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

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

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Speaker 1: We are back after Matt Williamson's vacation. We the Drive

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Speaker 1: is back on Steelers Nation Radio and I am Dale

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Speaker 1: Lolly here with Matt. Matt. How was the vacation. It

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Speaker 1: was tremendous. There was probably there was definitely the nicest

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Speaker 1: vacation I've ever been on, my family has ever been on.

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Speaker 1: We had, you know, kids are both going too high

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Speaker 1: school and both high schoolers now, you know they're not

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Speaker 1: gonna be around long. You know, have them, have a

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Speaker 1: great memory for them, you know, a beautiful vacation that

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Speaker 1: would last forever. Kind of that nonsense. That's my wife

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Speaker 1: and I anniversary coming up. It's our fiftieth birthday this year.

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Speaker 1: So we splurs and went turks and cakes and had

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Speaker 1: a tremendous time, full week away. They didn't even talk football,

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Speaker 1: but I kept up with the football world and you know,

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Speaker 1: still was involved, you know, kicking away from it, nor

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Speaker 1: would I want to. Yeah, And of course the Steelers

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Speaker 1: were kind of active while you were gone. Yeah, right,

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Speaker 1: at my timing wasn't great doing a couple of a

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Speaker 1: couple of things. Let's talk about the most recent one,

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Speaker 1: that being the signing of Larry Ogan Joebi on Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: UH one year deal for Ogan job Uh. He, of course,

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Speaker 1: UH had signed a three year forty point five million

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Speaker 1: dollar dealer or agreed to a three year forty point

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Speaker 1: five million dollar deal UM earlier in the preseason in

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Speaker 1: the shed say the uh the free agency process with

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Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, and then didn't pass the physical. I've

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Speaker 1: been getting a lot of questions about that. Well, how

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Speaker 1: could he pass the Steelers physical and he and the

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Speaker 1: Bears didn't pass him? He had surgery during the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: He suffered a foot injuring the playoffs the wild card ground. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming that was some kind of fracture. I don't

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Speaker 1: know for sure, but I'm assuming it was some kind

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Speaker 1: of fracture and a plate was inserted or pins were

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Speaker 1: inserted into the foot. So three months later when he

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Speaker 1: when he agrees to contract with the Bears, he might

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Speaker 1: not have been even ready to run yet. Oh right, right, Yeah, Well,

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Speaker 1: now we're three months removed from that, and that's a

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Speaker 1: world of difference. There's a big difference there between it

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Speaker 1: being three months out from that kind of surgery. In

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Speaker 1: six months out and maybe he's still I'm sure he's

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Speaker 1: still not a but then you have a much better

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Speaker 1: feel of where he's at. He's progressing well, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's more to tell um. First of all, you know

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Speaker 1: he when he signed that deal with the Bears, I

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Speaker 1: didn't bat an eye. I thought that's going right. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was very very early in free agency. It was

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Speaker 1: the first wave, and so I mean it was a

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Speaker 1: long time ago to your point, it was a full

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Speaker 1: three months ago, in the middle of April or whatever.

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Speaker 1: So I didn't bat an eye though. In terms of

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Speaker 1: the dollars, I'm like, oh, he's that kind of that's

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Speaker 1: what kind of player is. He's a ten million dollar,

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Speaker 1: twelve million dollar a year player, exactly. Great. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: Steelers wait a little bit and get them cheaper on

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Speaker 1: only a one year deal though, you know. Yeah, So

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Speaker 1: it's almost uh, and we don't know the exact terms yet.

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Speaker 1: Those will come out here in the coming days, but

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Speaker 1: it's a it's almost a proven deal. He saw it

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Speaker 1: was I think last year he played for the Bengals,

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Speaker 1: if if my memory serves here, it was a one year,

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Speaker 1: seven million dollar deal. I think I've been similar. It's

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Speaker 1: I've been something similar to that, and Steelers had the

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Speaker 1: cap space to do it. They created more cap space,

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Speaker 1: additional cap space with the other move that they made

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Speaker 1: while you were on vacation to make a Fitzpatrick signing.

