DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Is Cam playing Sunday?

DK’s Double Shot of Steelers: Is Cam playing Sunday?

you starting. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey guys, welcome to week one of the National Football Regular season. Just realized as we’re as we’re going to the air here that uh we’re missing the helmets that we usually have here. So, the boss just went rushing to the back here. We need the regular Steelers one, too. Here. Here. Look at this. Here. This is a ugly helmet these guys wear. What compelled them to go away from the nice white one? No idea. This is why they’re the other Jets, though. Because the real Jets now the Steelers will be Which one? Hang on a second. So, the Steelers go this way. No, they’re the visitors. They go this way. Only have to live on one side. Well, that doesn’t matter. It matters whether you’re the visitor or the home team. So that the Jets would face this way. Look at that, boys. As you turn in for the high level entertainment like this. Hi guys, I’m Dan Kvachovic of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Double Shot of Steelers and this is an episode of actual consequence because there is an actual game at the end of the rainbow here. It’ll be Steelers versus other Jets 10:02 p.m. Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. And speaking of ugly, there’s this ugly helmet over here. And then there’s also the ugliest stadium in professional sports, Metife Stadium. And I don’t really think anybody would dispute that. I don’t know that people who go there on a regular basis would dispute it. It’s just you look at it and you go, when are they going to finish this? Like, where’s the rest of it? To an extent, I get it because it’s it’s deliberately gray or silver everywhere so that they can take all of the color elements on a given weekend and make it either Jets colors or Giants colors. But Swan, the Jacksonville stadium doesn’t even it’s not even close. I mean, it’s it’s at least got it’s it’s it’s crappy, but it’s got some character to it. There’s there’s a different This is just ugly. this thing. It doesn’t have any excuse. No expense was spared. It’s just ugly. We have a Mike Tomlin Tuesday also to go over with with Chris Hock who was there covering it for us uh this afternoon for our app DK Pittsburgh Sports. And we also have some Cam Hayward stuff. And I’m not going to pound this point into oblivion here. I’ve made my case about Cam. I made it again in both written and spoken form this morning. I’m not here to follow along with whatever the latest hot take trend is here. However, it is significant because Cam is significant and the game is significant. And if Cam doesn’t show up for the first game, it’d be awfully tough to imagine him showing up for the second game. Now, all Cam had to do on his own podcast today was to break the news that, well, yeah, he’s going to be just, you know, he’s thought about it all over again. He listened to the fans. He listened to the public. He didn’t do anything like that. He just said, “We’ll see.” He could have dumped all over it the way Tomlin dumped all over it without being disrespectful. Tomlin was asked if if he expects to have Cam on Sunday. His answer was certainly he does expect it. In fact, he elaborated at least a little bit in saying that he expects Cam to come out chomping at the bit, which incidentally the correct version of that saying is champing at the bit, but nobody uses that. So, we’re just going to reach the point as a society where chomping is correct. And Tomlin made clear that’s that’s the way the Steelers are thinking. What does this mean for Cam? What does this mean for the the Steelers? I don’t know. Because now, let’s just say this. Cam had had best have a plan in place because if he drags this out until what, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, team gets on the plane on Saturday, is he going to take it into the game? Has he has he already told I mean I meaning the the morning of the game has he already told the Steelers listen I’m absolutely playing but he’s going to tell us something different to try to look like he’s hanging tough with his stance really really odd situation here and you know the other part is I can’t rule out that there could be some some reconciliation. The Steelers want nothing to do with restructuring a contract. I’m not guessing at that. They want nothing to do with this whole mess. They they’re they’re genuinely taken aback by Cam coming to them less than a year after the extension that he wanted and that he got. But if he goes to them and says, “Hey, listen. I really dug myself a hole here. We just save some, you know, help help me save some face here before the game. Can we do that? Can we do that at least? So, they say, “All right, well, this wasn’t We didn’t really redo the the contract. We just restructured in a way that I don’t know, sets us up for better cap space in the future or something because they’re not even using the cap space that they have. So they can’t even come up with the illusion that they’re restructuring for some sort of cap space issue because they’re sitting on my it’s 25 million plus in cap space as they’re entering in this uh one and done kind of season. Crazy stuff. When we come back, we’re going to be joined uh by Chris at DK Pittsburgh Sports. We take pride in coverage that connects our city’s fans to their favorite teams. Now that connection’s stronger than ever. Introducing our all-new state-of-the-art app. Find expert inside reporting and original podcasts. Check live box scores. Track the latest stats. Chat it up with our community of thousands of fans all in one place. The new app from DK Pittsburgh Sports. Coverage that connects. [Music] Did you guys happen to catch the boss chasing the bird out of here just now? There was a there was a little bird that came in. She thought it was really cute, but she still chased