But at this point you're you're still in striking range. Um, you've only played two divisional games or one and one. This is Separate on Steelers. Hello to everyone in Steelers Nation. Welcome to Saveran on Steelers. I'm stand Saving, the host of our podcast. Thank you for joining me. We put up two new podcasts weekly during the Steelers season. You can get at Steelers dot com. Obviously you're listening. You found us. Please tell your friends, neighbors, relatives, the guy in the corner, whatever, that we're available for Steelers fans everywhere throughout Steelers Nation. The bye week is coming gone. The New Orleans Saints lie directly ahead. And here's sit the Steelers with the second worst record in the a f C at two and six. How do they approach the remaining nine games. The matre in Pittsburgh has always been were contenders for the Big Prize, meaning the Super Bowl. Nothing less will satisfy us. So that will give you an indication. I think most teams would answer that, even if they're out of it, there's something to be gained, something to be gained from winning games as many as you can. The negative on the other side, the anchor if you will is what positions do you need to fortify? And you do that in the draft, and to have your best opportunity to do that, you need a higher now not only a high pick, but higher picks throughout the draft. Sometimes I think we think about the draft and only in terms of what it means in the first round. You've got to get terrific players in the second and third round. If you're talking about building a champion, you need to get quality picks in the second and third round, and fourth for that matter as well. Um, if you strike gold and hit somebody in the fifth or sixth round, that's good, that's great. But you can't rely on that first, second, third, and maybe even the fourth. You've got to function well. That's not to suggest that the team should tank. I don't think you'll ever see that from the Steeler organization, and I don't think you've ever seen it from the players. I don't care what organization we're talking about. Players don't care about the draft. Players don't care where their team is going to draft. They care only about am I going to have a spot on this team? And to do that, I need to play well. Even if I don't end up in Pittsburgh for example. Other teams are gonna be watching how I play, how I perform, and even above and beyond that, football is a tough game. Only a tough really can survive to play it, and for that to happen, you've got to be invested fully. Every football player in the NFL, really, anybody who's a competitor in anything, you're in it to win it. These are highly trained add fleets, but addition to their physical skills, mentally they're trained, I'm in this to win, and so no matter what the record is, individually, they're gonna want to go out there and perform. So it's not a matter of going out and tanking. Now, sometimes that does occur, you've got too many players in a team that, frankly, towards the end of the season, not now in the middle, but maybe towards the end, they're thinking about I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to get hurt because I don't want that to affect my contract status if I'm a free agent. I don't want to be hurt because clearly that would maybe cause some disinterest or less interest in a player. And from a practical standpoint, they don't want to get hurt because they don't want to be in a position of having to rehab in the off season. I mean they take some time off, but then really beginning in February, they pick it up again, and they don't want to spend their time rehabbing because that doesn't allow them to train fully for the upcoming season. But I do think that teams can play this smart. It doesn't mean benching your best players or tanking to get the best draft pick. But it also does give you an opportunity where maybe the games aren't as pressure rise as meaningful, and it does give you an opportunity to showcase some of your lesser players. You're more inexperienced players on the Steelers, it might be additional exposure for a Connor Heywood. How can we utilize him and utilize him differently with Chase Claypool gone. I wouldn't it all be surprised to see Connor Heyward in the slot he's built for that. Why not find out It might even be a bonus to your team, not necessarily a detriment, and you find out about the guy. Barring injuries, extended playing time for James Fierre in the secondary, Maybe even a Mark Robinson who opened some eyes and he was able to stick with the team as an inside linebacker. Look, we know what Mark what Roberts Felene brings. Why not find out Mark Robinson what he has to offer. Not totally, you don't just stick him in there and say here, you're the starting inside linebacker. But the restess Flenn gets, maybe some of those go to Mark Robinson. Miles Jack has a knee injury, maybe you reduce his rep somewhat. I think you continue to play Devin Bush because the book on him is still out. Maybe the trade of Jase Klue Claypool will offer some time for a Miles Boykin Stephen Sims. Sometimes circumstances dictate playing time, and maybe that's the case with the Steelers, But why not mix those guys in, find out what you have. Maybe give more playing time to Tray Norwood. Doesn't mean I'm suggesting that make if Fitzpatrick doesn't play, But I also don't think that make if it's Patrick has to play every down. Same thing on the defensive line. I'm not suggesting that Cam Hayward doesn't play, but maybe he doesn't need to play the amount of snaff Let's find out what