: like hey, this is why. As I asked Roethlisberger about

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Speaker 1: it today, he says, yeah, we've you know, that's why

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Speaker 1: we were practicing the silent count two weeks out from

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Speaker 1: that game because it was gonna be so important. When

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Speaker 1: now those guys see why it was important if you

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Speaker 1: hadn't been in that kind of situation before, and the

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Speaker 1: defense knows it's good already. That's all the veteran well

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Speaker 1: and and the other thing. Dale, just to piggyback on

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Speaker 1: what you were saying, I mean, that's also shows the

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Speaker 1: value of Ben Roethlisberger. I mean, you know, pro football

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Speaker 1: focus and all those genuses. I mean, they've been having

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Speaker 1: lots of fun um with the Steelers performance since they

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Speaker 1: beat Buffalo. But you know what's not what's not considered

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Speaker 1: you know by the analytics people you know and all

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Speaker 1: those other nerds, uh, is that you know that kind

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Speaker 1: of um studying presence. You know that Roethlisberg can bring

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Speaker 1: to a young group, Like I'm sure that there were

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Speaker 1: times that um some of some of those young players,

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Speaker 1: particularly maybe some of those young offensive linemen who were

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Speaker 1: in their first game or you know, first game in

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Speaker 1: the position that they were in. Um looked at him,

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Speaker 1: you know, because I've heard UH Craig Wolfley talk about

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Speaker 1: being in the huddle, you know, with a quarterback on

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Speaker 1: third downe as he was trying to call the play,

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Speaker 1: he was stuttering UM. And you know, these are professionals.

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Speaker 1: I mean they look at that, and you know, the

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Speaker 1: judgments are made quickly, I would imagine by those people

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Speaker 1: of their peers in those kinds of situations. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't I don't think Roethlisberger UH exuded anything but

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Speaker 1: confidence and calm to them. And you know, as as

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Speaker 1: I remember UM, Hal Hunter UH, an old time offensive

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Speaker 1: line coach for the Steelers, once talking about UM the

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Speaker 1: offensive line, and he said, you know, when you have

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Speaker 1: Mike Webster in the huddle with you, it's like walking

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Speaker 1: down a dark alley carrying a big stick. There's there's

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Speaker 1: a level of confidence that that gives you that you know,

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Speaker 1: we can be okay. You know, you look, you keep

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Speaker 1: looking over and seeing him next to you, and you think, okay,

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Speaker 1: we can do this. Us Um and I think that

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Speaker 1: that's what Roethlisberger can bring to this team. I think

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Speaker 1: that's what he brought to them. Uh, certainly in the

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Speaker 1: second half of that game against the Bills. There's no

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Speaker 1: doubt about it. I mean, I do think that's Ben's

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Speaker 1: the thing that he brings that nobody can quantify, you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned it too. I mean all the

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Speaker 1: analytics folks and all those things, but just look into

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Speaker 1: your right or your left and be like, this guy's

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Speaker 1: not sweating at one bit. And I'm in my first game,

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Speaker 1: you know, and that offense was littered with you know,

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Speaker 1: young dudes. I think that has immense value here. And

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be a superstore doesn't be been

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Speaker 1: in his prime for this to be a very competitive

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Speaker 1: football team. Right. And you know Dale mentioned you know

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Speaker 1: some of the awful statistics offensive statistics from the first half. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know they were one for six on third down UM.

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Speaker 1: And you know there were some third downs in that

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Speaker 1: second half, third and longs where you know you hit

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Speaker 1: Claypool on a long when you hit you Ju on

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Speaker 1: a long one. UM, So you know he gives you

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Speaker 1: you have a chance. I mean, you just do uh

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Speaker 1: with him and Um, again, as I said, I don't

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Speaker 1: I don't think that you can really discount the value

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Speaker 1: of that, particularly in the situation in which he delivered

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Speaker 1: it on Sunday, hostile environment, a team that a lot

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Speaker 1: of people were picking to represent the A f c