it out of the store cuz if Well, if you’ve ever been in a in a structure that’s got a bird in it and glass, they’re about to meet and it won’t be pleasant. How are you, Chris? Doing good. Uh, probably better than a bird in downtown Pittsburgh right now. The bird the bird made it out though. The bird’s the bird’s going to be fine. Plenty of places to hang out downtown. Pick a skyscraper, you know. Yeah. Uh, before we get into the Cam Hayward stuff, really quick news. The Steelers released Robert Woods from the from the practice squad. Just put that on our app. Breaking news there. I mean, yeah, big big time news. Big stuff there. Um, yeah, let’s talk a little about the CAM thing. Mike Tomlin is, what’s the word I’m looking for here? He is prepared for these press conferences. In other words, he he doesn’t just walk in out of the, you know, his his room where he was checking out film or whatever, he actually does work for these press conferences. And part of that work is to talk to Bert Lton on his way in. uh that is the Steelers PR guru and has been for a long time. They they go over stuff including stuff that might come up and Bert lets him know, hey, by the way, this is in the news. This is what this might this might get asked. This might So he that’s that’s common. That’s not at all unique to the Steelers. That’s common throughout the business world. So he goes in there and he he knows he’s gonna get asked about Cam. And the way he answers the question is that he expects Cam to be there. Now, you can say expect in a predictive way and you can say expect in an expectation way like this is the way you’re supposed to carry yourself. What was the impression that you got when he answered the question the way that he did? My impression was pretty much exactly that. That was the the the canned answer that was prepared for whenever Cam was going to be coming up. Uh he’s not going to get into contract negotiation stuff. I think that that question did have to be worded very specifically because if the word contract would have been put would have been tagged as part of that question, it would have come with a different answer. Tomlin is very very protective of conversations and negotiations and any kind of any kind of communication behind the scenes. Uh how often do we hear Mike say things like, “Uh, yeah, we’ve talked, but I’m going to keep that between us, you know, and that’s like the the that’s like his go-to answer anytime like that kind of question gets asked.” So yeah, I I I think it was about the answer I expected, but it also does put the ball back in Cam Hayward’s court. And I understand that he went on his podcast uh Cam uh went on his podcast and twice was asked by his co-host in in a way of like, “Hey, what’s new with you? Anything to to report on?” Speaking of things that get rehearsed. Yeah. But no, and then he says, “Nope, nothing to speak on.” and then flat out asks him, “Will Cam Hayward be on the field?” We’ll see, you know. And so the the the the two places I go to next are, does he continue to participate in practice because that’ll be a big tell. And then captains are supposed to address the media every single week. That is the quarterback or it doesn’t matter who the captains are. Of course, we don’t hold Miles Kib to that because well, we don’t have that much to ask him. You don’t have that much to ask the special teams captain, but the quarterback talks and then the other two captains talk. That’s TJ Watt, Cam Hayward. Cam Hayward usually talks on Thursday morning. So, when we get to Thursday morning, what’s Cam going to do? Is he going to say, “Nope, still not talking.” Or is he going to face the music and answer a barrage of questions about it? Yeah, I I I I feel like to an extent that he’s he’s trapped himself with this situation because if the Steelers legitimately don’t blink and you and I, Chris, both know from the same place that they’re not about to do that. They have no intention of doing that. Again, that’s not us making a prediction. That’s us letting you know what we know from the team itself. You know what’s he going to do? Because he has to play. He has to play. He’s not about to take a decade and a half of a wonderful career legacy on the field, off the field, and then just say, you know what, what’s he made? 130 million over the course of his career. Something Well, yeah, somewhere something in that range. But a lot of money. A lot of money. Now, I’m not here to tell anybody what’s too much money and what’s too little money or whatever, but I’m saying that there’s 130 million and you go right ahead and make up your own mind. Yeah. Is that worth it to hurt your chances of finally making it to a Super Bowl or for that matter winning your first playoff game in forever and maybe hurting your chances at the Hall of Fame. I I’m not being dramatic when I say that because there are voters and the voters are human and Cam’s career is such that it’s never ever ever going to be bolstered by statistics. He’s not going to have some magical number. You know the way the sacks guys have numbers? Well, if you get to this number, that’s the cut off because that’s the last guy that got in at that at that amount. Running backs have rushing yards. you Cam himself has acknowledged for years that he didn’t get the statistics that he could have because of the Steelers 34 defense or he didn’t get the allp pro recognition because he was seen as a defensive end as opposed to an interior lineman and and everything else here. Well, guess what? That means that your candidacy for Canton is going to come down to at least partially being narrativebased. in a real way, narrative based, meaning he was such a big big part of the Steelers. And the last thing you’re going to remember is that he walked out on the team just in the year that it looked like they were going to go win one for Cam. I mean, there are a couple of things to to kind of bring up here. I