Black, Slay, Fautanu, Highsmith Media Availabilities (Sept. 4) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Black, Slay, Fautanu, Highsmith Media Availabilities (Sept. 4) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Um, what’s the emotion like here heading into your first NFL game? What are the nerves or the jitters like right now? Uh, be honest with you, it’s just probably come game day a little more butterflies, but right now it’s just practice, you know, getting it right. What is the Dline hoping to show here in the first game, especially given you have such a mobile quarterback and Justin cross the line? Uh, it starts up front. So, uh, you know, just want to show dominance and that that we’re here. What do you take from the preseason? I did the reading. you take for those opportunities? Uh, they’re opportunities, you know. I got to got to show a little bit of my skill set and really just starting to work on my craft. Did it give you extra confidence or belief that play this level? I had the confidence. I mean, uh, I was brought in for a reason and you know, confidence is there. You can’t let it can’t let it lack. What kind of challenge is the Jets run game specifically with just the tandem of backs that they have? No comment. Is that part of the this week? I feel like I haven’t heard a lot of a lot of specifics from anybody this week. You guys trying to not give any bulletin board material or Hey, you got it. How much do you know of the last two games or two of the last three games last year they played Baltimore with a lot of rushing yards against obviously they drafted you and Derek and signed a couple D linemen. How much are you aware that run defense and the proud the pride of run fun runs stopping in Pittsburgh over the years? Uh you hear from the vets all the time uh that it it it starts where where we are, you know, uh hands in the dirt and really the dominance that they show and really starting to gain that that knowledge that they’re they’re really impressing on the guys that came in. Do you have your work shirt ready for tomorrow? Have they told you about that tradition yet? What the colored shirts? No, you got me. Didn’t hear anything about that one. Why’d you switch numbers? College number. Why not? Do you anticipate having maybe a bigger role on Sunday just because Dererick’s out and hurt, Cam’s kind of up in the air? I mean, what do you kind of anticipate about how much you could be in the game? Um, just get the reps when you when you have the chance. Uh, when you’re out there, you play to your best ability. TA nicknamed you big sexy. What do you think of that? What? Yeah. A word. I like it. I like it. Yeah. What’s the uh anticipation, excitement level to get out there Sunday, hit someone in a different jersey? Uh it’ll be great, man. I’m looking forward to I always looking forward to uh the start of the season. It’s another great opportunity to go out here and uh you know, add to your your resume as a player and uh another chance to go out here and uh attack with your do teammates and you know, the guys that you going to war with. Finally, that’s going to count against the record. So, uh it’s going to be fun. What makes this DB group so special in your eyes? Uh just a good group of men and you know uh a lot of guys just have fun and genu like being around each other. Uh so that’s the big issue. That’s the big part about it is the fact that the guys like to hang. Uh we get to know each other a lot better is uh I’m always a guy that’s more bigger than football. You know, I’m more of like trying to build bond, trying to build, you know, I like to extend my family and you know, these are a great group of men. So I’m appreciative of them guys. So I’m looking forward to just, you know, sharing the field with them too. What’s the biggest challenge with this Jets offense? Uh, right. The biggest challenge right now basically is trying to understand them, you know, uh, new staff, new everything. So, uh, seeing how they’re going to attack us. So, we ain’t got to I mean, of course, you got your ideas of what they are capable of doing, but of course, you going a little blinded, but, uh, it’s just fun. So, at the end of the day, man, they put the ball down. We going compete, play ball. We know Justin, what he’s capable of doing. You know, I played against him while he was in Chicago as a young kid. Great talent, tremendous talent. You know, uh, he do a great job with his legs. So, uh, you know, got I know for a fact when you sure you got to contain him. It doesn’t matter. Shout out to Joey. You know what I’m saying? Joey the goat. Rich man. Rich man. What up? How much are you guys itching to kind of get out there with just the series in the preseason? Now you guys get to finally Oh man, it’s fun. Like I like with the season get here cuz it’s it started going by fast. Uh it’s is it’s it’s always a purpose to, you know, to play this game as just football. But in training camp, of course, you see every day, every day you going to get your guy. But now, every time you get rewarded to show what your work your work has put in to go against another opponent and, you know, and go out and compete. So, that’s the main job is go compete, have fun, and try to get wins. You said you guys like to hang the the DBs. What do you guys do when you’re not hanging in the locker room? Is there Oh man, we going we going to the Sean house tonight. You know what I’m saying? To watch the game tonight. Sean know that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I told everybody we at his house tonight. He he knows it though. And I said, “Make sure we have some good food.” So, we going to kick it, watch the game, and hang out for a little bit, man. Just, you know, like I said, it’s always bigger than football. You know, I know this game, you know, help feed our families and everything. And and uh but to have a great relationship on on and off the field is always a great blessing cuz it just shows how tight you are on the field. So, what’s it going to be like for you tonight to watch that game banner raising ceremony? Oh, man. Going to be it going to be crazy. It’ll be lit, man. Uh, you