DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: Latrobe, for real!

DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: Latrobe, for real!

[Music] You know, one of the things that has me excited, and I think that is the appropriate word for how I’m feeling heading to Latroe later this morning, is that I feel with this franchise right now, it’s it’s how do I put this? It’s like a cornered, wounded animal. And I like it. Good morning to you. Good and I mean very good Wednesday morning. I’m Dan Kovachic of DK Pittsburgh Sports and this is Daily Shot of Steelers that comes your way bright and early every weekday. That’ll be coming to you from St. Vincent College in Latroe, Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future as players begin reporting at 10:00 a.m. They’ll be available coming into the dorms until around 1 or 1:30 p.m. Run test is at 4. Mike Tomlin is around 4:30. There will be interviews galore. There’s going to be news coming out of those. And there’s going to be, I can promise you this in advance, a sense of urgency attached to this entire process that will not have been matched by anything in recent years. Now, I can get, you know, really specific here and say just because, you know, Mike Tomlin wants it and he’s he’s tired of losing uh in the first round of the playoffs year after year and that he was part of building up this roster in a way that gives him a chance, one big chance to go out like a winner. But for me, that’s oversimplification. Even if it’s accurate, it’s oversimplification. Because what I could do for you here right now, I’m not going to because it would take forever, but I could go through all 22 of the projected starters on either side of the ball, and I could identify for you something that they’d feel legitimately that they need to prove, whether it’s to themselves, whether it’s to their new employer, whether it’s to their old employer, whether it’s to their teammates, whether it’s to the city, who knows? whatever it is, every single guy. And within that, I could also outline why none of them individually or together are equipped with any excuses outside of not having all that much familiarity because of those 22 players, nine of them will have been new since the end of last season. So, what do they get? One month of grace? Is it three weeks before they go to Ireland and face a very good Minnesota team? Three weeks of grace. No excuses. No excuses, my friends. Just look at nothing other than the defense. Set aside Aaron Rogers and DK Metaf, John Smith, and all that fun stuff. Okay, just the defense. Tell me please what excuse this defense has for not being what’s fair here? I don’t want to say number one for for not being a top three or top five at the very worst defense in the NFL. What would be the excuse barring injuries of course? Is it that they would lack depth at free safety cuz they don’t have somebody else who does what Juan Thornhill does? No. I’m guessing they’re going to get that addressed by the time they get to New Jersey. Is it I don’t know that the corners can’t cover or can’t handle man coverage. Not now. Not with Darius Slay. Is it that Minka is an overpaid shell of his former self? Well, if he is, that’s going to be happening in Miami, not in Pittsburgh. Is it that, you know, the inside linebackers are trying to figure things out and Patrick Queen is still trying to get the hang of the green dot? Not now. Not now. Queen’s in year two. He told me himself the green dot thing is gone. It’s in the past. Pton Wilson’s heading into year two. Tomlin pushes that harder than anybody else. Wilson’s buying that. Cole Hulkcom is ostensibly fully healthy. If he is, if he actually is, if he’s the guy who came here originally from Washington, that position is going to be stronger. Deshawn Elliott’s all wrapped up and he’s going to do a lot of wrapping up. It’s what he does. That’s a hell of a strong safety, that guy. Slot corner, remember slot corner was the only thing we were talking about. Slot corner was the one thing the Steelers had to address. How’s Jaylen Ramsay sound? Edge rushers. Edge rushers. We’re just working our way up to the front here. Edge rushers were already arguably the number one room in the NFL in that category. I mean, you you’re off to a flying start with TJ Watt, but you’ve also got Alex Heismith as your other starter. Nick Herbig is a amazing weapon to have at number three on anybody’s depth chart. And then just for fun, because they couldn’t resist it, they end up drafting Jack Sawyer, too, who they really like, by the way. And then there’s what was perceived as being the real problem child on the defense, not Cam Hayward, of course, but pretty much everybody not named Cam. Kano Benton did not generate splash. Benton didn’t generate the playmaking that they’d hoped to see from him, nor was there a sufficient run defense coming from any of the other defensive interior positions. Well, okay. Go draft Derek Harmon. Tell Harmon and actually tell everybody as Carl Dunar did at mini camp that Harmon is your starting left defensive end. If only to light a fire under Benton. If Benton is your third guy in a 34 set, you’re okay. If Benton is battling with Harmon to be on the field when they go with just two down linemen, so much the better. What’s the excuse? What’s going to be the thing? If it’s coaching, if it’s usage, if it’s schematics, well then, hey, let’s find that out the hard way, but let’s at least find it out in the interim. This overall scenario, and again, I didn’t even touch on the offense, makes for a really wild way to enter a camp. When we come back, J1Q. [Music] This segment of Daily Shot is brought to you by our good friends at Mike’s Beer Bar. They’re located on Federal Street, directly across from PNC Park. Mike has more than 500 beers on tap, including from more than 50 local breweries. Stop in and say hello. Tell Mike we sent you. Mike’s Beer Bar. [Music] Welcome back. In lie of a J1Q today, I’m going to read off some of the responses that came after I asked in yesterday’s episode why I get the sense that there’s just not as much excitement in Pittsburgh about this roster that there probably would be in oh, I don’t know, 30 or 31 of the NFL’s other markets. meaning