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Speaker 1: Uh saved him two million dollars or two and a

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Speaker 1: half million dollars under this year's cap. So they had

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Speaker 1: the cap space to do it, and they went out

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Speaker 1: and got a guy who I know, everybody, are they

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Speaker 1: gonna go in Dominican Sue or you know, one of

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Speaker 1: these other big name guys. They got a much younger

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Speaker 1: player here who is coming off of arguably arguably his

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Speaker 1: best season. Yeah, I don't know if he's better or

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Speaker 1: worse too at the stage of both their careers, to

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Speaker 1: be honest with you, I mean, she was a bigger name,

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Speaker 1: you had second pick in the draft. He's had a

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Speaker 1: tremendous career. And Sue is kind of an inning eater.

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Speaker 1: He plays a ton of snaps, not a lot of

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Speaker 1: splash plays. Ogan Joby to me is much different. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you look at his highlight reel, you won't have any

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Speaker 1: hesitation of oh wow, you know, I mean he's a

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Speaker 1: little less consistent than someone like Sue. But um, a

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Speaker 1: lot of things I want to talk about with this

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Speaker 1: the line situation, but a key to me, you know

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Speaker 1: you the one thing I wanted to say was you

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Speaker 1: and I once to have made an official or we

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Speaker 1: thought it was coming named some names, but Ogan Jobey

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Speaker 1: was one of the guys that we said it. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I would even sign him to a two year deal

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Speaker 1: because he's not sues age, you know. And first off,

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Speaker 1: I think what they're looking for amongst the lineman is

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Speaker 1: really different. But folks think about it this way too, Like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: they get him six seven, eight, even nine million dollars

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Speaker 1: even though we think he's a ten to twelve million

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Speaker 1: dollar a year player. Great. Maybe he's not ready for

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Speaker 1: the start of camp, but I'm sure he's gonna be

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Speaker 1: ready for the start of season. I mean, I I

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Speaker 1: don't think the injuries a looming thing or whatever. But

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Speaker 1: even if he just has a pretty good year, he's

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Speaker 1: worth that money. If he has a great year, maybe

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Speaker 1: you keep him or he turns into a third round

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Speaker 1: com pick a year. You know. I mean, there's there's

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Speaker 1: like no lot losing here, you know. Yeah, if you

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Speaker 1: look at his career snap count. Last year with the Bengals,

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Speaker 1: he played seven snaps that was of Cincinnati's defensive snap

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Speaker 1: The previous year in Cleveland, he missed a game but

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Speaker 1: still played sixty of their defensive snaps. The year before that,

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Speaker 1: in in Cleveland, he missed a game but played seventy

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Speaker 1: seven percent of the defensive snaps in it was sevent

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Speaker 1: of the defensive snaps. This is a tu replacement. This

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Speaker 1: is a guy. Yeah, this is not somebody who's gonna

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Speaker 1: be thrown thrown into the mix as a as a

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Speaker 1: you know, depth piece or rotational guy. Oh no, this

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Speaker 1: is a guy who's gonna be starting on day one

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Speaker 1: in week one, assuming that everything you know, healthy health

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Speaker 1: wise works out. This is a guy who's going to

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Speaker 1: be starting opposite Cam Heyward on their defensive line. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and I haven't asked us a couple of times, well, well,

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Speaker 1: what are they going to keep seven? Now that's weird?

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Speaker 1: Or is he a starter? As he knows you? And

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Speaker 1: then I almost want people to erase everything they've known

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Speaker 1: about Steeler defensive lineman because frankly, coach Lebau would not

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Speaker 1: have signed Ogan job. Coach Lebou would not have drafted

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Speaker 1: Leo you know, times I probably wouldn't the brought in

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Speaker 1: montrevious Adams probably would have Brian and W. Trevius Adams

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Speaker 1: really wouldn't even ask a lulu to be a nose

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Speaker 1: three or four or five years ago, you know, and

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Speaker 1: Leal and Ogan job are much more explosive than even

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Speaker 1: a lulu. You know. I mean when you say a starter,

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Speaker 1: when I said a starter, what you have to think, folks?

