Player Media Availability (Sept. 30) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Player Media Availability (Sept. 30) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Did you get know going into this game that they were going to feature the running game a lot and that might be a more limited role? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that was part of the game plan. I mean, we ran the ball really well and Darnell had a a fantastic game and we won the game. So, uh I was super pumped for the for Darnell and Spence. Spence came in, played great and uh it was great running game. Pat, walk us through maybe what happened on that one field goal. Yeah, I just missed the punch. Um you know, definitely a play I want to get back. Just missed my hand. Um, credit to him. He was he’s he’s really good off the edge. Um, just dipped under my punch and uh, I’ll get better from it, learn from it and uh, you know, going uh, after the by-week and going to Cleveland and um, you know, get it right. You had a couple of those blocks in the run game. What do you think was different on Sunday that maybe was missing earlier? Uh, just obviously just the execution of the run game. Uh, we were able to run the ball. Um, you know, anytime you can run the ball, it opens up stuff downfield uh, that played a DK. Um and we were able to move the ball effectively and efficiently and so um you know it was a great game plan and it was a great great execution by by all part all of the offense and defense and it was great team football. You guys debuted the tush push too. How much were you guys talking about that in practice and planning for that? Yeah, we’ve been working working on it and Connor did a great job and uh it was funny watching over the the the film just you know Connor got the snap and then Darnell just pushed him forward for a couple yards. So it was uh it was funny and it was it was it was a great play. How has Conor dealt with maybe not as much playing time as normal for him? He’s been great. He’s been making plays on special teams. He had a couple really big key blocks in in this past game and um credit to Connor. He’s he shows up every single day and works and um he’s a great guy in the locker room and and he’s a hell of a football player and um he’s definitely showcasing his skills and he definitely showcased it on Sunday. Does it feel like this offense has kind of figured out some things in this last game? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you got to show up every single week and you got to be able to compete every single week and um you know, be be able to execute every single week and this past week we were able to execute a lot of things that we wanted to and so um it was a great week um for that and you know obviously take the by-week and and figure some other things out um and be more efficient in certain other areas and um you know just attack the the back part of the season after the buy and in a in a great mindset. You guys have used the buy quite a bit to make adjustments like significant adjustments season and it’s paid dividends in previous seasons with the buy being so this week. How do you guys attack that and uh knowing that you have such a long road ahead? Yeah, same thing. Um obviously um you know figure out what we can get better at um individually and collectively and then obviously going coming back off the buy um knowing that we have you know however many weeks um for the rest of the season and you know take take a couple days and and mentally reset for for for a long season ahead and um it it’ll be it’ll be good. If Calvin’s out for a little bit, can the tight ends be part of that solution? Yeah, I mean absolutely. I mean we have a we have a really diverse tight end room. We have a lot of skill sets and um I think you guys seen that in in the past couple weeks and um you know obviously you know the more opportunity um for other guys um it’ll be great. How was the whole Irish experience for you? It was it was awesome. Uh you had a bunch of family out there. Um you know it was cool to see American football over there and and the stadium was rocking. Um it was such a great game day environment. Um it was definitely probably up there for me just game day environment atmospheres and can’t say good things about you know that experience. I mean, you’ve been part of like white outs at Penn State, too. I mean, nothing tops the Penn State white out, though. Um, but yeah, though, that was that was close. Um, that was close and it was just definitely a wicked cool experience. I feel like the defense in this game really just gelled well and it was kind of the defense we all were expecting. Is that how it felt out there? Yeah. Um, it’s just a whole lot of trust, a whole lot of communication going on. Um, and we understand that the better that we communicate and trust each other, the better that we’re going to play. Um, so