mean, the the whole narrative thing is 1,000% true. I mean, even by his own peers, and that’s not to say that his peers that think think badly of him, but the NFL top 100 came out, you know, Saquon Barkley voted number one, you know, and I have a hard time arguing with that. You know, a lot of players deserving of being in the top 10. Cam Hayward was ranked 83rd or in the 80s. I mean, and he was an allp pro last year. Like, it’s not like he was bad. He was really, really, really great. Probably one of his best seasons in terms of just being an absolute force in the middle of the defense. But that’s not enough to get in the to the top the top 50, like to get enough votes. I I I mean, the narrative thing is definitely true. And then when you go on top like you So, in terms of your Hall of Fame candid candidacy, you need all the ammunition you could possibly get. and getting a Super Bowl ring fair or not fair because it’s a team achievement. Absolutely. I mean, why do you think they’re still like statistically Ben Rothosberger is way past Terry Bradshaw, but Terry Bradshaw’s got the four rings? And that’s why there’s always this debate amongst older Steelers fans with younger Steelers fans like, well, Terry’s got four rings. That’s the first argument back. It’s not, hey, Terry was great for his time or what. No, it’s Terry’s got four rings. the rings Adam automatically like have a cache and actual or and are actual ammunition when it comes to a player’s resume. So, if he has a chance to get a Super Bowl, my god, you you better play. And if you carry a contract situation into a season, that could cost you a game or two, which could cost you a playoff spot in a very loaded AFC. You know, there’s there’s a lot of different opinion in the public about about Cam’s stance. To the best of my ability to gauge such stuff, it it’s very much against him and that’s also very much against the grain of his career and his life in Pittsburgh. There is no way it’s not affecting him. No way. Not with his personality. Uh, I don’t want to say he’s got rabbit ears, but he’s got rabbit ears with antennas on top. Okay, that that’s the nature of his personality. It just is. Everybody’s different. That’s not a criticism. But he’s got to figure this out. And I think if he says something along the lines of he shows up on Thursday, not to sit here and do his agents work for him because heaven knows he could use a new agent after this. By the way, I mean, you want to talk about some really trash advice, you know, even even to just go along with it. If Cam went to him, this agent, and said, “Hey, here’s what I’m going to do.” The agent should have said, “Wow, no, no, dude. Are you listening to yourself, what you do is you say on Thursday morning in front of the assembled media types, you say, “Listen, my priority is football. My priority are these players around around me. My priority are these is these fans. After this season, maybe we can talk with the Steelers and see what we can come up with. But now is not the time. He doesn’t have to give in. He doesn’t have to surrender. He can just punt, you know. He can just send it. He can say this is this is the way, you know, this is the way they’ve made it clear. This is the way this the Rooney have always handled stuff. We don’t negotiate in season. I don’t want to be a distraction to anybody here. I do feel I’m worth more than this. I feel very strongly about it, but I also feel like there’s a chance that maybe something can get done after the season. The end. The end. Any questions, anybody? Nope. Let’s get ready for Sunday. It’s all over. Yeah. I mean, and and the other part of this, and I’m not going to sit here and give give Cam advice or anything like that. It’s not my I want% now of the zero he’s about to get from the from the organization. But I may maybe this is just my my the way I would approach it at this point. you you you tried to get the team to to cave, to give in, whatever. It’s not working. So, here here’s what you do. You have a great season. You play with this same chip that you had last year to, you know, come back and say, “Hey, when I have an all pro season, I’m going to come back and we’re going to renegotiate whatever.” Play with that same chip, have another allp pro year or borderline allpro year, whatever. make them pretty much by your performance alone keep you on the roster through that roster bonus in March which will pay him I don’t remember the exact number but it’s I think between 12 and 13 million that’s another 12 13 million bucks in your pocket just for being on a roster and then when you have that last year of your contract there that’s when you can renegotiate because the Steelers will will then be a lot more open to re to renegotiating a contract or even negotiating an extension, even if it’s just a one-year extension, because that’s what the Steelers do. They are more than happy to negotiate. That’s why Jaylen Warren got an got a contract extension this offseason. That’s why Deshun Elliott got a contract extension this offseason. That’s why TJ Watt got a contract extension this offseason because those guys all had one year left on their deal going into the last year of their deal. So, if he can do that, get that roster bonus, and then make more money on top of it, you’re going to get paid for the performance that you have. Now, it still might not be the the number you want, but it’s still going to be a like a lot more money than you thought you were going to get two years ago when you were playing with a torn groin. Now, Jaylen Warren also signed uh an extension this past weekend. I can guarantee you Jaylen’s not going to come back in less than a year and say give me another one or let’s redo this one if Jaylen has a great year. I I’m sorry. I mean that you open yourself up to that and I understand that you know Cam here, Jaylen here in terms of careers but still it’s just you sign these contracts. It’s