Joey Porter Sr. Gets Honest About the 2025 Steelers | Not Just Football

Joey Porter Sr. Gets Honest About the 2025 Steelers | Not Just Football

I was so mad at you. This how mad I was at you. So I’m glad I’m glad we got to talk this week. My fourth Pro Bowl. I finally traded helmets. Ray, you took me four Pro Bowl. So I didn’t want none of that in my house. One and 15 playing on a team where my kids is asking me, “Dad, do we have to go to the game today?” What up everybody? It’s me, Cam Hayward. You know Hayden. And this is time for not just football. We got a big win we just had last week. But today we are joined by my dude who’s about to go on the Hall of Honor with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Joey Porter. What’s up, brother? Man, what’s going on, Jam? How you doing, man? I’m good. I’m good. So, let’s jump right in. Shoot. What did you think about the game this past week versus the Baltimore Ravens? Well, I’m glad you asked. I’m not happy with with our run defense. I’m glad with the victory. Absolutely. But, you know what I’m saying? you being the the the captain. I mean, I’ve watched you play and I’ve coached you. So, you know, our our our our standard for just stopping the run like you know, right now we’re getting into that time of the year to where the weather is going to change. It’s already changing. So, that’s how you’re going to get attacked. That’s just what it’s going to be. Most teams that can run the ball this late in November, December, and January is the teams that that that make that make it long in the playoffs. So just besides that, man, we look good. You know what I’m saying? It was good to watch Rogers go out there, get us get it going. It was good to watch us, you know, get some points on offense and play collectively to a winning football game and just that, you know what I’m saying? Titans screws on run defense. Yeah. And I think we going to be What you seeing with the run defense that we need to clean up? Uh just far as like you you there. So like you know I’m always trying to I’m looking at so first thing I do is I break down JJ any run big run on his side I’m breaking down at what was his responsibility that’s just me looking at football but then is a collectively what I’m looking at is like what is being said or or how do we watch it right like cuz you know it comes a point to where my main guys like you TJ it’s front seven where the [ __ ] is going to happen are we where we supposed to be. Now, if we just getting whooped and pushed off the line, that’s another thing. Are we where we supposed to be? Cuz if we where we’re supposed to be, it just comes down to making tackles. You know what I’m saying? Yeah, I get it. So, how do you feel? Where are we? How is this 200? Cuz you got to think 250 then 200. I know you you defensive guy like me that we take the victory, but that [ __ ] don’t feel good. That’s not That’s not how we want to win. It’s bittersweet. We take all victories, but defense like us 200 rusting like that’s [ __ ] That’s the [ __ ] that like make you stay up at night. You know what I’m saying? You don’t never like to be cuz you know what it is. It’s like Yeah. They doing something and we can’t do nothing about it. Like they telling you to go run the ball and you know what I’m saying? That that’s never a position no defensive guy want to be in. Hell no. And like for us like you know I think from a standpoint from looking at the run from last week to this past week um I think it was different you know I think there was a level of accountability there but there was still things you got to clean up. It wasn’t like like it wasn’t guys getting blown off the ball. It was just more of it might be one gap short or two gaps short. It’s like everybody has to be involved like front seven, back back guys. Like it’s it’s it’s a it’s an 11man job. That’s why like I love what Mike T would always talk about like I’m not just gonna do nine on seven cuz like that that [ __ ] will set you up for failure and everybody’s got to know they part of the run game. Yeah, I I I agree with that. has always been good with getting 11 on 111 out there. And like you said, if if see the thing is if you can’t identify the problem or don’t know why, if you can identify why you giving up the run, it’s easy as hell to say, “Hey man, check this out. We about to watch this film.” And like it is what it is. Because that’s that’s the only way you going to be good if everybody’s held accountable. I don’t care who how close we are. It don’t matter, man. And if you can be held accountable, then I’m not telling you nothing that you don’t you don’t want to fix. Yeah. And that’s it. Did you ever when you were young, did you ever have a moment where you felt like you were called out in front of the group? Oh yeah. I got called out early. But see that the thing about it is is is that [ __ ] is what what you need and look for. That’s that [ __ ] harden you because like man I’m telling you the funny thing about playing for coward is like it would literally be 53 grown ass men and the other 10 that was on practice squad if we lost walking in on Monday. You already knew exactly how many plays that you messed up on that could possibly make the big board. Yes. And you praying the whole time like, man, I hope his ass don’t show it cuz like look, man, did I did I did I damn man. Hell yeah. That [ __ ] like like you already know. And [ __ ] you But once I seen that like the accountability of no matter who cuz like he got he got everybody. It’s like he not giving no passes. It was like I’m a I’m a rookie and he’s talking to whether it’s Joel Steed or Leavon Kirkland or don’t matter who it was at the time. If you was one of those guys who messed up, man, he about to tell you. So a young guy ain’t got a chance. You got to take that on the chin. So like you know that’s when the changing was ran by it wasn’t even that like how we how uh Cam know how we broke down defenses and ran our rooms with like we would have a thing called chingages. It’s like if you mess up in practice you got to pay a fine if you had an ME you got a m fine. If you had a miss tackle, pay a fine. Missed assignment, loafs, all these things is how you put money in the pot, then we go spend it that weekend or whatever at dinner. But either way it go, we keep track of who’s messing up, right? And it seemed like something simple, but you was building accountability as soon as you walked into the door. Yeah. because it’s the captain of the room who keeps the books every time you mess up. Okay, it’s like 20 20. Okay, there go that go $10 loaf. So, whatever you said the number is and then like you kind of know like damn this dude get like eight nine changing a week. So now you kind of already know [ __ ] we already know his ass go he gonna jump inside on this playwatch ching. So like you already know the guys that’s going to get certain changes for certain [ __ ] that they do. And like just by us holding each other accountable with something simple as that. You knew who was you knew everybody’s strengths. You knew what they weaknesses. You was like his ass always came the double team when he do it this way. He don’t never pop the block or he always get cut off because he get he always get like eight nine chinkages for the same damn thing. Right. So as a coach you know like [ __ ] I’m not gonna put his ass in that situation. Yeah. Yeah, just tell me that I’m not going to have his ass outside in curl flat. He ain’t got He He ain’t went through the flat eight times. He went there twice. He got six and not going to the curl flat. See, that’s what I know. I can’t call that with him. He gonna get me. You know what I’m saying? So, yeah, little stuff like that is what held us accountable. So, like Cow would get you in like he had something simple as you know when coach time to come in and give you the team’s favorite play. So Bill was big on going on on Wednesday giving you the offense we’re about to play against their number one runs and he’ll just write it down their number one pass and you supposed to be taking notes Saturday night he going to ask you a question what’s their number one run and if you didn’t know oh my god you feel like like like who wants to be the guy who don’t know what the [ __ ] number one run against the team you about to play tomorrow at 1:00 and we’ve been practicing [ __ ] all week. you lolly gag playing around because he think you ain’t getting called and then because he’s going around the room he don’t he don’t never want to pick the same person then he just call your name you could be and you say pe who has what’s the number one run everybody got their books open on the ground right no sound so if you don’t I’m always sitting next to Jason Gilden or Leavon or somebody so they gonna tap you and give it to you but like man we used to be paranoid of [ __ ] like that man you didn’t want to be the guy that let nobody down doing nothing it ain’t the place you want to be in bro and so Like Mitch, my Dline coach, Mitch was always big on tips and reminders and he giving you at the start of the week. And so you looking at those making sure you know your plays and like I used to hate like Mike Te’s meeting cuz like early on in my career if he put up my play I was embarrassed like I felt like I let the whole team down. But then Pezy took it to a different level. PZ would have these posters made and it was say who’s on skates and so he started putting like my face or Tua’s face or like somebody who got pushed back on a on a poster for like roller bounce or like and so it had me hot and so I knew I had to be in my gut. I had to make sure I put that cuz I I put I put like the new Roller Bounce movie coming out and I had his face heart grave face uh two and face when I’m talking about like why the [ __ ] y’all so mad at me? Y’all the one was on skates going backwards. That’s how you got that’s why you starring in the movie Roller Bounce. They rolled your ass and