when you see how we were stopping the run and then we’ll be able to get after the pass get after the quarterback in the pass situations and stuff, we’ll all be able to have fun. Um, so that’s just the biggest focus going out there doing that at practice, emphasizing that at practice. Um, drills, plays at practice. Um, just every single thing that we do, try to master that. Payton Wilson, that huge play getting down to Addison burned like a minute off the clock. Just how big was that for you guys? That was huge. Um, that he he does that every single day at practice. um with DK. DK will catch a ball and he’ll just try to halt DK the whole entire whole entire time and he be talking to DK while he running. He’s like, “You slower than me. I’m going to catch you and stuff.” So um but the dude comes out there and he works every single day like that. Um so I don’t expect nothing less. And um that was huge for our team. As you can see, he ran that much time off the clock. Um gave us a chance and we was one play away from, you know, getting a stop on the goal line at the one yard line. So um you know, huge shout out to him for that. You definitely don’t see that in today’s uh game. So him being able to go out there from doing that from doing that in practice and going do that in the game is extremely huge. 22 miles an hour. Yeah, it’s crazy like that. No, that’s crazy. Um especially for a linebacker that weighs how much he weighs, which people probably don’t realize Pton is actually a heavy guy. Um for him to be able to run that fast as a guy who’s already ahead of him and be able to catch him on a short angle that’s not like a true rundown angle. Um that’s that’s extremely incredible for DK. I’m gonna take Peyton. Yeah, I’m take Peyton. I think uh No, it’ll be it’ll be a great race. I think DK probably will get him. Um I’m not going to let him hear that though. Obviously, he would be pretty pissed if he hear that, but um it it’ll be extremely fun to watch. Ky, you guys talk a lot about creating splash plays, forcing turnovers, six sacks through the first three quarters, and then two turnovers. Is that kind of the mark that you guys are trying to be this season? Yeah, I think um anytime you look at a Steelers defense, it’s always about turnovers and big hits. um listening to getting to the quarterback and I think we did a great job of that. I think it’s still another level that we could tap tap into obviously um but I think it was a pretty good start to get back to that. Is there a relief that your defense is finally hitting what you guys expected? I wouldn’t say so much as a relief. I think it’s more of an expectation that we were supposed to do already. Um I think it’s a standard here. It’s a standard in the league um that we weren’t obtaining or upholding I could say. And you know we just wanted to get back to that. We wanted to get back to having fun. Um, you know, coming in on meetings and giving up what we was giving up is never fun. Uh, so it’s kind of feel good to come back to a meeting and have fun. Jaylen Ramsey, sorry. I was just going to say, what’s like for you when you kind of turn around and there’s a different combination behind you every time and do you feel like that’s progressing from a communication standpoint? Uh, I think it’s just guys buying into the process. Um, just emphasizing that throughout the week in practice. Um, everybody being on the same page. Um, I think anytime we can communicate fast, um, whether it’s right or wrong and we all on the same page, we’ll be able to go out there and dominate and have fun like we were. Jaylen Ramsey with the hamstring injury, just how how nice is it to have this by week to hopefully get that a guy like that back? Yeah, that’s a guy we need. Um, you know, the things that he can do on the field, line up in different spots, do different things, bliss, cover, whatever it may be, he can get in the run game. Um, so it’s a guy that we definitely need and this by week is going to be huge for that. um however much time he needs, he won’t have to take us. We gonna need him down here late in the season. So, whenever he does come back, we’ll be ready and we’ll definitely love to have him back. Is it fair to say like it seems like a lot of teammates talk about you and your personality and things in the room? Last year, you got here September or August, whatever it was. Maybe you were feeling your way around a little bit. Now, you feel comfortable here and you feel comfortable with the round of guys and being kind of a, you know, affable guy in the room, I guess. What do you mean by that? No, just uh yeah, you know, I think the trove, you know, was was awesome this year just to like spend time um you know, with the guys. Um I didn’t have that luxury last year. I came in week one. I think I got here on Tuesday maybe and played on Sunday and didn’t know the guys’ names. My number one priority was