got to mean something. Uh but to come back a year later and then say that other pe Okay, listen. There is a football game Sunday. Yeah. And it’s a it’s a significant game. And today was the first time, you know, well, yesterday too, but today was the first time that we heard from the other side. Aaron Glenn was asked questions uh in East Rutherford about about Aaron Rogers. He went just had nothing to do with it. As a New York writers were were peppering him with stuff. They were trying to dig up stuff from the past. When did you first realize that he didn’t have it anymore? Kind of questions. Oh god. Oh yeah. And he just said, “Listen, we’re talking about this week.” So they tried to turn it on this week. They tried to say, “Well, let’s, you know, let’s let’s talk about how how good you think he’ll be this weekend.” Which will be tacitly saying the same thing, right? And he just he still wouldn’t have it. That good for him. Yeah. That that I mean that that’s high road stuff. And at the same time, Glenn has a background, a lifelong background in defense and and that’s going to be the focus of that football team this year, which is good because they need a focus of some kind because they generally stink at everything. So to be able to to to be able to have at least one area, and I I get that if I if you’re re retooling or rebuilding any franchise except the one across the river, you should say this is this is the way we’re going to do this. the other one across the river. Okay, I’m pointing to the same spot across the river here. The baseball team to spell that one out. They look like they’re going to be a They could be a handful from the defensive perspective, but what interests me more in this matchup just because we know him as well as we do is how the Steelers will navigate Justin Fields. Tomlin had some stuff to say about that today, didn’t he? Yeah, I obviously you spoke, you know, highly of Justin. You know, he obviously got a got a close look at him last year being on the team. Uh the respect level for uh for for Tomlin and the Steelers in general for Fields uh despite, you know, Fields leaving I I’d say is still pretty high. But um you know, the stuff that Tomlin had to say about Fields is obviously that he’s unique uh as a as a dual threat guy. Uh, and the way that he’s unique is that he’s uh much stronger uh than uh most mobile quarterbacks is that he’s Yeah, he’s tough to bring down because of it. And he is a bigger guy. He’s a bigger body than than a Lamar Jackson or another like like a Kyler Murray like a really, you know, really good dual threat guy. Um he’s not squirting around back there. is if when you see Justin in a locker room setting, meaning like a t-shirt or something like that, and you realize the actually the first thing is if you didn’t know that he was the quarterback, you you would not know automatically what position he played. And I’m saying that in a complimentary way. He he could be any number of things, including a safety, anything, you know, because because of his build. I could see exactly what Tomlin meant. I hadn’t exactly thought of it that way the way he expressed it today, but it made a lot of sense. It’s not just about catching him. It’s about catching him and bringing him down. Yeah. Getting him to the ground. Yeah. It’s not the easiest thing to do. That’s why you have to have, you know, sure tacklers. You know, it’s not like tackling any any other quarterback. It’s almost like tackling another running back and that’s the way they have to go. Yeah. James has it nailed is is more Cam Newton or Steve McNair. McNair goes back obviously further into the past. Cam Newton more recently, but uh people will slide off of them. They they slid off of Ben. Now, Ben didn’t have their speed. Ben was also just He’s still massive. [Music] Just watching him that day at the the joint practice with the Buccaneers, you’re still looking at him thinking he could just grab the ball and go out there and play. No, seriously. Like, and seeing him at the stadium whenever they were t doing the whole uh Super Bowl 40 thing. Uh I was actually in the elevator with Ben and uh and and Art Rooney uh after that was over. And then Ben is standing right in front of me and I’m just like my god that Oh yeah. Yeah. No, we did not. Um when when you look at the challenge that the Steelers face though, the first component to that in a in a Tomlin Terrell Austin defense is going to be making the quarterback one-sided. Not onedimensional, but one-sided, meaning pick a side. Okay? We’re not going to we’re not going to stop you from doing the whole field. We’re we’re going to make sure that you either go left or right. Who’s going to be responsible for that in this in this scheme, Chris? We we see the Steelers come from a lot of different directions, especially early at St. Vincent College before they were they started shutting down their actual defensive material. First couple days when they showed a lot, uh they were really coming from the left side. I their left side. Yeah. No. So here here’s the thing, man. I I I respect Tomlin for this. He had one question in spec like like specifically today almost kind of like referring to the issues that plagued them with the Ravens last year because it’s kind of similar. You know, you have a dual threat quarterback. You can have the the read option game can work especially when you have a and the Steelers did that stuff with Justin Fields. like when they put him out there, they would do the read option and most of the time Justin would just keep it because he could get the yards because he’s not just big or he’s not just fast, he’s also big. Um Tomlin’s like, “Yeah, we have a plan for it, but I’m not going to address it in this setting.” No, of course not. Why would he? And I think I do think that now I don’t know if it’s a good plan because we don’t know what it is yet, but they definitely have a plan. Trust me, that