The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1383 - TJ Watt & Cam Heyward, Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin, Danny Smith, Gene Steratore, Omar Khan, Pittsburgh Dad, Mark Kaboly

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

On today's show, Pat, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk and the boys are LIVE from Latrobe, PA for Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp previewing all things 2025 Steelers football. In the first hour, 7x Pro Bowler & DPOY TJ Watt joins the progrum alongside 7x Pro Bowler & Walter Payton Man of The Year Cam Heyward to chat about TJ's new contract, the additions of Jalen Ramsey and more. Also in the first hour, Super Bowl Champion & 4x MVP Aaron Rodgers stops by to talk about how fired up he is to join the Steelers, dorm life at Training Camp, fights at Training Camp, Mike Tomlin as a head coach & leader and more. Next, Super Bowl Champion Head Coach Mike Tomlin joins the set to tell us about the demeanor that Jalen Ramsey brings, the confidence Rodgers brings, and more. Steelers Special Teams Coach Danny Smith joined the program after Coach Tomlin for an electric pump up speech and epic stories from his 31 years in the NFL. In the second hour, Steelers GM Omar Khan stops by to discuss his mentality and approach in building the roster, give some insight into the process of bringing in Aaron Rodgers & reaching an extension with TJ Watt, and more. We close things out with the Pat McAfee Show Steelers correspondent Mark Kaboly, who brings some Rudy’s subs and divulges some unsavory information. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 ET), ESPN's YouTube (12-3 ET), or ESPN+. We will be LIVE from Canton, Ohio ahead of the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And welcome to the Hall of Grounds of St. Vincent College on his down there Wednesday. Football! This lovely place home, since 1966, this beautiful Catholic college has been the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers training. every Pittsburgh Steeler that has just crossed your mind has worked their ass off on the fields behind us here today just like this team that has been reimagined in a brand new way to put a press for a Super Bowl the boys are buzzing the city is electrifying and this is one of those things that if you're a football fan you have to experience the lines to get into this training camp every single day are hours and hours. Yinzers travel from all over the country to come watch the boys put in work here at St. Vincent College. And if you think about Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is a hardworking city. You think about western Pennsylvania. You think about dogs. That is what training camp is all about. Coach Mike Tomlin will be here today. T.J. Watt will join us today. Cam Hayward will join

us today. Aaron Rogers will join us today. Danny Smith will join us today. Omar Khan, The general manager will join us today. And I think we'll have a show that will be able to showcase one of the greatest football towns in the history of this sport for a few hours before they kick off their first full padded practice here at St. Vincent College.

Now, West Virginia, My Mama, Take me all, Country Road. You can have a lot of people from West Virginia here as well because the Mountaineers are all the way back as well. Now, it's not just me, Obviously, I have a great group of people around me.

The Toxic Table is here at Ty Schmidt, at Boston Connor. We'll start with you, Ty. Ty, we've been back to Pittsburgh a few times. Got chance to go to a Pirates game. Obviously, we had big night out a few months ago. It was electrifying. It was awesome. This place is great.

We've been to a Penguins game. Sell the team. Sell the team. Oh, the Penguins? Back to Mario. They're talking about the Pirates, I believe. I think they're still talking about the pirates. I don't think it's the penguins we're talking about.

Mario is trying to, no, no, okay, shit. Mario is trying to buy it back. That's the owner of the Pirates. They're talking about the Pirates. Okay, all right, so now we move forth. Pittsburgh is a football town through and through. That's what it is, and it's a beautiful experience here at St. Vincent College to celebrate all over. Yeah, it's the best.

Tony and I talk about this all the time. Here we go. I mean, what else needs to be said? The energy, the atmosphere around here, it's incredible. I'm a Packers fan. This, this, I mean, if I was. a fan of a different team in the NFL, the easy counterpart, if you're a Packers fan. You look towards the AFC, it's Steelers. I mean, the two organizations that are run a very

similar way, I mean, you're not getting this everywhere. You're not getting this everywhere in the NFL. It just, it feels like we're ready for football. It feels like the season starts on Sunday. It's incredible. And it's a testament to all these fans that came out here today. Yeah, and they're not the only ones. There'll be thousands more that will litter through the both the fan zone, the merch area. There's a other gathering. I think there's two youth teams from around Pittsburgh that come every single day. They go through some drills. They get a chance to meet the boys.

It's been here for almost 60 years. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP Tone, Pittsburgh resident, die-hard Steeler fan. Oh, yeah. Tone. Tone, you've been getting a rash. A little bit of zipper burn all morning.

And obviously the people showing you love here and a big night now has been beautiful to watch. I'm proud of you. But this is really an important piece of the entire puzzle. A lot of new faces on this Pittsburgh Steeler team. This team is being constructed differently than any other Steelers team of the past.

Feels like training camp matters a little bit more right out. Yes, there it is. There's one of them. There's one of them. Not to mention, you know, one of them. Jalen Roadsie, Janu, Smith, Darius, Slay, and Aaron Rogers, all the others. But no, I went up and down, boom.

Aaron Rogers! These guys have been with a team for two weeks and they're already loved around here because if you become a Steeler, you're loved around here. I mean, we landed here this morning. You could just feel the Lombardy's coming out of these sweet rolling hills. I looked at the roster the other day.

We are better in literally every single position than we were last year. It is Super Bowl or Bus this year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nine-year NFL vet. Darius J. Butler is here. We're back at Training Kemp. We're in a dorm up here. We're in a dorm up here just kind of before the show. Had air conditioning.

That was nice. It's hot as shit here in these hills of Western Pennsylvania. And actually, Mike Tomlin, was on the record of stating last year they practiced in the morning and he said it wasn't hot enough let's move it to the afternoon we let the environment kind of hardened to boys before they head out there for a season but it has been nice to feel like we're in training camp here for the last like five six hours yeah these are the dog days this is when the foundation of your team is building every year every year the team is different you're bringing a new quarterback you got all these different players this is you stand on the campus you're sticking with each other you're spending time with each other you're really building that foundation for the season I can't wait till after the show to actually get out the chance to check out practice man see these good guys yeah should be fun to see the new guys you're talking about jalen i can't wait i think one-on-ones are happening out here him and dk will be box office if that's possible there's also one-on-one so we'll see the d-lines get after it we'll see the running backs and the linebackers get after it and on that

note jalen ramsie absolute beast flies around like uh he's like a terra dactyl like the way he moves it's outrageous joining us now ladies and gentlemen a college football chairman champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, a man who's a former President of Ohio, and loyal Cincinnati Bengal, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawke is there. Early thoughts on St. Vincent College. Why did you do that to you? St. Vincent is beautiful. This...

Okay. Oh, oh. I expected. They'd say the same thing back. Obviously, but Pittsburgh's had a lot of success against the bangles. I agree. I understand. It's a respectable organization. But if you mentioned your new quarterback Aaron Rogers mentioned when he got here, how much he loves this dorm. I think he stayed here a night before he even had to.

It's like St. Norbert's what they used to stay at in Green Bay. They still do from back in the day when Bart Starr was there. There's a lot of similarities, a lot of carryover off you. Brother, you know who's been around these parts? How about Mean Joe Green? You can feel it. How about Lynn Swarm? How about the wheel?

on the bus go ride and round round Jerome Bettis used to run his big ass all around these hills and run all over people Heinz Ward and the incomparable Ben Rothesberger found his way as a stealer here and joining us now

ladies and gentlemen two men that'll go down his Pittsburgh Steelers forever guys been here for 15 years the other's been here for nine They just got a deal done with one of them, and the other one is the Walter Payton Man of the Year every single year.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, Perennial All-Pro. T.J. Watt and Cam Haylor. This is a good. Good, yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, one more time, Kim Hayward, TJ One. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. There we go. Oh. Oh. Ladies and gentlemen, one more time. Kim Hayward, T.J.1.

Uh, Cam. Fuck, I was Garrett! Oh, God. Oh, Gary! Everybody can get it right now. And that's what training camp is all about. Cam, you're entering your 15th year, I do believe, all here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Right.

I believe that's a carryover from the previous chant right there if you're wondering. TJ, any facial expression that you make right now will be judged by everybody in Cleveland and across the NFL. But it has to feel good to get the love from these people and also get your business handle before you get here. before you get here and have a magical training camp. Best fans of the world, man. I'm glad we got the deal done so I could be here in front of everybody, man. There's no place like with girls, man. Let's talk about it.

15th year, you're going into it. Mark Koboli, obviously, Steelers corresponding for our show. He's been coming up here 20 years. This has been the hottest it's been up here. Do you feel as if this camp has been a little bit hotter, a little bit more grueling? What are your thoughts on the current camp thus far? Man, the weather's been a little bit wild,

but I guess in the time being, I think it's been the hottest we've ever had, so it's a lot of fun, though. Okay, enjoying the team. You have a lot of them. Everybody loves Cam, watchmate man to the year, I've been here for 15 years, gives back to the community, dad a part of the team, brother are part of the team. I mean, it's the Hayward family, you certainly done a lot for the Steelers. Now, let's talk about your off season a little bit.

Mine or his? Yours. And yours in a second. Cam, so after you talk shit about Aaron Rogers, okay, you then said, that's right. You then said, you then said, you said, we're getting a little older, and I think everybody kind of feels that we need to go for it. You said that on your podcast, which is great. Not just football.

Shout out. Great podcasts. Great interviews, great conversations. Hayden, Richard Sherman, we're awesome. But on that note, does it feel as if this year everybody's kind of focused on one thing we're going all in? It has to, right? I think every year we're like that. You know, every time we get a chance to lace them up, you got T.J. over there. You know, years past, we've had Ben.

You know, I don't take it for granted, but I have the privilege of every year we try to compete. and I'm very thankful to have Mike T and Omar doing that for us. Your relationship with Coach Tomlin is awesome to watch at hard knocks. Basically, they're going in for halftime. I forget what game it was. And Tomlin looked at you and was like, hey, if your group starts playing well, we're going to win this game. He looked at you as like an assistant coach.

Obviously 15 years here, you and Mike have been through a lot. Outer state's been no longer, though, because old-ass errands here. How does that kind of go? He's old on that side of the ball, and I'm old on this side of the ball. With Mike T, he knows if my group's getting called out, I'm going to respond to it. And, you know, I live and die by guys like him. So if they play well, I play well. Yeah, I love the relationship you have with Tom.

Let's talk about T.J. TJ, T.J. So rich. So rich. DJ Y. TJ Y. You earned it. One, oh, wait. One, eight.

One, eight. That's the amount of millions you signed for. Obviously, congratulations on that. Business out of the way. full focus on season. Whenever that's all going on, how much do you let, like, agents and other people deal with it,

and how much are you worried about getting yourself ready for a season? I'm always getting myself ready for the season regardless of what is happening. I think the second time around, you're more involved with your agents than the first time, for sure, just because you're older and more mature.

