DK’s Live Shot: Steelers postgame vs. Buccaneers

DK’s Live Shot: Steelers postgame vs. Buccaneers

[Applause] Hey guys, welcome to Acasher Stadium. He’s Chris Hock. I’m Dan Kvachovich. We’re from DK Pittsburgh Sports. We do this thing where we cover the Steelers and we do these pregame and postgame videos uh for the people who use our app. And we covered just now Buccaneers 17, Steelers 14. Please don’t pay any attention to these scores. What rotten football that was in the fourth quarter just in general both teams. We were we were talking about it in the press box. The the the 11 guys on the field for the Steelers defense, there might not have been one guy who’s going to be on the roster like come August 28. No, they’re going to be working the express lane at get-go. Yeah. Yeah. So, like when when this kind of stuff happens, let’s just be Logan Woodside is not going to be the Steelers quarterback. So him throwing an interception interception late in the game to allow the Buccaneers to go down, it’s zero. What we’re going to focus on in this conversation is going to be stuff that matters. Uh meaning that matters towards the 7th of September. There couldn’t have been a lot of that in this game because you had 15 guys getting rested. However, let’s start with the guys up front. Just like we had forecast beforehand on the offensive side, the line held. The line did its job. The running early on wasn’t great. No. To say the least. No, it was not. But the sample sizes were also kind of small. Uh, what did you see from from the offensive lineman first and foremost? Uh, I I I mean, probably not as good as it looked in Jacksonville. The Buccaneers also have a really good defensive front. They showed that, too. Yeah. And and they were playing the ones. So I but for knowing what the Buccaneers have and the way the Steelers offensive line played, I thought again it’s it’s an encouraging performance for this this quintet right now. Uh still some room to grow. They have another preseason game to to get, you know, maybe two or three more series together. Uh but I think overall, again, I don’t think it’s I don’t think anybody should be panicking based off of what the offensive line’s going. The bat the depth at offensive line, that’s a different story. Yeah. As soon as the second unit came in, you could see all of a sudden it was all three yard losses and the like. Uh it’s not exciting the depth. But then you want to know something? We knew that going in and we knew with the Steelers salary cap setting as it was they’re so expensive. Offensive linemen are so expensive. You either draft them or you’re you’re going out and finding them through free agency or even trades. and it’s just so expensive that this this was going to be the area where you were going to have to suffer a little bit. Uh their best reserve offensive lineman is on the field now. Okay, that’s Spencer Anderson, by the way, playing pretty well. Uh when I look at the rest of the offense, Chris, you know, Caleb Johnson got loose. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I’m going to say this in two different ways. one, he got loose out there and it it happened unfortunately after the first team guys were out there. Although he had this one nice cut back that he was very happy with after the game. Yeah. But he also, my god, finally loosened up a little bit after the game. Take a look at his response when I just asked him basically just is there some kind of relief to the performance that he had here tonight? No, not for me. I don’t I don’t like relief for me. I just like, you know, what what did I mess up on today? what can I do to get better? You know, that’s all that’s all what I’d be looking at. Never release because when you look at reliefs, you know, that’s when you get too comfortable and mess up. So, good for him. I I wouldn’t go overboard with it. Okay. Yeah. But he he needed to have some of that. And I give more than anybody actually in this sequence uh credit for this is is to Mike Tomlin because Tomlin’s seemed to recognize that all week long that he needed to get Caleb. Here’s that word again, loose. And he was, “Kid, I’m just going to let you run. They can keep putting their twos and their threes in and the other guys and I don’t care. I’m just going to let you run and build up some confidence.” Yeah. Listen, uh, this week when Mike Tomlin challenged Caleb Johnson, it was all about trusting his instincts. And when you look at the really special players, like for example, Levian Bell, who some in the organization see some parallels there between Lev, what Lev was as a runner, and what Caleb is as a runner. Those special players, they have instincts that nobody else has. Lev obviously ran like nobody else ever did. Caleb has instincts that got him to this level. And that’s what Tomlin wants to see Caleb do. Understand, yes, you have to pay attention. You have to be detailed in everything that you do. It’s important with the complexity of the of NFL plays and and an NFL playbook, but also just play. Use your instincts. And it