SNR Drive with Matt & Dale (Pittsburgh Steelers)He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven home of the Black and Gold Steelers.
Nation Radio.
And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lollie, and I am here today with the Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, published author The Sword and the Stone and Rob King.
How are you, Kinger?
I'm doing well, my friend.
How are you?
I am fine.
I am here at Hancock Whitney Stadium in beautiful Mobile, Alabama. Of course back in Pittsburgh. But I hear the weather is a little warmer in Pittsburgh today than it was well the last couple of weeks, so maybe getting a little bit of a break there. But it's about sixty degrees here in the sun is shining.
So I'm gonna I'm in a great move.
King.
Well, that's good for you, I think the you know, yeah, we have we have some you know. I figure if you can see any blue sky or even the outline of the sun behind the cloud, we consider that a sunny day.
As you know. Here absolutely as a sunny day.
It's a beautiful sunny day here on the national team on the field here at the at the Senior Bowl where I am at and they're getting ready to kick off their morning session practice day number two here at the Senior Bowl. And Rob, I don't know if you've watched any of the Senior Bowl stuff from yesterday or any of that. I know it's all broadcast on the NFL network now, but this is really, you know, a situation where Steeler fans need to understand that. I went back and looked the Steelers have drafted a player who participate at least one who participated in the Senior Bowl every year since two thousand and seven, and last year their first four first four draft picks. We're all here immobile. So you know, if you want to get an idea of who the Steelers might take in the draft, you got to pay attention to what happens down here at the Bowl.
Yeah, it's a great point.
And you know, when you look at the Steelers last couple of drafts, they've been good, they've been productive drafts, and so, uh, you know, we should all be eagerly looking forward to your reports coming out of the Senior Bowl as an indicator of what might be happening for the Studers as they continue to try to, you know, get closer and closer and hopefully over the top as far as winning playoff games and competing with the teams that we're seeing left standing in the NFL. Uh and and have seen left standing after the Steelers were eliminated by the Baltimore Ravens. I'm curious as to how I know it's uh, I know it's uh. They're getting they're practicing, they're getting ready for a game. But what the process is like down there? Because it is part game, but let's be honest, Dale, it's also you know, a big part of the appeal for the players is the opportunity to get in front of other teams. It's it's part of the scouting process more than any other game that they've probably played in their careers. I mean this, you know everyone's going to be there, I'm sure, and have representatives there. So I'm curious. I don't know if you've talked about this on past iteration to the dry, but what does a typical day look like?
Is it?
How different is it from you know, sort of simple game preps. Knowing that Mike Tomlin can run out into the field and ask guys to match up against each other and all these other things as sort of a de facto super coach down there.
Yeah, I mean he was, as he usually is, was very active down here yesterday in Day one. And to your point about that, you know, these guys are all you know, for the quarterbacks.
For example, I wrote about the quarterbacks today.
Some of these guys haven't taken a snap under center, maybe since high school, you know, and now you're now you're doing it with uh and you play quarterback, so you're you're doing it with a guy who maybe was a guard, but they want to see it center. So he's not real were about the center exchange, you know, the snapping part of it. I'm sure he's you know, he's done it and you know, leading up to this because he knew he was going to be asked to do it, but now he's doing it with with different quarterbacks.
The quarterbacks haven't been under center, you know.
And now you've got defensive linemen lined up on the other side and they're they're rushing the passer here, and so you're trying to get out of there in time that you know, maybe it's a stretch play, you got to get out and get the handoffs.
So there's a lot of a lot to deal with with that.
Then you take a guy like Taylor elgers Mott and I wrote about a little bit about him, you know, today or yesterday on the Steelers dot com. He's from Laurier University in Quebec. It's Canadian football player. He he has been. It's a different game. You know, they're the speed of the game. You know, they're they're what they're you know, how they how they play the game, the hash marks, all that kind of stuff, and so he is he is here not only adjusting to all those things, but also now adjusting to playing the American game.
Right.
Yeah, there's a lot that's in and you know, when you talk about the center quarterbacks exchange, it is what used to be sort of the most rudimentary play in football, Like you have to have that down, and so you work on it in practice, and of course you're in practice, you're doing it all the time. But you know, people have to understand that. You know, first of all, some of these kids have maybe never taken a snap.
I mean even in high school.