You know how the business works, but we always knew a deal was going to get done. I'm glad I got done when it did. You guys added somebody on the back end that's a freak. Debut has a question for you. Yeah, Jaylor Ramsey,

I actually added DK on the offensive side the ball bringing Jalen Ramsey how has it been so far with him because look you guys are our favorite friends on the back end but how has his energy been with the team so far it's been huge and it goes both ways I mean he's a Swiss army knife of our defense right now you're going to see him playing every position you're going to see him playing man and anytime those guys locked down just for an extra half a second we love it because it allows us to get to the quarterback yeah I think just with Jalen it's not just what he does when the play is snapped it's what he's doing before the play. His disguise, his level of professionalism is just on display for everybody. And so like

that first pick Aaron through to Patrick Queen, that was because of Jaylen. So seeing him out there, I'm excited to see what he's going to do this year. Yeah, and obviously the world reacted to Aaron throwing a pick to somebody in training camp. You know, a lot of reactions in training camp. That's kind of a part of the world that we're in, especially whenever you get thousands. Hey, thousands of people at every single practice. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, for both you, but TJ, first what's it like with Aaron in camp like what has it been obviously the hoop while that surrounds a guy like him but then actually going against him in practice I think today is what first day of pads probably so you get a really good

look at it but what's that like having a vet like him come in here frustrating because he talks a lot of smack really does a lot of scrimmage is he saying it's up to the line of scrimmage yeah and I think a lot of the no look passes are things that we're getting used to I like to bat down a lot of passes on scrimmage and he's able to manipulate the defense good so that's been very frustrating hopefully we get the better of them about you cam is he annoying to go against him he talks a whole lot of how about his cadence he's trying to get you the cadence yeah i'm trying to learn the cadence right now his cadence is you know deadly um the thing he does better than anybody he knows how to abuse

a play clock so we have it out during practice and it's ridiculous but uh it's gonna make us better yeah but you got to remember too when that play clock's going down and you guys got him there's a fucking quick he's the fastest one of these at like 0.05 or like whatever he is getting it once I understand everything that's going on yeah and I as friend of Aaron and guy that has watched him and followed his career and watched him last year and with the New York Jets towards the end of the career I think the narrative was like this guy doesn't got it anymore it's like if you watch the back half of that season they became what everybody thought they were

gonna be what you're seeing out here how does it feel to watch them spin it we're still at an elite level and is there any shit talking between you and he because you did remember tell him you either come to the team or get the hell out of top. Go to the hell. He came to the team, dear. Yes, he did. Yes, he did.

Yes, he did. You know, I think when you talk about Aaron, he talks a lot of crap, but man, I love how he goes about his work. He approaches it the right way. He's asking questions. He's been asking us about week one, how to prepare for that. Night meetings. You know, he's all about being locked in with this group, which is great.

Yeah, I heard he's terrible teammate, though. You know, it seems like that is what everybody but his teammate says about him in the media. Go ahead. Tell him. Boys, first and foremost, Father Paul just blessed us up there, so I think I could say, God bless all of you. Oh, there he is. There it is right there. Father Paul, dressed like a monk, but he is a priest. There are monks here, though. There are monks on his campus. Do you know that? There's, you're going to have a microphone, TJ. Jesus Christ. I think so. But we all know, we've seen it many, many times from your brother, J.J. Watt. He knows how to post an Instagram photo with the lighting, with the lighting.

oil and everything like that. You recently posted Instagram photo after your workout with Herbing, and you've got quads attached to your shoulders now? Is this the biggest you've been coming into camp? No, that's the power of the pump, my friend. Okay. If there's anything Jada's taught me, it's a stand on the outside, always stand about a half

a half yard in front of the next guy and get the absolute pump as late as you possibly came before the picture. Don't you look good. Look at you. All right, so you look like you have a quad on your arm. Cannot wait to watch your work. Thank you for stopping by.

first day of full pads good luck on the season congrats on the incredible careers thus far and a hundred eight millions a lot of money for anybody you're the man you've earned it ladies you gentlemen thank you let's go baby we almost had our first full scrum we almost had our first full scrum we almost had our first Yeah, good catch by that kid. Saw the whole thing, he's got a good flow, too. Because if that hits the ground. Ladies and gentlemen,

four-time NFL MVP. Love you. Super Bowl champion. The starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Erin. Roger. Wow.

You go out here? Yeah. Hey. Hey. Helmet. Helmet. Helmet. Helmet.

Helmet. Helmet. They're yelling yelling. Don't roll your ankle on a helmet. For Daddy Rogers. Mr. Rogers here. We told you, and you know this, because of how many Pittsburgh people you've been around,

and your respect and appreciation for the sport and the league as a whole, league as a whole. You knew Pittsburgh was a football town, always have. Now you get a chance to be the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. Has that been a cool thing for you? Like legitimately, has that been a cool moment? I've seen the pictures. They're posting you in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. And as a kid that grew up here, that's like a really cool thing for us to see. I'm wondering on your side of it being a Pittsburgh Steeler how it feels. I mean, Pittsburgh is one of the cornerstone franchises in the NFL. Everybody knows who they are. There's only a few of them. But it's just different here. There's a level of expectation

based on the excellence that's happened here where you kind of come in and you expect to fall in the line to embody what it means to be a steeler and I really appreciate that because I've been in Green Bay for 18 years and it's the same thing there. Yeah, because Green Bay, and that's literally what Ty said.

Ty said if I look from the NFC over to the AFC, I would say the Green Bay Packers of the AFC is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just storied franchise to get season tickets here. It's like a 30-year waiting period just like it is at Green Bay. Away games, you'll see. terrible towels in every stadium.

And now they're attacking your previous employer, which I certainly love. These people, I told you this whenever you signed here, I said, hey, you win a Super Bowl for the city of Pittsburgh. They will murder people and bury the bodies for you. Yes.

You tell me where, brother. Don't do that anyways. Now, they're already chanting your name. You've been here for two weeks. How has it been with the fans and the Yenzers in experiencing life here at training camp at St. Vincent? I love the Yenzers. I've been around

my entire career. You guys know Big Mike was on the show. There's just something special about the people from this area. You know, there's something in the water maybe, but... Rust. Steele. Yeah. They're built. E. coli, maybe. They're built a little differently. Yeah, and they love their Steelers. They love you already, man. And they will love you forever if you go do what you're going to do for them here in a couple weeks. Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, you've been here for a few weeks. I mean, you had a little bit of time back into OTAs or mini camp or whatever, and then now you've been here for two weeks. I feel like you kind of knew what D.K. was working out with him.

Some of the boys went out to California. Has anyone surprised you so far in camp that you've been thrown to? No, I mean, I think the coolest thing is just what is going on right now. My hand out like this, literally like this, and a guy threw a marker, landed right in my hand. He's got a touch like Aaron Rogers. What is cool? This guy right here is a touch like Aaron. It's a great throw.

Hopefully he thoughts he got that. I mean, this place is great. It's crazy. It's hot as hell out here. These folks show up every single day. Yesterday they were rolling down this hill because it was raining like crazy. But there's just something special about this place. You can feel it.

I, you know, I love being here in La Trobe. We did 14 years at St. Norbert's in Green Bay and then kind of went away from that. But there's something special about the camaraderie that actually gets to happen. I think every coach talks about, you know, training camp is when you come together and you, you know, you build that team chemistry. that team chemistry, but honestly, when at places that don't go away, when 7 o'clock hits, or 6.30, whatever the time is,

guys go home. Now, here, guys go in the heads room, Cam, he's got a huge head. He's got his head. They go in his room and hang out. Last night we were in Highsmith's room hanging out. Guys come in my room and talk ball. So there's actually a real camaraderie that happens

at a place like the Trobe. So I give a lot of credit to Mr. Rooney, because there's a lot of buildings with his name on and around here he's on the board here actually for putting the money into it but but the opportunity that we have here to spend time together and actually come together is pretty cool and also with mike's schedule practicing the midday i know we got some issues with the with the weather but uh but i enjoy the opportunities to uh to truly develop that uh training camp callus training camp's been here since 1966 you they're saying bring us seven

which was one of the answers that you actually gave. Whenever your first press conference happened, you were getting rapid-fire questions. And I believe the way it was phrased was, if you were to win another Super Bowl, what do you think it would be for your legacy? And you said, well, it would be seven for the city of Pittsburgh, I think, is what we're trying to do here.

Is that the mentality of the entire locker room? When you were talking to Tomlin throughout the entire process of whether or not you were going to play again or if you're going to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're kind of in the process of that. You talk to them on a regular basis. Was it like, hey, this city of Pittsburgh, needs another one we need another one what is those conversations like and what is expectations

they're like 10 more if you could next 10 years i mean everybody's everybody's zero and zero right now there's 32 teams that feel like they can win a championship but you guys know covering the game there's only a handful of teams i always say like six to eight but it's really like eight to 12 because there's some of those teams like the reds sorry the commanders last year Oh, my God. This son of a bitch. I just said, I was just, I saw the side. That's what got me.

I was just talking to Ty about the San Diego Chargers playing. You know, when you're as old as I am, you played in so many different stadiums and against different team names. We, you know, we beat the St. Louis Rams. That team doesn't exist anymore, but there's a history of excellence that exists in only a few places around the league. And thankfully, I'm here in one of them. They love it already. Hey, Arthur Smith, what did you know about him coming in? Did you have a relationship at all before?

Obviously, your offensive coordinator here. And what's it been like the first seven, ten days with him? I love Art. We started talking. You guys love Art. He's on the show a lot. He's got a great mustache. Great mustache.

Solid of the earth. But I met him a couple years ago, and we had a friendship and would send messages back and forth. But once the opportunity started to become a possibility, we talked more. and he's just a great dude. You know, he's very, he's the opposite of rigid. You know, he wants to do right by the team. And whatever the best scheme is for the guys that he's got, he's going to implement that.

So whether it's me a quarterback or bringing a guy like Johnny who's had in the past and find a way to get him involved, obviously, D.K. being our number one, making sure he's involved in the progression. We're moving him around to give him different looks. And then we've got a bunch of little guys who we're trying to figure out who's going to kind of step up and be that second receiver,

who's going to be a third, who's going to be the fourth, with guys like Calvin Austin, Roma Wilson, Scottie Miller, you know, guys that you can move around. Obviously, I'm talking about receivers right now. Yeah, we got a lot of tight ends. We got four great tight ends. We can actually do 04 personnel, which you know is four tight ends on the field when you could put Janu and Darnell and Pat and Connor on the field. It's pretty special. So he's great at kind of using the skills that each guys have and implement them in the offense.

But he's a great dude. You know, he had a tragedy to happen this offseason. with his dad passing away. He meant a lot to him, but he's been great. He's great in front of the room when he's installing plays. And yeah, give it up for Arthur. Yeah, he's a dog. Hell yeah.

They weren't doing this with the previous offense coordinator. I'll let you know that. No, there were chance. There were chance. Yeah, they'll come back around, potentially. I saw you throw a pick to Patrick Queen, and then I saw everybody say that you lost it. How much do you love people thinking that you lost it?

How much do you love that? How much do you love people thinking that? you lost it. Legitimately. How much do you love that? Oh, I don't give a shit about that. Yeah, yeah, I bet. It's been awesome to watch you spin it again, brother. Legit. Go ahead, D. Speaking of spinning it, how does the, we're about a week in the camp? How does the body feel? How does the mind feel going into this season right now? Body feels great, DB. We just got two days off. Okay. That never happens. We had a day off, and then we had a rain out yesterday, so I feel great. Today's going to be a monster. Well, today's going to be a monster. Oh, my gosh. And it's this hot out here.