based on the names alone. Specifically, I invited people to use all of the usual commenting platforms that are attached to this show, depending on where it is that you listen to it. And it’s kind of funny, but one of the commenting platforms I cited for the first time was Spotify. They recently added a commenting platform, and it’s funny, like I’d never get more than one or two comments on Spotify compared to hundreds on the others. And here it was. Like as soon as I mentioned it, I got this flood of stuff on Spotify yesterday for the first time ever. So, in recognition of that, I’m just going to read off some of those responses that came on Spotify. Paul said, “I’m cautiously optimistic, DK, mostly because of the baggage that Aaron Rodgers has that he’s hopefully left in New Jersey, and I’m worried about Brick Jones at left tackle. I love the draft class, though, and DK Metaf is an upgrade over George Pickkins.” Jacob says, “I am excited, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I always do, and most of the time they get crushed.” Jacob’s being more honest than most of you will. BT says, “Aloha, DK. The level of excitement for me is 10, but it always is this time of year. The only real concern I have is with the defensive coordinator.” Shawn says, “This is easily the most excited I’ve been since the playoff loss to the Browns.” I think he means in advance of that. I’ve defended the coaching staff as I have felt that there were too many holes in the roster, but not so much this year. No excuses barring injuries for this team to not be better than last year’s team. Better record, deeper playoff run. Meech says, “I’m hopeful for this season, but the recent years still haunt me. We got a week five by week. That’s the earliest one you can get, and our quarterback’s in his 40s. It’s lining up for us to go downhill around weeks nine and 10, per usual, and ultimately lose in round one of the playoffs, even if we make them. Bringing me down here, John says, “DK, my excitement is muted by what feels like the inevitability of Coach T and his staff’s inability to combine winning strategies, tactics, versatility with his players to get the most out of individuals and the team itself. Incorporating nine new starters is monumental and sadly this approach is also shortsighted. Moon dogs says, “Well, I feel you’re on point on almost everything and of course I’m excited about 2025.” I could say partially because I feel they’re sort of sacrificing the future by mounting this roster for 2025. I’m going to interject here. I’m trying not to respond to these, but I I’d love to hear how or why you’d feel that way because I don’t know what Omar Khan gave up as a future asset in the name of any of this. I there were, you know, draft picks that went out, but there were draft picks, more draft picks that came back in this. So, I I don’t see the the only part of this that had me troubled all summer, and boy, did I ever pound this point was that if you’re not looking right away at as many assets as possible, as many potential assets as possible at the quarterback position, you’re putting that off. Okay, well, they decided to put that off. Okay, I’m a grownup. I can handle that. Let’s see how it goes. But otherwise, I I I can’t get at them about the future. Crash says, “DK, I’m always excited this time of year.” Fresh start in that, but more so now based on the roster. This team’s floor for me is the divisional round team ceiling is playing in February. Why? Last year, they were 8-0 when the defense allowed 18 or fewer points. Well, the defense has gotten better. In nine of their 10 wins last year, the offense scored 18 plus. Well, the offense is better. So, this 18 point bar that I have is a key indicator that I’ll be watching. I think the team is well positioned to be on the right side of the line. Kicking game is huge, too. Good stuff. I love when it can be substantiated like that with statistics. Will says, going to take a couple more here. If this roster was in Atlanta, the Falcons fans would be predicting a Super Bowl. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be that delusional. Interrupting Will here for a second. He means in presuming that the Falcons have fans. This team is good enough to make the playoffs, Will continues. Which means anything can happen. But I think the restrictions that Rogers puts on the offense due to his stubbornness and unwillingness to run a more modern offense will show up the same way that the restrictions did on Kenny Picket and Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. Whatever. It’s your segment. Mark Mark says, “I want to be excited, but after years of disappointment, it’s hard to get my excitement back up. Losing the last five games really lingers. I’m going to say this again. This is what I was talking about on yesterday’s show. This is No one’s gotten over this yet. No one. Blake says, “It’s easy to get excited about everything they’ve done this off season and for Steelers football in general, but then in the back of my mind, it’s always coming back to this team’s shortcomings under Tomlin.” And Don gets the second to last word in. Don says, “I am not excited, DK, but I am intrigued. I’m curious to see how this roster will perform in October, November, and December. I am not excited about the notion of another Tomlin season. This team needs a fresh started head coach, a new direction, a new voice. Last word goes to Cory who says, “Whether the changes Omar made this off season are good or bad, I am excited for those changes and these kinds of changes put additional pressure on the coaching staff.” Yep. Had you guys all pegged. I appreciate everybody who listens to Daily Shot of Steelers, including those of you on Spotify. I appreciate that our long offseason nightmare is within hours of ending. And we will have another one of these episodes tomorrow in addition to a double shot of Steelers today at 300 p.m. Eastern. Mark it down. It’s an hour earlier than usual. 300 p.m. I’ll be out in Latroe as will Chris Hack, our beatw writer at DK Pittsburgh Sports, and we’ll put together quite a program for you today. Hope you can make it with us. [Music]

Onward to Latrobe, for real!

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