So many high schools are running you know, spread attacks, and you know, think about it in these terms because we take it for granted, right that there's not going to be a fumble there. Well, the center is to your point, he's trying to snap the ball, and at the same time the same sort of motion, his body is moving forward to go block somebody. And as a quarterback, you know, you're running that stretch play and all of a sudden you got a fast running back and your first movement is in the other direction. So you're trying to get the snap and you're trying to move back and the center trying to move forward, and that football that's in between you is kind of important not to leave behind. Some times it gets left behind, I know from personal experience.
Sometimes it gets left behind.
And of course, you know, as the quarterback, you always think it's the center's fault, and the center probably always thinks it's the quarterback's fault.
That that's gonna be a bad feeling.
Oh yeah, it's not it. No, no, it's it's it's not good. But you know, so, yes, is it a basic thing? Sure, but we have people of our age have grown up watching, you know, and of course it's gotten you know, less and less common as the game has gone on. But you know, when we were watching football, everything was under center. There was no shotgun, right, you know. So so yes, that play had been perfected and it was taken for granted because kids starting in pee wee football quarterbacks and centers had done that, and then they'd done it in high school, and then they've done it in college and all those practices, thousands and thousands of reps that these guys don't have. You know, as my father used to say about some that looked easy. You know, a child to three could do it with thirty years of practice. So you know, these guys, yeah, it's easy and it's rudimentary, but you know those those years and years.
Of practice also helped.
So it's it is interesting to see things like that in the adjustments, I think, particularly for guys who are out in space. You know, I think that when you look at, for example, Mason McCormick, you know, making the adjustment from one double A what used to be called one double A and the offensive line to the NFL, well, it's still about you know, there's there's certainly gonna be guys that are quicker, little angles that have to be changed, but those are little angles in space, you know, so hey, listen, I better drop back with my right foot a little bit further to angle to the right to get this guy because he's quick and I have to give a little bit of ground. Those sort of things. But when you're talking about, you know, being a perimeter player or being a quarterback, you know, you think you guys opened, Well, he might have been opened at your level, but he ain't open at this level.
Yeah, it's a different throwball.
It gets picked off or you have to figure out different angles to pursuit because these guys are that much faster, So the little angles become bigger.
Angles, absolutely, And you know, then you add in the factor. I mean, the quarterbacks haven't worked with the wide receivers. Uh, you know that was the first time they did that yesterday, you know, so it was it was a little bit of a disjointed practice yesterday in terms of the passing game stuff. Now, the one on ones were you know better, you know, just because you had a quarterback with a defensive back in a in a in a receiver or a tight end or whoever was. That's a little different than putting all eleven out there. And I can tell you there weren't a lot of passes completed yesterday when it was all the entire eleven group of eleven on eleven out there yesterday because there was just so much to process there.
And in the terms of that's like.
They they spent a couple of days leading up to the first practice meeting about you know, how we're gonna practice.
Here's what we're gonna do.
Uh, this is, you know, we're going to do this drill and then we're going to go into this and then we'll do the you know, nine on seven, then we'll do eleven on you know, but you know, until you understand that, and then you add in the fact Rob that some of the colleges now also you've got the guys standing on the sidelines with the signs and everybody's looking to the sideline to see, Okay, here's the play that we're running. The quarterback doesn't call that right, and so now he's going to learn. I can remember going back, you know, this is now almost twenty years ago, talking with Bruce arians about that when he was a Steelers offensive coordinator, and you know, some of these guys coming out of those offenses don't know how to call plays right when.
They get into the huddle.
And that's kind of that's the fundamental part of being the quarterback.
You're got to relay the play from the side.
You know that they're they're telling you in your in your head or they're showing you on the card. You got to go into the huddle then and relay that play and get it right.
Yeah, it's almost very literally a different language. You know, you have to learn a new language of you know, X and Y receivers and and you know, holes and backs and motions and all kinds of other things, you know, uh, protections, and Yeah, it is a lot to process, I think, particularly at the quarterback position, but all of them. So that's always that's always fun to see how guys can process that. And then the other thing I think, you know, you talked about the you know, the sort of skeleton drills the the receiver versus defensive back, and last year at the GM meetings, Mike Tomlin made a just a fascinating point. You know, I hadn't thought about it, and you know, when you start to investigate the point, you realize, wow, it's it's right on the money that you know. It used to be a corner would get drafted and it would take him a couple of years to develop, you know, because there's just so much to process and at that position, and how difficult that position can be, you know, maybe the most demanding, certainly the most demanding defensive position, I think in the NFL. And you know, he said, look with the proliferation of seven on seven camps all over the country. You know, so top wide receivers and running backs are or and uh and defensive backs are going against each other from high school one.