showed up tonight. And that was my favorite thing that that I heard from Caleb tonight was that he said, “I’m a high volume runner.” Uh he must have said it two or three times in his in his media session. And you you knew what he meant when he said it. He he needs to have those wheels turning. Uh Troy Fanu told me he said it was a joy watching him just pick up the confidence that he did along the way. Now, speaking of confidence, the quarterback who started this game did not start well. No. Okay. I didn’t even like Mason Rudolph’s completions. Okay. I I didn’t like the ball downfield to Roman Wilson that I’m sure everybody’s singing about. I thought it was a little bit off. It hung up there a little bit. It stayed up a bit. Yeah. But there’s something to be said for throwing that god awful interception. And it was, and he agreed with me on this, by the way. uh and then bouncing back because that is a sign of confidence and that is what you’re going to need from him. Not everything’s going to go perfectly for any of the Steelers quarterbacks, including Aaron Rogers. And you want to see, all right, listen. Wow. Geez, what a terrible pass that was. Okay. And you walk off the field, you know, you’re feeling midfield, you just have to go back. What did they do when they went out there? They just threw. It looked like Jacksonville. They got it down there. He escaped from Vay crying out loud on a scramble. Okay. And then he gets he gets the team down closer. Uh not everything went well down there immediately, but then he he gets out of the pocket another time and then finds uh our man. Brandon Johnson. I keep forgetting his first name. Brandon Johnson. I’ve really liked him in camp. Brandon Johnson gets open and they they hook up there at the end here. And I asked Mason, well, I mean, here’s how I asked it. Mason, after first off, if you could take me through the pick, but then I’m sure you hated the throw. Just ask you how it went for you after that. How determined you were to do exactly what you did. Yeah. Um, DB made a good play. I was I was a little bit late to the scene and he you just over overlapped in cover three and made a good play and um I got to either be quicker to the seam or or check check the ball down. So, but yeah, I was um you know that happens in in the course of the year, course of games, even early in the games, you got to, you know, uh mentally recover from that, go back out and I was I was happy with the way we move the ball to the field, bro on the jump play, get us in the scoring, score zone, and uh we finished it off. Mason’s preeason and camp in general for you, Chris, I think it’s been solid. I think it’s going to be it’s it’s what you expect from a backup quarterback. There’s nothing wrong with that. That sounds like an insult to a lot of people. You need a good like Ben Rothosberger’s best days. Who who was his backup? Charlie Batch. Byron Leftwitch. Really good backups. When Ben wouldn’t miss games and you would have Charlie Oh, it’s all right. Charlie’s going to go in. He’s going to be able to run the offense. You can go into Baltimore and have the confidence that Charlie Bash is going to put in a good enough performance to beat the Ravens on the road to have a a backup quarterback that can go out there, run the offense, throw an interception on your second attempt, and just continue to play and play not as well as last week, but still play well. And to me, this has been He’s had some bad moments in camp, too. I think even the last camp, like he had one throw where you where you just like cringed the whole way. Like as soon as it left his hand, I went, “Oh, no.” Yeah. uh not to focus on the negative. He is he bounces back. He’s he’s a he’s a professional. Yes. And I think in 2023, the one thing that Pittsburgers got to see firsthand, and by the way, the reason that he was cheered Oh, yeah. Uh the when he was introduced to the crowd coming out to the huddle, you know, you’re starting quarterback number two place really let him hear it. He appreciated that. He said that afterward, he he felt it. He felt like that was the crowd acknowledging, you know, what happened in 2023. And that’s nice. That’s a valuable thing for this team to have. Chris, let’s switch to the defensive side of the ball, which really was going to be a lot of our focus between me and you anyway. And you know, there’s something happening with these inside linebackers, is there not? We building this up. I I’ve been trying to get some traction with this topic for a while now that there is a competition taking place between Payton Wilson and Cole Hulkcom. And Payton, unlike Jacksonville, did not have his best game, got beat cleanly on that touchdown. Although Tampa really executed that that well. Also, Bucky Irving is a really good running back, too. So, let’s give credit where credit’s due to Payton was he Payton was there. He just didn’t turn around. He didn’t play the ball well at all here. Yeah. But Hulkcom was everywhere. Hulkcom was raid. He was everywhere. Played uh the entire first half. Uh when Pton