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Speaker 1: UH in the super Bowl or in at least, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, a favorite to be a playoff team easily

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Speaker 1: this year, and there with a quarterback who was getting

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Speaker 1: some buzz a little bit in m v P conversation, um,

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Speaker 1: particularly by media, who were you know, looking to make

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Speaker 1: a splash with a off the wall pick. I think,

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Speaker 1: because you know, when when you're talking about my homes

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Speaker 1: and Brady and some of those other people, I don't

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Speaker 1: think Buffalo's Josh Allen is a sexy enough pick unless um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Bills are really spectacular. Um, but you

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Speaker 1: get what I'm saying. I mean, it was. It was

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Speaker 1: definitely an upset. I don't know if there was a

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Speaker 1: more significant upset in the league. Week one. It was

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Speaker 1: the biggest, biggest point spread where the dog won, and

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Speaker 1: I believe nine of the seven underdogs either covered or

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Speaker 1: one outright on Sunday. It was. It was a topsy

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Speaker 1: turvy weekend. But Steelers beat the biggest spread of any

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Speaker 1: of the teams in the league in Week one. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But and to me too, I'm not a better and

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Speaker 1: I don't I wouldn't even know what that um you know,

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Speaker 1: uh factory that you just threw out there. But what

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Speaker 1: I meant though, was, um, you know, you look at

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Speaker 1: a team that collapsed on the stretch of the previous year,

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Speaker 1: lost a bunch of people in the off season, had

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Speaker 1: to rebuild their offensive line, all of those kinds of things,

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Speaker 1: and then you're going to a place where, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: hornets nest murder hornets nest, probably especially since there hadn't

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Speaker 1: been fans last year. And I mean those people in Buffalo,

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Speaker 1: you know, I would compare them, uh to seventies Steelers

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Speaker 1: fans before you know, the Super Bowl became a part

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Speaker 1: of the regular Steelers schedule. Um, they're hungry. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they want they want some success and so, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I just believe that it was going to be an

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Speaker 1: unbelievable atmosphere there, and um, you know, to go in

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Speaker 1: there and win with those that group that the Steelers

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Speaker 1: took in took into that place, I really think was

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Speaker 1: a heck of an accomplishment. Yeah, I agree with you, Bob.

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Speaker 1: It was we haven't even talked about the defense in

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Speaker 1: that game. Uh. Is it possible that Cam Hayward is underrated? Oh?

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Speaker 1: I don't think there's any question about it. Um, you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, you know, And here's one of the things,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was kicking her out with Mike pursuit

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Speaker 1: on this week's agree to disagree. Um, you know, Cam

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Speaker 1: Hayward when it when it's all said and done, I

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Speaker 1: firmly believe that he's going to be remembered as one

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Speaker 1: of the great defensive linemen and franchise history. And that's

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Speaker 1: not an easy club to get into for this particular franchise. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I will tell you this that he has already

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Speaker 1: in pretty elite company in my mind, because in franchise history,

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Speaker 1: there are only two interior defensive linemen ever to be

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Speaker 1: voted First team a p All Pro more than once.

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Speaker 1: One of them I'm sure comes immediately, and the other

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Speaker 1: one is the guy we're talking about now. So, UM,

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Speaker 1: you know, as I said, there's a lot of uh,

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Speaker 1: really really good defensive lineman who have played for the

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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers since Chuck Mole was hired nineteen and even

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Speaker 1: before that, you know there's that guy that they retired

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Speaker 1: it jersey number seventy, Ernie Stoutner. Um, he's in that

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Speaker 1: group as well. So for Cam Heyward to be, you know,

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Speaker 1: in a club that the only other member besides him

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Speaker 1: is Joe Green. Um, you know, it doesn't take long

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Speaker 1: to call call the role and so yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: that he is in a lot of ways underrated. Um.