Isaiah Louder miracles all about the mark Marvin lee All has shown some flashes of excellence. Play him. What are they having Martin Montravius Adams. It's clear that Tyson Lulu is not in the picture now or for the future. Find out what some of these guys have. I think you can accomplish both. You can still be very competitive, but you can also find out about what it is you have and what it is you're going to need in the future. I'm asked to see what the offensive offense looks like against the Saints. The coaches, more than the players, should benefit from the bye week. Some of the things that are very evident to those of us who are outside observers regarding the offense, not throwing down the field, not using the middle of the field. Why it would take a week off and the bye week for the coaches to realize where they were headed was in the wrong direction is beyond me. But be that as it may. I want to see if they've corrected issues. How much will Kenny Picket benefit from the bye week. I'm sure he spent his time studying up how much will things change because of the bye week not only in play calling but a style of offense, but also in use of personnel. It gives you a reason to have great interest or renewed interest in the Steelers, despite the fact that the playoffs are highly unlikely and maybe not even a great idea when you see there are two and six at the midway point of the season. How do players generally utilize their off week their bye week? Did they continue to work out, do they study? Where do they just take time off to heal their bodies? Max Starks played for the Steelers for a number of years. He's now, of course the sideline reporter for the Steelers radio network. Max joins us now and Max, when you were a player, going back all those many years ago, how did you spend your bye week? So bye week, I mean, it just really depended on, you know, what the schedule was, how much time was allotted. But you know, I usually if it was if it was possible, I try and go back to my college and catch a game if they were at home. Um, if not, head home uh to Orlando or out to uh Arizona where I had a place later on in my career, you know, and just it depends just to get away and kind of, you know, kind of reset yourself mentally for that second half push. Um, that was usually kind of the way I like to approach it. Well, we started out today with some good news. In case you haven't heard, We're gonna get a little bit of extra sleep a week from Sunday, the Steelers game against the Bengals. Schedule for Sunday night football has been flexed out, moved it back to four. So that's good for those of us who are working that game well as we and we actually get a mid afternoon game for once instead of the early morning. At least the press box food have changed just as lightly. Get more, get more lunch instead of brunch. There you go. I like that good double positive. Uh. Max. This football team in particular, Um, they're gonna t J. Watt's gonna be back, DeVante Kzy is gonna be back. William Jackson likely if he's healthy, is going to get a start. Um. I realized that players they're not worried about the draft, they're not worried about next year. The coaches probably aren't either at this point. Um, but is it time at two and six for the Steelers to be getting integrating at least UM of the younger players getting them game reps. UM. Maybe they're on special teams, but maybe you give him a couple of reps some scrimmage. Maybe you don't play Cam Hayward of the Snaps. Well, I I think at this point we're still too early, UM to have that consideration at this point. And by me saying that that means where now a week tend of the season of eighteen weeks, UM, I say that's more of a conversation. Once you get to about week four team, then you start thinking about it to see what do you have, how what have they learned? How do they assimilate into the offensive and defensive schemes of the structure of the of the team. UM. But at this point you're you're still in striking range. UM. You've only played two divisional games. You're one and one, UM with four on the back half here, and you're playing against teams with a with a combined win percentage average. So literally as tough as it was in the first half is about as good as it can get in the second half. And you're talking about also offensively, a secondaries that ranked thirty thirty one out of thirty two schedules remaining, um of UH as far as strength. So there's still a lot of a lot of hate to be had right now now. I think if we evaluate this in December, different conversation. But as it stands right now, I don't see why you would start to implement that unless they've proven to you that they've earned it, but just to give it for the sake of giving, I don't think that that's the right approach right now. I definitely don't believe that's in Mike Thomas dna UH. Those are all great points UM. Continually along that line of thinking, Max, When you look back at the first half of the season, the first eight games, UM, there were winnable games against teams that are likely to make the playoffs? How much and the stealers have deficiencies. I think everybody understands that, and reckon NICs as that. But how much did the difficulty of the schedule play into this two and six record? Not that you can always look to play a homecoming upon it, but how much? Uh, the Steelers did have the most difficult schedule in the NFL in the first half. How much did that factor in in your mind to having a two and six record. Well, I think it factored greatly. You're talking about going up against