bounced your big ass up out of there. That’s what they say. I’m reporting news, man. I’mma tell you what these other scare codes tell you to do because you know what they do. That knife hit different because when you when you when you when you when you point at the picture of what it is and you can do it like I did it in a comedy way cuz like I [ __ ] with Cam. Cam’s my guy. I gave Wobble the name. I I messed with Wobble. Like I knew he was going to be like that early. We was probably not letting him be a pass rush. I’m telling him like dude no you had 36 socks in college. I used to mess with him. Call I told him he played at a super jos to piss him off. I used to piss him off. But Wobble was nice. So, not to get off topic, like I had good relationships with all these guys, but I know if I’m telling the truth in that way, it’s going to hit because at the end of the day, you told me I’m getting pushed back. You told me I’m on skates. You just now tried to [ __ ] star me in the movie Roller Bounce, which if you put a D lineman in Roller Bounce and starting him, that is the biggest clapping. Oh, there was one D lineman we said he kept getting not scoot but super scooped. So we start he’s going to start his own ice cream company called talking about super scoops. Oh man. But like truths like that. That’s what my whole defense was bounced based off of was truths. Like it was crazy like in college we was even we was even worse than that. In college, we had this thing called um like if if if you play bad, it’s called the player profile. Oh no. So when you come into practice, you got the big board, you play bad, the player profile might start on the bus ride home. Somebody got the pencil and they already they already drawing a picture. They’re going to draw a picture of the play that they go they go break down and then it’s going to say like it’s it’s it’s all made to be made fun of whoever we want to make fun of collectively. So let’s say sources one of our local news reporters or like like big time pizza that was one of the the spot sponsors and be like it have all these goofy things that we saying who we asked to get these answers of like how we came to this conclusion and then once we posted it on a big board. So it’s basically the team telling you like, damn, you didn’t play good and this is what we see. So when we do that, it’s it’s either one way you go take it. You go take the criticism and bounce back or we had another thing that was called the tank. Cuz if you go in the tank, the tank is worse than the portal. There’s people in the tank right now still that ain’t never came out cuz they just went in the tank. You know what I’m saying? The tank the tank worse than the abyss. The tank don’t let you out. March. got this dang puppy, man. He hear me talking, he want to come out. Pey, you’ve had a lot of legendary moments versus the Ravens. Does it ever get old and beating the Baltimore Ravens? Man, listen. If you want the fastest recipe for making you feel worse, how think about how we all feel after last week, taking all the criticism, the [ __ ] Boo Renegade. The Boo Renegade. I was so mad at you. This how mad I was at you. So, I’m glad I’m glad we got to talk this week. Yes. I was going to call you cuz I was so mad at you last week. Not how we played, just your interview. He need me in the stomach. I said, “What’d he say?” I rewinded. He need me in the stomach. Said, “What the [ __ ] he say? He need me in the stomach.” I said, “Well, I was so mad just to h I was I called him. I said, “Man, you see Cam, what the [ __ ] is Cam talking about? He need me in the stomach.” Me and my [ __ ] dackle talking about a quarterback who needs you in the stomach. Like, I don’t give a damn if he need stomach. We going to kill him. Like, you’ll never know why I killed him. I’mma kill him because he Yeah, he need me in the stomach, but I’mma kill him the very next play. I’m not telling nobody. I’m gonna kill him and I’m just go. The only thing can save him is Coward has to burn a timeout to get me out of the game and he has to literally come out there and get me because I’m not walking to the sideline. This motherfucker’s dead. I’m killing him the very next play. Yeah. So, I was mad at you for snitching. We too big to be snitching on a quarterback. So, I did not like that. Not my DTackle. They was They was asking me why I was going at it after and that’s the only I’m telling you I didn’t like it. I don’t give a damn how we got there. I did not like it. That was not No, not my D tackle. Not you. All right. Not you. So, I was mad at that. But then we come back and beat Baltimore. And that [ __ ] is all forgetting. Like that they are the team that you beat that heals wounds. Like you beat Baltimore, now we we know we get to lick the wounds from them other games. Take that momentum and get ready for Monday, man. you know how how it can happen like these few weeks these few weeks leading up to where we got to go is just one week at a time but if you start playing your best football now like how Aaron was playing last week tighten up the little big runs we had on defense for the most part cuz we was keeping him contained just had a couple of big runs they strung out that made the numbers look worse but man you stop that and start playing consistent man Baltimore is always the game to make you feel good no matter what this records is during the year you beat Baltimore it means something in our rival if you know you know you play it so you know if you’re if you’re a Yenzer that that root for the Steelers you know it’s just that’s that’s a game that no matter what teams are doing you beat them you feel better Joey I’m curious you have such a unique perspective when you watch this team you’re a former player former coach and you have a son on the team how do you go about watching the game do you have your dad hat on your co former former coach, former player hat on all of them cuz I’m I’m in fan mode cuz I that’s why I like doing the tailgates and all the stuff that I do because I’m really in fan mode having a good time. I’m in dad mode because I want to watch him play and then you know the coaching mode is me trying to figure out what they in when it’s happening because like soon as I see based on my son when he on off the coverage I’m trying to pick see what coverage is so I can see if he’s doing what he’s supposed to do right or I don’t try to over analyze but that’s just going to be in because I played football for so long and I’ve been in that in that building. One second let me get this dog. Hey, Mark. So, what I’m saying is I have I have all hats on cuz like I’m I’m that involved like I love football that much to where as I’m watching it I’m in straight fan mode but if you see something happen I’m putting my I mean how can we fix that? Like why are we doing that? That’s just that’s just me watching football. I’m gonna do that regardless. Joey, last time you were on you told stories about you know you and Ray on the bus and everything. Was there anything else that stood out between that rivalry between y’all, between you and T Suggs? What was that like? Man, when came in, he was doing his thing. He was a younger a little younger. And I was just I was almost on my way out of the out of Pittsburgh headed to Miami and the rest where I finished my career in Arizona. But even with Thugs was young when I was, you know, he was just jumping in where he was watching where Raym was, you know, because Raym won early before Suggs got there. They won with Bowware and Sharper and Sarah Guzza. I was there when they won that championship. They beat us. So when Suggs and them came in, that’s when they started with Nada and all them. They still had Ray. That defense was still good. And [ __ ] those was the defense. That’s who we were competing against every time. You know what I mean? Like we watch their defense get better. We watching our defense get better. Like we know exactly who we about to play against them. They about to have big ass Jamal Lewis. We about to have Jerome Bettis. We about to have Willie Parker. We about to have Duce. They about to have all their running backs. And that competition of how we played. I think cuz we mirrored each other. We want to have good defenses that we both was relying on at the time. It made us fight each other because we was both trying to win the same way. We was trying to win in defensive style. Run the ball, shorten the game, and let your defense get you out of there. Like, we wasn’t really throwing the ball like that back then. We was really pounding you. We might pass it 20 times, but we definitely go running 40. And we mirrored each others. They had a good D, we had a good D. And um, [ __ ] we didn’t like them, you know what I mean? So that rivalry was always up. Like no matter it was bloodbath, man. I I laugh at it now because if you go back then when we played, you wouldn’t even ask nobody for a jersey swap. Like that was you you would be looked at crazy for even thinking that we about to change jerseys. The first Baltimore Raven anything I’ve ever It was on my fourth Pro Bowl. My fourth Pro Bowl, I finally traded helmets with Ray. They took me four Pro Bowls. I didn’t want none of that [ __ ] in my house. I wasn’t gonna put I I wasn’t going to hang it up. I wasn’t going like we was different. I wasn’t going to hang no Bengals [ __ ] up. I got Chad I got Chad jersey. I I mess with a lot of them guys now, but when we played, I I wasn’t I wasn’t We wasn’t training with you. We wasn’t working out with you. And we definitely wasn’t hanging none of your [ __ ] up in our house. It just wasn’t happening. So I laugh at how the rivalry is now because the cool thing is if your boy play over there, get the jersey swap jersey, take pictures, all the stuff that they do in the 20s when we played. Now them beef was like, it’s funny how serious we took it. We took that [ __ ] way too serious upstairs. Like we took on beef like I don’t know what they