Cam Heyward, Darius Slay, Derrick Harmon Media Availabilities (Oct. 14) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Cam Heyward, Darius Slay, Derrick Harmon Media Availabilities (Oct. 14) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Jam, you’ve obviously faced Joe a lot. Difficulties he present and imagine you’re probably not surprised. He seems to have picked everything up pretty quick. Yeah. Uh, you know, Joe’s a professional. He prepares the right way. Um, you know, there’s not a route he hasn’t seen. Um, he can throw guys open. Um, you know, when you’re a student of the game, doesn’t matter where you go, you’re going to be successful in any, you know, program you go to. A lot of guys had high praise for Jaylen Ramsey being able to battle back from the injury to be an impactful player for what have you learned about his competitive makeup and his competitive spirit since you know I think uh not really learning anything. Um he just doubled down on everything I I expected. Uh you know Jaylen prepares the right right way. He you know is a competitor on the field. Um, and you know that hungriness and aggressiveness towards everything he does, you know, is on display for us. What was it like get into the end zone? Uh, it was awesome. Um, you know, uh, I always love it to, you know, watch family score. But, uh, you know, I think, um, you know, he’s tough on himself, uh, and, you know, doesn’t have that many opportunities, but, you know, he’s always thankful for the opportunities he does get. Um, and when he’s out there, you know, he’s taking advantage of it. So, you know, uh just tell them uh you know, don’t stop at one, get more. You guys on Thursday nights, they haven’t been too kind to you. I know sort of a small sample size always says two is a trend. Is there anything you guys can do differently to prepare for games or just going on the road? Um the best thing we can do is just kick ass. Uh you know, um you know, usually we’re in a the midst of, you know, some really tough games, but nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. Um, you know, I think it comes down to your execution, comes down to, um, you know, your film study. Um, you know, there’s not a trending feature in all those games, but, um, it’s just about winning those games. Uh, it comes down to, you know, five or six plays that who executed those those plays the best. Um, and if you do that, you’ll have a lot of success. What did you get the mariachi and what inspired you to bring it up in terms of the message? Uh I think you know I wanted to do something special for teach. Uh you know I think we we me and a bunch of other guys we was just saying um we got to have we have more fun this year and you know it was a you know a nice little added on thing. We had given him a card earlier in the day so he wasn’t expecting anything after. Um but uh our player development guy Dell Young helped make sure everything went smoothly. How else are you guys having more fun this year? You said you you guys are wanting to have more fun this year. I I just think um we’re just a more together group. Um um more fun is winning more games, but also uh just being around each other a lot more. What do you think’s kind of behind that being more together this year? Just feeling that close this year? Everybody’s a part of it. Um from the first guy to the 53 man to to all the practice squad. uh you know um you know starts with myself, it starts with you know Aaron, it starts with you know a lot of our guys um who have experienced you know a lot of success in this league have just been very u you know intentional about that this year. Tim, with the rotation you guys have, not only up front, but the other two levels, does that kind of make it a little better for you guys getting a short week, making a little more restful? Yeah, you know, um I was talking to our guest on my podcast about it. Uh can’t mention that, but it’s a good good pod uh to listen to, but you know, he he mentioned just staying fresh. Um and you know, um you know, if we talk about making a run late in the in the year, um we all got to be healthy. We all got to be training the right way. And you know, sometimes you watch these players who play 12 games and then you know, they’ll go they’ll be out of action for like four weeks, but then they’re playing their best ball at the end of the year. Um, we’re not talking about missing games, but we’re talking about, you know, mitigating the amount of reps we take. Um, and you know, that means we got to dominate early. Playing in a game where both quarterbacks are older than you, that make you feel young. Always feel young. I got Aaron on my side. Kim, what’s the trust level defense right now? I I think it’s it’s high. Um I know we have some younger guys, but um I love the way everybody prepares. Um you know, Derek Harmon, Keanu Benton, YA, especially on the D line. Uh they’re younger guys, but they they soak up a lot of information. Um and as a defense, I think we have so many moving parts. Uh but to be able to run the exotic defense as we do, and you know, to make be able to blitz from everywhere, you got to have a lot of buy in and a lot of guys that you can trust. We know there are going to be other guys um you know trying to block punts, covering kickoffs, but how do you replace Miles leadership for that unit? Um you know, like we talk about other guys doing it. Um it’s by committee. A lot of guys got to step up. Uh Scoranic, um Connor, um Carson Bruner, Jack Sawyer, uh you know, James Pierre. Um those are just a few, but I feel like they all play a vital role. Um and we need all of them to just keep playing at a high level. Mike Tomman always talks about how the coverage and rush work together. How has what is the ripple effect of the remade secondary on some of the guys up front? I I think um before the snap is even happened, the pre- snap communication uh the pre- snap uh disguise uh buys us more time because the quarterback has to, you know, go through all the different keys. Um and you know, we got to take advantage of those opportunities. Uh, you know, the only thing I would say we didn’t do well last week was not get the ball back. Um, but, you know, that’s, you know, front and, you know, back and working together. What’s the key to getting a a quick turnaround and from a Sunday game to a Thursday game and being ready to go? Uh, the key is shoot, man, is basically taking care of your body from a professional standpoint, playing the game, just making sure you’re available to go, uh, doing what do whatever you can to make sure you, uh, you know, healthy and ready to go. So that’s the big concern. And then um the biggest thing is man, make sure you just know your details, man. Be very detailed because like I said, it’s a short week. Uh you know, you got to watch enough film to make sure you’re prepared to go. So uh just got to be ready to go. You were briefly teammates with Joe Flacco and Philly. Talk about what stood out to you about his preparation, man. Great, man. He was He’s a good dude, man. He’s a guy that kind of like helped me with my golf swing a little bit. So that’s my dude, man. So