Ravens game was a gigantic kick in the groin for them. They they are rethinking everything about they thought I should say they rethought everything about how they are defending these type of quarterbacks. Um and that’s obviously with a key eye on containing Lamar Jackson again. Um, but Justin’s going to give them similar type of because when just when plays break down, Justin could still make electric plays with his legs. Um, remember this is a guy who rushed for a thousand yards in a season. One of the few quarterbacks who who’s done that. Um, so they will they will have to have I think multiple plans. It’s not just going to be one guy or from one side. In certain plays, it’s going to have to be the edge rushers. In certain plays, it’s going to have to be the offball linebackers. uh it’s going to be on the defensive uh the interior defensive lineman to make sure they’re constantly pushing up and not letting Justin step up, whether that be to make a throw or to step up and run. Um there are going to be a number of ways they’re going to have to do it. I don’t think there’s this one answer to this. Yeah, there’s going to be there’s going to have to be let’s put it this way. If there’s one lesson that you hope that gets learned from the Baltimore fiasco, it’s that you have to be adaptable. Once the other team figures out what you’re trying to do and they adjust, don’t just sit there on your same scheme like they did, which was just I’m sorry, it was idiotic. Yeah. Watching them still do that, collapsing the edge rushers uh onto the running back when the the Ravens have clearly had clearly smoked it out was just so sad. I mean, that’s what it was. It it needed to come with like tragic violin music through the third quarter watching the Steelers stick by that same defensive scheme and just picturing the Ravens coaches up there in the booth slapping their knees, laughing. Uh they need to be a lot better in this game. They need to be a lot more flexible. Justin is not Lamar Jackson. No, he’s not. But but Justin uh can do some things. And as we saw last year in particular, that game in Indianapolis, which the Steelers did not win, wow, did he pick the team up on his shoulders. I mean, he just said, “I am not going to let us lose.” Now, they did lose, but it sure wasn’t because of him. No, he he he he was amazing. No, he was he was great in that game, but also probably one of his most, if not his most boneheaded play was in that game. Uh that was the the the play where he was like scrambling back and he just had a very unforced fumble and lost the ball. Uh it was one of his that’s also part of his repertoire too though, right? And so that that’s that’s going to be that could be the type of thing or that could be the type of thing that helps decide this football game. you know, Mike Tomlin talked about it today talking about how week one is it’s more about because you don’t have, you know, weeks worth of current film on this team. And this is obviously a very different Jets team than last year. New coaching staff, new quarterback, uh, a lot of new pieces because you don’t have a lot of current tape on this team. And as a matter of fact, no current tape on this team other than what they showed in the preseason. Even then, we can kind of almost brush that aside because teams don’t show what they’re actually going to do in the preseason. Um, that puts more emphasis on playing clean and making sure you don’t beat yourself because you it’s already going to be enough of a task to beat the team across from you because there’s more unknowns there. And when if and when Justin Fields makes one of those plays or two of those plays, make them pay for it. go take the ball down the field and get points from it and they can pay for it. When you’re talking about when you’re talking about this this particular opponent, it’s not just Fields. They do have other weapons now. They don’t have an offensive line. They’ve tried to take some steps to address that. They did they off. But that all that tells you is that they’re not going to have the cohesiveness that you’d want from a from a from a really good group. Uh it’s going to take time just like it takes time for anybody. Even if they were all awesome, it would take them time to become good. Uh Michael Cross here mentions that they have Bree Hall who’s a who’s a reliable running back who puts up some good numbers here. They’ve also got a certain wide receiver who can make some things happen, do they not? Oh, yeah. Garrett Wilson’s uh super talented. Um, and I and it didn’t work out with him and Aaron Rogers last year. Uh, despite the the numbers that Garrett Wilson put up, trust me, I watched enough tape to to tell you that it it was not all uh it was not all sunshine and rainbows between those two. Uh, but Garrett Wilson and Justin Fields did play together at Ohio State and so there might be some nice little carryover there. You know, it wasn’t all that long ago. It wasn’t like this was like 15 years ago or anything like that. This is just, you know, a handful of years ago that those two were playing together for the Buckeyes. So, um, you know, easy to kind of easier to pick that up, you know, knowing, you know, each other’s tendencies, rhythm, how they work, how they go about their business. Um, so should be better. And yeah, Bree Hall, Mike Tomlin specifically even mentioned the the catch and run that Bree Hall had in the game uh between the Steelers and Jets last year, which, you know, like he caught it on a checkdown and just took off and nearly scored. it was like a 50 plus yard gain. I mean, he specifically mentioned that. And Bree Hall is a dangerous uh um pass catcher as well. So, yeah, the Jets have some weapons. Uh their offensive line is very very shaky for sure. I can tell you that. Now, they drafted Armanu to to solve the issue at right tackle. But yeah, uh yeah, you’re not drafting and then solving anything in week