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Speaker 1: A Lululu is not a starter. The Nickel corners a starter,

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Speaker 1: Ogan Jobs a starter. Him and Cam Hayward are going

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Speaker 1: to be the defensive tackles. I don't care if he's

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Speaker 1: at three four end, if he's six five or if

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Speaker 1: he's a six one knows. Whatever. He is a playmaker.

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Speaker 1: And again I think the offseason moves again one of

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Speaker 1: my favorite things to talk about. Teams tell you what

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Speaker 1: they think by offseason moves. I think that what they've

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Speaker 1: done with the defensive line, and maybe I've been write

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Speaker 1: an article about it is very very telling because stuffing

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Speaker 1: the run is not Ogan Joby and Leal's forte. They

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Speaker 1: are upfield playmakers. Well oh no, but didn't you see

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Speaker 1: the run defense last year Matt. That's they're gonna be.

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Speaker 1: They're just gonna get run all over. And I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying those guys are bad against the run, but they're

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Speaker 1: they're not Casey Hampton, They're not an omicon Sue. They're

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Speaker 1: just gonna eat up space. They're gonna make plays behind

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Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. Well, the beauty of all these guys, though,

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Speaker 1: is they're gonna be fresh now for four quarters because

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Speaker 1: they have a wealth of different options. They're hopefully cam

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Speaker 1: snap count goes down a little and Ogan Jobi plays

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Speaker 1: seventy of the snaps as you reference in that neighborhood,

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Speaker 1: and Lulu plays mixing leal here and there and warmly

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Speaker 1: in louder Milk. And in the fourth quarter, that group

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Speaker 1: is humming and you can pick and choose who you

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Speaker 1: want to use as opposed to guys getting worn down

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Speaker 1: or run defense. To me, and this was a big

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Speaker 1: problem with the run defense last year, wasn't we have

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Speaker 1: to stick a nose in the middle. No, we need

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Speaker 1: fresh bodies. You know, we don't need the Davis brothers,

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Speaker 1: we don't need Mando. If we have six good defensive

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Speaker 1: linemen of all shapes and sizes, the run defense will

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Speaker 1: be just fine and the Steelers are good. Yeah Wormley,

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Speaker 1: Wormley and Isaiah louder Milk combined combined for over a

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Speaker 1: thousand snaps last year, right, I mean, that's just too many.

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Speaker 1: It's too many for those two players. They all go

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Speaker 1: down a rung on the ladder, and maybe louder Milk

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Speaker 1: even goes up some you know, I think he's an

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Speaker 1: improving places right right exactly, And you eliminate the davis

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Speaker 1: Is in, the Mondo's and those type of dudes Adams

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Speaker 1: mixes in. But they have a wide variety of the

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Speaker 1: lineman now, and people that think, boy, this is an

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Speaker 1: old school team that doesn't keep up with rings. These

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Speaker 1: guys are pass rushers, you know, these guys are playmakers.

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Speaker 1: They're not. They don't want big, stay at home d

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Speaker 1: lineman anymore. I mean they've told us that this offseason

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Speaker 1: they want a variety. Yeah, well they I mean they've

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Speaker 1: been telling us set the last few years. Actually, if

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Speaker 1: you if you look at the moves that they made,

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Speaker 1: and and the thing about it is the thing about

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Speaker 1: the run defense is this Their run defense has been

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Speaker 1: built this way for the last few years. They stopped

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Speaker 1: the run on their way to the quarterback. You the

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Speaker 1: team may get a run for five yards on first down,

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Speaker 1: another run for five yards on second down, okay, and

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Speaker 1: a new set of downs. Well then you you you

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Speaker 1: hand the ball off again and it's a three yard loss.