experienced teams, teams above five hundred, teams that were playoff teams a year ago, teams that have have greatly changed. Uh, you know, our minds because obviously when we when we were ranking the schedule, it's because we hadn't have gone through it, and a lot of surprises came in. Um, did anybody expect the Jets to be as good as they are? And they and they look legit because they just took down the Buffalo Bills. So you know, you think about the New England Patriots and their transition, we're kind of equal. They're a little bit ahead of us. Um that game being another tough one, but I mean, you know, there there were there were some opportunities we kept games close, especially the one down in Miami. But you know, you look at that team, and that team is pushing to win the A s C East, which is a log jam division. We happen to draw one of the toughest divisions in the A f C this year. We thought it was going to the West, and the West ended up being more due than anything else, and the A f c East ended up being being the UH the division that everybody was chasing. So I mean it's tough in retrospect, but like you said, there's all learning opportunities because we had some key things happened. Right, you have an a starting a brand new quarterback in your system as well as drafting another one when you're replacing one of eighteen years. That's one big hurdle that not a lot of teams have a lot of success doing, especially when they haven't been in the system like some other ones. That that when it's changing under guards a little bit smoother. I think Drew Brees to Philip Rivers, right, Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes like those are more exception than standards to the rule. Because even for the Indianapolis coach going from paid many to Andrew Luck, you had that you had to have that that weird fudges feeling in between, UM have a bad year. So I mean that was already one hurdle. Then you lose the reigning defensive m d P of the NFL Week two of the season, UM, the difference maker, and a lot of injuries along the way, you lose almost your entire secondary UH. For for one and a half weeks and you know, and then you have a new offense. So I think all those things played greatly into the record that we have right now. You know, hey, it is what it is. You are what you put on tape, and it didn't put it. But I think you have to say, given against the circumstances, you know, this team, hopefully we'll see in the second half, has learned a lot and they can kind of overcome those bugaboos of the first half season. But if they don't, then you have bigger questions that you have to answer. But as it stands right now, for a young squad going through these growing pains in that ugly period, that is called the word that we don't want to see, building, retooling, rehashing, however you want to look at it. Um, we didn't do it as good as we could have. But there's still room for improvement on the second half. You know that haven't been said. Um, that really pinpoints this came on Sunday. Um, they're at home, they're coming off of by New Orleans. Did not look good. They're really banged up and they're coming off a short week. Um, if there is a for lack of better turn a turnaround? Doesn't this game? Isn't that the pivotal point that if they win, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be a springboard, but if they don't win, it almost jettisons the entire agenda. Yeah, I think you're right. I think this is a game where all things equal, this is a game that you should win. All the factors are on your side, and like you said, the rest of the team, you're getting pieces back as well as it's at home, and it's a game that plays into what you expect, especially when you're talking about a short week. We just watched the bartoar Rays pretty much beat up on this squad relentlessly. So if we are going to make a statement, this is the weekend to start. Start at least dusting off the uh the quote unquote palette to start painting. You know what I'm saying, Like you got this is that a perfect opportunity to to bring out the new canvas, start picking out your color palette and go Bob Ross on him. But it starts. It has to start this Sunday. Okay, excellence, Um, I love the analogy. T J. Watt is gonna be back on Sunday. I don't know if he's gonna, you know, play the normal amount of snaps that they're gonna ease him back in and then you know they haven't been has been determined yet. Um. And it seems unusual to say, Um, if you take a great quarterback out of an offense, naturally there it's going to be a trickle down effect. Um. You wouldn't think that would be the case with one player. Um, but it is. The numbers tell you how valuable t J. Watt Uh is to this team. Um, the numbers don't lie. It's past the point of coincidence. As you've observed him and you've observed the Steeler defense, how is it, aside was individual excellence, that he has such a profound effect on the Steeler's ability to play good defense? I mean put playing and simple. Uh. Stand, he's the Aaron Donald of our defense, right, He's a Aaron Donald of our team. You take Aaron Donald out of out of that l A Ram's defense and teeth immediately start to wither away. Um. He's the one that you know, Wolf and I talked about this on our show. He's a forced multiplier, right, The addition of him allows others to be even better. And that's that, that's just that's just plain facts. I mean, we're one in six without him this season, and we want to know with him in the lineup, So you know that right there is just the straight statistical analysis