Yeah, it's going to be a gruden grinder today out there. For sure. What should we be looking for today in practice? We'll be down there. So we start every practice with what they call seven shots. It's seven plays fourth and two from the two. And that play, that period is live as his team run. I haven't been around a lot of tackling in training camp in my career, really ever.

Maybe with Big Mike early on, Pittsburgh tough, you know. Yes. hell yeah maybe a couple times but but those two periods will be real real fun to watch and that's how practice starts we start with seven seven shots yeah oh my god that's a good way to start a little bit of wow just pal the rock this pounded a little pond to ground up ahead Connor yeah I hope you're still you know caught up on all the conspiracies going on right now because there are some chattons out there but you talked a lot about the offense what about that old line we talked to all right Jesse caught it

Jesse James, where's the past? Yeah, sure. Oh, yeah. Again. Hey, Steelers fans. Aaron wasn't here. He doesn't give a fuck about that. But when you think about it? I do. Of course. Of course, 2017, man. What a year. When you think about that O-line, very young, kind of similar to the Jets. But AQ said, you know, just yesterday, of course, New Color broadcaster for the Cardinals,

he said just yesterday, Steelers, he expects to take a massive step up. How has that been kind of working with the young old line? You know, sweet West Virginia boy, Zach Frazier, hopefully he has a towel for you today with all that swast that's probably going on. No, he's actually a light sweater, so we're good on that. Wow! Is he getting a ball up to you yet? Yeah, at least back there, it's light, you know. It starts and ends with that kid, though.

I mean, he's got a chance to be really special in the league. You know, a lot of the great centers I've had were also wrestlers. And he was a great wrestler in high school, but he's super smart. He's a mountaineer, yeah. He's a little too smug for my liking, though. He's out there making calls for me right now and tell me if I got the wrong check. So I got to get his ass in line a little bit, let him know who's in charge. But no, seriously, Zach's done a great job.

Starts and ends with him. 13 times. 13 times. 13 times. 13 times. 13 time. 13 time. They don't know what the hell they're talking about.

talking about you know but i like uh i like the battles that we got going on right now and the depth that we have um those guys you know we'll be in work in progress as we go we haven't put the pads on yet but i think eventually today we're all taking side bets on who the first fight's going to be and uh if i'm a betting man i'm saying that either zach fraser or mason mccormick will be involved in the first fight okay aren't they go everywhere together mason mccormick and zach fraser both heard that and they're also like okay now Aaron's expecting us to throw some hands let's go ahead and do that I respect. We all view that way. We all feel that way. It is awesome over the last few years

that's covering training camp. Remember a few years back, I think Aaron Donald took a helmet to somebody. They were calling for, like, lawsuits and like cops to show up, and then fights are happening. It's like, hey, fights are exhausting for players during training camp, but also it shows how together your team is, how tough your team is, what they stand on. I think it's a big deal. Now, I don't think Tomlin is promoting fights, but if you have no fights, I think that's a problem. He's definitely not promoting fights. You know, it's one of the rules, no fighting. But if something starts, whip his ass.

Get it on, baby. That's everybody. I think every good coach views it that way. Big Mike did. You said work in progress. You know, Big Mike loved. He didn't promote it. He didn't promote it.

No, he didn't promote it. He was never in a bad mood after. No, he was not. I legitimately think if your team doesn't fight, you should be worried. I always knew if we fought in practice that night. That was back when we had two days, Mike would be texting me after practice, say, hey, come on over

and have a couple of ICs. A couple Iron Cities. Have you had any mangoes? I'll tell you what the Iron City mangoes. There it is. That's the nectar of the gods. That is. They pull it from the rivers of dead bodies here.

Obviously, you got the Allegheny coming on to Hela. They come together for the Ohio. That is the point downtown, three rivers, and they will get water out of there, put some booze. in it, and that's the nectar that is I see light. Every kid drank it as a teenager here in Pittsburgh.

It is the nectar of the gods. Necter of the gods. You should have a couple. You said work in progress. How much do you know the offense? Did you show up knowing the offense? Because there was a report that Arthur Smith was quietly making an entire playbook for you,

and yada, yada, yada. You're obviously an incredibly intelligent. I haven't seen that playbook yet. Okay, good. You're obviously an incredibly intelligent person, Celebrity Jeopardy Champion. If you had to, you'd win against actual Jeopardy people. I'm on your side for that.

Had a 500-page report in 2020. People don't remember that. I remember everything else. But how do you feel about how comfortable you are in the offense? Yeah, I'm getting more comfortable as the days go on. There's not a my own playbook. It's Arthur's playbook. And I'm finding, you know, ways within it to add, you know, little stuff here and there.

But it's Arthur's playbook, and I like it. I like it a lot. But. What is going on over here? I mean, these are Jensers, brother, training camp. They're the best. They're the best. They have their own agenda.

They're around. Here we go. Steelers, here we go. Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl. Here we go. We got Aaron thrown the ball deep. There we go. And a guy named Artie.

Here we go. Baws while making kicks like he dies, and we're looking. and we're looking for seven in the fucking house there we go there it is banger absolute banger do you know renegade yet did you learn renegade on guitar yet i'm in fear for my life from the line of the law There's a mic on his face, Aaron. All right, last question. Everybody can hear what you're saying.

There's a mic on AJ's face. Ty has a question for you, Aaron. We talked about this a little bit off stage, and through the last several years you've been on the show, you've talked about how much respect you have for Mike T. How is that relationship in so far? Is there anything that's been, you know, like maybe kind of surprise you now that he's your head coach

and he's just not a guy you respect from afar? Where's my camera at? Could be any of them. Use the jib. They were doing to a sweet, artsy jib shot on you. Zoom in on air slowly. Just do a two shot, me and age. Okay, okay.

No, yeah. Mike T. is the man. Any hate, disrespect, and the ilk is complete and utter bullshit. Hell yeah. Mike T. is the man. From day one that we talked on the phone in the offseason, I was never talking to a head coach. I was talking to a friend.

I respected the hell out of that. I have crazy respect for him. The way that he leads the room, the way that he talks in the team meeting, the way he is in practice, the surprise has been just what a great dude he is, what a great leader he is, on top of what I already expected, which was already high based on what I thought from afar. But being able to see it in person is incredible. He's the type of guy that every great coach makes you want to play for him in what I mean. to expand on that is you care so deeply about the person you don't want to let him down and that's that's the aura and that's the respect that Mike has from his players that you do you want to play for this guy because you know how much he cares and you don't want to let him down you've been on a championship

team before you've had a lot of great great great great great great teams that you've been on we beat the stalers yeah wow wow should already had seven you could say oh man that's a different day It's a new day! It's a new day. It's a new day. It's a new day. Pitchburg. Yes, because AJ was using steroids.

Nick Molo. AJ was drinking his piss. Yes, we know. Okay, you confirmed that. Perfect. I said that DSB's people. Look at this guy. You think he hasn't drank his pee in the last five years all the stuff he's been into?

Chewing bark, drinking piss. Chew him. A great answer the other day, by the way. That was. And that guy would drink your piss, he said. That's what I'm talking about, though. That's what Pittsburgh would do for you, Aaron. You need to know that.

We appreciate you so much for stopping by. I can't wait to watch. Come on. Give them a standpoint. Did you have a drug test this morning? How's the piss? Get them up here. Aaron, I can't wait to watch your workout out there.

Can't wait to watch this season for you. I can't wait to watch you experience a year with the Jensers. And will you be joining us on Tuesdays or no? Did they tell you you can't? We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. You'll talk to Burt over there. Oh, no.

Burt. Uh-oh. Burt's taking care of me. I appreciate you guys. Good to see y'all as usual. Good to see you in person. Have fun in Canton, San Diego Chargers. That's right. Yes. But it's going to be a fun year. It's going to be a really fun year. I'm just really, if I can sum up my feelings, being in Pittsburgh is just gratitude to be in such a special organization with Mike T, the leadership of the football team, and to play for a fan base that cares as much as these guys do. Hell yeah. We're lucky to have you here in Pittsburgh. I speak for the city at this moment. but not always you're the man i love your claim in pittsburgh now you claim indy when you're back in indy i'm like the rock baby i got two homes you should see me down in morgan town too i fucking

love that money all that money you got homes all over the place aaron all right thanks guys uh you're the man ladies and gentlemen four-time NFL MVP the starting quarterback who steals What's that. What you put on there? What you put on there? Go ahead. Did you draw a dick? Oh, my God.

You signed it, AJ Hawk. Did you sign it? You did a spaceship? No, you didn't do a spaceship. He just wrote in there what his status is still, to this point. And I just wrote in what his status is. It's a long word. I'm not talking Facebook.

I got you. Oh, nice. He subbed an X in there. Just dropped the next. Yeah, none of that. It's one of one. And it's throwback. Hey, he mentioned a lot of times about being synonymous with winning and greatness and a team that's all aligned and going in.

And we got a chance to talk to Mr. Rooney earlier today. And I said, hey, you're writing a lot of time. checks. I like that. I like you writing a lot of checks or whatever. He was like he excited for the season. This has not been how the Steelers have ever been tone. This is such a drastic difference than what the Pittsburgh Steelers were of yesterday. Now, them firing Matt Canada midway through the year. Sorry, Matt, had to do it. It knew it would be a pop. They fired him midseason. He was the first coach that was a head coach or a coordinator that got fired

in the history of the Steelers. One of the oldest franchises in the history of professional sports. So they make that move. It's like, wait, is this a new day? Then Omar Khan gets in following Kevin Colbert, who has a fire pit up here that I guess all the boys hang out at night. They really bring the team together. It's a beautiful setup. But Omar Khan is really, he's drawing this up in his own way. And the stars are out here in Pittsburgh, though. Yeah, I mean, Colbert was here for 20-plus years, multiple Super Bowls. Kevin Colbert is an all-time Hall of Fame GM. But, like, you knew once, like, free agency came around, like, you didn't have to pay attention at all. Like, day one, day two, even day seven.

you weren't going to get anyone in free agency if you're a Steeler because they built through the draft and they built built their own guys but then you know Omar came in and it was kind of like hey that's that's not really working right now and obviously this fan base is hasn't been happy with you know 9 and 8 10 and 7 stuff like that first round playoff losses so Omar got very very aggressive this year went out you know it's the first one was DK like deep and he was even in conversations for IU last year that came out that was reported like he they are not resting on their laurels right now pat or their yonis and we're going in for a Super Bowl right now. That was a good internet run there, just like the black dress, blue dress. Those really had a good time. We need those days back. Somebody needs to find a new one there for the internet. And I think the city has responded in a positive point. You know, sometimes whenever you do something in an old-fashioned way, an old school way, there's going to be old heads that hate it, any change.

Steelers spending all this money. We don't need. You think they need to do this to win in the past? This is a desperate move, yada yada. That hasn't happened at all. No, they've been very happening. Pittsburgh's like, yeah, we're spending money, final. Yeah, we're bringing in stores.

Yeah, we're taking advantage of stuff. And, like, I think the players, too, AJ. Cam Hayward, year 15, he's been pretty vocal about, like, don't know how long we have left. TJ, I know he's still got hopefully six years left, 10 years left, whatever it is. He's in year nine. A lot of these guys have been around here a long time. They're making a push to win is good for all parties.