Yeah, from the time of fourteen, yeah, sometimes younger. And just look it all.
Right, and just look at all the young corners that have that have made an impact as rookies and second year players. I think it's greater than it's ever been. And so that would be that would be a really interesting thing to watch. And then you know, it makes you wonder, you know, can you wait a little longer to get a corner?
Right?
I mean those guys used to be you know, absolute mandatory top ten picks to get it. You know, Hey, you want to get an offensive tackle and you want to get a corner, you better draft him in the top ten picks.
And after that it becomes a crapshoot.
I mean, there's those guys are still going early, but you know, maybe a little more depth at some of those positions than there's been in years past, just because you know, the entire game has changed, the way it's been played has changed, and that goes down well, some people would say it goes up from high school to college to the pros, but it certainly goes down from the NFL to the college ranks to high schools because that's what kids are doing now.
Yeah, and you know, Matt and I talked about this yesterday. I mean, there's just a a hole, just a boatload as there was last year as well. We're seeing more and more bigger cornerbacks, more corners with size, you know, coming out of the college ranks now because well, I mean, you know, you need somebody to match up with with some of these bigger wide receivers that are that they're there. I mean you start looking at some of these guys, just some of the sizes on the receivers here. You know, Jack Beck at a TCU six six foot one and a quarter two hundred twelve pounds.
Pat Bryant is here, he's six to two.
Chimeer Dyke from Florida six foot and three eights Day Kwon Felton six four and three eights, Jayden Higgins from Iowa State sixty three and three quarters.
Uh.
You know, Bru McCoy six to two.
These guys are all monsters at the receiver position, and so you know, you have to have cornerbacks to be able to match up with them.
So you look at some of the cornerbacks.
That are here, and you know, You've You've got a Darian porter At who is six two and three eights one hundred and ninety seven pounds. You've got Brandon Adams who's six one and three eights, Trey Amos who might be a first round pick out of Old miss six foot and three eights.
Uh.
You know, Bill al Coney is a small school guy. He's six to one and an eighth. You know, So you're seeing some of those bigger, bigger cornerbacks Azeri A. Thomas out of Florida State, uh, six one and a half to be able to match up with with some of those guys that that you know are bigger receivers that are you know, the George Pickens of the world.
Right and you know, you look at you know, Philadelphia's going to the Super Bowl. They went one to two at the defensive back position this year, both guys starting Cooper de Jean in the in the slot at you know, six foot two hundred, I mean, yeah, you know that used to be an outside corner all day. Yeah, I mean or a safety, you know, I mean, I might be a little too big to.
Be a corner. We want somebody lanky here.
And and you know, these they are extraordinary athletes for sure. One of the things that I think is always fascinating about football, really any sport, but you know, certainly football is that trends happen and then you know, as teams try to catch up to the trends, usually by the time they get there, the trends have changed. You know, way back in the day, Washington had the fun bunch, right, a bunch of small receivers and quick and they were darting around. And so now you get, well, you know, these big corners they can't stay with them, although I think today's corners might be able to. But these big corners can't stay with them. We need smaller, quicker corners to go with the smaller quicker receivers. And then somebody says, well, with that trend, maybe we should have bigger wide receivers going against those little guys, and on and on it goes, and he just goes back and forth. It is just to me one of the fun and fascinating parts of the NFL and how to teams adapt and where are they going with it?
You know. So you know, we talked about this.
I think Dale just you know, what is the value And I'm getting a little off kilter, a little off track here, but what is the value of the running back position? Well, we were told it was nothing and you can grab guys in the third round. There's some truth to that. There are a lot of fine running backs that were taken later in the draft. But the top five running backs in the league this year, I believe it was the top five or first or second round picks. Yeah, those guys sell them right. So Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry and all of a sudden, now you know there's the Philadelphia Eagles, big offensive line, Andy wide part of drafting some of these offensive and defensive lines, what are they gonna do. They're going to try to bully you, stop the run, have enough athleticism to be able to get after the quarterback. But offensively be able to march the ball and shove it down your throat. And we saw Baltimore and Philadelphia do that to great effect with high pedigree running backs. And it makes you wonder our team's gonna take, you know, a reevaluation of what you can do with the running game. Maybe we should invest in really big offensive linemen instead of guys that can zone block and get to the edge. You know, maybe we just want to slam it down people's strokes. Maybe we want to invest in running backs and an offensive line. And you know whether that will change because look, these guys, I mean, Barkley and Henry you know, didn't get huge dollars in free agency. You know, so you're talking about guys that are touching the ball twenty five times a game. And then you get on you know, so somebody like Jamar Chase, you know, looking at thirty five million dollars a year, and I understand he has an impact around the game beyond just the times he touches the ball. But he touches the ball seven times a game, right, you know, the running.