that we look at it. But more importantly, you know, he allows Cam Hayward to get the one on one, He allows Alex Highsmith to get less chips off the edge, He allows for the lanes to be wider for Miles Jack, Devin Bush, Robertspilane and company. And then also it speeds up the quarterback timing. So therefore our defense can be more aggressive on the secondary. So all of those he so he causes a ripple effect amongst the defensive personnel and what they can and can't do. You could be a little more aggressive because you know that quarterback has to get out into it half seconds or he's gonna be on his back looking at the sky. So though, and every quarterback knows that when they see nine D across room was like, all right, we need to get to this progression really quick. Guys. Okay, listen, I know I know you like I know you like to cut round the route out in about eight or nine yards. I need you at seven. You gotta be at seven because the ball is coming at seven, you know it Just it speeds up their their ability to operate and and we'll see try and get eleven people to move in cadence every single time. That's tough, and that's where accidents and mistakes happen. And that's when the defense can take advantage with the personnel. So that's what that's what I mean. Like he does. He affects so many aspects of an opposing offense and of the defensive construct that you have that it makes it really difficult on the opposition just by his presence alone. Oh great stuff. Max. The last thing for you, there's beens. I don't want to call it a controversy, but there's been conversation about how well Jalen Warren is performed. Mike Tomlin and the press conference acknowledge such. I expect we'll see more of him. Um. Is it overly simplistic to say, well, both Nausea Harris and Jalen Warren are running beyond the same offensive line, running the same place. Um Warren has had more success in Harris. Is that overly simplistic. Is it a matter of Jalen Warren being ocor to the whole Naji Harris maybe dancing a bit too much before he gets through the whole, assuming there is one well, I think I think it is a very simplistic view. But but you know what goes into that as well, is Naji is gonna have more complex things thrown at him than Jalen Moore. It is being the starter versus being the reserve guy. Because if you see Jalen Warren going more often than not, it's mid drive. You've already established a temple and kind of what defenses want to do. But be he has to think about a lot less than Naji does, so he can therefore more read and react. Naji, I think, is a bit indecisive because he knows, he knows what he wants to happen, and he knows how it should look versus just taking what what's given to you. Right, It's one of those things where you know, it takes you a lot longer to figure out what you're going to eat at cheesecake factory than it does at a bistro or some very fancy daily daily menu. Right, farm the table type flot like we only give you what we got, right, it's a veggie salad, or it's just a garden salad. Like you know, you go, you go, you go to cheesecake factory, it's pretty much a telephone book. On the menu, there's like a page and a half just off ballots alone. So I think that's where you kind of have to look at the differentiation of what what are they asked to do in a given play or a given drive. Um, so Naji is gonna be thinking a little bit more than Jalen is. And also Jalen is one of those I'm just happy to be at the table eating food, you know what I'm saying, and whereas Naji is like, well, when I went to this restaurant, I got this, but they don't have this, So what's the closest equivalent that this. It's just it's a matter of the decision making process for both of them, and you get those different results. But I will say this, you do see a lot more decisiveness after Jalen Warren has had a successful play by Nazi, then you don't. And I think that's kind of one of the things where I hopefully they feed off of each other in that room. That is healthy competition to say, all right, it wasn't there, but man, I'm gonna make it happen. Right, I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring a hammer to a nail fight, and we're just gonna see what happens. And I think that's something that hopefully, as they watched the film, as they self evaluated over this week, that's something that they can learn from and hopefully build that and bring that to the second half of the season that hey, you know what, sometimes you just gotta do. Don't worry about don't worry about your y in the moment, just worry about it. That's all you have to do. It is a statement. Why is a question? Just make sure you made you curb. You curbed that question mark into an exclamation point. Our thanks to Max Starks. Of course, he's a sideline reporter on the Steelers radio network. He also was the co host of Wolf and Starks, heard on EESP in Pittsburgh and available on the i Heart Media app every weekday ten am to twelve noon Eastern and after they're done, I come on and do my show. It's available again on the i Heart app, or you can get it on over the air at nine seventy am. I'm on every day, following Wolf and Max. I'm on from noon until two. The podcast available to you on the Steelers dot com site. Just go there and we're there twice weekly with new issues, UM and episodes. I don't have any issues. My issue is doing the episode. There you go. Thanks for joining us today on Savrant Steelers. Tell your friends about us. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Savrant Steelers and until next time, so long, everybody,