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Speaker 1: Now it's second and thirteen, and now your pass rushers

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Speaker 1: are gonna get there. You know they're gonna get cut

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Speaker 1: loose here. The problem last year to me was that

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Speaker 1: even if you got that stop on that second set

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Speaker 1: of downs, if you didn't, it didn't happen enough. Um,

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Speaker 1: so they would run the ball again and get maybe

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Speaker 1: six or seven yards. Now it's third and five. Uh.

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Speaker 1: It gave the option the offense more options because nobody

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Speaker 1: was afraid of the Steelers offense. They have. They averaged

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Speaker 1: twenty point two points per game last year. I'm most

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Speaker 1: certainly yeah, I most certainly think that the Steelers are

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Speaker 1: going to be better offensively this year than they were

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Speaker 1: last year, more consistent offensive this year, and that will

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Speaker 1: keep teams from running the ball quite as much as

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Speaker 1: they did last year. They still had the tackles for

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Speaker 1: a loss last year they were second in the league,

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Speaker 1: and tackles for a loss last season before the league

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Speaker 1: is all about big and explosive plays, you know, and

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Speaker 1: that's one of them. A tackle for loss, you know,

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Speaker 1: take it down away, force him into third and long,

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Speaker 1: you know, uncomfortable down in distance situations. Was the run

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Speaker 1: the offense okay last year? Of course not? And there

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Speaker 1: were some instances where it was downright pitiful. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the Vikings game was ridiculous. Um the Lions is a

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Speaker 1: perfect example that you mentioned of. They didn't fear the

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Speaker 1: Steelers offense at all, so they're just gonna run and

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Speaker 1: run and run. And the Steelers the run defense was bad,

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Speaker 1: you know, but I think it doesn't have to be great.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you can make splash plays on defense, sacks,

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Speaker 1: take the ball away, tackles for loss, and I think

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Speaker 1: Lee Al and especially Ogan Joby are set up to

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Speaker 1: do that really well. And they all have a variety

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Speaker 1: of skill sets. I mean, to me, Ogan jobs even more,

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Speaker 1: he's more Warren Sap than he is Aaron Smith. You know,

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Speaker 1: he's an upfield attacking guy. He's neither, but he's closer

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Speaker 1: to the Sap spectrum. That's what they want, you know.

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Speaker 1: And if you can keep rotating those guys out, or

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Speaker 1: somebody's getting pushed around. Then you're bringing louder Milks, bringing

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Speaker 1: Wormley fresh off the bench, and so I like where

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Speaker 1: they're at the up front now a lot. Yeah, And

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Speaker 1: the least point I wanted to make about that offensive issues. Remember,

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Speaker 1: they average less than a touchdown per game last year.

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Speaker 1: In the first half of their games. It was like

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Speaker 1: six It was like six point eight points per game

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Speaker 1: in the first half of their games last year. Of course,

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Speaker 1: teams are gonna be able to keep running the ball

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Speaker 1: against you because they're they're in the game where they're leading.

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Speaker 1: They're going to continue to run the ball against you

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Speaker 1: in those situations. If that, if that average goes up,

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Speaker 1: let's say the average between ten and fourteen points a

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Speaker 1: game in the first half of games this year, which

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Speaker 1: isn't crazy, which isn't crazy anything, completely changes the complexion

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Speaker 1: of how the game is played out. If you're up

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Speaker 1: fourteen to six at a half, the opposing team is

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Speaker 1: going to be less likely to come and say, well,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna run the ball seventeen times in a row

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Speaker 1: here to open the second half. It's just not gonna

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Speaker 1: happen like that, because you know, it's that's just the

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Speaker 1: reality of the situation. But if you're you know, you're

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Speaker 1: up seven six, where it's tied six six at a half, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna come out and keep running the football because