learning the playbook. Um but this year I was able to to, you know, spend all offseason with the guys. Um, obviously with Trove, there’s not much to do out there besides hang out with the guys. So, um, you know, football is a lot more than just X’s and O’s. Um, it’s it’s a relationship game. Um, you got to be able to trust the guy next to you. You got to be able to trust the coaches. And I think that comes with, you know, not only playing together, but hanging out outside, you know, practice. Um, outside the facility. And, you know, that’s that’s what I felt like this off season I accomplished the most. Um, I got a lot of close friends on the team now. um you know just spending the nights together in Latro, hanging out, talking, you know, getting to know each other outside the game and then that just builds trust. What is your relationship like with Aaron? Is it different than other quarterbacks? He seemed to bring you up a lot in a fun kind of way. Yeah, we’re um we’re good friends. Um he was, you know, nice enough to have, you know, a group of us out to his house in Malibu this off season. And you know, I’ve always respected him from afar. Um you know, not only as a football player, but but as a guy. Um and I never knew him personally, but you know, during that trip, me and him, you know, bonded you know, talked a lot, got to know each other, and um, you know, it was just one of those things where, you know, we kind of became friends and, um, I I’d say we both have a desire, you know, like we both love football and a lot of, you know, what we talk about is football, but, you know, outside of football, he’s a great guy, too. So, um, it’s been fun getting to know him and just being being able to pick his brain and just learn. Having said what you said about special teams and blocking, you’re a trainer, so I’m sure you feel like you have more to give in the passing game. you you sort of feel like, hey, a few opportunities there, let me show them what I can do. Um, I feel like as a competitor, you know, you obviously want the ball in your hands and things, but I don’t think I’m like any other receiver in the league. Like, I truly don’t care. Um, how many catches I have, I’ll still be happy if we win. Um, I want to be in the game on offense because I know what I can bring. But, um, I feel like there’s a lot more ways to affect the game than just catching balls. And you know, obviously we we have a room with DK and um you know, Calvin as our top guys. And um you know, if everyone had the same role, you know, what what type of team would we have? Um so I want to be that enforcer. I want to be the guy who can get the run game going in that room. And um you know, I play special teams, too. Um those are kind of the stats I care about, I guess. Uh being a me guy, but you know, I want to just be successful as a team. I don’t care who blocks a kick. I don’t care who makes a tackle. I just care about winning every single Sunday. I know you had some family who was from here. Did they ever tell you about Hines Ward? Did you ever watch him or do you know about you know what he did here? Of course I know about Hines. Um you know my dad grew up um in Connellville and um my uncle played in the league for for a handful of years so whatever team he was on I was a fan of. Um a majority of the time it was Kansas City but um my dad always had Steelers football on every Sunday. Um So, I I grew up watching Hines Ward and, you know, that’s kind of the way I was taught how to play football. My dad went to Penn State. Um, we watched a lot of like, you know, old school Penn State um teams. Just I feel like, you know, you play football the right way in Western Pennsylvania. So, um, I grew up watching that and that’s kind of what shaped my game. Is it replacing Cal if he’s out for a little bit, is that going to be like a collective effort all you guys together? That’s more of a question for the coaches. Um, I’m just going to do whatever I’m asked to do. So, um hopefully he’s back as soon as we can get him back. He’s a hell of a player. He’s a even better guy like I you guys know him. So, um I was devastated when he went down, but fortunately from what I hear, um he won’t be out too long. Is there is there a different technique when you’re in that spot than you are you play tackle, too, so you’re a good one to ask. Is it different when you’re out there or is it the same? It’s kind of like the same. I mean, like hitting the double team inside at guard is same on the outside, honestly. I mean, it’s no different. Um, only problem is just the further you get away from the ball, the the less you could hear. So, um, the fans were loud, so it was kind of faint, but A-Rod’s pretty good at, you know, being loud. So, listening to the cadence wasn’t much of a challenge. You going to catch a pass one of these days throughout? Hopefully. How early on in the installation process did you know