But at this point you're you're still in striking range. Um, you've only played two divisional games or one and one. This is Separate on Steelers. Hello to everyone in Steelers Nation. Welcome to Saveran on Steelers. I'm stand Saving, the host of our podcast. Thank you for joining me. We put up two new podcasts weekly during the Steelers season. You can get at Steelers dot com. Obviously you're listening. You found us. Please tell your friends, neighbors, relatives, the guy in the corner, whatever, that we're available for Steelers fans everywhere throughout Steelers Nation. The bye week is coming gone. The New Orleans Saints lie directly ahead. And here's sit the Steelers with the second worst record in the a f C at two and six. How do they approach the remaining nine games. The matre in Pittsburgh has always been were contenders for the Big Prize, meaning the Super Bowl. Nothing less will satisfy us. So that will give you an indication. I think most teams would answer that, even if they're out of it, there's something to be gained, something to be gained from winning games as many as you can. The negative on the other side, the anchor if you will is what positions do you need to fortify? And you do that in the draft, and to have your best opportunity to do that, you need a higher now not only a high pick, but higher picks throughout the draft. Sometimes I think we think about the draft and only in terms of what it means in the first round. You've got to get terrific players in the second and third round. If you're talking about building a champion, you need to get quality picks in the second and third round, and fourth for that matter as well. Um, if you strike gold and hit somebody in the fifth or sixth round, that's good, that's great. But you can't rely on that first, second, third, and maybe even the fourth. You've got to function well. That's not to suggest that the team should tank. I don't think you'll ever see that from the Steeler organization, and I don't think you've ever seen it from the players. I don't care what organization we're talking about. Players don't care about the draft. Players don't care where their team is going to draft. They care only about am I going to have a spot on this team? And to do that, I need to play well. Even if I don't end up in Pittsburgh for example. Other teams are gonna be watching how I play, how I perform, and even above and beyond that, football is a tough game. Only a tough really can survive to play it, and for that to happen, you've got to be invested fully. Every football player in the NFL, really, anybody who's a competitor in anything, you're in it to win it. These are highly trained add fleets, but addition to their physical skills, mentally they're trained, I'm in this to win, and so no matter what the record is, individually, they're gonna want to go out there and perform. So it's not a matter of going out and tanking. Now, sometimes that does occur, you've got too many players in a team that, frankly, towards the end of the season, not now in the middle, but maybe towards the end, they're thinking about I don't want to get hurt. I don't want to get hurt because I don't want that to affect my contract status if I'm a free agent. I don't want to be hurt because clearly that would maybe cause some disinterest or less interest in a player. And from a practical standpoint, they don't want to get hurt because they don't want to be in a position of having to rehab in the off season. I mean they take some time off, but then really beginning in February, they pick it up again, and they don't want to spend their time rehabbing because that doesn't allow them to train fully for the upcoming season. But I do think that teams can play this smart. It doesn't mean benching your best players or tanking to get the best draft pick. But it also does give you an opportunity where maybe the games aren't as pressure rise as meaningful, and it does give you an opportunity to showcase some of your lesser players. You're more inexperienced players on the Steelers, it might be additional exposure for a Connor Heywood. How can we utilize him and utilize him differently with Chase Claypool gone. I wouldn't it all be surprised to see Connor Heyward in the slot he's built for that. Why not find out It might even be a bonus to your team, not necessarily a detriment, and you find out about the guy. Barring injuries, extended playing time for James Fierre in the secondary, Maybe even a Mark Robinson who opened some eyes and he was able to stick with the team as an inside linebacker. Look, we know what Mark what Roberts Felene brings. Why not find out Mark Robinson what he has to offer. Not totally, you don't just stick him in there and say here, you're the starting inside linebacker. But the restess Flenn gets, maybe some of those go to Mark Robinson. Miles Jack has a knee injury, maybe you reduce his rep somewhat. I think you continue to play Devin Bush because the book on him is still out. Maybe the trade of Jase Klue Claypool will offer some time for a Miles Boykin Stephen Sims. Sometimes circumstances dictate playing time, and maybe that's the case with the Steelers, But why not mix those guys in, find out what you have. Maybe give more playing time to Tray Norwood. Doesn't mean I'm suggesting that make if Fitzpatrick doesn't play, But I also don't think that make if it's Patrick has to play every down. Same thing on the defensive line. I'm not suggesting that Cam Hayward doesn't play, but maybe he doesn't need to play the amount of snaff Let's find out what Isaiah