Wilson stopped playing, Malik Harrison went in. Cole Hulk kept going and I would assume he was wearing the green dot at that point. I caught up with Cole after the game, asked him a few different questions, mainly just being like, “How are you feeling?” Like, like he with everything that he went through, I mean, like going out there and watching you for an entire half, it looks like you’re almost back to normal. And then also, this inside linebacker room is starting to look really, really dangerous if Cole Hulkcom’s back to that. So, here’s a about a minute and a half with Cole Hulkcom. How’s it feel to be getting like I mean, you played almost the entire first half. How does it feel to be getting this much playing time going on throughout the preseason so far? Yeah, I mean, you know, definitely knew I was going to need to to rock the rust, knock the rust off, but uh I mean, today like it felt I felt good. So, um you know, now it’s just like getting backing reps. Um get feeling good again. I was saying it looks good out there. Like, does it does it feel good out there? Does it feel like you’re starting to get back to where you were before? Yeah. No, like this game I felt there was no pregame jitters or like anything like that. Um I felt good going into the game and just Yeah. Whenever you have a game like this where where things begin to feel a little bit more normal looking back on everything that you’ve gone through to get back to this point, like does it just is it just a testament to the work that you put in? Yeah, I mean I don’t know. I it’s hard to like it’s crazy to think about looking back on it, but I’m just such a you know I’m in the next 24 hours. So, right, I’m always looking looking for the next step. What can I get better at? What else can I do? What’s the What’s the potential for this room? I mean, looking at the way you’re playing, the way uh Peyton’s playing, and obviously having PQ, who hadn’t even played in the preseason yet, what’s the potential for this room right now? Yeah, I mean, I feel like I feel like we have a top linebacker room in the NFL. Um, you know, you just look, we got depth. It’s not common. So, all right. Thanks, Cole. I appreciate it. Now, repeating this for emphasis, Patrick Queen’s going to play. Okay. Right. We’re not involving him in this little thing, but you’re not going to have three inside linebackers out there. You’re going to have you’re going to have Queen and somebody else. And it is real what is happening between Wilson and Hulkcom. And it is a blessing for the Steelers. It really is. Yeah, absolutely. That’s why like whenever I want that’s why I wanted to ask Cole like listen with him in this equation this looks like a really good room and that’s why I asked him like what what’s the confidence like in in in the room here like how good this room can be and that’s why he gave the answer he did was like listen this could be one of the best you know and and that that’s man when again when you like there’s so much I think it was just automatically assumed that when Cole Hulcom went down with that injury that he would never be the same player again. Oh, I didn’t think he would play right after that. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Yeah. It was a terrible injury, the work that he has put in to get to this point. Stand there, right? And then to look like that. Again, it’s two games of preseason. We still have yet to see what the regular season’s going to look like, but man, he is looking like a player that did not have that kind of an injury. Now, as we saw in Baltimore, you can have a nice set of inside linebackers and it’s not going to matter if you’re not stopping anything up front. Mhm. So, the Steelers went and they made their investments up front and they brought in Derek Harmon as a first round pick. They brought in YA Black who again looked impressive out there. uh they’ve got now a a thirdyear version of Keanu Benton that they’re expecting to see uh elevate and a lot like the Caleb Johnson storyline tonight on the defensive side seeing Harmon bust through and get that sack and well here I asked the kid about his reaction because it was pretty emotional. I just Well, you’ll hear it. You showed a lot of emotion there uh with the sack. What’s going through your head there? Um, first, second, as a Ruby, man, it felt good. Um, it’s the preseason, so I know ready to get that one in the regular season. That’s it, man. Good for him. I I said the same thing about Caleb. I was going to say the same thing about Derek, these are kids who I think I think Chris, in in having talked to both of them separately up in Latroe this week after the Jacksonville game, they needed this. Yeah. Listen, talked about it last week. Preseason is about the process, not necessarily results. Tonight’s final score does not matter. It doesn’t matter the Steelers fell to one and one in the preseason. Oh no. But you still want to get after the quarterback. You still want to be able to bust through. And this isn’t like shutting a block and then running through. This