know, I’m thankful where I’m at today, but of course, you know, as a player that, you know, contribute to help, uh, win that Super Bowl, it’ be nice to see it just fall down and then I just magically appear back here. You know what I’m saying? But, uh, we know that’s not possible. But, uh, man, I’m just, um, you know, I’m so thankful for that organization as a, uh, you know, uh, that Elen organization helped me, you know, uh, win the championship. They put me in a lot of great positions to be successful in the championship. So, I’m always going to be thankful for the Philly and um, yeah, man. you know, so I still don’t like the Cowboys either. So, it’s still cool. We still cool with that. Do you still are you going to wear your Super Bowl ring tonight watching the game or anything? Remind them. Bring it. I low key when as the banner going down, I lowkey already got my ring ready just to put on my finger. I might shed a little tear and then I’m back to reality. People talk about run defense, they usually don’t think they talk tackles, whatever. They don’t think of the secondary. Personally, you take pride in in that aspect of the game. And as a secondary, how can that help? Uh, great, man. Because uh one thing I do understand, I’ve been playing with uh TA for a long time, you know, definitely when I was in Detroit and a lot of DC’s I had believe as to be a great run defense, you got to have great corners that can tackle. And um thankfully I’m like, you know, I’m a a good tackle. I going to say saying I’m like a Sean Ellie just want to take folks head off every play, but I can get a guy down easily. You know what I’m saying? So, but uh that’s the strength of about being a great run defense is the fact that your corners can tackle and u you know that’s a big burden on me. So, I don’t like to beat the oddball, so I make sure I’m prepared and ready to tackle. So, you talked about not knowing what they’re going to do. And how how does the different guys you have in your secondary give you guys so many different options the way you can play a team? Like some some units, they can only play one way because that’s all the guys they have. But for you guys really trying to figure out what they do is important because you got a lot of different options at your disposal. Yeah, I mean that’s the that’s the beauty of it just having a you know tremendous uh back end of the guys or the guys that’s very versatile here like you know of course Ramsey he’s a guy that’s very versatile that can play anywhere on and off the field. So uh you know Deshan he’s play that I seen him back in his days plays a dime package as middle linebacker like we don’t they that’s the good thing about our beauty is the fact that we are very versatile and uh and we both all like a lot of smart guys you know these guys can play multiple positions and so that can tell you how smart and intelligent they are. So uh that’s the beauty of it man. And so we going to continue to keep trying to use that as a strength, you know, and and keep going. Mike Tom will talk about the importance of you guys like not beating yourselves up, like not beating each other. Mike Tom talked about the importance of like not beating yourself and and playing clean and everything like that. Communication before the snap’s a big part of that. How do you feel like you guys are are clicking when it comes to communicating uh before each snap in practice going into this game? Uh great, man. That’s the that’s the biggest thing for sure is communication. making sure everyone’s on the same page cuz if we all say the same thing, we could be wrong, but if we all run together, it’s right. So, uh, that’s the that’s the main issue we go I mean, main thing we go by with in the defense is just making sure we all on the same page so our guys can play faster because if somebody ain’t on the same page, they be slow. We don’t like that cuz I’m on the back end. I need uh TJ to get there fast. I need him to know what he doing right now today. You look at this week, I mean, last year obviously we know the injury. When you look at this weekend, is this kind of like a doover to get started on the good way, you know, play? Um, I wouldn’t say so. No, not really. Not extra like just can’t wait to get Oh, yeah. In that Yeah, that part. Yeah. Um, for sure. I mean, only playing one game, uh, it’s tough, but yeah, I’m just I’ve been so ready. Um, putting everything into my preparation and knowing that once I get there on Sunday, um, I’ll be ready to go. Where do where do you feel most at home with your skills? Like as far as like something that’s the most instinctual part of your game. Is it when you’re blocking in space? Is it run blocking? Is it passion? I think it’s being on space. I mean, whether that’s run or pass or screens or stuff like that. Um something about the space um helps me for some reason. I don’t know. Um just coming from an offense in college where that’s all we did. Pass, block, screens, all that type of stuff. and then kind of be integrated into this offense where we’re running the ball a lot but also knowing that I have the skill set to um block out in space whether that’s on pass blocking or anything like that. So I would say that how excited are you put that on tape that you guys didn’t do a whole bunch of that in the preeason by design of course. I mean it’s a regular season playbook’s wide open so I mean I’m excited to to finally be able to run a lot of the plays that we’ve been practicing. So yeah. Is it any different blocking for right-handed quarterbacks and at right tackle when you played with PennX for so long at Washington? Is that any different for how you approach it or? No, not at all. Um I got to block the guy regardless of what side I’m on. If the quarterback can see him, if he can’t, um my job is to make sure that I’m in front of my guy and keeping space between him and him, the quarterback. So, um I don’t think so. You mentioned things he likes to do. How much is his skill set putting stress on the edge guy specifically with his first step and he gets a crease. He’s kind of he can get to the ground. It’s unique. Um you know, he’s definitely