Louder miracles all about the mark Marvin lee All has shown some flashes of excellence. Play him. What are they having Martin Montravius Adams. It's clear that Tyson Lulu is not in the picture now or for the future. Find out what some of these guys have. I think you can accomplish both. You can still be very competitive, but you can also find out about what it is you have and what it is you're going to need in the future. I'm asked to see what the offensive offense looks like against the Saints. The coaches, more than the players, should benefit from the bye week. Some of the things that are very evident to those of us who are outside observers regarding the offense, not throwing down the field, not using the middle of the field. Why it would take a week off and the bye week for the coaches to realize where they were headed was in the wrong direction is beyond me. But be that as it may. I want to see if they've corrected issues. How much will Kenny Picket benefit from the bye week. I'm sure he spent his time studying up how much will things change because of the bye week not only in play calling but a style of offense, but also in use of personnel. It gives you a reason to have great interest or renewed interest in the Steelers, despite the fact that the playoffs are highly unlikely and maybe not even a great idea when you see there are two and six at the midway point of the season. How do players generally utilize their off week their bye week? Did they continue to work out, do they study? Where do they just take time off to heal their bodies? Max Starks played for the Steelers for a number of years. He's now, of course the sideline reporter for the Steelers radio network. Max joins us now and Max, when you were a player, going back all those many years ago, how did you spend your bye week? So bye week, I mean, it just really depended on, you know, what the schedule was, how much time was allotted. But you know, I usually if it was if it was possible, I try and go back to my college and catch a game if they were at home. Um, if not, head home uh to Orlando or out to uh Arizona where I had a place later on in my career, you know, and just it depends just to get away and kind of, you know, kind of reset yourself mentally for that second half push. Um, that was usually kind of the way I like to approach it. Well, we started out today with some good news. In case you haven't heard, We're gonna get a little bit of extra sleep a week from Sunday, the Steelers game against the Bengals. Schedule for Sunday night football has been flexed out, moved it back to four. So that's good for those of us who are working that game well as we and we actually get a mid afternoon game for once instead of the early morning. At least the press box food have changed just as lightly. Get more, get more lunch instead of brunch. There you go. I like that good double positive. Uh. Max. This football team in particular, Um, they're gonna t J. Watt's gonna be back, DeVante Kzy is gonna be back. William Jackson likely if he's healthy, is going to get a start. Um. I realized that players they're not worried about the draft, they're not worried about next year. The coaches probably aren't either at this point. Um, but is it time at two and six for the Steelers to be getting integrating at least UM of the younger players getting them game reps. UM. Maybe they're on special teams, but maybe you give him a couple of reps some scrimmage. Maybe you don't play Cam Hayward of the Snaps. Well, I I think at this point we're still too early, UM to have that consideration at this point. And by me saying that that means where now a week tend of the season of eighteen weeks, UM, I say that's more of a conversation. Once you get to about week four team, then you start thinking about it to see what do you have, how what have they learned? How do they assimilate into the offensive and defensive schemes of the structure of the of the team. UM. But at this point you're you're still in striking range. UM. You've only played two divisional games. You're one and one, UM with four on the back half here, and you're playing against teams with a with a combined win percentage average. So literally as tough as it was in the first half is about as good as it can get in the second half. And you're talking about also offensively, a secondaries that ranked thirty thirty one out of thirty two schedules remaining, um of UH as far as strength. So there's still a lot of a lot of hate to be had right now now. I think if we evaluate this in December, different conversation. But as it stands right now, I don't see why you would start to implement that unless they've proven to you that they've earned it, but just to give it for the sake of giving, I don't think that that's the right approach right now. I definitely don't believe that's in Mike Thomas dna UH. Those are all great points UM. Continually along that line of thinking, Max, When you look back at the first half of the season, the first eight games, UM, there were winnable games against teams that are likely to make the playoffs? How much and the stealers have deficiencies. I think everybody understands that, and reckon NICs as that. But how much did the difficulty of the schedule play into this two and six record? Not that you can always look to play a homecoming upon it, but how much? Uh, the Steelers did have the most difficult schedule in the NFL in the first half. How much did that factor in in your mind to having a two and six record. Well, I think it factored greatly. You're talking about going up against