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Speaker 1: it's working, right, right. I mean, these coaches you could

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Speaker 1: keep you could keep pounding that. There's no reason to

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Speaker 1: get away even if it's not working, you know, even

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Speaker 1: if it is two yards to carry. So what we

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Speaker 1: don't mind putting into this offense. We'll get the ball

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Speaker 1: back soon anyway, you know, they're not scoring. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: I don't think either one of us are applying that

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be the Bills or the Chiefs on offense

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden. But I bet it's better, you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I just think it will be more well

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Speaker 1: rounded on offense. The offense will be easier to play

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Speaker 1: against and will produce more first sounds, more points, more

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Speaker 1: time and possession not by leaps and bounds. There's gonna

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Speaker 1: be growing pains, But but you're right. I mean, these

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Speaker 1: coaches put so much time and effort during the week

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Speaker 1: into preparing and building a game plan, and if you

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Speaker 1: allow them to stick with the game plan that they

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Speaker 1: created all week, they're gonna They're gonna continue to take

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Speaker 1: advantage of the things that they saw on tape that

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Speaker 1: you don't do well, and that was that was run

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Speaker 1: defense last year. And by scoring six points a game

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Speaker 1: in the first half of games last year, the Steelers

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Speaker 1: allowed them to do it over and over and over again.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if the team. It doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be Dalvin Cooke or DeAndre Swift. I mean, if you're

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Speaker 1: playing the Jags or whoever, I mean, the Texans and

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Speaker 1: you've only scored six points at the half, the opponent

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Speaker 1: is going to keep running the football. Yeah, So that's

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Speaker 1: how you you know, that's one of the ways that

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Speaker 1: you that you get them out of running the football

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Speaker 1: as much you a you possessed the football. You shorten

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Speaker 1: the game with your offense a little bit, and you

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Speaker 1: know you make it. You challenge them to keep up.

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Speaker 1: Now again, you don't. You don't have to average thirty

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Speaker 1: points a game, but you can't average twenty, right and again,

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Speaker 1: and some of its garbage time and late. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can't average six or seven in the first half. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it just makes the rest of the game

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Speaker 1: too difficult. You're swimming against the current way too much.

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Speaker 1: That way and again, I don't think the offense is

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Speaker 1: gonna light people up. I mean, if it's still gonna be,

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Speaker 1: you know, a work in progress. But I think that

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Speaker 1: the d line and they'll be injuries and you know,

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Speaker 1: some guys might not work out, or maybe louder Milk

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Speaker 1: doesn't progress like we say in or Leal's struggles as

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Speaker 1: a rookie. But you still have a lot more options now,

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Speaker 1: you know, it depends. You know, this division in particular,

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Speaker 1: the Ravens and Bengals couldn't play offense any differently, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean Alone the Browns and we don't

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Speaker 1: we don't know what the Browns offense is gonna look like.

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Speaker 1: Exactly who's the quarterback going to be? You know? I

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Speaker 1: mean yeah, I mean, you play the Bengals against three

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Speaker 1: wide Ogan Job's gonna be the field every play, you know.

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Speaker 1: I mean, so he's a very valuable pick up. And

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Speaker 1: assuming the foot's not a problem. I mean, I'm not

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Speaker 1: a doctor, but I'm gonna the fur to the team

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Speaker 1: that just gave him millions of dollars that it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be okay. Yeah. The other thing people need to remember

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Speaker 1: is that the NFL has those expanded practice squads now,

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty certain you can get a guy like Montravius

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Speaker 1: Adams onto the practice squad pretty easily. In fact, if

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Speaker 1: you don't, that's where the Steelers got him. They got him.

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Speaker 1: They got him off the Saints practice squad. So you

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Speaker 1: can find guys like get out there. The practice squads

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Speaker 1: are banded. You can put veterans on there. Obviously, you're

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Speaker 1: not gonna do that with louder Milk or Leal. You're

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Speaker 1: not gonna put those guys on the practice squad because

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Speaker 1: that would expose them. You're probably not going to do

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Speaker 1: that with Chris Warmley because he's gonna be in your mix.