uh good dude, man. I’m looking forward to competing with him, man. I was in there with him in Philly. Uh he showed me a lot, taught me a lot, and you know, helped me improve my game as well. What up, Joey? Much rich man, I imagine you’re not surprised that he kind of picked everything up in a couple of days and was able to go out and make impact. Oh, no. And I ain’t surprised at all, man. Joe been in the game for a long time, man. And ain’t too much new concepts you can do that in his game that he did not see before. So, uh uh I saw that being picked up pretty fast, man. I I can see that connection going get better and better as the year get going on cuz uh I’m quite sure he fell as and he never threw to some some guys like that before, you know, besides AJ and Smitty in practice. Were they those guys specifically? How unique of a challenge is it to to face a tandem in in Higgins and Chase? Oh, it’s a new unique talent, man. They both can do capable of being great at what they does. Uh you know, Higgins is very great at 50/50 balls. Uh you know, Chase is great at doing all that as well. And part about him is his after the catch his Yak. He’s one of the best in the league. I say I by far the best in the league to me with a Yak. And you know just the competitive spirit that both of them guys got that they could go out there and really produce with any quarterback. They’ve been proven that year on and year out. Uh so uh it’s always a challenge man. Them guys, you know, at the top of the level of their game and that’s why they’re getting paid at big bucks. Your coach said at the outside of training camp, you guys can run and cover with anybody, match up with anybody. Is this a game where I think every game is like that. Yeah, I think every game is like that. I think every game is a series that we can run and cover anybody, but I know it’s a big emphasis because you know what they got capable of that on on their side of the game. But uh yeah, I think we can do that with anybody. But uh it’s going to be fun game. I’m looking forward to it. Uh shoot, we getting after it. That’s just it really. When they put together this secondary, I mean you got like three alpha like corners with you and Joey. Yeah. I mean, what’s it like in the room in terms of even the internal competition or even on Oh, see the thing is I’m the most laid-back one out of all of them. So, they him, Joey, and and Jay be the one arguing about who go get who. Whoever y’all want, y’all go get who. I’ll get the leftovers. You know what I’m saying? So, it don’t been bing to me. I done had my time of doing that for a very long time, for 13 years. This is the first year I ain’t have to travel. And, you know, so, hey, whatever they need me to do, I’m willing to do at a high level and whatever my ability capable of doing. But yeah, I’ll let Joey and Jay argue about that. Does that does that help bring out the best in you guys when there’s competition not only against the other team but also with internally and also a little bit of like, you know, it seems like it’s good nature kind of. Oh yeah, it’s a good vibe. You know, it was just all about like, hey, you know, it’s just a competitive nature, man. Guys that just love to compete that love to play at a high level, man. Guys that’s, you know, established in this league, you know, Joy becoming be coming to step into his own world. So, uh, yeah, man. We great. What was your relationship like with Ramsay before you you got to this team? And what have you learned just about the way that he approaches the game? His relation I’ve been knowing Ren since he been a rook, you know, so we’ve been always in a group chat for the longest. Uh we’ve been chatting for a long time, man. We good friends. So uh this was new, man. We was uh I wish this would have happened when we was younger, you know, so so we could be a different uh different type of beast, but we still going to be trying to do what we can do, possibly be still one of the best in in the world. So uh yeah. Uh I’ve been knowing him for a good minute, man. He’s he’s a true competitor, man. Uh he always ask questions. I ask him questions. since I asked him how the receivers going from through them years we’ve been knowing each other. So, we got a great bond. Is the secondary to reaching its full potential? Uh, shoot. I ain’t going to never say close, but one thing we going to do, we got to continue to keep working to be the uh the best, you know, we can possibly be and uh whatever day that is. So, um I just look at it as in we just need to be the best secretary that day, whoever we playing against on the field. So, it really don’t mean as in just overall, I just want to be the best on Sunday. So, yeah. Or the run defense has improved so much. um guys just doing guys just doing their job and um executing and being in the right spots and playing making plays within the defense. How much of a key is health been? I mean last week was the first time all starters have been healthy, all defensive starters have been healthy. How much is that a key to this defense kind of picking things up, turning things around from how it started? It’s a major um major component of that and um just to get guys back in the field um back in the rhythm, but with the guys down just next man up and once it’s time for those guys get back like I like it was for me just got to come in ready to play. Derek, what’s it like having the three monster and TJ, Alex, and Nick all healthy back there? Oh my god, it’s fantastic. Them guys is rushing and just making that QB step up for the guys in the middle and we push in the middle and it’s everybody eating. Do you ever have a short week in college like this? No sir. How do you prepare for it? I mean, how do you get through this week with it kind of being a new thing for you? Uh, just follow my vets, man. See what they doing. Um, trying to pick off and um get little cute things, how they just take care of their bodies and really the mental side of things. That’s the biggest part of this short week. You guys stay um mentally prepared because you’re not getting a lot of physical rest, but there’s a lot of mental going around. So, Derek, you guys go from a rookie to a 40-year-old at quarterback. What what are your impressions of Joe Flacco and challenge here on Thursday? He’s a vet. He know he’s been playing this uh game in this league at a high level for a long time, man. Um we know we’re going to try to get that ball out quick. We try to get him down. You ever have a game before you had two half sacks? No. Seeing Jaylen get those two sacks. Oh my god, it was good. We was hype for him. Um in locker room, I’m just talking smack to him, but it it was it was hype for him. I was hype. Is this going as smooth for you as it appears to be? Yeah, a little bit. Yes, sir. What do you what do you attribute that to? Um just being prepared and um just really like I said following my vest and and really honing on that playbook and making plays in this defense.

Cam Heyward, Darius Slay, and Derrick Harmon talk to the media ahead of the Steelers Week 6 game against the Bengals

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