It's great for the NFL, I think, and obviously for Pittsburgh, but you've got to evolve. Like, yeah, you can still hold that old school, that core of the tradition, everything that is the Steelers, and then evolve. into like the new age of the NFL and spend money. I mean, look at one of the greatest, actually the greatest college football coach of all time, Nick Saban. He was constantly evolving what he did on offense and defense because he's like, I want to win.

I don't want to be stupid and just be stuck in my ways. That's what losers do. Yeah, and we're not like that far removed from this being the way to win a Super Bowl. Like sure, the Chiefs and the Eagles have won more recently, but you look at Stafford, you look at Brady, you look at Payton. Like we kind of pointed to that for a couple years as maybe this is the way to do it. You get Aaron for cheap, you bring in D-K, you bring in Jalen, you bring in Jahnoo. Like, it really is one of those things where it feels like a 2021 L.A. Rams, maybe even

2020, Tampa Bay Bucks where this old veteran, something to prove, not run out of the building, but had to fly across the country and got kicked out of the building, 10 minutes after getting there. It is one of those, like, damn near spite years that we're approaching here for Pittsburgh. As we wait here for Coach Tomlin to join us in a matter of moments, a lot of people singing his praise I can't wait to experience that because the last couple years he's been getting shit talk to him relentlessly and then we get a chance to watch his hard knocks and it's like I love that guy I hope they get a chance this year to go in another run let's uh we're going camping here in latrobe or I'm sorry lay trope as the locals say let's go camping around the NFL shall

we let's go camping let's start with the Green Bay Packers highlights from training camp are getting us going Ty Schmidt you lost your your mind on draft night when they drafted golden are you excited to watch him catch a deep ball here from jordan love the training camp yeah without a doubt it looks like things are rolling like they should be i mentioned this to you guys earlier this is the first uh piece of content in general that i've seen from packers camp so i'm pretty jacked up that it's a 60 yard touchdown they need this guy to be an absolute force this year jordan love stays healthy all year it looks like he's finally got his uh his number one guy i love to see it i love that they're talking shit to their fans

asking for them to post videos of the first round draft pick that has happened in like 40 years or whatever. That's a wide receiver thing. Social media admins have all the brains. They got it going on. They're the Green Bay Packers, actually. Yeah, they are. That's how these social media people operate. Not saying the Green Bay Packers are doing that.

No, I think Ed Policy runs the Twitter account. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does. Okay, so he was the one that did the every other capital letter? Exactly. What do you want to see our first round draft pick run faster and everybody? You dips shit. It's social media you're not supposed to see anything.

Not on my watch. Not on my watch. We're trying to keep this the best kept secret of training camp. Hey, thanks for posting social media degree, Haver. We appreciate you doing it. Appreciate it. Love it. Helped us out and helped out a Green Bay Packer owner.

Now let's go to a Green Bay Packer record holder. A.J. Hawk, have you seen Marvin Harrison, Jr. in Arizona. Just one day after another, freak show catches. Rookie year wasn't fantastic by anybody's account. But now it feels like Tyler's going to throw him the rock with doardless. Catch radius insane. Contested catches is his thing. I think him and Kyler had to get on the same page with that notion going in through the offseason.

Yeah, and Marvin's like the old school quiet professionally. He's not real flash. He doesn't say a whole lot. But if you saw, you notice what? He put on 15, 20 pounds of muscle like a couple other guys throughout the league. Yeah, the guy's an absolute stud. The Carter's are one of those teams that could possibly, I think, jump up and surprise a few teams. They can keep Kyler healthy.

And obviously, Marv has a big year. Kyler with great ball there. You know, it's not going to get talked about. But that is an incredible ball there. Obviously, Kyler, remarkably gifted athletically both on the ground and through the sky. Will this be the year where it all comes together? Will this be the year that

it clocks? Shout to Justin B. But we're talking about him having the population of the United States of America basically follows him on Instagram. What a life he's been living. But is it clocking for that Arizona Cardinals team to make a run? AQ. Shipley would be on a call. Moon Township, great. Hopefully they're not shite for his sake.

Now, let's go to Indianapolis. Indiana. Anthony Richardson, a man who has drafted a number for overall for the Indianapolis Colts has had an underwhelming start to his career, but this training camp throwing dots all over the place. He's looked much more accurate. He's looked much more confident. He's been putting in a lot of work. This is what he had to say after practice about how his mindset has changed this year first years past. After last season, I feel like I needed to do more, you know, not only for

the team, but for myself. You know, if I want to so-called be great and I want to be in a Hall of Fame one day, you know, I have to do more. I know I have to go do things. that other people want to do. So I've just been doing that, you know, just taking a day by day. Not necessarily trying to, you know, change anything mentally or anything like that, but just taking a deeper dive and studying my playbook a little longer, you know, asking more questions, you know, going through my footwork, you know, walking through the plays by myself, you know, just stuff like that, just trying to do more.

Okay, I love to hear everything that he's saying right there. There was a group here from Monroeville, I believe, went to Gateway High School behind us here. They started chanting that he's too tired, okay, because I am from this area, okay? If you were to ask any of these people standing here, hey, the starting quarterback for your team on a third down into red zone against a division opponent

in the middle of the regular season is going to tap out of the game because he was too tired. All these people would say, get him the fuck out of our city. What are you talking about? You're too tired. You're a football player.

And I had a similar reaction. I had a similar reaction. And it's like, hey, why? You can't be saying. Yeah, we all do. at the mental point where you think you're comfortable enough and confident enough to say that publicly, it's like you're way too content. I was very vocal. Now, this year, what we have seen, he's slimmer, he's spitter, he's acknowledging how he needs to be different. He's taking the pre-practice mental reps by himself.

It feels like he has matured immensely after a very tough start to his career. Growth, maturity, he's doing and saying all the right things. And when guys show up the training camp or the off-season workouts, they don't have to say much. You can look at him and kind of tell what they've been doing in the off-season. look at him. He looks great physically. And we know what he can do on the ground, you know, with his physical traits. But to win in this league and to win the big one, this league, you got to be able to play from the pocket. And if you run that highlight back again, that's like a simple throw, but that's a whole shot. Cover two. Pitman gets up there, get up the sideline. You got to put that ball on him on the line that he did. So I love what I'm seeing from five right now in this

QB battle. Yeah, that's always incredible. He's had a few, it feels like that have come out during training camp where it's like the week one against the Texans kind of shocker. I agree with you guys, but doesn't it kind of take away from the fact that the big thing going into the off season was, hey, he's going to work out with Josh Allen's guy, and then while training camp starting, you think that he did, and then he says... He didn't do that? He actually didn't work out with that guy. He's completing passes out. No, I'm genuinely asking.

He was going to do that laser treatment to get more accurate. If he has got more accurate without the laser treatment, I don't think we care. Okay, this is a result-oriented business. Now, if his shit gets outrageous again, everybody's like, hey, your mechanics and your footwork and everything is off, That's why you have the lowest completion percentage in the history of the NFL, and you chose not to do something. I think then it becomes a conversation.

But right now, he's putting it on guys, and he looks like an actual passer. Is he going to play in the preseason? Like, that's a big thing. Has to do it. I'm saying he should get a good chunk of playing time in each, all four games. Speaking of social media,

Colt's social media got their agenda and they're sticking to it. Yeah, I haven't seen Danny Dimes. Is he on a team still? I think Danny Dimes is cool with it, too. We're all cool with them. The competition. The only thing we worry about now with Anthony Richardson,

and I mean this is what I guess sports media does is he's in such good shape is he going to be able to withstand the hits now you know he's still big ball he's still 240 pounds I assume he's a monster we'll see how that goes now let's go camping to the AFC North Kings

the team that is favored to win the AFC North a team that is known for crab kicks and football let's go to the Baltimore Ravens. Lamar Jackson running wild all over. Both were Ravens training camp. Lamar Jackson, obviously an MVP, looking to win a Super Bowl, looking faster than ever. They still got nuke on their team as well. I think everybody has forgotten that. Front flips in training

camp. Lamar Jackson's in midseason form. They are the second, they have the second best odds in the entire NFL to win their division. What are you talking about? He was celebrating. He's a college teammate. Yeah, they're buddies. And he's happy for him. So this does lead to a conversation.

So these training camp highlights, when Lamar Jackson's running wild, the Baltimore Ravens fans are going crazy. When Aaron Rogers completes a deep ball to D.K. Metcalf here today for 65, 70 yards, place is going to go crazy. Yes. That's the defense getting dunked on right there. As a defender, D. But you know that going into training camp that your own fans are going to be

pissed if you guys have a great day. Road game every day. It's a road game every day. Bring your own energy. You obviously coming out there, you want to whoop their hands. But the crowd's behind them. Look, they're always going to cheer on the touchdown scores. And look, Jaya right there running down, celebrating. You know, if that guy was on my team, I probably accidentally do that too. But I love this. I love this, obviously, from Lamar. He had an unbelievable season last year. MVP caliber season, his best season so far. He's motivated to go get that big one. Obviously, his team here has had a ton of success against him in the big games. I'm excited to see what eight in that Ravens offense.

And that Ravens team, I've completely forgot about D-Hop. Likely, he got injured, but it's not as bad as you thought. Zayflowers. I can't wait to see what they do this year. All right, let's stay in the AFC North. Let's move away from Baltimore. Let's not talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why would we talk about Cleveland?

Hey, don't look now. Jerry Judy's in better shape than he's ever been. Cincinnati Bengals, Tray Hendrickson, has reported to King's. He missed seven days of camp. He was fined $50,000 per day. $350,000 in total fines. He is now back with the Cincinnati Bengals. AJ, what does this say to you?

This says to me that he is what, like you said, is he tucking his tail and walking back in St. Hale? No. I heard that's not the case, but I mean, I figured maybe Mike Brown said, maybe Mike Brown promised him this time said, hey, I gave you my word. If you come back and shows goodwill, we'll give you what you want. Does that happen?

No, not of the ownership has said anything positive. I think this is potential. a new move, maybe an extension of an olive branch, because Trey Hendrickson loves football. Ty, there's a lot of people saying, though. Yeah, when I saw this, I said, man, did Trey Hendrickson really show those guys? He really showed the Bengals. Hey, guess what? I'll squeaks Scalori it, you know?

You guys mess with me 16 to 17 more times. I'm going to tuck tail. I'm going to get out of here. You're not going to see me. And then when I realize nothing's going to change, I'm going to come right back and shake everybody's head and say, look who's back. We don't know if there's anything happening behind the scene, seemingly not, but maybe this will change the entire future for them. Let's pivot away from the Cincinnati Bengals back to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ladies and gentlemen, a Super Bowl champion, a future Hall of Famer, the head coach of the pitchback Steelers, Montgomery. What's up, Coach? How are you doing? I'm sweating my ass off. I appreciate you. Coach, you can use this one if you want to. Coach, first of all, thank you so much for stopping by. Here we go, Cillars, here we go, thanks for you go to the Super Bowl. I know, it's real.

It's very real. When you were hired as a head coach, 45 years ago, You look the exact same. Shout out. I guess cliches are real in certain things. Yeah, yeah. I guess that is a real thing. I've aged, you know, like a grape over the last few years.

You knew what Pittsburgh was. I think you knew what it was. But the way you have embraced this city, we see you at Penguins games. I think you're even stopping by Pirates games. I feel like you call yourself a yinzer and consider yourself a yinzer. What does it like to be a part of this every single year? And is it like a perspective putter about how great these fans are every training camp?