Backtor he touches the ball but about ten times a game.
But yeah, well yeah he's not I know, he's gonna get one hundred and seventy catches, you know. But yeah, they yeah, they bettering him on jet motions and other things. But you know, so you look at the simple math, and you know, maybe teams are going to say, well, wait a minute. You know, look, I understand Chase is a game changer and he's a rare guy. But maybe these other game changers like Barkley and Derrick Henry are being undervalued a little bit. I don't know whether the market will dictate that. I don't know whether the draft will dictate that. But again, like we're talking about, with the receivers and corners and the constant little tweets and adjustments to the game, I'll be interested to see if that maybe becomes just a little bit more of a trend too. Hey, you know this running game thing can work and be effective in the NFL.
Absolutely, Kinger, we got to get to a break. He is Rob king He's back in Pittsburgh. I am Dale Lolly here at Hancock Whitney Stadium and Mobile Alabama on the University of South Alabama campus here and the Senior Bowl practices kicking off here for the day. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, we'll be joined by the Dean of Doom, the Lord of living in his fears, Bob Labriola. Right after this this.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
And our back.
I am Dale Lolly here in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl, and he's Rob King back in Pittsburgh, and we're joined on the Justin Miller hot line by the.
Dean of Doom, the Lord of living in his fears, Bob Labriola. How you doing, Laps.
How's the weather in Mobile?
It's about sixty degrees right now, Bob, and the sun is shining, and yeah, beautiful, beautiful. There is still something like across across the street from my hotel in downtown Mobile. You can see the remnants. There's still some ice on along the side of the road where they had to plow it to the side because they got hit with like five to ten inches of snow here last week.
So it's still kind of melting away.
Most of it has melted, but I did notice that little ice patch it still has not melted.
And you know from a week.
Ago downtown mobile. That's not a contradiction in terms.
No good sized city.
They got skyscrapers. It's a beautiful city. It's a beautiful city. They get the you know, it's it's kind of like a mini New Orleans. I got the lattice buildings and things of that nature. This is where the they claim that the Marty grass began here, they had the first one.
And so it's a it's a it's a beautiful city.
Okay, what's the word for it.
I mean, you know, and they have they have plenty of cold beer and things of that nature.
So what are they known for a certain kind of food. They have seafood down there.
Oh, seafood, Yeah, French.
You can get the you know, a lot of uh you know, oysters and crawfish and all that good stuff.
So and you can also garbecue. Based on what I saw on social media today, you can also get cheeseburgers with mac and cheese.
You can do that as well. That was that was quite the Uh you saw that? Did you? That thing the guy did? I didn't order that. I had no idea what it was.
The guy next to me had ordered it, and they brought it up, and I'm like, what in the world is that.
I couldn't have fitted in my mouth.
First of all, because it was like an eight inch thick sandwich. But he's like, oh, this is you know this. I get to come here and get this thing every year. I'm like, really, he's just walking by me here right now. Actually the cheeseburger, dude. So yeah, and he he ate the thing, I swear to God in less than five minutes.
It was unbelievable.
It was an unbelievable feat of just pure food gluttony.
I've never seen anything like it.
Almost like sitting at the table with Wolf.
Yeah, it's kind of like yeah, yeah, I mean just it was there and then it just disappeared, and I'm like wow, And he ate all the tater touts that came with it, like they were all gone. I'm like, wow, that was that was impressive. But yeah, it's a it's an interesting town. You know, you get a little bit of the Deep South, you get a little bit of the New Orleans you know feel to it. You know, you're on the water. You know, they have cruise ships that come out of here. So it's it's an interesting city and oh, by the way, like the entire NFL is here this week. Like you go out to anywhere you go, there's you know, representatives from this team or that team, and there's all kinds of agents down here. It's you hear a lot of stuff when you keep your ears open. Let's put it that way.
Okay, kind of like a pre combine.
It's a pre combine. Yeah, it is kind of a pre combine. So there's that.