is literally pushing a grown man back and then getting rush and then getting to the quarterback and getting Kyle Tras down. You want to get that. You want I mean, we talked about it before the game like, yeah, you get some pressures. No, get to the quarterback, bring him down. Yeah, he did that tonight. Uh Keanu Benton on the other side as well. Also got his hand up, batted a pass down. Not as flashy. I understand. Okay. Like it’s a play. It’s a play. It’s a play. What you need to see from your defensive lineman other than Cam because you know they’re going to come from Cam. Yeah. Is make plays. Make plays. If you go through the Steelers ledger from the 2024 season, what you will see from the defensive line is that Cam made a lot of plays. Period. The end. You have to get more than that. And and that that’s what’s what’s uplifting first off about the approach that Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin took this summer uh in in fortifying that area of the football team. But to see some of it start coming to life. Yeah. that that means a whole lot more than whatever that dude’s name was that kicked the field goal at the end. Yeah, absolutely. I having Derek Harmon take a step forward and you next week whenever they go to Carolina and they play the Panthers, you want to see him take another step forward. Doesn’t necessarily mean two sacks, but that means consistently winning more more plays. Yes. Uh finishing more, whether that’s pressures, whether that’s sacks, whatever it is. Kean Bettton, maybe he’ll get two passes defensed tonight next week instead of the one that he had tonight. Just as long as these guys individually and collectively can continue to take steps forward, it if they can win up front, we talk about Jaylen Ramsay and TJ Watt and Darius Slay and all these weapons that they have, but if they can win up front, that’s a game changer for this. It’s all magnified for the entire remainder of the defense. It really is because they become a problem unto themselves as opposed to just being hole plugers who don’t shed their blocks. Uh guys, one thing I would offer as as a as a friendly bit of advice to everybody, do what Caleb did tonight. Do what Derek did tonight. They both were smiling. First time. If you guys saw my interviews with Em and Latroe this week, you wouldn’t recognize them. I might actually do like a like a before and after juxtaposition thing to see them just looking like, oh man, it’s still football. I mean, this is just football. Yeah, they’re they’re nicer uniforms, bigger stadium, you know, but it’s just football. And they went and they both of them went out there and played football and enjoyed themselves. And that’s a big step forward for this team. Yeah. again, especially for rookies, you know, like I remember talking like OTAAS in mini camp, you know, asking Pton Wilson and Zack Frasier and Mason McCormack, you know, so much about what it’s like going into year two and they all gave pretty much the same answer. Yeah, I’m not having to think as much. And for rookies, they have to think so much because college playbooks are not nearly as complex as NFL playbooks. It’s a big jump to this level, massive. And you have to think a lot because there’s a lot you have to remember. But when you can just get to get to this point of just play, trust your instincts. Y that’s the kind of stuff that you can see. Now again, there’s still a long way to go. The playbook that they were operating with down there today, no vanilla little bitty portions. Both teams, by the way. Both teams. So we’ll see where it goes. But again, another encouraging step for guys that really matter on this team. Exactly. Oh, one side note, nobody’s going to care about this. I’m actually kind of impressed with Tampa Bay. Seeing them Oh, they’re a good team. Yeah. seeing them seeing them at the joint practice and seeing them here. Uh this these were not the Jaguars. These were the kind of tests that you want the Steelers to have at this time of year. Really, really nice matchup for for these purposes, I thought. Uh listen, go get the app. Go get the app. You knew I was going to end with that because we’re about to spend a whole lot of time coming up with all kinds of material for you to check out there in written form. Uh other stuff in spoken form, video form, and everything. We do a ton of stuff uh after this. So, make sure you go get the app. It’s DK Pittsburgh Sports. Just type that into your search bar in either Apple or Google Play. And when you do that, when you do that, you get the download, email me like directly. No, not a company thing or not a junk email. Email me dkdpittsburghports.com and I’ll hook you up with a very significant uh discount to make sure you’re getting the good and the far more usable version of the app. Yeah, for sure. All right, we’ll see you guys on Monday. [Applause]

Dejan Kovacevic and Chris Halicke offer their observations on the Steelers’ preseason 17-14 loss to the Buccaneers tonight at Acrisure Stadium.

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