I'll tell you this. First, it never gets old. You know, I have the same level of excitement that I had in 07, probably even more so, to be quite honest with you. I love being a Pittsburgher, man. My kids grew up in Pittsburgh. They called Pittsburgh home. I'm proud to call it home. I drink the Kool-Aid. Yeah, absolutely. And with that Kool-Aid, you know, you understand the city. You understand the expectations. I'm not going to say anything you probably don't know. It got loud there for a little bit.

And obviously you were asked by Kyle Brand about winning, I having a winning record every single year. And you had a great line, something along the lines. Like these guys were in baby seats, I think, whenever they were in car seats, whenever you were growing up, it did get a little bit loud. Do you hear that stuff?

Do you block it out? How much does that affect your day-to-day life or how you go about your business? You know, I hear it, but I don't. Because, you know, I'm here to win. You know, I share the same sentiment, the same level of pissed-offness, you know. That's just who I am. And so, like, I don't take it personally.

It's motivation for me. I'm here to deliver for them. Omar Khan, vastly different than Colbert, seemingly, from the outside looking in. What are your thoughts on it? Because Tone and I have chitch-hatted about how this is so abnormal. First of all, you're not going to like that this is going to happen because it was probably a very difficult decision because you know the person personally. we just mentioned it. You firing a coordinator

mid-season never happened in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was a big conversation for us. In the off-season, free agency, never really a thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year, making moves. Bringing in, obviously, Aaron Rogers, who you recruited, sorry, texted for a couple months. How does it feel this way of doing things

versus maybe what it had always been with the Pittsburgh Steelers? You know, I'm not resisted to change. I don't think you can do what I've done as long as I can do it being resisted to change. And so I try to be open to doing things differently, to taking a different approach. It's refreshing for me. I'm excited by it. Certainly made moves that we deem necessary in the effort to position ourselves to be what they need and want us to be.

Yeah, hell of you. AJ has a question for Coach. Joe and Ramsey, Darry Slay, obviously here you're back in. Let's say for Jayman, I've heard you guys call him like a Swiss Army knife. He can do anything. What is he going to bring to the defense? For me, as a fan of watching, I love physical corner. and they obviously can play every position back there.

But I love dudes that can get picks and are physical and not scared to tackle and they seem to thrive in that rule. And I feel like he's going to be very physical here. There's no question, man. He brings a demeanor, man, that's contagious. His versatility, obviously, you guys will see today. But his attitude, his approach to business, man,

his professionalism. Like, this guy's as impressive in the classroom as he is on the grass, man. I've been blown away by his approach to the business. That's awesome. DeBott has a question for you coach yeah coach you've been there obviously a very very long time we've all been in locker rooms and now we're in the media now and sometimes you say oh maybe that coach is in you i've heard it now maybe that the words are getting stale with the team how do you keep it fresh how do you evolve when you are the leader in the face of a franchise and standing in front of those guys for such a long time cam was here 15 years tj nine like how do you do you do you know for me i try not to focus on me to be honest with you my job is to be what they need me to be and they're needs are ever changing because of the makeup of the group changes, the places they are in their careers as individuals. And so for me, I probably avoid being stale, at least from my

perception, just by simply focused on being what they need me to be and working to meet their needs. Got you. Ty has a question for you, Coach. Coach, Pat mentioned it a little bit earlier. What was that kind of recruiting process like with Rogers? We've had him on the show several times or you know for the last several years and he always talked about how much respect he had for you and kind of we've seen the clips of you giving him that rise yeah you guys winked at each other calling the time out when he was trying to maybe get you but what was that recruiting process like

it was kind of a bromance you know what I mean you know for me man I was just excited to get to know the guy on a personal level and so that's how I viewed it man we had some cool and interesting conversations about football about life about where he is in his career and what he was potentially looking for. You know, I slow-roasted it, if you will. I didn't try to microwave it because I didn't feel like that would be effective anyway. And so I just enjoyed getting to know him over the course of those conversations.

And I just felt like if we did it and did it consistently and lay a nice foundation for our relationship when we started working together. What are your expectations for him as a human? Did you lay all that out as a player, as a guy? a locker room. Do you have all those conversations? And why was Aaron the guy that you wanted for this particular team? You know, just through our conversations, man, he expressed his desires and they're in alignment with mine. And so those come to Jesus conversations weren't even necessary, man. He's here and here in a mindset that's aligned with us. He's here and here to win a world championship for this group. And he wants to impart wisdom and share his experiences

with young players, man, and give back to the game. And so that's just a beautiful place to be and those guys are good guys to work with. We were on a plane earlier today flying in high and high, just thinking about it all, you know? Aaron, when he went to the Jets, we talked about this. Any legend that starts at a new place, a lot of brand new eyes watching you for the first time. Your practice habits, how you do and practice, how you go about operating, how you communicate. You've got to, like, re-prove yourself. Aaron doing that for a first ballot

Hall of Famer, I assume is something that has driven him in these practices. For you too, though, with Aaron? Is there a similar thought like, hey, this is Aaron's first time experiencing my shit as a head coach, too? Because there's a rarefied error that you two are breathing that not a lot of people in a history of football breathe. I like

the responsibility of having to deliver for him. You know what I mean? Just the energy and the charge I get for preparing messaging and things of that nature. But not only him, but guys like Jalen Ramsey and other veteran guys man I'm sensitive

to the delivering of the message man and making sure they understand how we go about our business the things we value and how they can be a part of it is there any shit he's done yet that make you go oh okay yeah that's the Aaron Rogers that that's the guy is there any of that hey I like to know look pastes

man you know we've seen a couple of those just about every day but man the way he interacts with the defensive leadership man the way he competes with him and challenges him it's a breath of fresh share, man. We just feel like we're going to be positioned to be really good because of that iron on iron, that competitive spirit, the things that have happened in day to day, man. And he's a central part of that. On that note, Tone has a question for you. Yeah, coach, with all due respect to everyone who has played quarterback since seven, they're a Steelers, so we love them forever. But does it feel different when you look across and you see eight? Like, I mean, Koboli said this is the most crowded it's been in the last 15 years here, if I've liked to him. But like, so it feels different to the fans. Is it feel different to you when you look over? and you're like, okay, since Ben, that's Aaron Rogers. You're damn right, it does.

It feels pretty good, too. You know, just the possibilities, man. To have a guy like that, man, in your huddle, in your locker room, a part of your group, it certainly gives us all great confidence. I'm trying to remember one of your hard, every hard knocks was awesome. I want to let you know that. I think we talked about it while it was happening about all the good shit that you were giving away for free, basically.

We're hearing motivational speeches just being dropped, gems being dropped. People write books with all of the one-liners that you were doing. Are we coming up with those still every single day? Is there new shit coming out? Is there more Tomlinisms? Or is it all basically like a pool that you kind of pull from, if that makes sense? You know, I don't chase it. It just kind of happens.

Of course. There's one right there, by them. That is. Bar after bar after bar. I wish I got a chance to play for you. You told me in warm-ups. I'm going to get you when you're old and cheap. Damn right, I did.

Did you have those conversations with Aaron, too, throughout his career? I wish I had. I wish maybe I'd have them sooner. All right, have a great practice. We appreciate you. Congrats on all the success. These people love you, man. Thank you guys.

Ladies and gentlemen, Cuts Mike Toddler. I appreciate you so much. Thank you, Coach. You, good good luck. You too, Coach. Good luck. Good luck, this year. Congratulations.

Thank you, Coach. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Coach Mike Taublin. And there's a man standing off camera that I don't know if he's ever done an interview before. I don't know if he gets any request. Special teams coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jens are, that he's. Oh, my God.

Tattoo on the outside of the shin. Gooseed. Gohook! Gohook! I love you, man. I love you, man. Hey, hey, how about this stuff? That's sick.

How about this here? Hey, we got a local guy big time. He comes back to Pittsburgh to do a loud show for us. Mm-hmm. That was telling him. He comes home for us to do this show. To do this show.

That's your mic. That's your mic. He don't need a damn, Mike. I appreciate you doing that for me. That was not needed. How about this? Local guy comes back to coach special teams for the Pittsburgh Steel. For all of us.

And he chews through 200 pieces of gum every single game. Danny Smith is here, ladies and gentlemen. All right, Danny. We have like two, three minutes. I know you love doing. media and this is something you really enjoyed you had the i don't know if it was the best unit in the NFL last year but we looked up stats you got a lot of number ones and a lot of top 10 a lot of top fives special teams is something that is respected here in pittsburgh because it's a

football town how many years have you been here now uh this 13th year for you here as a pittsburg steeler how do you feel about this particular team how's the energy you know i mean it's an honor i don't know if his mic's on did you turn it off give him that other one give him that other mic there a jay right next to you right next to you try that one jesus try that there we go come on a j i don't think you're all that one should be on right okay really it's an honor and a privilege man to come back to your own time to coach you okay and to clean up we were number one and that ain't me man that's the players that i coach okay they come out with rankings and that i got good players man this organization will supply you with people you got to

know what you're doing. You've got to give them a direction. And these players will work their butt off if you know what you're doing. And really, it's a credit to our players. I got good players, man. I got good players that work their butts off. Those of you watch practice. You see it. And it's an honor and a privilege to be a part of it. This year, is there a different buzz with how much Omar Khan and the front office have gone all in with this particular team? Have you thought about that? And do you for it? I get puzzled in the media when I watch some of this stuff. They say like what coaches on a hot seat. What about, man, I'm on a hot seat every day. I don't look at it like that.

I'm on an odd seat every day. This stuff changes so quickly. So I don't feel no heat, no pressure. I put the pressure on myself. I expect us to win, and I expect us to win it all every damn year. And I don't change. AJ has a question for you, coach. Coach, what are you trying to, in training camp right now, today, first day of pads.

What are you looking at to see some guys maybe that you haven't seen tested yet? You know, and you did it, you know, for a living. We got a movement, you know. Who moves, who could cover in space, who has some agility. There's no real game planning at this time. So you don't really get to mentally check on them. But you get the physicality of it and the physical part of it with the change of direction, the hand placement, the foot work, you know,

the pad level and things like that. So I'm consistently, constantly watching other drills too, along with my own, to evaluate them. Yeah, can you talk about how guys need to get a heads up that the way they're going to make it in the league is through special teams and you're messaging to them for them? It's changed a lot. You know, over my years.

But our head coach heads up. You know, Mike T does a great job. Mike T. is great with me. Supply me time. Supply me players. Okay, then it's up to me to get it done. And that's as simple as I can put it. But a lot of guys, that's the only way they make it.

I tell them all the time. I say, okay, I want you to be the starting linebacker. I want you to be starting running back. Damn, I want to be the head coach. But that ain't happening, okay? I ain't the head coach and you ain't to start running back. So we got a pretty good job. Let's take care of me.

And that's what I tell. That's a great message. That's a great delivery. Hopefully they get the point. Go ahead, Debo. Hey, I was blessed to play with some great special teams coordinator, Scotty O'Brien in New England, McMan and Indy. How have you? You've been doing a long time. And Pat just mentioned you've got to relate to the entire roster. But how do you get that juice? How do you bring that same juice every day? You know, there's some great names right there, man. They're predecessors that help pave the way for me. I mean, they're really all. And I respect them so much. And it's just, it's a mindset. You know, it's a mindset.