experienced teams, teams above five hundred, teams that were playoff teams a year ago, teams that have have greatly changed. Uh, you know, our minds because obviously when we when we were ranking the schedule, it's because we hadn't have gone through it, and a lot of surprises came in. Um, did anybody expect the Jets to be as good as they are? And they and they look legit because they just took down the Buffalo Bills. So you know, you think about the New England Patriots and their transition, we're kind of equal. They're a little bit ahead of us. Um that game being another tough one, but I mean, you know, there there were there were some opportunities we kept games close, especially the one down in Miami. But you know, you look at that team, and that team is pushing to win the A s C East, which is a log jam division. We happen to draw one of the toughest divisions in the A f C this year. We thought it was going to the West, and the West ended up being more due than anything else, and the A f c East ended up being being the UH the division that everybody was chasing. So I mean it's tough in retrospect, but like you said, there's all learning opportunities because we had some key things happened. Right, you have an a starting a brand new quarterback in your system as well as drafting another one when you're replacing one of eighteen years. That's one big hurdle that not a lot of teams have a lot of success doing, especially when they haven't been in the system like some other ones. That that when it's changing under guards a little bit smoother. I think Drew Brees to Philip Rivers, right, Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes like those are more exception than standards to the rule. Because even for the Indianapolis coach going from paid many to Andrew Luck, you had that you had to have that that weird fudges feeling in between, UM have a bad year. So I mean that was already one hurdle. Then you lose the reigning defensive m d P of the NFL Week two of the season, UM, the difference maker, and a lot of injuries along the way, you lose almost your entire secondary UH. For for one and a half weeks and you know, and then you have a new offense. So I think all those things played greatly into the record that we have right now. You know, hey, it is what it is. You are what you put on tape, and it didn't put it. But I think you have to say, given against the circumstances, you know, this team, hopefully we'll see in the second half, has learned a lot and they can kind of overcome those bugaboos of the first half season. But if they don't, then you have bigger questions that you have to answer. But as it stands right now, for a young squad going through these growing pains in that ugly period, that is called the word that we don't want to see, building, retooling, rehashing, however you want to look at it. Um, we didn't do it as good as we could have. But there's still room for improvement on the second half. You know that haven't been said. Um, that really pinpoints this came on Sunday. Um, they're at home, they're coming off of by New Orleans. Did not look good. They're really banged up and they're coming off a short week. Um, if there is a for lack of better turn a turnaround? Doesn't this game? Isn't that the pivotal point that if they win, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be a springboard, but if they don't win, it almost jettisons the entire agenda. Yeah, I think you're right. I think this is a game where all things equal, this is a game that you should win. All the factors are on your side, and like you said, the rest of the team, you're getting pieces back as well as it's at home, and it's a game that plays into what you expect, especially when you're talking about a short week. We just watched the bartoar Rays pretty much beat up on this squad relentlessly. So if we are going to make a statement, this is the weekend to start. Start at least dusting off the uh the quote unquote palette to start painting. You know what I'm saying, Like you got this is that a perfect opportunity to to bring out the new canvas, start picking out your color palette and go Bob Ross on him. But it starts. It has to start this Sunday. Okay, excellence, Um, I love the analogy. T J. Watt is gonna be back on Sunday. I don't know if he's gonna, you know, play the normal amount of snaps that they're gonna ease him back in and then you know they haven't been has been determined yet. Um. And it seems unusual to say, Um, if you take a great quarterback out of an offense, naturally there it's going to be a trickle down effect. Um. You wouldn't think that would be the case with one player. Um, but it is. The numbers tell you how valuable t J. Watt Uh is to this team. Um, the numbers don't lie. It's past the point of coincidence. As you've observed him and you've observed the Steeler defense, how is it, aside was individual excellence, that he has such a profound effect on the Steeler's ability to play good defense? I mean put playing and simple. Uh. Stand, he's the Aaron Donald of our defense, right, He's a Aaron Donald of our team. You take Aaron Donald out of out of that l A Ram's defense and teeth immediately start to wither away. Um. He's the one that you know, Wolf and I talked about this on our show. He's a forced multiplier, right, The addition of him allows others to be even better. And that's that, that's just that's just plain facts. I mean, we're one in six without him this season, and we want to know with him in the lineup, So you know that right there is just the straight statistical analysis