one uh one of the best in the league when it comes, you know, getting out of the pocket and making plays um in in the run game. And so we just know that we got to be disciplined in our rush lanes cuz, you know, whenever he finds those downhill escape lanes, you know, he’s gone, he’s out of there. And so we just can’t, you know, we obviously we can’t rush scared. We got to be a continue to rush every single snap, but we just got to be disciplined on our rush lanes and the games that we run. So, we just can’t be rushing high or rushing in front of him because he’s going to he can see and get out of there. So, um I think we just it’s comes down to us being disciplined in our rush lanes. I know you said it’s unique. How different is it from the way Lamar is as a runner? Yeah, I mean two or three times. They’re both similar. So, um you know, like I said, we get that experience against Lamar against Lamar. So, I think it definitely helped us this week against Justin. Not to give away the game plan, but do you have to maybe think about him as a run first kind of guy? Do you have to kind of spot him? Yeah. I mean, I I think there’s definitely that his his running ability definitely adds, you know, a unique aspect to the game plan. And just like we were talking about, know with Lamar, you know, we have certain schematics around that. And so, um, I know we’re going to have to do do that as well. And so, um, just because he he’s very dangerous with his legs and so we just got to make sure he doesn’t get out of the pocket. So, and that’s what it’ll be. You played them last year, but can you take anything away from that game last year at all or is it totally different? You kind of like rip everything up. You talking about the the Jets in general, the offense. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it’s it’s a little bit different of a offense. I know they got new coordinators there now from last year. Obviously, a lot of new personnel um going from Aaron to Justin. And so, I think um we just been watching some Detroit film as well because that’s where the coordinator came from. And so, we just got to uh do do what we do. We just got to handle us and go out there and play fast and ultimately, you know, we decide the outcome of the game, how we make plays. You anxious to finally get this thing started here? I’m very excited. So, I’m very excited. I can’t wait. With so many changes on defense and so many additions, what are you guys hoping the identity of this defense is this year? Any change, anything different from last year? Yeah, I mean, I think uh just for us as a defense, um obviously we got to play fast and physical, but for us, I think it just comes down to communication, and that starts in week one. when we’re playing great as a defense, we’re communicating well. And so, um, I think that just starts here in practice. You know, we got to have that communication locked down so that when we’re out there on Sunday, we’re not guessing. We’re not playing slow. We’re communicating that we’re playing fast. Do you feel like that’s improved over the course of training camp? Yeah, absolutely. Um, especially, you know, with new guys who are coming in. I mean, obviously, you know, when guys first get here, you still learn the defense, still learn the culture, and so, but as time has passed, you know, all the new guys who’ve come in, all the rookies have done a good job of just buying into our culture, and really our communication’s only got better since training camp started. And Mike threw it out there um during the summer that this defense has a chance to be special. As a player, do you enjoy having those expectations, you know, thrust upon you on your shoulder? I mean, absolutely. I think um we just got to go out there and deliver. And we know we have a bunch of great players on this defense, you know, um a bunch of guys who are able to make a lot of plays and so we also have a lot of depth in all positions as well. And so, um I think just overall as a defense, we just got to go out there and just do what we do and that’s go out there, make plays, play fast, play physical, communicate well. And so ultimately um the results will handle themselves. You think there’s a method for him putting that out there? Yeah, I mean I know we like I said I know we got the players to do it. So we just got to go out there and uh play like we’re the best defense in the league. How do you think about the two backs? We talked about Justin L without the two backs. Yeah, I mean it’s it’s very unique. It’s kind of the same thing that you see in Detroit that they have with Gibbs and Montgomery, but um you know Bruce Hall is really good running back. So is Brilen Allen, but you know they kind of have a unique personality about their game. you know, Bruce Hall is more of a perimeter guy and, you know, Frell’s more of a downhill guy. So, I think, you know, whenever those guys are in, um, it’s I think, you know, just trying to see what type of run they’re going to have, uh, depending on the back, I think, is what we’re game planning around. And so, um, I know both those guys are are good backs. And so, we just ultimately, I think the main game part of the game plan is stopping. We got to stop the run. And so, we just got to get out there and, uh, once we stop the run, then we can get some pass and get out to Justin. Alex, how important is Cam to this defense? And you worried at all that he might not play? I mean, he’s he’s our leader and so I’m I’m I’m confident he’s going to play and so he’s he’s he’s an allp pro guy for us and so like I said, I’m confident that he’s going to play um because we all know the type of player he is and what what he means our defense and so I’m confident he’ll play. Has that situation been a distraction at all for you guys preparing for this? No, I don’t think so. Like I said, cuz he’s been out there um still practicing with us as well. um still getting reps and stuff and so um we know that like I said I’m confident he’s going to

Yahya Black, Darius Slay, Troy Fautanu, and Alex Highsmith spoke to the media Thursday, September 4

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