one. That’s that’s my point here with this. you you can address personnel deficiencies and so forth, but if they show up young and inexperienced and haven’t played together, it’s going to be a shortcoming. I guess the way that I’m thinking of that that team’s offense more than anything, and it this isn’t really, let’s be real here, this isn’t so much about the Steelers defense. It’s about them just like it was when they faced these guys here last year. If they were as bad as they were with a four-time MVP and everything else at quarterback, what are they going to be with essentially the same main pieces except you’re swapping out uh Justin for Aaron? Like it how is this offense supposed to be better? Um well the other than hyping it up or whatever, you know? Yeah. the well the one thing that the Jets based off of the stuff that Aaron Glenn has said throughout the off season they will be more dedicated that like this team will be more dedicated to running the football. Okay, that makes a lot of sense when it comes to who Aaron Glenn is being more of a defensive guy. defensive guys like to keep their defenses fresh, which means you’d like to be able to run the ball, control the clock, and as you said, you don’t you didn’t want to see situations like what the Jets put uh Rogers through last season, which is to have him, you know, running up 55 pass attempts seriously late in the season. But at the same time, I can say and you can say and anyone can say, Matt Canada can say, “We’re going to run the ball.” Yeah. It doesn’t matter if you can’t run it, right? And and that’s that’s going to be a big question mark for this Jets team is I mean the big team for Sunday. Yeah. I don’t care about them at all after Sunday, but for Sunday, it’s going to be the question because if you can’t if you can’t run against the Steelers front, what’s going to happen to open things up? Justin’s going to bust a couple. He just is. Okay. He he he’s going to he’s going to hit Bree Hall on one of those plays. Not maybe ideally not for 55 yards, right? Okay. He He’s going to he’s going to hit his wide receivers once in a while, but if they don’t run, they’re not going to have any rhythm, and they’re just going to be doing a whole lot of punting. Well, I mean, and that’s that’s a and that’s where you come into the uh defensive side of things for the Steelers. Number one, how well can they stop the run? That’s going to be the big question because the last time the Steelers were playing a football game if that actually mattered, they gave up 299 yards on the ground. So, that’s going to be the main question. Now, the Jets want to run the ball. The Steelers know the Jets want to run the ball. So, stop them from running it. That’s the big thing. Then, if you can do that, if you’ve then forced Justin Fields to become one-dimensional and have to throw the ball, then he’s got to throw against the likes of Jaylen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Joey Porter Jr., Sean Elliott and even Juan Thornnehill roaming around center field isn’t you know that that that’s that’s not some some scrub back there. So that’s what you want. That’s what the Steelers defense wants to do. Stop the run. Make the make the opposing offense onedimensional. Then take then then take away the ability for them to be able to get anything done through the air because you have a great secondary and also a great pass rush. Like get to the quarterback. Make Justin Fields very uncomfortable. Make him make mistakes. There’s flushing him out. There’s moving him to one side. But then there’s also this that John Molesco brings up, which is using a spy. Now, Pton Wilson is probably the most equipped guy on the team because of his ridiculous speed, because of his natural flow, east, west, whenever he’s on the football field. He’s already in that mode as a player because he’s cutting off screen passes. He’s making sure that you don’t beat anybody to the edge. Okay, great. But would you take someone like 41 and just say focus on fields just just don’t keep him. Oops. So, did the sneeze make it before the mute? No, you muted on time. You just didn’t mute after the sneeze. Okay. I’m new here. Would you be in favor of Payton Wilson functioning as some sort of spy or even a dual spy system? Uh at times when Tomlin doesn’t do this much just he doesn’t specialize. No, but I mean so you can look at what the Steelers have done against like the likes of Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson is all against him it’s all about number one getting pressure up front so he can’t step up but then also containing on the edge. It’s not always about trying to get back there and sack him. Like I as as backwards as that sounds, like you don’t want to sack Lamar Jackson. Well, because the problem is if you swing and miss, he’s gone. And Justin will make you pay in a very similar way because again, dynamic runner. Um, but it is all about encircling him and making him not go anywhere. and at least do it do that for long enough for your coverage to be able to shut everything down on the back end. Then at that point it’s making sure that all eyes are up front and making sure that Justin doesn’t take off. So sometimes you can use a spy for sure, but the Steelers also don’t want to get beat by those checkdowns either because those are just as backbreaking as a quarterback taking off and running. Um, and I have a feeling that Peyton Wilson is going to be watching Bree Hall quite a bit out of the backfield. I just have a feeling that’s going to be his main his main guy. Mark Cunningham says that the other Jets have a brand new coach. They’re playing at home. They’re trying to change their culture. We could be running into a bus. You want to know something, Mark? I’ve covered a lot of games there on both of New Jerseyy’s terrible teams and I can tell you that the crowd there works to your advantage as a visitor. Couple re a couple reasons