that like, hey, there might be a game or there might be several games that you’ll be playing this role and playing quite a bit. Honestly, last week um last week was kind of supposed to be the same kind of thing, but um you know, Epson Florida game kind of don’t uh the game plan doesn’t always, you know, go that way, but uh it was it was definitely a focus this week and obviously we saw I didn’t think it would be that big of a focus, but um it turned out Do you think uh you guys might go heavy like that? Um I don’t know. We’ll see. Uh I guess I mean it’s game plan by game plan. Every team’s different. every team playing different defenses, but we thought that was a good game plan for the Vikings and uh it worked for us. You could tell Darnell he’s not the best blocking tight end in the team anymore. Yeah. Yeah. We told him he uh he was jokingly saying you you might need to come to individual with the tight ends. I’m like, “No, you just need to come with us like cuz I mean he’s essentially one of us.” But um yeah. So he uh on the tush push he pulled and pushed him. I think I mean I didn’t see it. I had to go in guard on that play cuz Isaac Shu came off. So, I was the left guard on that play, but all I felt was just somebody on on top of me and I’m like, “Who is that?” And then I see on film, it’s Connor. And then we come on the sideline. Darnell was just joking saying like, “Yeah, I just I just picked Connor up and put him off the pile.” It was crazy. But, um, yeah, I was in it. So, I don’t know what happened. I just It was just hard grave was underneath me and almost a bunch of bodies. Do you I mean, there’s a lot of chatter. I don’t know if it’s how much it’s fun, how much is serious about he could be a tackle. Do do you do you actually watch him? I mean being a that’s your job like you see does he actually have I mean he’s big and strong. I think he could be just got to like get more of the finesse to the position cuz you know he still wants the right routes at the end of the day but um I think he has the the the skills and the obviously has the frame to play offensive line but um just more of like the mechanics in and out of the line. I think he could do it for sure. Apologize if you’ve been asked this but your comfort level on the tush push if you guys have to keep going back. Yeah, I’m I’m extremely comfortable in that. Uh we only called it once, but if we were to call it again, you know, I’m ready for that and it’s something that we’re just going to keep on building off. I bet it’s been in the bag for a while. You guys have been practicing it. Does that go back to last season or was that something you guys really honed in on in training camp this year? We talked about in training camp, but uh we started repping it uh week one and then just started, you know, grooming it up and dressing it up and getting everybody on the same page. And then uh Coach T asked me if I was ready for it and I told him I was. You feel like it’s a hard play to stop with Darnell and whoever else is beside you just you know their their weight and their ability just to push you forward. Yeah, I think it’s just a hard play to starting stop in general and then with Darnell and KG who’s ran ran in Philly um you know which helps. So they know what it takes and you know Isaac Somala knows what to do. He wasn’t in on that, but um he’s familiar with the touch push and we’ve repped it enough so everybody up front is as well. Were you ready for it if they called it? I think you guys punt it at the end of the game instead of going for it. Was there any discussion about be ready or anything like that? Yeah. Um I think there was like technical difficulties going on with the helmet. Um but we just got up to the ball and we tried to, you know, get them to jump off sides and then we ended up having to call a timeout. Oh, so you guys might have you think you guys might have run that again if you guys didn’t have some I don’t know honestly. We his helmet went blank and so we just all lined up and tried to, you know, freeze snap them. Aaron’s dead. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Connor, just overall, what was the experience like over in Ireland? Really cool. Uh, just being able to go out there one and then, uh, get to meet the people out there, but also just, you know, see all what Ireland had to offer as well as the experience for the game. It It was really cool. You had a lot of opportunities in this game, too. Just how do you feel you did uh personally if you self scout yourself a little bit? Uh I feel like I did good. Uh obviously room for improvement. Um but you know that goes for everybody. I think we did a good job and you know uh we’re on the right note going going into the body.

Pat Freiermuth, Patrick Queen, Ben Skowronek, Spencer Anderson, and Connor Heyward spoke to the media on Tuesday, September 30

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