You've got to come out all the time. And, you know, if I've supplied the energy, man, they'll follow. If you let players middle round, you played one of them. If they'll play the players middle round, they will. Okay. How am I going to ask them to give energy if I don't? That's the way I coach. You know, I really believe in that what I tell them all the time.

I want you to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Then you're a better player. Yeah. Coach, why do you have Antonio Brown in the fourth quarter return punts whenever you're up 21 points with six minutes left? Let me tell you. Let me tell you, let me tell you a quick story. Please do. Pat always brings this up on the times that we got him.

He don't ever bring up the time he got me. Yeah, yeah. Thanksgiving, baby. Okay, Thanksgiving. Yeah, a lot of people watch you. Yeah, you ruin my damn dinner. I can't eat me. I go on from India.

My damn stomach. I'm puking on the damn boss on the way home. I can't eat Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, good. Okay, because he runs a fake because he got big balls and we'll do things like that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And he's faking, fake and faking, throws a pass for a first time, and it's on me.

So there's too sad to those stoves. Okay, Tomlin has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, before you show fakes to the team, do you have to run by Coach Tomlin and what's that meeting like? Okay, hey, when you're running fakes, hey, when you try to run a fake or do something, running them by Coach Tomlin, what is that like? I've always said this.

Like, when I was young in the NFL, I have a good arm. You saw that. You experienced that. I'm also punt-pass and kick champion here for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Troy Paul Moller who's showing up over there. It feels like you guys had film it or practice. you. Now, with that being said, always had a good, always had a good arm. Always had a good arm. When I was young in the NFL, I wanted to run more fakes. I'm like, hey, I'm watching these punters

throw these balls and everybody's talking about how athletic they are. I could just let me spin one here. Let me do it. And Ray, Rich Leske, who was the head coach, and Jim Caldwell was the head coach, special teams is Ray. He said, so let me get this straight. We're going to take Peyton Manning off the field. Okay, we're going to take Peyton Manning off the field. We're going to take Reggie Wayne off of the field. We're going to take Dallas Clark off of the field. We're going to take Joseph Adai off of the field, and then we're going to have

you do the offense for us. That makes sense. And if it doesn't work, they're going to go the other way. Usually good teams don't do a lot of trickery shit. Now, you do your own shit. Returns, fakes drawn up. One of those conversations like with Tomlin, and how aggressive do you think you guys are compared

to the rest of the NFL? It's a great point. And, Pat, the way I do it is this, man. There are fakes, and there our trick plays. And the way that I define that is this. A fake is something that we see that we want to take advantage of. Okay. We saw something on tape. They're weak over here. They don't cover this. Like we were going to do against you for Troy Paul Mueller ruined it all when I was going to score a touchdown. But I knew, I knew because so we covered that stuff and we didn't let it get away with it. Now trick play is I come out with some crazy formation or something and I'm trying to trick you.

And sometimes it tricks on me. Yeah. Okay, for real. And that's what it is. If I'm I don't know where you're going to align and things like that. It's a trick play. And I believe in fakes. I don't believe in trick plays. Got it. Okay? So with that in mind, we cover that stuff.

Okay? And we're challenged each other on that. I'm talking about players, coaches, everything. If the players are comfortable and confident in running, it takes a situation to get it. We'll go into game with all the fakes, okay? That don't mean we're running one every week. This ain't a trick-em-dick-dick.

You don't win like that. Okay, you got to beat them. You got to beat your opponent, okay? We've got to do field position. We've got a block kick. We've got to return. we got to do those things to win okay but every now and then like a Peyton Manning and the names that he's mentioning we try to steal a possession sir you know it's like a turnover you can't

give Peyton Manning the ball all the damn time you can't give Joe Burroughs all his reps you can't give those guys all their reps you try to steal a possession it's a turnover so we'll run something like that immediately upon hearing Joe Burroughs name they sent him their best wishers luck lock Joe right yeah yeah they should have gone through a lot out there Last thing I would like you to hit upon, and I assume if you didn't, they would talk shit about you. Can you tell me about Boz Johnson and Coots, your kicker, punter, long snapper? You guys got dogs across the board. That is a comforting feeling, I assume, for the Swifton's.

We're good there. I mean, we really are. And Boz is special. Nothing is too big for him. He wants the big kick. He gets pissed off when we don't do the 56, 57 in that range. So I'll piss him off in practice. I'll put the ball at the 35, which would be a 53-yard field goal,

and I'll call for the punt team. And he calls me every name in the book, okay? And I always say, hey, just heads up here, watch balls, watch his balls. And he ain't paying attention, he's walking. And I say, all right, balls are under 35. It's fourth and three. Let's go. Let's go punt, punt, put, put.

What do you mean, punt? And he goes crazy. So that's good to see. So he got, you know, he's good player, and he'll be good. We got a punt battle. We got a punt battle. We got a punt battle. Cam is a great punter, okay?

Camas got credentials. Cordos came in last year and did a great job. Okay. We got a battling camp, man. We really do. They are great players. They are great guys. They are great teammates.

They are great workers. They're two good players, man. They're two NFL punters, and I'm blessed to have them both. Hell yeah. And it's a long snap, but, you know, Christian is as tough as it gets. Okay. Well, he's a Duques. We've got other people in there.

We're going to have competition in there and things like that. But Christian don't miss snatch. Christian don't miss games. And you know how that is. You know, when you've got the continuity, you should be better. We've got continuity. We will. No frills, delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express.

Shop online and get $15 in PC optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. To succeed in the future of work, forward thinkers use AI to deliver measurable results. Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that frees you from the mundane, so you can focus on more meaningful work. Workday, moving business forever forward. Football! It is happening in a big way here in La Trobe, Pennsylvania.

About an hour east of Accresher Stadium, the artist formerly known as Heinz Field. I will say earlier before the show, I went on to my maps to see exactly how far we were from the stadium downtown I put Heinz Field in there

it did not show up now now that's that's that's Timmy Jobs Timmy Apple doing that so I went over to Google you know and maybe it's just my app Accresure is the only thing showing up

hate to say down at the shore hate to say hour and eight minutes from the from where we are right now and uh in this batch of hills here and this is the most western pennsylvania thing of all time stages built on the side of a hill uh all the guardrails are like this you got people kind of crunched down here there is a drop off of a cliff on the other side of that over there

people lined up on a hill here and at the bottom of this hill are two fields field one and field where the Pittsburgh Steelers have worked their asses off since 1966. Father Paul, the CEO priest of this place, came in and chit-chatted about this entire university and everything that's happened here. They're thankful to be the home of the Steelers. They're the right home of the Steelers. And this is one of the things that is just synonymous with the NFL training camp at St. Vincent College.

Let's go to the talks at table at Ty Schmidt, at Boston, Connor. Connor, they've been chanting things from 2017 at you, which I appreciate. But football people respect football people, am I right? Yeah, I appreciate it as well. I mean, the rules are rules. Some Steelers fans, you know, get it, some don't. It seems to her. It's kind of a mixed bag out there today, which has been nice.

But it's a pleasure being down here at the Trobe, as they call it. It's hot as hell. I don't know if it's translated through the television. Probably one of the harder programs we've ever had, but it is awesome. There's nothing like this, you know, like taking the program on the road. I forget what the hashtag was. I wish I remember what it was from the Home Run Derby. But it's doing these live shows that you guys are so much fun.

And it's just great seeing football on the field. You called it The Trobe, I believe, for La Trobe. It's not called it down there at the Trobe. Okay, I got that. We should say Day Trobe, I think, because the way they say is Lay Troop. But remember, the show down in Morgantown, remember it got so hot that it went off air. Yeah, the generators blew up. We are a little worried today as the heat was rising

in what Kobolier said about this particular heat that we're going to have a similar issue. But this is exactly what Tomlin wants. This is exactly what Kahn wants. And if we know the cut of the jib of this particular team, this is exactly what they want. Let's get it hardened out here. You guys kind of sound like Euros, man,

like some Europeans right now. No, no, complain about the heat. Oh, do you watch the first half in the locker room? It's too hot? Yeah, it's too hot. What is it? That's nine-year-old. A guy can't be cold.

A guy can't be hot. What the fuck? 30-degree. Just be a guy. Just be a guy. Don't be hot. AJ's got black pants on, black shirt. He's hot as shit.

That's AJ Hawk. Nine-year NFL vet, who's also a broad county hall of famer, which is South Florida, which is always 120 degrees, Darius Butler. And one half of the hammer. That has to feel pretty cool. Cowboys AP tone. I think it's a beautiful day out here in La Trobe tone. It is awesome.

I mean, you guys are talking about hot, cold. It's football weather. It's football weather. Whether it's 15 or 95. We all know these fans. going to show up. We all know who's going to go for the seventh and the party. Like looking out into the, like we grew up

up, most of us grew up around, you know, these parts or whatever. You can just kind of smell it in the air. Like this time of year, you kind of smell the football in there. I can only imagine what the locker room smells like and brings back all those memories. But being here, coming here as a kid and into high school, like this is the best. This is awesome. I agree.

It's been a nice trip down nostalgia lane for us. We can't wait to watch practice immediately after this show ends. There will be practice out on this field. We will head down there. and watch the boys do their thing. And we'll try to hold back AJ from getting out there. That's real physicality for AJ Hawk. Let's talk about some NFL news.

Big news broken on our show by Adam Schepter is that Christian Wilkins playfully kissed a teammate on the forehead. Sure. Then I said they went to H&R and they get released. Now $35.2 million in guarantees with the handling of a surgery or non-surgery is in limbo. And this story is obviously blown up. because it's such an abnormal type headline.

What we were told was a kiss on the forehead. Now you got every other media person that's been stooping around with it going, that ain't what all happened. There was more that took place. Weird scene over there in Vegas. But this is maybe the most ridiculous training camp story that I've heard in some time, AJ Hall.

We've had some ridiculous ones over the years, if you think back, but it can't just be one thing, right? Like, there's, usually there's things leading up to situations like this. If it's one thing, then this one thing has to be more than a kiss on the forehead or a kiss on the top of the head. What do you say? To get someone. I'm saying there had to be something leading. Well, that's what everybody else is saying?

We're like, say allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. But I'm not, I mean, I'm not saying anything about Christian, but, like, it's after one thing is the final death blow on someone. Okay, you're gone, see you. We already pay, you know, $35 million or whatever. Could be the cherry on top. Yeah, could be a cherry on top is what I'm saying.

Literally. Big-time player like that. And we always talk about the sanctity of the locker room, and that's our locker room. Like, coaches aren't even really allowed in there. So with something like, whenever you bring it up HR, I don't think I can remember any instance in my career. I brought up H&R, though.

So a lot of people started running away. That was in the report, though, right? No, yeah. Was it? I don't think it was HR. I think of a coach or GM probably. Okay, okay. Which is basically NFL HR.

I thought I saw. I did Shepter's podcast with him yesterday, and I believe he said that whoever came forward did go to HR. Never even knew. Oh, so when I said age, I didn't, yeah, I was kind of like. Yeah, tongue in cheek, but I believe that is actually what happened. I was doing kiss on cheek there, like the... Playfully, or?