So, labs, we now know who the finalists are for the Super Bowl. And I might add that they were two of the three teams that the Steelers played in an eleven day span. I tweeted that out the other day and and there was outrage from Steeler fans, but not they not The outrage was more about what it just shows you They're not anywhere close to those teams, I'm like, But the point remains that the NFL scheduled this where they had to play two of those three finalists or two of the finalists, the two teams that are still standing in an eleven day span. You, oh, by the way, tuck the Ravens into the middle of that thing. Again, not using that as an excuse for what happened. But also, I mean, should you be shocked. I think if any team in the league, if the Kansas City Chiefs had had to do that, did they come through that unscathed? I don't think so. It's just such a you know, and then you start adding the injuries that the Steelers had, you know, at that time, into that equation, and it's you know.
It added up to what it added up to.
The schedule makers just did the Steelers no favors this year with particularly in that particular stretch.
Hard knocks, baby, hard, hard knocks, Yeah, all about it. That's that's the most important thing. Hard knocks. And I'm serious, no one will ever convince me that that is not the reason behind you know, that post by a series of games for the Steelers. I mean, and I haven't compared and looked at the other a FC North teams, but you know, all of the a FC North games just about I think there was maybe one or two played before. Uh yeah. So but I mean, hey, that's what we're all about. We're about hard knocks. So I you know, we're about hard knocks.
Yeah, you know.
I think that, you know, when I look at that schedule and I looked at the final result in Baltimore. Uh, you know, I went back and looked at at the Baltimore game. I think when we're in the middle of that meat grinder, guys, it was you know, it was it was hard to have a good feeling about the team because they lost all four games, right including the game against Cincinnati. And I went back and looked at that game. I was talking to Dale in the press box prior to the game, and in Baltimore the playoff game, And when you look at that Baltimore game, you know, and you think about all the things that went wrong for this Steelers. You know, two fumbles that Baltimore falls on top of in Steelers territory, you know, you recover either one of those. You've got great field position, Russ fumbles they recover inside the five yard line, you know, with a chance to go up fourteen to seven in that game. Just the way the game was a back and forth game, even after the pick six that Russell Wilson threw. You know, this years took the next drive Marks did into Ravens territory and then there was a sack and a penalty and that kind of that was really kind of what what ended the game for me. But it was really kind of an evenly played game. I mean there was until you know, and then the score made it look bad. But the thing that got me a little bit, guys, was it didn't feel like that was the same team we saw. I think the Ravens were playing better and for some reason, the Steelers were playing worse even though they were healthier. Remember they didn't have George Pickens in that game, they didn't have Deshaun Elliott in that game. Dante Jackson left early in that that first game against the Ravens.
So that that's kind of what, you know, outside of.
That last game, I really feel like, and this is hard to sort of say and hard to feel if you're a Steelers fan, that the Steelers did close the.
Gap a little bit.
I mean they were in you know, when you when I think back about that playoff game in Buffalo a year ago, it just never felt like there was much chance of winning that game. And you know, you take this game by game. You know, it pitched to Naji Harrison Philadelphia that he uncharacteristically fumbles as you're marching in to hopefully tie the game in the third quarter. The outline I said in Baltimore, even Kansas City, you know, it's sort of a dubious holding call on Darnell Washington erases a touchdown that put the Steelers in the lead prior to that interception in the end zone. So you know, it was a meat grinder schedule. I still can't really come to terms with what happened in Baltimore because I don't it just it seemed non representative to me of what i'd seen, you know, just a few weeks before in Baltimore. But I still think that, you know, another good draft, another year free agency, and you know, let's keep chipping away.
Absolutely.
You know, I'm with you, Robin, And you know, some people you're making excuses. No, there's a difference between an excuse and a reason. There are two different things and excuses like well yeah, but but but the reason when you're when you're explaining the reason why some of these things happened. You know, you didn't get on the fumbles, you didn't get you know, yeah, those those are those are factors. Those are things that that actually happened. You know, it's not an excuse. Well, some intangible thing that that you're you're coming up with. Yeah, they weren't, as you know, in the grand scheme of things, as talented as some of those other teams. Sure we knew that going into that that that that those teams had an advantage at quarterback that you were going to have to overcome with.
The rest of the roster. That's just the reality of the of the NFL today.
Let me just you know, gently disagree a little bit here. The Steelers got handled by the Ravens in Baltimore in the playoff game.
Oh there's no yeah about that.
Well, yep, that to me is you just you can't have that.
No, I completely have to know.