did to the old guys before us, but we you was birthed into some beefs. That was real beefs. It was different. I can’t even explain it. Joey, I’m curious. There’s a lot of Steeler, former Steelers in the media that comment on the Steelers. James Harrison just started a podcast. Ryan Clark, Ben Rothllessberger. What do you think about some of the comments they make about the Steelers? They send tend to be critical sometimes. What do you think about that? They passionate because we lost and when when we lose, you know, and if and if some and if it’s going a different way, if you win, one thing about the old guys, if you win, that’s the way to do it. A that’s it. That’s all because it won. You know what I’m saying? Like they used to bring the older guys in there male blunt guys that won them four championships in the 70s. And what could you say when they telling you something? They won. Like they have all the rings. So like when they say something, their audience is going to listen. You’re going to listen because that’s part of our history. So you can never be too cool to listen to when the people who made the history has something to say. So we’ve always took it. M now I think we’re into the point to where now some of the guys getting on these different platforms and they take their shots and say certain stuff they got different agendas being mad about how we not playing. It’s been a stealer culture rule like no matter when we don’t like something what what what good do it do us to tear down another stealer or another god that’s in our building. It ain’t something we preach. It ain’t something we did. It ain’t something we do. We covered more secrets over the 30 years that I’ve been part of the Steelers than we told. You see what I’m saying? It’s a lot of stuff that happened that’s never been told because we don’t tell it. You know what I mean? They’re barely hearing from me in 20ome years because I ain’t never had nothing to tell what what goes on in our building on 3400 South Water Street. That’s just that’s what happens over there. Nobody’s supposed to know about it. So when they do it, I look at him like, uh, what is that about? You know what I’m saying? What what’s the reason now? Ryan, he’s on TV. He get paid for it. He got to say it. Good, bad, and different. He might whatever edge he pushed too far. He’s a true dieh hard stealer though, Ryan. So RC ain’t never coming from uh he just now at the point when it’s bad, we can’t act like it’s good. Now, I’m not going to say how far they’re going to go. Ain’t nobody paying me to do that. So I ain’t I ain’t gonna do it. It ain’t nothing in there for me to tell how bad bad bad I think it really is. Come on, man. It ain’t good right now. What the [ __ ] [ __ ] we mean? We don’t want it to be bad, but [ __ ] I ain’t about to [ __ ] on us when it’s bad. I got my son on the team, Cam on the team, Mike T. I got everybody in that building. I still love like do I stop [ __ ] loving these guys cuz we losing. You know what I’m saying? I just was on the plane with them [ __ ] from California. These these my family, you know what I’m saying? I ain’t throwing away 30 years of family cuz we playing bad now. Am I going to vent in my group chat with my guys and talk [ __ ] about them? Absolutely. They getting that every time we don’t play good. [ __ ] me up. We going to be right back. Good. Exactly. You know what I’m saying? You call me up. I don’t care. Like No, but I’m saying that’s how I do it. Like I’mma call him I got a I got a handful of guys that I talk to that I vent to when it’s bad. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? And that’s where it go. I be in my golf cart sometime talking about [ __ ] how I can’t go to Y and stuff like that. That’s just me having fun. But like I ain’t I can’t take that shot because for one, it ain’t it ain’t that deep. You know what I’m saying? I’ I’ve been in enough football games to know what not playing good football look like or to take the shot that’s coming for somebody’s job look like. I ain’t I ain’t in never been in the position to take that shot. And I never want to take that shot because it’s it’s not a shot I want to take. I actually I actually care for people that’s in that building and always will. So I it’s just certain [ __ ] that I ain’t going to never say. Even if I’m feeling bad about it or not, I’m not feeling that bad. It’s just a loss. I don’t want to lose. But I don’t want you to lose your [ __ ] job cuz we lost. You know what I’m saying? I’m not coming for really like that’s what be killing me with debo is like you talking about the same dude who started your whole career like you talking about the same guy who started your whole career who moved Joey out the way for you to be BBO and they pushed your brand and they still push your brand like they really push your brand. They push you like like like they got behind you in a way that’s like good for you. You know what I’m saying? Don’t forget that they really did that for you. Like they moved me out the way and created this for you. So you can’t you can’t you can’t never forget [ __ ] like that. You know what I’m saying? I think he knows that. But like when he be saying his stuff, it seemed like he got something personal. It’s a personal vendetta that I don’t know nothing about, but it’s his come off personals. When I watch seven talk sometime, I don’t hear too much of it. So when he do his, he just giving I guess this is how these guys is feeling. So I don’t want to I ain’t the person to go start no back and forth beef with nobody about your opinion. You know what I’m saying? You say what the [ __ ] you want to. It’s yours. I don’t too much care, but if you ask me, I’ll tell you what I what it looked like for me and that’s that. You know what I’m saying? And they be going a little hard, but [ __ ] that’s how they feeling at the time. So like if they know that’s what they saying and when they walk around y they expecting a high five. [ __ ] good luck. Cuz you you can’t you can’t you can’t crush me and think I’mma dap you up and give you a hug like you didn’t [ __ ] just come for my head like that’s over. I hope they know that if you if you shoot at me like that, [ __ ] When I get a chance to shoot my gun, I’m busting back. Like, so it’s more of a question of how do y’all feel when they fire on y’all like that and then they call you, “Oh, okay. What’s up, man? How you doing, man? Everything good? You straight?” Do do they do they approach you like that after they fire on you? I ain’t got nothing to say. Wow. Really? That’s really what type of what we doing here, man. Josh Allen needs you in the tummy. You could talk about that, but you can’t talk about this. My my biggest concern is for the dudes in the locker room, right? And so I feel like if I give that energy, I’m I’m taking energy away from my group. And so I kind of just let that [ __ ] go. I I don’t really pay no mind to it cuz like like I respect you. You’re my big brother and everything. So like you can come to me man to man. We could talk about it. If you ain’t got time to talk to me man to man about it, then I ain’t concerned with you. Yeah. So I you was you you got serious and deep on that [ __ ] So you was like yeah mother like you damn near was on the verge like draw the line. Draw the line. Draw the [ __ ] line. You you sound like you about to draw the line in the sand cuz sometimes you just got to draw the line in the sand. And ain’t nothing wrong with that, man. That’s the thing different with with y’all era and our era. my clap back to all that [ __ ] Like just me, I’m I clap back with truth. I ain’t got no reason to shoot at you with no [ __ ] I’ll just go back on some truth [ __ ] that I know that I’ve known that happened and boom, that’ll be that. It ain’t nothing crazy cuz we all got receipts of some [ __ ] that we we watched happen that we might not like that the opposite might have did. Oh, I’m gonna speak on it. Boom. I’mma put that out there. I don’t remember. And uh and then when you did uh I’mma throw all them out there and then now we going to have our debates. You know what I’m saying? Cuz I’m I’m just going to remind the people of some [ __ ] that I seen too. You laughing cuz y’all want to get on here and play this game but don’t want to talk the [ __ ] Boy, you something else. That’s true. That’s true. You’re right about that. I just shoot how I shoot. I don’t I’m not I’m not looking for nobody in this world, but in this world, this is that one safe place because if we gonna play like that, man, we can play how we want to. Like, we all stealers. That’s what’s good about it. Especially with these new mics that everybody can have something to say, man, people going to have something to say. You know what I’m saying? I just think it’s a little janky when you can’t scoot at me and then dab me up. You can’t do both. That that should be fair. You know what I’m saying? or at least call me and tell me, “Hey man, if I take a shot, I don’t know how it’s going to be. Let me know.” Let me know. Tell me something. Let me know. No, but it be wild, man. That’s But like I say, man, losing to bring all that out, that’s the only thing to bring it out because we all stealers when we winning. You know what I’m saying? We we want to [ __ ] It’s a proud moment because we going to get recognized for my wins and our losses, man. I’m talking about if they see me in the street, they talk to me like I’m still playing. You know what I’m saying? I supposed to have the answers. And you know how many times you done seen me over there on the south side? Probably once all year. You know what I’m saying? Like I try to let them be in grind mode during the season. You know what I’m saying? Like I stay out the way. I know I know what what it takes that goes into these 17 weeks. I know how committed you have to be for a football season and how something so little can change a game, everybody roll, how one player or two players can mess up