You go to H&R for these types of things. In the NFL, I didn't even know that was possible. Exactly. So there's so many things a part of the story that are wild. We'll continue to monitor it because we are journalists. Let's chit chat a little bit about other stories happening around the NFL. We briefly mentioned it before Danny Smith and Coach Tomlin came on. Trey Hendrickson is back with the Cincinnati.

Daddy Bangal! He really stuck in two! That's a joke. That's embarrassing. Okay. And I get it. It's great for the Bengals. He's there, all that stuff.

He folded like a flip-flop. All right, and I just have to say, too, he came on the program during the Super Bowl. The Grum. Hey, the Grum, if you will. Hey, I really, really don't want to do this. I really don't want to do this. That's supposed to be Trey?

And then... It sounds just like if you didn't. You know, hopefully he... gets a response he doesn't because the bangles front office they're mr brown promised him something he promised him we're gonna get him like care of you treating him like a bag of shit actually no mr brown said uh yeah i mean at some point you got to be you know at least a little grateful i think he called him trey henderson as well like watching what mike brown said watching what has happened since his first initial interview in february gives him no reason to show up today

absolutely not if anything it should kind of harden his stance But again, Trey We don't know how this is going to work out. No, we do. I like Trey and Gish. I would be on the Patriots. I think everybody up here. Colts.

We went on a Colts. He's unbelievable. And that's why it's one of those things where, okay, so Trey Hendrickson is kind of acting like a wuss. And it sucks to say, kind of being a little bit of a. No. Don't do it. He's trying to do business.

He's trying to do business. He said, all right, I'm going to do what others have done in the past. I'm going to leave. Okay, I'm going to get fined $350,000. I assume that'll get taken care of on the next contract. I think the way he is doing it or viewing it, we would hope, is like, hey, let's get back to this. Let's try to sort this out because he's probably missing ball, if I had to guess.

That's definitely part of it. But I understand that holding out a part of it is you're going to have to miss ball. Of course you're missed ball. Yeah. That's what you do. That's kind of the way it goes. I think there is also a chance, and I said this from the start. He may be just resetting the Squeaks Galari scale.

All right. He might be going back in. Ladies and gentlemen. That's embarrassing. 16 to 17 more opportunities for them to rip on them. And then, hey, rubber's going to meet the rope. Yeah, look, he's a cat. He's a cat.

That is disgusting. He's a man of the cloth. You don't know. He's a brother. He's a brother of Christ. Yes, exactly. That's why I'm saying this. But I also have to acknowledge the facts, term, but fair.

He's acting like a catter. No, he might get a deal done. We shall see. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a Western Pennsylvania legend. I'll say it, the greatest official in the history of officiating. Basketball, football, you name it. Paizano, Gene Sterator. Oh, right here, right there.

Good to see you, good to see you. How are you doing? Good seeing you. I want to be a rep. I'm alive. I'm dead. I want to be a ref. You hear that.

They're talking about you, brother. I want to be a rep. Yeah. Yeah, that's for you, Gino. Hey, you got a mic right over there. Congratulations on, CBS just announced all the crews. You're right down there, lower left corner. Rules analyst, Gene Sterator back for CBS.

I love it, I love it. We're psyched for another year. But listen, before we start, if I may, you know in Pittsburgh, we bear gifts. Yes, you do? Yes, we do. Dizons. This is for everybody here.

This is special. So if we can pay attention, it's like having that announcement, you know, it's really important. Okay. So we got everyone's attention. We're great gift givers here in Pittsburgh. We're also legendary lovers of the game. That's right. And we know you are as well as a Western Pennsylvania person.

This comes from the athletic director at St. Vincent College, D.P. Harris, that was gifted to him that he would like to pass along as a gift for you and the guys. Holy shit. That is a Pittsburgh Steeler signed football. by the one, the only mean Joe Green. Wow. That's awesome. D.P. Harris, right there, Patty, right there, D.P. That's a classic T.P.

That is sick. Yeah, this will make the desk. I appreciate that D.P. Great delivery through Paisano, who we love. Okay, Gino, thank you for that. You're the man. I've always been a massive fan of yours. Before I got to the league.

while I was in the league, now that I'm retired, you're the greatest ever. You, I think there's a couple. You, Ed, that's about it. There's a few others that are your friends, I assume, but none of them really popped up in my mind. And I think it's because you're such a skilled communicator, but I think also because of how much you love the game. How much do you think being a Western Pennsylvania guy and also Paizano? I mean, you just said we love football. We love giving gifts.

You guys all look really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all are in. You know, you know, you know. Yeah. How much do you think being from this area has helped with you becoming the football guy for all of us? You are the authority. Something happens in a game. What happened here? Let's go to fucking Gene Starr. Gene, what is going on? You are the voice of football for a lot of people. How much do you think growing up in this area is a part of that? You know what? I think it's a tremendous part of it. I mean, I was a sophomore in high school in 1978, 79, right? Oh, look at that. Italians might have the same. They do.

They do. You know what it is? First and foremost, it's this amazing facility, and we're in the hills of Pennsylvania. It's the community. It's blue collar people that look you in the eye. It's blue collar football. It's checking in with your fan to put in the dorm window. So it's kind of everything.

And yeah, I think that's the foundation for it. And then officiating was in my blood. My late father was a ref for 30 plus years ago. both major college football and basketball. So all of that combined, and I think you said it right, Pat. It's the love of this whole game and what it means to players, coaches, and just people. Right? It's, it is.

It's everything. Football is the greatest. Obviously, you're an incredible basketball official as well. This has been spectacular as people are filling in for practice to watch. Are you working these practices? What are you doing? Because I know back in the day, reps used to get their reps in at training camp. Then there would be a meeting afterwards.

You led one that I watch. All right, guys, this year we got this shit going. What is the messaging from officials to players this year? Actually, my role today is to come down here to see you and the fellas and to just say what's happening. Welcome home to those that are on the road. And really kind of get the feeling that the NFL is definitely here. It's back again another year.

A lot of new stuff in the officiating window. There's a few new nuances that I know you guys have gone over a little bit. No, no, we would like you to talk about. Yeah, I mean, the one that affects that I know you could talk to a bunch is the touchback being at the 35. You know, a lot of people think 30 to 35 is not a big difference. That five yards is huge. It means a ton if you get two first downs or even one,

and then you're even punting, field position, you know, so I think that's a big one. They also condense those formations a little tighter, so space and speed are even more limited a little bit with the kickoff play. And I think what you're going to see, now is the talented kickers like you were pat is you know they're going to put that thing between the five and the one so we want to increase the returns we want that activity to happen so i think it's a it's a it's a big step for that reason and i think it ran pretty well last year

1600 more plays is what they were pitching last year whenever they made this but that was when it was a 35 yard touchback whenever they softened it moved it to 30 i thought that was a bad idea i was literally loud and you talk about that five yards being a vast difference if you look at the percentages of scoring when you're at the 35 versus when you're at the 30 versus when you're at the 25 vast difference that's why I think the 35 was the right play all along happy they're there that does look explosive how about the hawkeye technology it's breaking my heart a little bit okay okay can't pull the penalty card out no I didn't want to pitch that could we just get an animated you know I'd come out maybe on a close one right and then and then put it down but

listen it's going to make the game more efficient measurements take almost two minutes of downtime so we want to move through that rather quick get back to the snaps so i'm digging it it's you know we're embracing technology let's get this done i do like the chain crew though man me too special bond that we had as ruffs with that crew right we got to keep them there you never know when maybe technology doesn't work so yeah we want to keep the chain crew there in the event that we have a breakdown and western pennsylvania we don't want to be taking jobs from anybody no no we don't have to be taking jobs from anybody no we don't have to be taking jobs from anybody no we don't have to be taking any chain crew guys. Especially AI. Yeah, we don't need to be. We don't need these robots taking any jobs out here in western Pennsylvania. Here is obviously the index card moment. What a moment in the history of this sport.

I guess you could say this would never happen again. Just like I did a couple of surprise onside kicks. It doesn't ever happen again either. So we'll just go down as the greatest of all time. Now, on that note, AJ has a question for you. So as the white hat, when you have the mic and you're announcing to the world in the stadium and all the millions watching on TV, you're probably the best. to ever do it was that something you actually had to work on and practice is that do they teach

you when you're coming up when you're training they teach you hey if you're the guy you need to enunciate you need to put on a good message and be crisp and clear in what we're doing is that part of referee school or whatever they do yeah i mean it really is there and i leaned on the legends that were before me i was very fortunate that jerry mark bright who was really like the first true i think tony mark right cashen they were the first like referees that had to speak on the mic Right? So that really is a daunting task for some people to think of. Like, hey, here we go one shot on me.

I've got to explain this. And let's face it, man. That's live television that's right on your waist. You get one take. Oh, yeah. So there's a lot of little nuance to it. Only 50 million people watching you deliver a monologue. That's bigger than any late night show host.

That's bigger than anybody else that has a one shot on national television. And you're speaking for the game. Like you are representing the game. You stutter, whole league looks like an asshole. Yeah. You get it wrong. The game looks broken. Like for new fans, like that's a lot of pressure.

And some of them do melt in the moment it feels like. I feel like that should be something that is taken into it. We need a little moxie from the way. I think the other thing, too, quite honestly. And we all talk, right? I mean, officials all talk when we retire. We want to give back. We want to continue to pass the message.

There's a bridging in the NFL that's different with other sports with the referee announcement. You are that bridge a little bit between the production of the game, the talent. Yes. So there's enough information. And quite frankly, I talk a little bit too much every once in a lot. No, no, I think it's good. We need more. Maybe it was a little too much.

We need more. So I think there was that good balance where officials do become part of the production of that show for that moment, right? So own that space, you control it, but try to keep your individual personality involved as well. And it's not an easy subset. You guys know what it's like, right? Well, what you do is not easy. Because you got to get it right. And we know we've seen other people try and not do very well.

What's kind of hard is after you kind of miss the first. 50-50 play and you guys were a lot closer than you feel like you are now to me yeah and then you had to kind of click and become one with the living room you know that wasn't always easy to do right in that space but yeah the interactions between players who are pissed at you yeah and then excuse me i got to talk 50 million people actually this guy right here you saw it we all we all we all saw it's a moment you need to have confidence and if you don't have confidence I think the game isn't taking as serious. Like, I legitimately think that Whitecaps speaking to the audience

is one of the most important parts of the game. It can ruin the entire league. How do you feel about now? Connor has a question. Yeah, my don't. It feels like right now the refs, there's a new ref accountability initiative kind of. And I think it was last year.

Maybe there were two refs left let go. I think Roger Goodell kind of talked about it a little bit at the NFL draft when he came on, the Grum. But how do you feel about it when it comes to the people wanting referees to do a press conference or do something. I know they released a sheet of paper

and explain this stuff, but sometimes that kind of gets missed. What do you think about kind of that future? You know what I mean? The first point of it, I would tell you from the accountability portion of it, it may not be like public consumption, that type of knowledge.

The accountability level to the officials in the NFL is of such a highest level and the scrutiny is so detailed for the right reasons that they're held accountable. to a place that you really could not imagine unless you lived a week of an NFL ref and watched how that process took place.