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Speaker 1: I think he's important. So yeah, I think I think

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Speaker 1: you you take your your backup nose tackle and if

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Speaker 1: you're playing a game against the Browns, a team that's

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Speaker 1: gonna run the ball and getta line up with tight

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Speaker 1: ends and run the football, and you're gonna be playing

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Speaker 1: more bass than you than you are Nickel, and okay,

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Speaker 1: you bring him up off the practice squad. Gives it

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Speaker 1: gets you the extra nose tackle body. But if you're

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Speaker 1: to your point, if you're playing the Bengals and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna be in three wide all day, you don't need

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Speaker 1: a second nose tackle for that game. No, as Well said,

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Speaker 1: and everyone's so stuck on this, they're only gonna keep six.

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Speaker 1: They've always always kept six. I don't look at it

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Speaker 1: that way. And that's what I'm trying to try to

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Speaker 1: break people of viewing. It's not the Labo days, and

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna keep two noses to to right ends

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Speaker 1: to left ends. It's it's not the way it works anymore.

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Speaker 1: The reality is, and even the edge guys Highsmith and Watch,

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Speaker 1: they don't drop into coverage as much as those days.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're not gonna drop T. J. Watt in

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Speaker 1: the coverage thirty three pc of the time. What do

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Speaker 1: you need to look at is there's a defensive front

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Speaker 1: four and sometimes five, and I bet they keep eleven

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Speaker 1: or twelve of those call him whatever you want to

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Speaker 1: call him, those tackles, d tackles, d nds, outside linebackers, edge,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call them. They're gonna keep eleven

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Speaker 1: or twelve, probably eleven of those front line defensive players.

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Speaker 1: You know. And I don't think I'm divulging great secrets,

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Speaker 1: but at Mini Camp, leale I noticed ran a couple

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Speaker 1: of drills with the quote outside linebackers. And that doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean he was dropping into coverage, but he was running

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Speaker 1: doing some pass rush individual drills against the bag in

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Speaker 1: the same group as what because when he if you

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Speaker 1: go to you go to a nickel. First of all,

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Speaker 1: t J wats not dropping into coverage. He's pass rushing,

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Speaker 1: and Lee Alkins line up a defensive end in that

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Speaker 1: situation and rush the passer. Right, you could have a

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Speaker 1: pretty big front four of Watt who's never leaving the field, Hayward,

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Speaker 1: Ogan Joby, and Leal. And I'm not saying Leal is

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Speaker 1: gonna be you know, von Miller off the edge, but

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Speaker 1: he can hold the point. That would be a hard

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Speaker 1: front four to run against against eleven personnel, you know.

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Speaker 1: And and again Ogan Joby doesn't fit a true three four.

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Speaker 1: They're don't play a three four very off. Yeah, people

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Speaker 1: get caught up too much in the whole three fourth thing.

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Speaker 1: I mean that's their defense, right right right, I mean

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Speaker 1: that's even the principles are different. You know, you don't

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Speaker 1: ask Lulu to take a center and walk him back

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Speaker 1: and control both a gaps. Even you know, they were

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Speaker 1: to do that stuff, they just don't do it like

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Speaker 1: that anymore, so good signing by the Steelers. Quality player.

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Speaker 1: You can't have enough quality players. We're gonna take a break.

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Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lally. You're listening

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Speaker 1: to the drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. When we

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Speaker 1: come back, we'll talk a little bit more about that makeup,

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Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick deal, the defense as a whole. Where's this thing heading?

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Speaker 1: And I did want to touch on some stuff that

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Speaker 1: Matt talked about during the previous segment in this first

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Speaker 1: segment regarding contracts. We're in the league. We'll do all

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Speaker 1: that when we come back right after this