that we look at it. But more importantly, you know, he allows Cam Hayward to get the one on one, He allows Alex Highsmith to get less chips off the edge, He allows for the lanes to be wider for Miles Jack, Devin Bush, Robertspilane and company. And then also it speeds up the quarterback timing. So therefore our defense can be more aggressive on the secondary. So all of those he so he causes a ripple effect amongst the defensive personnel and what they can and can't do. You could be a little more aggressive because you know that quarterback has to get out into it half seconds or he's gonna be on his back looking at the sky. So though, and every quarterback knows that when they see nine D across room was like, all right, we need to get to this progression really quick. Guys. Okay, listen, I know I know you like I know you like to cut round the route out in about eight or nine yards. I need you at seven. You gotta be at seven because the ball is coming at seven, you know it Just it speeds up their their ability to operate and and we'll see try and get eleven people to move in cadence every single time. That's tough, and that's where accidents and mistakes happen. And that's when the defense can take advantage with the personnel. So that's what that's what I mean. Like he does. He affects so many aspects of an opposing offense and of the defensive construct that you have that it makes it really difficult on the opposition just by his presence alone. Oh great stuff. Max. The last thing for you, there's beens. I don't want to call it a controversy, but there's been conversation about how well Jalen Warren is performed. Mike Tomlin and the press conference acknowledge such. I expect we'll see more of him. Um. Is it overly simplistic to say, well, both Nausea Harris and Jalen Warren are running beyond the same offensive line, running the same place. Um Warren has had more success in Harris. Is that overly simplistic. Is it a matter of Jalen Warren being ocor to the whole Naji Harris maybe dancing a bit too much before he gets through the whole, assuming there is one well, I think I think it is a very simplistic view. But but you know what goes into that as well, is Naji is gonna have more complex things thrown at him than Jalen Moore. It is being the starter versus being the reserve guy. Because if you see Jalen Warren going more often than not, it's mid drive. You've already established a temple and kind of what defenses want to do. But be he has to think about a lot less than Naji does, so he can therefore more read and react. Naji, I think, is a bit indecisive because he knows, he knows what he wants to happen, and he knows how it should look versus just taking what what's given to you. Right, It's one of those things where you know, it takes you a lot longer to figure out what you're going to eat at cheesecake factory than it does at a bistro or some very fancy daily daily menu. Right, farm the table type flot like we only give you what we got, right, it's a veggie salad, or it's just a garden salad. Like you know, you go, you go, you go to cheesecake factory, it's pretty much a telephone book. On the menu, there's like a page and a half just off ballots alone. So I think that's where you kind of have to look at the differentiation of what what are they asked to do in a given play or a given drive. Um, so Naji is gonna be thinking a little bit more than Jalen is. And also Jalen is one of those I'm just happy to be at the table eating food, you know what I'm saying, and whereas Naji is like, well, when I went to this restaurant, I got this, but they don't have this, So what's the closest equivalent that this. It's just it's a matter of the decision making process for both of them, and you get those different results. But I will say this, you do see a lot more decisiveness after Jalen Warren has had a successful play by Nazi, then you don't. And I think that's kind of one of the things where I hopefully they feed off of each other in that room. That is healthy competition to say, all right, it wasn't there, but man, I'm gonna make it happen. Right, I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring a hammer to a nail fight, and we're just gonna see what happens. And I think that's something that hopefully, as they watched the film, as they self evaluated over this week, that's something that they can learn from and hopefully build that and bring that to the second half of the season that hey, you know what, sometimes you just gotta do. Don't worry about don't worry about your y in the moment, just worry about it. That's all you have to do. It is a statement. Why is a question? Just make sure you made you curb. You curbed that question mark into an exclamation point. Our thanks to Max Starks. Of course, he's a sideline reporter on the Steelers radio network. He also was the co host of Wolf and Starks, heard on EESP in Pittsburgh and available on the i Heart Media app every weekday ten am to twelve noon Eastern and after they're done, I come on and do my show. It's available again on the i Heart app, or you can get it on over the air at nine seventy am. I'm on every day, following Wolf and Max. I'm on from noon until two. The podcast available to you on the Steelers dot com site. Just go there and we're there twice weekly with new issues, UM and episodes. I don't have any issues. My issue is doing the episode. There you go. Thanks for joining us today on Savrant Steelers. Tell your friends about us. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Savrant Steelers and until next time, so long, everybody,