for that. One is that there’s always I mean there’s it’s place holds like what 80,000. There’s always a significant Pittsburgh contingent. uh out of the 13 million people who live in the in the general what they refer to there as the tri-state area, the New York, New Jersey uh metro area up there. There’s a lot of former Pittsburgers or even current Pittsburgers who just happen to have jobs there in that vital market. Okay? So, there will be a healthy representation of black and gold in that stadium. The other reason is those fans become your best friend as soon as stuff goes wrong for the home team. They really do. They turn like this. Okay? I don’t want to say that they’re Flyers fans, but they’re not that far. Okay? And then the the booze end up affecting you and and especially if they go in, oh my goodness, can you imagine after several months of people getting pumped up with this and that about how this is going to be different and they’re going to scrap and fight because Aaron Glenn wants them. And that’s a very New York mindset mentality incidentally is that everything is about the intangibles with them. It’s it’s all is he clutch or is he not clutch? That’s how Derek Jeter, who’s really kind of not numerically a Hall of Famer, became just a nobrainer Hall of Famer because they they elevated his narrative so much with the clutch and this and that and whatever. Not that he didn’t have big hits and play for a good team. Okay. I’m just saying that they love that stuff. Mark Messi, the ultimate leader of the American. Meanwhile, he goes Yeah. He goes to Vancouver and he’s just a guy. with them being built up like this all summer long and then the first time they see same old Jets and they punt the first two possessions. Just just keep your ear up. You’ll hit it. I I’m I’m going to I’m going to be watching out for something like this. if the Steelers get the ball first and Aaron Rogers just leads them straight down the field almost completely unstopp and just completely dices them up and takes them takes the Steelers down for a touchdown. Number one, that’d be great for the Steelers because they didn’t have an opening drive touchdown at all last year. Second off, that’s a great way to shut that crowd up and to make them start booing their home team before Justin Fields even steps on the field. Yeah, that’s that’s it’s it’s and it’s going to hurt to it’s going to hurt for them to watch because they’re going to realize that no matter what happens with this other stuff that we were stoked about, there’s there’s still going to be this defense at hand and this guy was supposed to fix the defense. Throw the other stuff out. I’ll tell you where I will agree with Aaron Glenn significantly and Mike Tomlin because Tomlin brought up too Rogers playing there and all the whatever drama is going to get concocted. It’s just it’s it’s still a football game. This guy’s been doing this for 21 years. He’s just he’s going to take to that turf, which also, by the way, is bad. As long as we’re talking about bad things there, okay? Uh he’s going to take to that turf and he’s going to be it’s just a football game, you know? There’s there’s nothing, you know, where he’s going to go, “Oh no, they’re mad at me for something or I’m mad at them.” Fields, Mike says, is going to be pumped to try and rub it in the Steelers nose for how he feels he was wronged. He wasn’t wronged. He had a choice. He became a free agent and he took the higher offer. The Steelers didn’t snub him. Now, if you want to talk about him being benched this past season, I mean, he took it really well while he was here. I’ll tell you that he did. He did. And then also the whole like Justin Fields getting benched. Did he really get benched? Because was he ever really declared the starter? No. Oh, no. No. He was the hot hand or he was he was while the other guy was not healthy and then he was going to stick with him. And as Mark Cunningham pointed out here in comments earlier regarding that Indianapolis effort, yeah, that I cited, if Justin actually followed through and wins that wins that game, Mhm. the Steelers are five and one, no chance that change is made. They would have been four and0. No chance. Yeah. Huh. They would have been four and0. That’s it. Yeah. There’s no chance after a 4-0 start that that Tomlin just says, “Okay, it’s Russ’s time.” Yeah, probably. Justin was giving giving despite that effort, Justin was giving Tomlin plenty of reasons to make the change. I can’t believe we’re going back to this, but also again like Justin was never declared the unquestioned starter on last year’s team. Never. But this idea that he takes to the field though, okay, forgive me for this one, okay? that he takes to the field thinking looking over at the Steelers sideline, I’m gonna show them. You have a lot that has to go through your head out there, a big percentage of which is simple survival. And you’re not over there thinking vengeful thoughts. You’re not just you’re not going, I I’m gonna show them. This is TV crap. Yeah, it really is. Okay. It just is. No. So, I I I I want people I I’ve had the chance to actually look at like playbooks, like an actual playbook. Yeah. Fan care players. Yeah. Fans care players don’t. Yeah. I’ve had a chance to look at actual playbooks and I could tell you right now if you had to try to remember everything that’s in that thing, you’re not thinking about rivalries and thinking you’re the quarterback. You’re thinking about what’s going on on a specific play, all the details to go along with it. Where’s my where’s my one read, my two read, my checkdown on every single play in every single personnel, dude. Dude, no. I’m telling you, you have no idea how complicated an offense is in in in the NFL nowadays. And no, it’s just that’s not what a when Justin Fields is going to be in the huddle on Sunday, he’s not going to be thinking like, how am I going to beat this? Now, if the Jets win