You have to know how to play that team. You play them at least twice a year every year, and if you don't bring it physically against the Ravens, that's what happens. And so that was the disappointment to me. This is not you know, when leading up to that game, when a lot of us were talking about the Steelers' recent performance against the Ravens eight out of ten or whatever it was, and in Baltimore four out of five, whatever it was. Part of the reason for that is the Steelers brought it physically. They came you takes when you play the Ravens. And I've always said this, the reason, in my opinion, the main reason why teams, especially from the NFC do not do well against the Ravens is because they are not prepared for the intensity, for the physicality of what they're going to face from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. The Steelers no better than that. There have been guys.
That are on who are on the.
Field for that playoff game in Steelers. You ms who have experienced that at least once or twice and know better. But they just did not respond to that. They took more punches than they delivered. And you know, I don't ever question effort or anything like that because I don't.
I choose not to, you know, sit.
Up in the press box or on my couch watching it on TV and say that guy's not trying hard because or you know, because I just don't believe in that. There's just no way to know that. And I'm not gonna try and you know, play god so to speak, and know it's in somebody's head or heart. But what I can say is they got handled physically well.
And I agree so so labs.
I agree with everything you're saying, and I don't want to be misunderstood here, because frankly, I was mystified by what happened in Baltimore. I did not expect to see that based on the fact that and when I talk about the talent gap, you know, they beat the Ravens in Pittsburgh and they were you know, I just sort of outlined what I thought happened in Baltimore in a game I didn't think they were manhandled. What I can't figure out is why three weeks later they were. I do wonder if just sort of mentally the team needed something good to happen down the stretch and they just couldn't find it, and whether that was a factor, And that's why I said, I thought, you know, right up until that game against Baltimore, I thought, okay, well, listen, there's a difference between the team that went up to Buffalo last year where I'm thinking, okay, they got to win the turnover margin three to nothing. You know, they probably need, you know, a punt return for a touchdown. You know, Josh Allen has to slip and fall and tumble out of bounds when he's running in for a touchdown. Something something out of the ordinary has to happen, and I felt like I didn't feel like that going into the game in Baltimore. Now, you know, feelings are not results, and the results are are the results.
And they were manhandled.
That was their worst in the last five games, in the five game losing streak. That was the worst they looked in my opinion, And I don't really even think it was that close. Second half of Kansas City, they didn't look good either, but from the from the opening, I just don't know if that was a team that needed something positive. You know, if they make that first stop deep in Ravens territory, does it change. I don't know, because I'm I'm without an explanation for what happened in Baltimore.
I don't know what happened.
Yeah, and you know, I just again the physical handling, Yes, for me, started well with the Ravens offensive line the Steelers defensive line, and so for me, that has to be I really believe that the Steelers need to treat the defensive line now the way they have had been in the recent very recent past, treating the offensive line and dale next time you see Matt Williamson and all his mock drafts. Tell him that I said, they pick a wide receiver on the first round, I'm gonna come and kick his butt.
Well, I can tell you right now, Bob.
I'm watching Mike Tomlin on the field here during this early practice session. The national team is on the field, and he is intently watching the defensive line drills. And when I say intently, I mean he is almost in the drill. So take from that what you will. But he seldom hides what his interest is in these situations. And he is all over the defensive lineman down here. And it is a super talented group of players here of defensive lineman here at the Senior Bowls year.
Yeah, you know, and no offense. Rob, But I was really hoping that Matt was going to be on this call because his last mock draft was wide receiver. Running back. Quarterback.
Well, so I will tell you that. And I understand the notion of quarterback. And listen, if you love a guy, you know, if you think you can get a franchise quarterback, if you're like, oh my goodness, this is manner from heaven. We have a we have the future franchise quarterback dropping in our lap in the first round of the second round. That's the cabyat you have to take that guy that's not gonna happen. That it's just not gonna happen. So I was talking to to to Dale before we you know, you got on Bob, and I would have no problem with them.
You know, they've got some cap space.
You have to handle the quarterback position obviously, but if you maybe thought about receiver, MA be a corner for some depth in free agency, and you went defensive line, defensive line, running back, that's you know, that to me is another winning off season for this dealers because I agree with you. I think that you know, and again you don't want to reach you know, if and if you feel like you can get a defensive line lineman in the third round and you're running backs there in the second round, fine, I'd like to see him hand a wide receiver in free agency, and then I would I would be looking to you know, two out of if if you tell me right now, two out of the first three picture defensive line.