the the jail of everything. I never really looked at us this season as being bad out of it. I just feel like we wasn’t. We let some games get away. We had some people that was hurt early. We miss a guy here, miss a guy there. Secondary been doing a lot of shuffling. You know what I’m saying? We got we got our reasons, but we not consistent. We got, you know what I’m saying? And for the defensive guys who really hurt the defensive guys, man, we’ve been on teams where we knew the offense wasn’t going to be what it was, but we had goals that we wasn’t going to let you get 1700 17 yard 17 points or 100 yards rushing. You know what I’m saying? These was goals that we set. They’re like, “If we hit all of these goals, we’ll have a chance to win the game cuz we’re only asking our offense to get us 18 points cuz we going to keep them under 17. We going to keep them off the field.” Say again. There were some games that There were some games they were telling us, you get one touchdown, that’s it. That you see what I’m saying? We we we we can’t that’s so that’s that’s that’s so that’s why I think when they’re talking, they’re not even talking about as a whole. It’s all shooting at the defense because like man we won it champ the two last two championships we got was because of the defense like we had good offense take nothing away from the offenses that did some [ __ ] cuz on my only Super Bowl run Ben and them did some [ __ ] some games like they lit Denver ass up they did some [ __ ] some games exactly why we won the game but our defense was a top three defense and that defense that they won and won broke they had the number one defense and and set records so that’s the only way we’ve won really is by defense. So when we look at this defense on paper, we like man, we got all the guys and then when it don’t look like that, that’s why Harrison and them be so hard on y’all, man. They just You bring up a good point, like 2005, that playoff run, you guys had to string string together like four consecutive wins cuz what y’all were like against three of the top four offices in the league. So it didn’t matter who we was going against. Like they was number one offenses every week. Like that that that that Cincinnati offense was some juggernauts. They had the guys. That indie offense was the guys. When we went and seen Denver in Denver and we was on the road all these games, they had some damn guys. So like all those offenses was elite elite offenses. But man, we had been been built for this. And then our offense get hot when the defense was playing it best football. We jailed at the right time. And that’s all why I always look when we had the same situation. We were seven and five. Y’all seven and six. Y’all got that extra game. We only had four games. Y’all at this point now is seven and six with what? Four games left. Yep. We was at the same spot, but we was seven and five with four games left. And it’s crazy how it all it takes is one win. Ours was Chicago. We beat the Bears and it gave us a crazy different belief because we knew we couldn’t lose no more games. Man, you take it one game at a time, man. That [ __ ] wouldn’t surprise me because like if you get to the playoffs when you’re hot, I swear when the confidence we’re supposed to be at, you don’t give a [ __ ] who you playing or where. I’ll meet you there in 30 minutes. Just tell me where we playing at. We on the way. We on the way. and and and y’all in that position now to where we get Harmon back, we get we get a couple of pieces back, we get everybody healthy on this last little run, some [ __ ] can shake. Was anything set on that run before y’all got started? Yeah, I think I think uh we we we was pissed cuz like we made a lot of promises, man. We made a lot of promises to get Jerome to come back. You know what I’m saying? And and we come out 15 to1 the year before. So we we we we just let that championship get out the way. Like we just That was the one. I feel like that team was better than the championship team we won and we lost. So that next year, now we’re not even holding up to potential at seven and five. Everybody getting to think they can beat us now cuz obviously we’re not doing what we was doing. But we caught it. We caught it and everybody took that gut check and made [ __ ] personal. And uh it’s nothing like accountability, man. Cuz if you love somebody enough, man, I can tell you, man, I need you. like like like if if if I love you enough and I see you so much and I spend so much time with you like I see you take care of your body every day. I see you do all this stuff. I see how hard. So now I automatically I know this [ __ ] mean something to you cuz cat is getting to the damn facility 7:30 in the morning. They’re not leaving till 7:30 at night. Like literally just been there all day after they get their treatment. They didn’t ate dinner there. They got some more treatment. And now they sitting in there playing cards cuz they don’t want to go home cuz like they didn’t got so serious about talking about football and not wanting to leave and it’s just like you can’t wait to get back to work. Right. So what’s the beautiful thing about what we had was that accountabilities were like it was never a problem to tell nobody like Jerome Ben Hines it didn’t matter who it was nobody was out of jurisdictions for being straightened like we gonna get you for anything like we had a police the way we police each other it’s like your real brother like like you police your little brother different than everybody else self unselfconsciously you don’t even know that you do it you’re not going to let him be late to nothing cuz you done drove it into his head of like dude like like I never bet I better not never be in my seat before you be in your seat like like you better beat me to the [ __ ] every time if we got means at 8:00 like I’m beating it into my to to my brother if he playing with me but it’s my older brother what he would be doing to me is be like he gonna make me beat him like Mean start at 8. He going to have a chore for me just to make sure I’mma be there and he going to make me bring some coffee. He going to make he going to give me something to do that’s going to punish me but hold me accountable at the same time. And it’s all based just off I’ve been here longer than you. You know what I’m saying? So when you always have the I’ve been here longer than you dues that you always got to pay. It don’t feel like you doing nothing wrong because it’s called seniority. Vets did it to us. We did it to the next guy and the cycle just keep going. It’s like when you get a rookie, right? He gonna get Haze. Yeah. Don’t Don’t be a crybaby about it. It lasted for one year and then you get to do it for the rest of your life. Everybody got to pay the dude for the first year and then you get to do it for the rest of your life. You’ve been hazing people. Not hazing, but like you’ve been bringing new rookies in. What year is it for you? This is 15. 15 years, man. Think about that, man. You had 15 rookies. Yeah, like every year they didn’t brought the buy in. So this is another thing that that that that what we take took pride in and when we played and you can see your lineage is it passed down and I and I how I talk I I I I talk in litters dogs like so I feel like my my my my my litter that that we had I the litter I raised I raised I I raised some hell of a dogs out my litter man I raised Debo he one of my pups out my litter You know what I’m saying? Uh that’s that’s I lost him a couple times, came back. But like, you know what I’m saying? That’s just me. He But he was shaking on the towel as a puppy. Is a puppy. He he hold he he he he he he feet off the ground at two months. He one of them puppies. Like you can tell he was going to be a problem. But he he just, you know, he couldn’t play with all other dogs. Got to go back to the kennel. He was a he was he was a he was one that we knew was going to be like that foot my guy. But he played middle. But that’s still my guy. Just so like everybody that came in after me cuz I come up under Jason Gilden and Leavon Kirkland. I’m I’m fresh out. They raised me. Kendra Bell foot. Then you had some guys that just didn’t make it that that you tried with that you mean it don’t work. But like you you know the guys that you came in and you taught them the lineage and they taught it and they pass it down. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? You got think you got 15 years. You know, you don’t watch some of your rookies come and leave and careers be over and you still playing. Very true. How many guys that you’ve brought into the league that you feel that took y’all mole and play play the way that that that that you feel like that you learned it from the h how the game is supposed to be played the the true stiller way. How many guys that you taught does that stiller way? Because when I was teaching, I learned the steal away. So all I knew was one way. That’s it. So everything I taught, even went to other teams, I still was teaching what what my my OG’s taught me. Yeah. Like Bud, Bud is Bud is a clear example of that. You look at Bud, look at TJ, look at Hargrave, you look at Vinnie, Shazir. Like even like when guys were going elsewhere, I felt like there were still guys that still preached how we play, right? Yeah. Like and it it it just you know those guys cuz it meant so much to them and then they just they ball out their damn selves too. See what I’m saying? And and that means something, right? So you know guys right away that’s go believe I remember when you guys I knew y’all had something good going when You kept the Thursday night treatment thing alive. Like I used to come up there. This is when JJ was in high school. Jacob was in high school. Man, y’all used to be so deep up there getting your bodies right. IVs, food. We watching Thursday night football. I mean, and you was having 20 people attendance. Yeah. That’s when it’s close. Yeah. That’s