the game and once the game comes to an end, yeah, he might think that, be like, “Yeah, I’m glad that win feels really good.” But after the game, like when he’s not having to run an offense, and it might be the same for same for Aaron Rogers, too. Yeah. And you know, and that’s one of those things what ends up happening is the game ends and they win and then people like Chris and I will approach them in the locker room and all of a sudden they’ll say, “Yeah, I was it was really great to beat those guys because I didn’t.” But here’s it’s after the fact. It’s it’s absolutely and flagrantly after the fact. Let’s take care of a couple of other questions that we have here that that set things up for the game this weekend before we sign off today. Michael Cross wants to know if Calvin Austin is is fully healthy. Uh Calvin Austin has been a participant. Fully healthy is a different designation and there’s truly only one individual that knows that and that would be Cal himself, wouldn’t it? Yeah. I I have a hard time putting the the the fully in front of healthy, but is he healthy enough to play? Yes, he is healthy enough to play. Uh him and both Alex Highmith. Uh there were only two players that were listed by Mike Tomlin with having any kind of designation. Derek Carman is out. Nick Herbig is questionable. And then everybody else based off of what Mike Tomlin said should be available. So Calvin is healthy enough to play. That’s the best way to answer it. Damen Ellswick asks, “Who gets to start for Harmon? Is it going to be my man YA Black?” It depends on how you look at that position and what constitutes starting. Are we talking about two down linemen, which will be their most common package? Are we talking about three down linemen, which would be what they would officially consider to be their base package? I do believe that you’re going to see a significant amount of black uh on on on Sunday. I don’t know that it would be in what anyone would characterize as being a starting capacity. Uh we’ll we’ll see how that goes, but you know, if I mean, let’s presume Cam Hayward’s playing. Cam’s going to be out there. Keanu Benton is going to be out there. And if you have a third guy on the field, it’ll be I would actually lean more toward Isaiah Loudermilk before I was thinking because that’s what we saw in Charlotte and and meaning that’s where he line he lined up on that side as the left defensive end. And this was we’re not talking about late and we’re not talking about after uh Harmon got hurt. We’re talking about the beginning of the game. I actually cracked a joke with Isaiah about it after the game. I said I said that looked pretty good or you over there at the starting line and he he goes, “Yeah, you like you know how he does just big goofy dude, right?” Yeah. Yeah, it was great, wasn’t it? Seeing me out there starting is like um one thing that he’ll do is he will help you stop the run. Yes, he will. Um he he’s a good run, but also YA Black’s pretty good at that, too. I do think both guys are going to get their opportunities for sure. I I don’t think this is going to be a game in which YA gets five snaps. I I don’t see that happening. I I think he’s going to be out there quite a bit. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s the de facto starter at defensive end when they are in the 34, but it’s very possible. It is very possible that that now not number 78, big old 94 is out there. He is now number 94. So there’s it’s a possibility. But I do think that that both Black and Louderm Milk are going to kind of split those reps while Cam and Keanu Benton take the the vast bulk of the defensive line snaps. And the the last question that we’ll have for the day, this also became somewhat smallalish news today with the the release of the team’s uh first regular season weekly depth chart. Mike asks, “Who gets the kickoff and the punt return duties?” I don’t want to see Cal chancing more injury. Uh kickoff, it’s at least listed as Kenneth Gainwell and then Caleb Johnson, which Caleb Johnson did return a few in the preseason. Not particularly well. Well, no. Uh he had somebody has to say it. Okay. Yeah, he had one that was pretty good, but he also got absolutely obliterated on multiple goodness. So, yeah. Um, and I gotta tell you, listen, one of the things that has to come up as a subject, you know, if not with us, certainly with the football team, is if Cal’s going to insist on making these suicide catches back there, and he’s going to be your WR2 in some capacity. I mean, you and you didn’t go and get one. Yeah. I’m just saying. Yeah. I mean, every time and I every time you’re just crossing yourself the foot when the football’s heading his way because, you know, he’s just going to stand there and take it. Yeah. Uh the backup punt returner is Scotty Miller. Uh we we’ll see what happens. But Mike Tomlin does love Calvin Austin returning punts and he’s he really does shown plenty of re he’s shown plenty of reason why, you know, Tomlin loves it because Austin’s had some electric returns. you know, obviously have I think he had one for a touchdown last year and then he’s had a couple of other ones that have been pretty darn good. So, you know, we’ll see. But, um, yeah, Austin is still going to be the punt returner for at least for the time being. Last word for the day goes to William, who says, “It killed me to watch AB return punts when he was wide receiver one.” You know who it really killed, William? Cleveland’s punter. That’s who. Also, also the field goal post on the south end zone. Oh, no. That’s not the the field goal post had a completely different experience. Okay. And before we get ourselves into further trouble, we’re signing off for the day. We’ll have another one of these tomorrow. Uh the Steelers have a full practice and yeah, here we go. As they say, we’ll see you guys tomorrow. [Music] [Applause]

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