I am ecstatic, yeah, because I just think that when you look at the typical talent distribution in terms of positions in the draft, you know, it was always I think it was George Young who called it the planet theory. There's only so many people on the planet who are three hundred pounds in athletic, so you better get those guys early because everybody's looking for him. And you know, just as it was I think unrealistic for the Steelers to be spending you know, third day picks on offensive linemen and hoping to be able to rebuild or you know, reconstruct that position. It's just as unrealistic to try and do it with the defensive line. I mean, I get it that Brectisa was a seventh round pick, I get it. But you know, thinking that you're going to pick defensive linemen on the third day and these guys are going to be some of the answers to some of the issues that I think cropped up late in the regular season against the run, it's delusional. It's like thinking, and I always say this, it's like me thinking.
That I'm going to use the power ball that's.
My major funding for my retirement fund. You know, sure everybody hits the power ball every now, and you know, someone wins the.
Power ball all the time.
The odds that it's going to be me are not very good. So maybe you're gonna get a Brett keesl on the seventh round. But if you think that that's the way you're going to rebuild that part of your team, not happening.
Okay, So I'm scratching off.
Powerball writing when writing a book includes no.
No, that's believe me, that's not going to be part of the retirement plan either, you know, writing it off as a loss on my taxi.
I don't even know if I can do that.
So you know, uh so, Bob, I totally agree with you. And you know, you know, we talk a lot. I think a lot, and I talk about with Dale and some of the other guys, you know, the what one player and one position group can do for everybody else. So you know, you know, I to make it easy. And I talk about Watt a lot. Okay, So if you're TJ Watt, you're gonna help the guy next to you on the defensive line because they got a double team TJ. And if they use a running back or tight end to chip and well, that helps the corner behind you or the or the linebacker who's hustling out to the flat. So one, one player can have that sort of effect. And you know, as the season war on and I was wondering, okay, where where are the Steelers. If you have you know, great corners, uh, maybe you can blitz more and if you uh, you know so, I'm trying to think, okay, uh, you know, what position do you want to attack? Well, I think that what we saw at the end of the season laid bare what they need to do.
They need they need.
To not you know, hey, we're gonna stop the pass and that'll help us stop the run. No, it has to be the other way around. They have to be able to stop the run and then hey, listen, those guys can get to the quarterback too and throw off their timing and rhythm. I just think it, you know, I was wondering which position, uh you know, hey, could you get by an other year on the D line and maybe go corner? Now, you know, looking at what Philadelphia did with their first two picks, I'm firmly in your camp, Bob. I think it has to be defensive line. And I think that's going to help those those linebackers running free. That you know that you have speed at the inside linebacker position, you have guys on the edge who can get to the quarterback. You've got a fine set of safeties, you've got a promising young corner still developing, Joey Porter, that stuff. But if you can't stop the run, that stuff doesn't matter. Speed doesn't matter. At the linebacking position, if they're able to run right at you, you know, you want to be able to dictate to them. And this yearers, at the end of the season, we're not doing the dictating. And I think we saw that, you know, front and center, and that loss in Baltimore.
Apparently apparently we lost Bob.
Bob. Bob had enough. It was ticked.
He only wanted to come on today so could yell at Williams. Yeah, yeah, that was that's what it was all about.
That.
Yeah, well, our guest was Bob Labriola and the Steelers Digestive Steelers dot Com. Apparently Rob ticked him off, or I ticked him off, I don't know, you know, but anyways, let's let's get to a break, Rob and we'll be back with more.
He is Rob King back in Pittsburgh.
I'm Dale Lolly here at Hancock Whitney Stadium in beautiful Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl.
Rob and I'll be back with more right after this.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold r Steelers Nation Radio.
And welcome back.
I'm Dale Lolly. He is the Uh. I almost called you Matt Williamson there, and I want to do that.
He's the Rob King published author Sword and the Stone Dorderstone.
The Sword and the Stone is Part two. That's that's already been in the Stone?
Is u is King Arthur?
Yes, that's already been written.
Yeahs A scimitar, that's yes, that's the mighty Python version.
It doesn't give you the divine right? Yes, uh. Kiger A good conversation.
There with with with Labs about the defensive line stuff, and I'm with you, guys. I think you take two defensive linemen in this in this draft. I don't care if it's in rounds one and two or two and three or one in three, but I want some I want some pedigree guys at that position in this draft. And this draft is loaded with them, and there's a bunch of them down here at the senior bone. As I mentioned in the previous segment, Mike Tom, I'm paying very close attention to that particular group.
Well, you know, I think that the caveat has to always be that, you know, you don't want to reach for a need, you know, and there are I mean, I think that you know, the the Steelers have identified, you know, the schedule identified some niches for this Steelers.
But I think they're you know, they're fairly clear.