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Speaker 1: And you know, uh, the way he played on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: I just I don't know how much how people can

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Speaker 1: underrate him very very very much longer and labs along

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Speaker 1: those lines, I mean, an absolute key to that game

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Speaker 1: was a Steelers pass rush and taking it a step further,

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Speaker 1: the ability to greatly affect the game without bringing a

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Speaker 1: fifth or sixth pass rusher. I know this team has

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Speaker 1: led the league in sacks for you know, several years

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Speaker 1: in a row. I think this pass marshal might be

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Speaker 1: the best of them all. Um, Well, I'll tell you what, Matt,

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Speaker 1: if they're gonna be able to get that kind of pressure. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And Josh Allen is a tricky quarterback the sack too,

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Speaker 1: because he's very mobile and very strong, and you know,

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Speaker 1: if you get caught out of your lane or you

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Speaker 1: get sloppy when you get close to him and think

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Speaker 1: you're going to bring him down by you know, grabbing

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Speaker 1: his jersey or something, it can turn out to be

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Speaker 1: a big play for for the other team. But for

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Speaker 1: that for the Steelers to accomplish what they did in

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Speaker 1: terms of pressuring him with four guys as often as

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Speaker 1: they did, um, you know, if they can continue that, UM,

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Speaker 1: this defense is going to be I don't know, better

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Speaker 1: than I had any hope of it realistically being UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, it could be the kind of defense that

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Speaker 1: I don't know that it's to the level of the

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Speaker 1: seventy four Steelers or the UH two thousand Ravens where

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Speaker 1: that's why they want a trophy. But I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to discount it either. Let's let's see how things unfold

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Speaker 1: here a little bit, because what I do believe is

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Speaker 1: the secondary is better than last year. UM. I think

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Speaker 1: that Sutton um is better than Nelson. I think that

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Speaker 1: Trey Norwood and what they're able to do with him

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Speaker 1: and how that frees up Minca is better than Mike

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Speaker 1: Hilton and the things that he was able to do

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Speaker 1: and bring UM you know, James Pierre, I think is

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Speaker 1: is a is a decent player, and he's got a

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Speaker 1: lot of room to improve. I think they have depth. Um.

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Speaker 1: So uh again, if they can continue to pressure and

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Speaker 1: be productive with their pressure with just four people, UM,

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Speaker 1: that secondary is going to be a very very are

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Speaker 1: called puzzled assault because I don't think that it's going

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Speaker 1: to be one of those situations where everybody's gonna be

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Speaker 1: in the same spot one week to the next. I

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Speaker 1: just don't think that. I think that Mike Tomlin has

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Speaker 1: spent a good bit of time, um trying to accumulate

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Speaker 1: enough versatile kind of players that um, and they're all

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Speaker 1: old enough now. I think in terms of experience, I

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Speaker 1: think that he can really go in and, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: come up with some stuff that guys don't see week

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Speaker 1: to week, and they'll they're gonna need some time to

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Speaker 1: figure it out. And if those front four pass rushers,

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Speaker 1: whoever they happen to be, they're not gonna give you

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of time to figure it out. I

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Speaker 1: remember Dick Coke telling me one time that you know,

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Speaker 1: in the seventy four seventy five season, even before that

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Speaker 1: seventy two he said, you know, they would watch film

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Speaker 1: as a coaching staff of the defense, and he said

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Speaker 1: there would be receivers running running clean off the line

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Speaker 1: of scrimmage. But it was one Mississippi to Mississippi and

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Speaker 1: then you're on your back, and so a lot of

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Speaker 1: that stuff doesn't even count, if you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: either blown coverages or guys getting beat or whatever, because

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Speaker 1: the quarterback was getting punished and he was getting punished

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Speaker 1: by four guys, and a defense that can do that consistently, um,

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Speaker 1: is in this National Football League the way the game

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Speaker 1: is played now, um, I think that might be one

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Speaker 1: of the best weapons the team can have more turnovers. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I agree. I think that To drive your point home here, Bob,

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Speaker 1: before we got to go, they acquire a Kilo Weatherspoon

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Speaker 1: last week, and when he was put on the inactive

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Speaker 1: list on Sunday, I had people tweeting at me, going,

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Speaker 1: I can't believe Witherspoon is not active. I'm like, this