when you know you got guys that we ain’t doing nothing but taking care of our bodies and getting something to eat. You know what I’m saying? But it’s something that simple that means everything. Pezy, it just that just put a memory in my head. It’s different. Like you remember when we used to go to dinner and every every road game we go to dinner and like me and Pezy would always try to plan it. One time we were going to Denver and P was like, “I got it. I want like make sure y’all go all out. We get there and we have like 25 guys. They had a [ __ ] spread and Py goes, “Damn, I ain’t say that much there. There was literally too much food.” And I remember Pezy being like, “Oh, this was a setup.” The [ __ ] tried to run. We had I had my pots from Colorado State that was going to meet us up there, but they I remember it was a highend ass restaurant, man. God. Yeah. Y’all tried to man, come on, man. I think I do your boy. Like I’m not the rookie. I ain’t supposed to get hit with this crazy ass bill. Like what I was making as a coach, I wouldn’t, man. Come on, man. Y’all can’t do this to me. But we had stuff like that. You got think, man, that little [ __ ] like that is how you build it. It’s something simple, but that’s how you build it. Like every game when I was there, when I was still coaching, and we would look forward to it. So that same [ __ ] I’m talking about the Chingage money, we take that Chingage money and soon as we touch down the hotels, we dropping our bags off. We meeting back downstairs in 30 minutes and all of us on the defense and sometimes some of our offensive guys because they see that we’re so close. We all about to go have dinner with each other and talk about it. Get a good meal in, go back, get ready for these meetings, and then get ready to go to bed and get ready for this fight tomorrow. And we did it every week. And I I remember when we started with the group we started with and what it built to it started with a handful of guys with the linebackers in the D line by the middle of the season man we had we now we was we was getting tables for eight 12 then it went to 20 now we getting the whole defense in there I remember was so packed at one time Omar and him got the bill for us a couple of times. Y you know what I’m saying? Because they was liking that they can see it the guys is like this. You know what I’m saying? And when you have that something that simple, think about it. All we doing is breaking bread. Yep. That’s it. We breaking bread, hanging with each other, about to go back to the room, get locked in for the game. And it’s little [ __ ] like that. But that was what we did when I played my era. That was every that was every time. Pass it on to y’all. You had some head. Say that to say this. Where is it now? Do y’all do you still do that? Oh, hell yeah, bro. We threw it more with even more offensive guys now. Like shoot Aaron’s part of it. Like everybody tries to be is it’s real. Like and that’s why I really love like guys are really bought into breaking bread is doing it. Like who else I want to come and eat with man? Like we did all the hard [ __ ] all week, right? So now Saturday, make no mistake, the airplane food is good. All that [ __ ] is good. Snack food at the end. But like it always feel good to go have dinner with the guys and we got a rookie that might pay for it cuz he had 15 memes in practice. So he got his 200, he got a pitch in. We about 800 in the pot. And then what’s so crazy about it is this, right? The vets love to do this anyway. The guys is really making the money. They going to grab the bill anyway. It’s more of just a check of 10 and see who came or we do we throw the card in the hat, had a waitress come by and pick the Russian roulette, put the card out, whoever got it. And that’s a crazy gamble because you got you got the cheap guys in the group like, “No, man. I just want to pay my 150.” Nah, you don’t get to pay your 150. You get you either play 3,000 or free. That’s it. It’s either going to be 3,000 or free. It ain’t no It’s either 3,000 or free. Put your credit card in here, bro. Casby sweating. Casby sweat bullets, right? Oh my god. Not knowing not knowing if the guy that gets it that can’t afford it, we got him anyway. For the most part, we ain’t about to let the rookie that you know what I’m saying? Unless it’s the rookie dinner. Unless it’s the rookie dinner. Oh, rookie dinner. He got this. But we don’t get no pride of beating up the young guy uh making him sweat bullets of a $4,000 dinner when you know what I’m saying. But all that [ __ ] matter, Cam. I promise you it do. And I’m glad to know that y’all keep that going. Got you. You know, you brought up your era now and we got to move on to Miami. What was it like going from Pittsburgh to Miami? Did you have a culture shock? Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh that was the first time my football my football patience and love for the game was at its highest point of getting tried. You know what I’m saying? Like I went through some [ __ ] man. They took me through there, y’all. Took me one and 15. What do you got to think? I’m I’m coming off of just winning championships and and and one and 15 playing on a team where my kids is asking me, “Dad, do we have to go to the game today?” You laughing, but that [ __ ] ain’t cool. You know what I’m saying? That that was that was a heartbreaking [ __ ] right there, man. Cuz you you ain’t never you ain’t never experienced that. Imagine the the the you you when when when when you ain’t Superman no more. When your kids come to tell you say, “Daddy, do we have to go to the game? Can we just stay at home?” Something that they we in Florida. It ain’t the weather. They like they don’t want to go up here and lose and hear them talk [ __ ] about their daddy for 3, four hours. Like they don’t want to hear that they daddy ain’t [ __ ] for four hours and we lose again, go back next week, lose again. Like they did that [ __ ] like eight weeks in a row and they was like, “Dad, do we have to go back?” I was like, “No, man. Y’all go ahead.” I [ __ ] was so humbling, man. I got in the car and I’m riding to the game by myself and knowing ain’t nobody coming to the game. That was the first time in my career. I went to the game and I ain’t got a damn soul waiting on me after the game. Wife, he said, “Yeah, I’m going to go sit back with the kids.” So everybody at the house, I’m driving to the I’m driving to the game. I’m in my 63 Impala cuz like I got the top down. I hit the air. I’m b I’m riding so I’m on I’m on the highway like this the whole way. And it dawned on like damn you you you headed to the game. solo [ __ ] Ain’t nobody about to be waiting for you or nothing. This [ __ ] crazy. Like like I’m like I had never been in a situation where you going to the game and ain’t nobody about to come and watch me. I ain’t had to get no tickets. So I went through that. So that wasn’t fun, man. That was like and then we turned it around the next year and and won the division. But in Miami it was tough. KB the grass ain’t always green on the other side, man. They tell you that. So you got to be careful what you ask for. You was lucky enough to play all 15 years in one spot. So that’s why I kind of be me be on you from this standpoint cuz if if anybody knows what it’s supposed to look like, you’re the dinosaur that’s been in there so long. Yeah. You know what it looked like. Yeah. You played with Casey Hampton. Yep. You played with Baby Jesus. You played with guys I played with. M. So they they they had they had vouched you and Pouncy in like, “Oh yeah, P Ham cuz H was like, yeah, Cam, Pouncy, oh they they they real dogs. They can play with us all day long.” Y’all was y was validated from the lineage of the guys. So we always look at like, [ __ ] we still got Cam in the locker room. And then I got to coach TJ hands on myself. I taught him everything. he that I knew from the Steeler way, how we keep the books, how we grade each other, how we hold everybody accountable. Like I gave him I actually coached him. He had Debo, he had Bud in there, he had Jarvis, they had Worlds, they had they had Law Dog, you know what I’m saying? They had all these guys in the same room before we switched rooms where the middle linebacker and outside linebacker room don’t even meet no more. But I’m talking about you got to be old school to go all the way back when the linebackers and middle linebackers was all in one room. That’s Butt’s era. That’s all the way back to when Butts was still the linebacker coach. Yeah. Cuz when But left, that’s the first year when Buts went to DC is the first year we separated the linebackers. You know what I’m saying? And you lose a little bit when you do that. I don’t care what nobody say. You lose a little bit because you had one person saying the same thing for eight people, nine people. And it’s always was different. It was different when it was me and Jerry O. But I see that as being one of the things that difference, but PZY, is there a difference in playing in the cold to playing in the hot because some some teams think it’s not a big difference, but a team like Miami coming up to Pittsburgh, what does that [ __ ] really bring? They get Buffalo and they get New York. They get Buffalo and they get the Jets, right? Because they’re that division. But it’s 70 degrees out there right now. 75. That’s that was my every day. Like my every day at for Christmas. I bought the kids four wheelers one year and we was outside. It’s 75 degrees riding fourwheelers on Christmas. Damn. It’s going to be 19 degrees on Monday night. You understand? That ain’t 80. I was with that. When And when that wind come through, when that wind coming through, blowing over Akashure, that’s that 19 gonna feel like 12. So, hell yeah. It’s a big difference cuz like when I got out when I went to Miami, we came back and played the Kansas City Chiefs the next year, I was softer. I was I wasn’t the same. My my I had got