Like I you know, look, I would be shocked if they drafted a tight end, for example, in the first round. I don't think that's gonna happen. And they're not gonna draft an inside linebacker. I don't think they're gonna draft the safety in the first round. I'm not sure they would draft an edge guy, considering the edge guys that.
They still love in the team.
So, you know, if you feel like, you know, wow, we really have something here, you know, again, allow you you can allow yourself the ability to be surprised. So if you were drafting and all of a sudden, wow, we didn't expect this guy. Like I said last segment, here here's a franchise quarterback where hey, this next guy, he's the next Lawrence Taylor or the next Dion Sanders or the next Derrick Henry.
Well, then you know.
Maybe you change plans a little bit because that guy is gonna impact your you know, what you can do for the next five or six years. I think the Steelers do a really good job in free agency and always have of at least, you know, signing plausible guys. Okay, this guy can help a little bit. We're gonna sign him, but we'd like to be able to draft somebody that's gonna push him down on the depth chart. But if we can't, we can't find that guy where the draft dictates that we go in another direction.
We've got a starter.
Yeah, you've got somebody that we can that we can fill the gap in, and then let's go get somebody in another position. I think one of the reasons, you know, people and look, I understand fans frustration, and the Steelers are frustrated too. You know, I did the interview with with Art Rooney a couple of days ago. He's obviously frustrated. The franchise wants to win championships, but it's not If you just take a step back and think about what the Steelers have done, it is a very very difficult thing to do. With the Bills had what how many losing seasons in a row, you know, an astronomical number. And and you know, I saw something recently, Oh, the Steelers should have drafted this guy and this guy and this guy instead of Chase Claypool. Well, how many teams would would like to have a do over and have drafted Cam Hayward where he you know, instead of where he went with j Watt or Alonzo or Alonzo, Alex Heismith. You know, all kinds of players you can say that about. And it's easy to cherry pick that when you're when you're coming off a season that that's not a success by this Steelers standard.
It's not.
That wasn't what they were trying to do. It wasn't what they set out to do. But uh, I think that because you have that flexibility you are, it allows you to draft players, and when you're drafting late, it allows you to draft you know, or if you're shrewd enough to do this, and this Yeeler has always have been to take players that are maybe non traditional, you know, ways to build the team. Right, So we need to shut down corner, and we need a number one receiver, and we needed an offensive tackle.
Well, if you're drafting. You know, twenty seventh in the draft.
You ain't getting that left tackle, You're not getting that cornerback, You're not getting that receiver. You know, you're not getting Jamar Chase unless you're drafting in the top ten. Guess what, the studer's never drafted in the top ten. So to be able to do that and find value at sort of non traditional positions that have again that that trickle down effect to other positions. Nobody's drafting safeties as high as steers when they drafted Troy Polamalo, So you know there's a Again, the students aren't where they want to be. But all this is a way of saying I think that they'll put themselves in a position where they can say, look, we we would prefer defensive line, but we're going to keep ourselves open to the best player at maybe four different positions instead of saying we have to get that at one position.
But I do think they have to address defensive line.
Yeah, I mean, you just need to impact players, right, that's exact point. I mean, if you get the best guy and you draft, you draft a Hall of Fame guy, I don't care what position play.
I totally agree totally.
You're absolutely right, and that's been their philosophy and and I think it's one of the reasons. You know, it's there are many other reasons. And again, fans want to hear super Bowl. They don't want to hear you know, what is it eight straight years now without winning a playoff game, but you know, getting to the playoffs numerous times, it's a difficult thing to do.
So take a step.
Back, forget about being a Steelers fan and look at a team that's been able to to you know, not have that plummet down to the bottom. And again you can argue about that, Hey, the plummet down to the bottom is what we need to get that franchise quarter.
That's not what I'm talking about.
It is very difficult and it's not going to guarantee with that.
Yeah, and it's pretty much unprecedented what the Steelers have done to be able to maintain this. And again, you know, for fans out there rolling their eyes and saying that's not what we want, I understand that that's not what they want either, But it's still if you just look at it from if you decide, hey, I'm a general manager now instead of a Steelers fan.
What they've been able to accomplish, is.
It?
I mean, I can't think of any other team that's been able to do anything like it. You have to go back to the Cowboys, what you know, forty years ago for another team that was able to do what they've done.
Is that what they want?
No?
Is it still difficult to do well? Like I said, you have to go back forty years for another team that's done that.
Yeah, So there you go.
Let's get to a break, Rob, that's going to do it for our number one of the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network, Rob and I'll be back with our number two right after this