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Speaker 1: should tell you how good they feel about their guys

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Speaker 1: in their secondary, because there have been other instances where

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Speaker 1: they've acquired a cornerback right before the season started. Joe Hayden,

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Speaker 1: if you go back in two thousand fifteen. Uh, it was, um,

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Speaker 1: I can't I think of his name now, Ross Cockroll

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Speaker 1: that they played that week because they need because they

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Speaker 1: had to. They didn't need a Killo Witherspoon to play

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Speaker 1: and they were playing the Bills, you know they Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Manko is the same way that they felt comfortable enough

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Speaker 1: to go into this without a guy that they gave

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Speaker 1: up draft capital for who I think they obviously feel

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Speaker 1: pretty good about. They didn't feel they needed to play

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Speaker 1: him because they felt good enough about the other guys.

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Speaker 1: They had four receivers on the field off all the time. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And I mean you could look at to me, that

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Speaker 1: was what was so revealing. So revealing was Stefon Diggs

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Speaker 1: last December, last Sunday. Yeah, I mean the guy caught

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Speaker 1: some passes, but I mean he averaged seven point seven

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Speaker 1: yards to catch. I mean that's that's nothing for a

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Speaker 1: guy like him. Uh. And last year he had close

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Speaker 1: to a hundred yards receiving in the second half of

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Speaker 1: his yards receiving second half. Um, so well, yeah, they'll

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Speaker 1: just to you know, reinforce your point. I mean, this

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Speaker 1: this is a good this is a good defense, a

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Speaker 1: good group, and um, you know the Akela Witherspoon trade.

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Speaker 1: I think that's one UM for depth. If one of

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Speaker 1: their out something would happen to when outside cornerback in

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Speaker 1: terms of injury, that would you know, let's say four

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Speaker 1: to six weeks. Um, they can put him out there

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Speaker 1: to start UM and and feel I won't say comfortable,

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Speaker 1: but at least somewhat confident because he has a track

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Speaker 1: record in the league as a starting outside corner for

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Speaker 1: a couple of decent teams. UM. And that's the other

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Speaker 1: thing that I think is a positive about this roster

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Speaker 1: is um they kind of have some backstops at some

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Speaker 1: different positions outside linebacker as an example, those three guys,

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Speaker 1: I mean, Melvin Ingram, I mean, do we re met?

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Speaker 1: Do we need to go back the free agency when

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Speaker 1: it was whining and complaining that the Steelers didn't sign

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Speaker 1: Justin Houston and signed this guy? I mean, really, is

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Speaker 1: anybody I really wish some of these people who would

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Speaker 1: take these stances UM would show themselves pick their head

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Speaker 1: up out of the hole that they're in now and

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Speaker 1: revisit their opinions that you know, we're at etched in

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Speaker 1: etched in stone at the time, because I mean, you

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Speaker 1: know this guy is He is tremendous. Yeah, and we're

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Speaker 1: not really talking about Alex Eismith. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: it's coming back something at some point, stuff onto, it

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Speaker 1: will come back. But Bob, we're gotta let you go here.

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Speaker 1: We're up against the hour. But as usual, we always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your insight and uh a lot of your historical knowledge.

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Speaker 1: But we'll see you over at the facility here, I'm

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Speaker 1: sure over the next couple of days. If not, I'll

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Speaker 1: see you Sunday. Okay, fo stake care to talk to

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Speaker 1: you next week? All right, we'll see you. That was

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Speaker 1: Bob Labriol, editor of Steelers Digest and Steelers dot Com.

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Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I'm Dale Lala. You're listening to

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Speaker 1: the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We're gonna take

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Speaker 1: a break and when we come back, it's time for

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Speaker 1: the Fantasy Football Focus. It's Wednesday. We'll take you around

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Speaker 1: the league all the injuries and news and notes. Right

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Speaker 1: after this are they are bad Brad daff from Bradshaw

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Speaker 1: and the Steel Curtain on the show to Rothlisberger and Blitzburg.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to s n R