softened by Miami. I did. I did that. That that that wake up to 75 80 every day no matter what you going no that’s you’re getting 75 no matter what. Yeah. Like and that is built in like you’re getting that like now you might get some muggy and some super hot during the summer but like man you getting 75 this every day you gonna get some rain. The days it ain’t raining 75. Jason, that can’t prepare you for 19 degrees playing football where your helmet is hard as a a rock, where the ground is so cold you can’t take a knee cuz you taking a knee on cement. You know what I’m saying? Those are different conditions. What was it like playing with Jason Taylor? JT was JT was I caught JT at both of our our end of our career. So I got one year with JT, then he went to Washington, and then when he came back that next year, and then I was out of there. But JT was man, he was the he was the man up there in Miami. So it was good to come in to a situation, and I’m playing second fiddle. I’m just I’m just on the I’m just on the defense with Zack Taylor, Jason Taylor. They already was Hall of Fame career guys, right? and I get a chance to play with him and it was cool because JTZ is still a dog. Uh Zack Thomas ass was a [ __ ] dog and I had trucked the trailer. I mean it was a good time, man. I just we only got a little bit time to play with it. We we didn’t get to really do what we had mine because that that next year the year I went off we had switched the defense to actual three four defense and he was gone. So, I’m playing with Matt Roth, who’s really a real DN, but he’s trying to be the other outside linebacker. So, if it have been Jason Taylor over there, the other outside linebacker, I think some [ __ ] would have shut. You know what I’m saying? Cuz even the year we came back when we got Cameron Wake, JT still wasn’t the main guy. Like, we was they was rotating. Bro, why doesn’t Cameron Wake get enough love? Man, Wake was so mean. Wake was Wake had one of his nastiest first steps. Like I was there when they went to go get him. Like he was playing Canada. Like you always get these Canada superstars that think they nice in Canada. The [ __ ] come over here. The [ __ ] don’t work. His [ __ ] worked. Like the [ __ ] he was selling that [ __ ] was selling like hot cakes. He was he was telling, “Man, I’ve never seen a dude get so low to the ground. I got real low to the ground, right?” And so I’m trying to look at the ball. He had me doing some [ __ ] that I don’t know why I was down there, but I wanted to do whatever the hell he was doing cuz he was getting off the rock so damn Cam, he was he his face was damn near an inch off the ground. Like I don’t know what he was looking at down there. Why he wanted to get so low? So, I’m talking about he would get down in this four-point stands and he literally would be like, “Damn, man. What the hell is down there?” So, you know what I’m saying? I’m watching him win. Boom. He get off the ball. Boom. First step was Violet. He getting off the ball. You know what I’m saying? Then he come with the rip. He coming up under there. And I was like, man, I remember when I first watched I was like, “What the hell is that [ __ ] ain’t going to work?” Then I like, “Damn it.” You know what I’m saying? We watch one on one. So, he got him. You watch it three or four days. I’m like, “No, that [ __ ] working.” Like, he he he’s winning the 101 ones every time. Next thing you know, five, six weeks later, I’m out there trying I’m trying four point stands and [ __ ] like, “Hey, Kevin Wake.” That So, that’s another guy that I took under my wing. You got to think Cameron Wake came in. He was like 26, 27 cuz he been in Canada for a while. Mhm. And when he came in, he was the guy that was going to replace Jason. So he going to be on the other side of me. And Cam Wake, man. He’s just trying to teach him everything I knew. Take him to the games with him with me. We go to the Miami Heat games, you know. Throw my arm around him. Trying to show him what this league like. Then I got to play one year with him and then I was gone. But Cameron Wake, man. He definitely should have got love, man. Him and JT was some Both of them dudes was nice. Different type of football players what I’m used to in Pittsburgh. We more crazy. They good football players, but they they more conserve. They ain’t with all the extra crazy [ __ ] that me and Crowder was with. Crowder could have played in Pittsburgh with us. He just is a crazy lunatic, period. You got any crazy Channing Crowder stories? That’s for another time. Like how many give us one? Well, you you know this is how bad man Crowder was, right? Have you ever tried to out crazy somebody? What you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See this that that that that’s that’s a dumb [ __ ] I’m talking about. We was trying to out crazy each other on like who was the wildest like like like really just I don’t know how it got there. He hearing some peasy stories. I’m hearing some crowder stories and I remember us just really in the lock like you ain’t never did that. I you ain’t did that? We naming it crazy like I think about it now like what are we talking about? We talking about who more wilder than each other? Cuz like Shannon believed that he was a different type of wild. Uh if he think Chlorine, he didn’t take baths. What you mean he didn’t take baths? He didn’t take he tell me I don’t take shower. I’m not going to swim in a swimming pool. He said swimming he said if you swim No. He said if you swim in a swimming pool that’s cleaner than taking a shower cuz the chlorine is going to get you right. I don’t think that’s accurate. Ask any anybody that played with Shannon Crowder. If you ask him and Cece know I ain’t tell he going to be proud of the story cuz I’m telling it correct. He’ll tell you the chlorine him taking a shower in the chlorine that’s better than dial soap. He used to believe that we get out of football practice he jump in the shower. I mean he jump in the swim pool and say he good. He he didn’t want to go to the bathroom. Right. So he had piss cups. He had piss cups all in the in in the meeting room. Wait, what? Piss cups. C was wild, man. C was wild. He was a different boy. That was my wild guy, man. That was my guy. He was wild, though. TC was a different one. And PZ, you was trying to outw wild that. Yeah. What did you do to outw wild him? I couldn’t. I I I I I literally couldn’t because that was like [ __ ] he had me. I mean it ain’t nothing crazy but [ __ ] I took it as he was dedicated. He ain’t want to miss no meetings. He he rather pissed in the cup before he miss a miss a play and he was dead ass tears cuz he loved ball but he was wild. Man, you had some cats out there. And then Bill Parcels was the VP. What was that like? Bill was different. Bill. Me. Bill didn’t see out how he liked me at first. He like me. Bill’s a different man. Bill will talk to you. If you playing good, you ain’t playing good, he ain’t going to talk to you. If you playing good, you you one of his guys. The year I had 17 and a half sacks, I I was his guy. Me and him being there in the morning, every morning eating oatmeal and peanut butter. I started putting peanut butter in my oatmeal because Bill Bill used to put peanut butter in his oatmeal. I started doing it because [ __ ] I he put me on to be honest. He put me on something, but it didn’t work out well. Me and Bill love me. It It was cool. It didn’t end route cuz they end up getting rid of me. And uh they just kind of caught me off guard. It my my relationship in Miami didn’t end well, but like my time there was cool. I played with a lot of good dudes, man. And like I said, CC was one of my favorite dudes I played with cuz he was just for real a dog. You know what I’m saying? a little wild wilder than me, but he he was a dog and I played with a lot of dog out there in in in in Miami. But uh Bill was cool, you know what I’m saying? He just you just had to be one of his guys and I I didn’t make the his guy list. I want to keep moving. Um your last game was the Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals. I was so nervous you was gonna try to run my ass over on field goal like that [ __ ] And then somehow you got hurt in that game and I was like thank God cuz you and Clark was trying to you trying to get Clark you you was a young boy. You was nothing but we protect we man I ain’t I ain’t got zero block punt block field goals in my career but like I’m about to rush you if we if we gonna rush you just more to mess with you. But you ain’t got to worry about me risking it all on no damn field goal block. Like like you know what I’m saying? I’m rusting through this gap way out here. I’m I’mma push pressure. My my role in that is really just to knock back the end to make you more of a threat to me so if the guy coming outside can get free. So I’m just bluffing. I just got to give you my uh my first two steps. Now, if you did something foul to me, I’mma give you the extra. But I don’t You lined up a tight end one time like you ain’t did nothing to me to make me give you no extra peas. But at that tight end position, first of all, I don’t know how to damn block. They just sticking me out there. And then usually you dealing with three three dudes trying to run down the center of you. And so I’m like, [ __ ] they keep talking up. They keep talking about Clark. Oh, they they they gonna try to make a statement right here. just, you know, like like we do. We we we’ll tell war stories like this what Pittsburgh do, man. If you played for Pittsburgh and you was a guy, we have legendary stories for everybody we played with. Yeah. And if like me and Clark, Clark ass is a go hard guy. Clark is going to go hard every play. So anybody knew Clark that played with him know that every play like he really is one of those guys where they say play every play like it last because his ass is going 110 miles per hour every time. So it’s easy to geek up a young guy like oh man you getting Clark and Joy you getting Clark and Beey on your side. Oh yeah he definitely get it. They both both of them crazy. Clark ass he ain’t going to stop. And then you know his ass crazy. So I can see how they didn’t and you know Cam the young guy out there. Yep. and we both playing for the Cardinals and and he hearing these stories. So it’s easy for Foot or somebody to give you them stories and how All right. No, Foot Foot was always talking some [ __ ] So you got to think Foot Me and Foot is twins. I’m just darker and and but but our mouths and our personality how me and foot man that that dude right there to like closer to anybody foot ass is he he’s straight jacket crazy too. Yep. Py, what we got to do to win this game versus Miami, man. Dude, like [ __ ] man. Hold get man. You as a defensive captain, man. Just make sure y’all play the run, man. Let the back end do what the back end going to do. But like like if we if we don’t let people just feel like they can just run the ball on us because like that ain’t never been a problem. Y’all always been good pass rushers. You know what I’m saying? We can get to the quarterback, but we got to stop the run. Like we have to make that a main goal. That has to get back to number one priority. And if that’s number one priority of stopping the run and and and then we throw a party when it’s time to pass rush, they can’t really do nothing to us. But like that that’s even with everybody on defense. Everybody has to be committed. Like y’all still watch film on Thursday with Eddie Merllo and all the food just you understand how we used to do tradition for a reason. Yeah. Right. We switched it up. We bring everything to the facility and we all together. You want to you want to always try and stick to some of your tradition things, right? Breaking bread and watching film and you can ask somebody like, “Hey man, now when you see if they run that play right there, I’mma fit inside.” So you know you have to fit outside of me. Like we straight like that just sound like good football talk while we eating food. This is no coaches around. This us watching film policing each other. You know what I’m saying? Like you think of the concept of it. We after practice is Thursday. We didn’t got Eddie Malo saying I done got the sweet casserole with the peacons and my steak and my mac and cheese and you know what I’m saying? We watching film. Yeah. So yeah. Run it back. Yeah. So, hey, where you gonna fit at when you run that [ __ ] Because I’mma be inside if you run that. Where you gonna be at? Yep. You better be right there. Where? Where you at? See, got absolutely that don’t that sound like music to my ears with all my best partners. We eating food, watching film, and everybody on the same page. That just sounds so much right. You know what I’m saying? Like, yes. How can you lose that if you know that and you come from that? You can’t lose it because if you lose it, that mean you gave it away because that’s all you know. If we ain’t doing that, I’m not taking it as serious as it has been in the past and always been. That was one of the beautiful things I did when I left. We were doing that. I came back 10 years later as a coach and the only thing that changed is the food got better. It went from yeah Crawford Grill to Eddie Malo’s or Capitol Grill, but the concept was still the same. And then we the coaches [ __ ] We waiting in there. We like, damn, we can’t even get no food till they finished. But we happy to y’all in there watching real [ __ ] And then then they the coaches get mad at me cuz this is how much I rock with Cam and them. One of them been they go, “Y’all was messy cuz y’all would get me in trouble.” told Ike this the other day. They would come in and say, “Pezy, here go your plate.” They come and bring me a plate. You know, they already mad cuz like that’s that player that’s that player coach privilege [ __ ] that I’m getting, right? They rocking with me like I’m still with them cuz they give me the play. But all the other coaches can’t get none until they done. No, now all the coaches just walk in during the meeting cuz y’all made now they just they quit caring cuz y’all made them they didn’t got too comfortable. It’s y’all meeting. You got to understand that we ain’t paid for none of this food. This y’all [ __ ] Y’all didn’t put in and did this. We supposed to get it after the fact. And I was cool with whenever I got it. But you know when you when you used to kick a little ass, you get a little privileges. I kicked enough ass I can get my plate early with the guys and y’all used to have them boys mad with that. But like man, it’s little [ __ ] like that Cam. Little [ __ ] like that that mean a lot, man. It’s it’s something simple, but like at the end of the day, we eating food and watching film with the squad with the guys that I’m about to go to war with. If I can call you out where you supposed to be at while we eating food, you think I can’t tell you this [ __ ] on Sunday? That’s why we was watching it all week. So, if you mess up on Sunday, man, I ain’t It ain’t even me. It’s me more of you like, “God damn, man. You said you was going to get it.” All right, man. [ __ ] Don’t Hey, we ain’t gonna talk about it no more. You know where you supposed to be at. Boom. We on to the next. If I can’t have that dialogue with my brother, then we ain’t got nothing. And it ain’t gonna be never be what I want to be because I’m not asking for nothing, man. I’m asking you to be on the same page as me, accountable, man. I man, when I mess up, I never worried about the coach putting me on the big board cuz I’m so pissed at myself that it ain’t going to happen again. I can take that front of everybody and I’ll be so mad. I’m the type I’ll be so mad I’m give y’all a speech. That’s how mad I am about to I’m about to give y’all a speech. Y’all ain’t going to never see this [ __ ] again. So go ahead and be happy with it right now cuz you ain’t I’m that type of put anger towards myself to like who wants to be the guy where they’re looking at you when it don’t go right. I dropped the pick. Close with this. We was playing AFC Championship. We playing New England Patriots at home. We knocked Brady out. Leo will come in. He throw a little out route. I break to the curl flat. I pick this thing. I’m about to walk into the end zone. Win the game. It’s a I catch it. I thought I caught it. I looked at the end zone. I dropped it. And I thought I caught it again. I looked back at the end zone. I dropped I dropped the ball. Man, I cried. Oh, I’m talking about the snotty nose. I had I had that. But that’s just how bad it hurt because you wait your whole life for those opportunities to make great plays and be the reason for something. And I had my opportunity and I didn’t make it. I didn’t have nobody to blame. They caught the right defense. I was in the right spot. I dropped the damn ball. But like the pain that I had for those type of moments, it was no need to I just didn’t make the play. You know what I’m saying? I had an opportunity to make the play. I didn’t make the play. But the accountability that we hold each other for like man they was they was they was they was they was putting their arm around me like we was at a funeral man you pee man you going to be all right like I’m getting you going to be all right man let it go man you going to be all right it’s after the game man it’s in the locker room and I a made it out to I didn’t even made it outside to where my mama at yet and I had been in there broke down crying for 15 20 minutes before I even came out the locker room you know what I’m saying like but I’m saying at the day when football or something like that mean that much to you. How the hell is it wrong for telling your partner, “Hey man, like you supposed to be in that gap.” Yeah. Like no freestyling, no none of that. If you got a C on your chest, like now y’all got the C’s with all the different bars, [ __ ] got purple hearts. We ain’t got no C’s. Y’all don’t do the captain. We don’t get no C’s. You know that. Oh, I thought you get the stars though. You get the stars. You don’t get no stars. You don’t get [ __ ] Man, I definitely seen a scene with some stars, man. I seen the bars. Where is that on the jersey? You ain’t never looked at your jersey? Hell no. I ain’t never seen that. Oh, you tweaky, man. See, that’s Look, they they giving them away so much. He don’t even know what they look like. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on. He don’t even know what they look like. Ain’t no C. We don’t get no C’s, man. I know you tweaking. Y’all crazy. I didn’t seen it, bro. I don’t know what you talking about. I’ve never seen a C on my [ __ ] jersey, man. Come on, man. You tweaking. I’m not. That’s the Mandela effect. Y’all Y’all think it’s something there and it ain’t there? So, you mean to tell me we the only team that ain’t got the C’s with the stars and bars? Ain’t no Ain’t none there. I told y’all no C’s on the chest. No C’s. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it. Get the hell out. So, you mean I just made that up? You just made that up. Captain, you mean to tell me y’all don’t have nothing on your chest? Nothing. Dude, I know I ain’t tweaking. I just seen I seen I seen Aaron Rogers Bars and Stars. I know I did. What? Peas. Peas, you worrying me right now. Peas, that don’t sound right. He’s right though. He’s right. Like the league has it. Like the guys have a seat patch. Just because you don’t have it doesn’t mean they don’t have it. But he he’s I’m looking at a picture of Aaron Rogers with it on the I know. I just I’m saying I just seen the seeds with the stars and bars underneath. Where? He’s right. I seen that. Yes. Where is this? So they see they tried you fake ass captain. That’s why you a fake ass captain. That’s why you That’s why you That’s why you don’t have the real powers you got. You a fake ass captain. You ain’t a real captain. That you ain’t got no seat or bars. They just let you walk out there cuz you old man river. You been here forever. They say take Yeah, let Cam ass walk out with him. He can walk out with him. Don’t give him no decorations. Don’t give him no stars and bars. Just let his old ass walk out there. He He don’t even know that he ain’t got a C. I’m looking at I’ve never seen a C on my damn chest. What are y’all talking about? Hey, let him walk out there. He a captain. He don’t even know he a captain cuz he like his old ass don’t care. Just sit him out there. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. Hey, Joey. Joey, we like to play a game on here where we ask Cam anything. He’s got to answer the question. I’m giving you full reign to ask Cam whatever questions you want about whatever. Could be about the team, could be about personal, whatever. He’s got to answer. It’s the floor is yours to ask him whatever you want. I’m I’m ask you a real a football question for for this is for this is for the Steeler Nation. Um what is what what do what do you think we we need to do? What commitment we need to do to stop the run as a defense? What do you think we need to do that we’re not doing? because you see that we get some of it sometimes. But what that what is that little thing that you think because everybody else had their opinions. What is Cam opinion of what we need to do to stop the run? One, you got to be more consistent. I think some of this [ __ ] comes down to not trusting the guys around you. I think you got to do things outside yourself like, you know, as a D lineman, tell me what gap I got and I’m going to make sure I’m in that gap because that’s my gap. And I think sometimes it’s like, well, I could do this. I could help out. I don’t need you to help out. I need you to just be in your gap. And I think, you know, some of it is like is everybody. And if I know I got this gap, I got to know you got this gap. Like, and it’s got to get strength. What we always talk about, we want a runner to go east to west rather than north to south. And so it’s got to be like, all right, bet. He’s got that gap. All right, then he’s coming out here. Then he’s got this gap, then he’s got this gap. It’s got to be a wall. And sometimes it ain’t a wall. And sometimes either the wall gets stretched and then there’s a hole in there. But then sometimes it just comes down to kicking ass. Like I And so like if we really talking about like as much as we can be consistent and everybody in the same gap like guys got whoop blocks like so man they got 11. Mike T always talks about this. He always talks about this. He always says a good man gets one, a better man gets two, and three, you kicking ass. Yes. Yeah. Because I feel the same way. Everybody got to win your one-on-one. If everybody winning their one-on- ones, that means it’s a whole lot of ass whoopers happening. You know what I’m saying? If I beat my guy and everybody on the front line beat their guy, that mean we winning. But yeah, I I don’t I ask you that because when it’s all said and done, you’ll be you’ll be held accountable because you’re the anchor of the defense. Casey Hampton, how he got his money. Casey Hampton incentives was based on where we finished in defense ranked far as rushing. That’s that’s how he got that’s how he his incentives was set. So like you think he wasn’t telling us when we wasn’t stopping the run like he didn’t have no sacks. He didn’t it didn’t it didn’t matter his team defense where we finished that teamwise and rush defense is how he got his incentives. So he had the mic to hold everybody accountable. Like hey man, what the [ __ ] Like he he’d be mad right away. Like Yeah. And we all knew if we not doing our job, we [ __ ] him. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Like clearly if we’re not going as hard as we can, we we we we [ __ ] over it because he ain’t got no He not playing third down to get sacks. He about to play take on two people sometime three every time to make sure somebody’s free. So he going to take on two people and we still going to be selfish and do some other [ __ ] and let somebody gas us. That’s crazy cuz you got to go sit next to his big ass and we come from that era to where right after we look at that steel picture. See y’all got the whole iPad. You can see exactly who did it. We looking at the steel pitcher, the next steel pitcher, and then the third picture you might be in your gap and you might be like, “So, so Cat will be trying to live like, “No, no, that that wasn’t me. Look at the other picture.” No, I ain’t even know. That wasn’t me. Nah, cat. We got you on cand right now with the iPad. Like, we can see it right now. We get you with the boom. We can open it up and be like, “No, that’s you.” You know what I’m saying? We had the pictures with Cats be like, “You couldn’t really catch his ass until Monday.” You know what I’m saying? But hemp trying to look through the picture. He’s trying to catch your ass right now. You got to think his hip was built on where we finished at and run defense. He didn’t have no other incentive that would go his his incentive was based off the team. You know what I’m saying? That’s that’s that’s crazy. Yeah. Think about it. When you basing your incentives off a team goal Yeah. you gota you gota you got to be accountable. Hell yeah. You have to. All right, P. I’m going end with this. I’m gonna let you go. Phil Rivers just got signed to go to the Indianapolis Colts. What do you think about that? And what did you think? Philip Rivers, are you real? You [ __ ] with me? No, I’m dead serious. Oh, man. That’s what’s up. For real. Yes. You dead ass. Happened. Yeah. About an hour ago. Dead ass. He didn’t play last year, did he? He ain’t played for four years. He played for five years. I know it’s been a minute. Damn. Hey, man. See, that that’s why I love this [ __ ] man. For real. Cuz [ __ ] Damn. They down bad. They wouldn’t got Phil Rivers from from he been at the house killing feelings. I said he did it for the insurance cuz it was running out cuz he all but but you know, field money long man said he got he come from old contracts. He had about 15 of them. He ain’t [ __ ] up about no money. I guarantee you that. He is not fussed up about no money. He got it. He ain’t tripping on that. He just pe He 44 with a 2-year-old. He better get that back in. Oh yeah, that’s that’s that that’s her hump a lot. Like he definitely getting it in. He got the kids. He got the kids. He doing some humping. He believe in that. He believed in that. But he in the double digit with kids, right? Yeah. Yeah. So like he when he quit playing he probably had nine and we don’t know what he been doing his last five years. So you know he still been he been doing his thing. So you say he got a two-year-old? He got I know he’s 40 something. Oh that’s just crazy with two now. That’s two year old and 44 is wild. That’s hell no. Hell no. I don’t want to listen man. I’m I’mma be hell with my grandkids. So a two year I gotta keep all the time at two. I gota I gotta do all that [ __ ] all the way. Yeah. No, but that’s Philip Rivers man. He’s tired like that, man. He got it. He come from a good good family. Philip going to be straight. He ain’t tripping. So the question is, would you come back and play right now? Man, you can tell by the way I walked. I ain’t going nowhere. You seen the way I walked. It’s over. That’s a Debo question. He he’ll pump you up and tell you he’s still walking around pushing,000 lb sleds and all that crazy [ __ ] He’s still trying to audition. Hey man, I’m trying to do what you do. I’m trying to podcast. I ain’t trying to play football. I’m trying to talk [ __ ] for a living. I’m trying to get paid off this mouth. Well, peas, I want to say thank you so much for coming on, man. You know, it’s always It’s always good, Cam. It’s always love. always love with you. Hey, I appreciate you, fam. Make me look good on this one now.

Cam Heyward and Hayden Walsh are joined by Steelers legend Joey Porter Sr. fresh off the win against the Baltimore Ravens. The guys celebrate the victory but also keep it real about the biggest concern going forward: the run defense still isn’t where it needs to be. Joey brings his trademark honesty as he breaks down standards, leadership, and what accountability truly looks like inside a Steelers locker room.

In this episode:

🏈 Talking through the Ravens win and identify what still needs major improvement

💪 Joey explains why the run defense must tighten up and how past Steelers teams handled similar problems

🧠 Cam reflects on leadership and the responsibility of holding teammates to the standard

🔥 Joey shares classic stories from his playing and coaching days that define Steelers toughness

🎙️ The crew dives into rivalry energy, locker room culture, and the pride that comes with being a Steeler

#CamHeyward #NotJustFootball #JoeyPorter #SteelersPodcast #PittsburghSteelers #NFLPodcast #SteelersNation #HereWeGo #RavensWin #AFCNorth

For business Inquiries/press reach out:
morgan@notjustfootball.com

0:00 Intro
0:40 Recapping Game vs Ravens
1:39 Cleaning Up Run Defense
4:21 Accountability On A Team
13:12 Joey Is Mad At Cam
14:48 Beating Baltimore
15:48 How Joey Watches The Games
16:54 Hating The Ravens
20:24 Former Steelers Comments On Team
32:15 The 2005 Playoff Run
34:01 The Accountability of That Team
37:44 Players Who Succeeded Under You
40:13 Team Treatment Nights
44:16 Paying For Dinner
45:30 Going From Pittsburgh To Miami
48:22 Passing Down The Steeler Way
50:11 Playing In The Cold
52:03 Playing With Jason Taylor
53:28 Cameron Wake
56:13 Trying To “Out-Crazy” Channing Crowder
58:47 Bill Parcells In Miami
1:00:18 The Time Cam Played Against Joey
1:02:58 Keys To Beating Miami
1:03:40 Watch Film On Thursday Together
1:08:12 When Joey Dropped A Pick
1:10:04 Captain’s Patch Debate
1:12:35 ASK CAM ANYTHING
1:12:43 What Should They Do To Stop The Run?
1:17:18 Phillip Rivers Signs With Colts
1:19:25 Can You Make A Comeback?
1:19:55 Outro