So it's really there. And like most things refs do, it's not for public consumption. I know the world wants to see officials stand up and take questions from a podium and get through that place. To me, listen, there's a window of what officials do in every sport that, look, if we call this game by the letter of the law or about what you

said, look in the book, it says this. It's a foul. You could have 10 questions in the last three minutes of every game, and by the book say, those are fouls, right? I know, but the art of what we did was that 3 to 5% of that gray that understood the second

part of it. Yeah, he did get held a little. They also ran the football nine yards away from them on the other side. Did this have an impact? I would have got there. You always have to take the individual into it as well. Milk shirt, milk shirt, great. I think there's a piece of that, you know what I mean?

That's knowing the game, though. That's just the way that I can. Hey, Gene, what you're talking about is knowing the game, though. Well, that's part of this whole process, Patty. And really, the nice part about football, as opposed to my hoop life. In hoops, you see a play. You just have a fraction. You're going to blow the whistle or pass.

Football, you could digest for two seconds, right? Like, watch the thing evolve because flags happen and plays finish. and hoops, you blew the whistle and it was over, you needed to like step up, right? A lot of those. But, yeah, I think it is part of understanding the game, and quite frankly,

that's the majority of the training that's done with new officials moving to this level. It's a little different. Don't we just need a pipeline of X players just to do full-time, go to a university, go to academy, work around the college, get a pool, make them full-time. Not saying we need to eliminate all full-time

reps, but don't we think X players would be great refs? I've always thought that do you agree they would understand the game i mean yes so there's there's that there's that portion of that and i think most people that are into officiating in some capacity were part of organized sports to some level but then there's this whole other piece pat and that's managing these these individuals in this environment uh understanding when that game needs to kind of pick up a little bit right like let's keep the look you'll go to training camp you'll be here today that horn goes off and we're playing things within seconds all day you guys

are programmed that way when you were practicing. Officials, a big part of what they do is when that play ends, get that football back in there, get it down, and get out of the way, and let them get into that rhythm of efficiency. That's how they've been programmed. If we are lax as an officiating group and being not efficient there, things get choppy, right? We have another call stop.

You know what I mean? We get down on ourselves a little bit. And also, if there's a flag, a holding, we don't need four straight penalties. Unless it's a full giveaway. The feel that you're talking about, it seems like. It feels like the officiating need feel. I think the only way you get that is from reps, which I think a couple years ago,

a lot of those young reps were ass. Last year, it wasn't a lot of, hey, these reps sucks conversations by us on Monday. I think that's good, right? Don't you think? Patience, patience, patience. I don't got it. I lost the bet because you guys can't call a goddamn medal.

I remember two of them in prime time. I remember the Chiefs Mahomes and God his face ripped off. Yeah, you guys can't make a call. I lose a bet. I hate the refs, but there's about 100 different moments where the refs make the right call, and we don't give them any credit. So I think last year was a good officiating year. Yes, I agree.

Knock on, knock on one. DeBot has a question for you. He never want to be the conversation. But talking about understanding the game, I know as players and even playing for Belichick, we would kind of go over the referees and what calls they call, what do they stay away from, and he would always say do business, business is being done. Coming into the game, when it's certain, maybe like a Raven Steelers game, Do you come in and say, hey, we're going to kind of let the players kind of dictate the outcome of this game and kind of stay out of it, fourth quarter, overtimes, fourth downs.

I feel like you got to be a conversation with rest before games, before quarters. I got to be honest with you. I know how you guys scouted us. I did it. And it was right for that. You knew who was coming in. You knew what percentage of holds we called. You knew it where we were because that's who you are.

That's why you lived in that space. We did the same thing. Did it every game. First, it was a team team matchup. Then it was individual matchups. And then it was talking to each official or creating a playlist from previous games to show what this matchup is going to bring to you as official

that's on a line of scrimmage who has a number two receiver in the slot plus the left tackle today. Like this is how your matchup is. It's this rookie left tackle and it's T.J. Watt on the edge, right? So make sure that rookie left tackle is up on a line of scrimmage, don't let him creep off. But make sure T.J. doesn't have his hands creeping in the neutral zone either. We're going to keep it cleaner.

That was my matchup. So yes, you constantly are building matchups that way in preparation for, what's going to happen the next day because just like you guys when you focused in practice and you went to those 10 bullet points that we got to do to win when they started happening on Sunday the level of calmness and confidence that we prepared properly for this game that was taking place in real time and we were telling each other that on the sideline the same thing was happening with me and my crew right we'd go over that two or three plays and now that play

happened on Sunday at 215 first thing I was doing was pressure on my button yeah let we just talked about that at three o'clock yesterday in a pregame remember elevation of that and then i think i always went to the alpha what i felt was the alpha on each side of the ball many times it was the quarterback because he dictated the tempo for me as a referee but i wanted to find the alpha on the defensive side to let him know play on the edge that's what made you great but trust me that if i think you've gone over that edge and it's not good for the game that if i just can check you back down one click to get back on the edge then we all live in that space when that trust occurred between player referee then manage the game and let the

players do what they do it's why they played it and steal the ravens not because they're from here toughest regular season matchups kind of for me and again not because i'm here but i was part of that monday night game with hans and uh and ed reed and richard mendon hall fractured his shoulder on the second play and and we went into overtime and i flipped the corner and and it didn't flip over and it hit the ground. And I left my ref hat on the bed the day before at my home. And Coach Tomlin actually knew I left my ref hat on the bed. He wanted to let me know that as we went into overtime.

Like I might not have been always there. So yeah, there was just in that space and living in that environment is quite frankly what we all love. It's why you still talk about this the way we do and the passion. Because that's kind of what we were all addicted to, right? addicted to yeah living in that high altitude of of space and being so aware of everything around you that only that space maybe can put you in is kind of what i know that that's why i did what i did hi gno last question here from fellow pison ap tone yeah jean really saved the best for last big big

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now, wait a minute. Oh, no. Come on. I got to go in there. Yeah. What's your big idea? I've been a pinky ring for a while.

Listen, the sauce is thicker than the blood. Today, I know Coach Tomlin is bringing. Not gravy. I know Tomlin is bringing rests out here today. Yeah. What position group when you're out here in training camp talks to you guys the most? Connor? You mean, like, out on the field, what position?

Not the game. No, no, no, like the position, like a player position today. Like, is it DVD? Who's asking you the most question? The DBs start talking before it even starts, right? They're talking while they're stretching. So, yeah, the DBs. Coach here, stay away from Danny Smith.

He's my main man. I called a penalty my rookie year real quick in Washington when they were called a different name. I announced on a punt that the hold was on 44 against Washington, right? I was a rookie referee second game. Danny Smith starts running down the sideline screaming, And who's the foul-on rookie? Because they know. I said, I told you it's 44.

He goes, really? I said, yeah. He goes, you know who 44 is here? I'm like, who held? He said, no, look at the Ring of Honor. It's John Riggins. You just called a penalty on John Riggins. Because I had the number of all, you know.

But Danny, one of the best. Those interactions are what you miss. Yeah, well, we all miss you on the field. We're thankful you're on TV for yet another year. Thank you for the gift from the DP here. The D. Thank you for always being so kind to us. You're the man, you're a legend, your actual goat.

Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate you all, Matt. Yes, fellas. Gino, good boy, Gino. Hey, I appreciate you, man. Thank you, thank you, Gina. All right, appreciate it. Good luck this year.

Bye, Zah. Great to see you. All right, Madon. I got you. It's a good looking house. You guys playing botchy? It's good looking house. Hey, a lot of love you, Gene texts

coming from people around Pittsburgh. Gino's living legend. Now, speaking of you, of living legend, there's a man who is creating his own path for an organization that is riddled with tradition and history. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who is simply known as the Khan artist, the general manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Omar Khan. What's up, man? What's all? How you doing, Omar?

How you doing? How you doing? Good to see you. I don't. Appreciate you, man. How you doing? How you doing? Hell yeah. You got that handheld right next to you there. Mr. Kahn, great.

Congrats on a hell of an offseason in training camps, sir, everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, so. Thanks for having me on. No, thank you for joining us. Thank you for the hospitality. Thank you for everything. How about these fans, man?

I'm believing. Oh, yeah. Everywhere. The best there is. It's been amazing. I was here as a child. I think Tone was here as a kid and as a high schooler. It's basically the pilgrimage that every Yenzer feels like they have to make.

Since 1966, the place has been here. Since the beginning of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Steelers have operated in one particular way. And I know you've heard a lot of this, I assume, because we've chatted about it a lot, a lot of Steelers fans have. Completely different offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year. Was that the mindset going into the off season? Was it like, hey, we're going to bring in a top-tier free agent in D.K. Metcalfe

and pay him $30 million. We're going to make a trade for Jalen Ramsey and John, Smith. We're going to bring in four-time NFL MVP, Aaron Rogers. Darius Slay is going to come in. You were hunting stars in pain, guys. Very abnormal for here. Mindset going into the offseason, or how did we kind of get here, you think? Yeah, I think going into the offseason, you know, we reflected on how things ended last year, and that wasn't good enough, and some things had to be different. And, you know, every one of those things was a case-by-case situation. They love you, buddy.

They love you. They were all case-by-case. We just got to be better, you know. And I don't necessarily want to say we tried something new, because every one of those situations was unique. But we just got to be better. You know, the way last year ended up left a bad taste in our mouth. And, you know, that's unacceptable.

And the Jensers fans are all behind you. These moves that you've made, I haven't even heard any old miserable Yenzer say that they hate that you're spending money in the way that you're spending and everything like that. Get the T.J. Watt deal done as well. Love TJ, man. So much stuff. Was that always going to happen?

Because the way the insiders talked about it whenever they would come on our show, they're like, TJ and the Steelers are going to get a deal done. We all know that. And then he holds out of the mandatory minicamp. In your eyes, always going to get done. It was just a matter of when? We felt confident. It was always a goal of ours.

You know, TJ's one of those guys. I mean, how awesome is TJ, man? He's just awesome. Awesome. On the field, off the field. And he's one of those guys that, you know, he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame. and you know what the reality is, he should be a one helmet Hall of Famer. And to have him to get the deal done, and hopefully that's not the last deal we do with him.

We think he's got a lot of football left, but that was important to us. And I'm glad we got it done, especially before Cam. Was there anxiety, though? Had to be. You know, these things always take a little longer than you hope. I was always confident we'd get it done. It's just a process, but, you know, we got it done. That's all that matters, you know.

He's a stealer. He was happy, too. We saw him earlier. And myself, Cam, B, Butt, and AJ, and the boys all talked about how much money he has now. So we let him know that he got a great deal, but he's earned it, obviously, true at all. Last question from me before the boys have some. So the rumors now out on the Internet are that you guys are maybe one of the favorites for Terry McClure. Not going to ask you about that because that would be a stupid thing for you to answer on our show.

But the fact that your team is being mentioned to be a part of the teams that could get him means that people have looked at your salary cap and think that you could get Terry McClureen to become a Pittsburgh Steeler. Now, whether or not he is going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or any other team, how have you been able to navigate the salary cap gymnastics to pay everybody and still

have room if you were to sign another big time player? And you have 12 picks in next year's draft that is being held in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. They call you the con artist and the business that you've been able to do here is absolutely, Jesus, pine cone.

for the pine cone, we'll smoke this later. The entire thought of how have you been able to navigate it? And what are you focusing on when you're getting these deals done? 30 million to DK, 41 million to T.J. Jalen Ramsey's here on money. Patrick Queen just got paid, let alone Cam

and everybody else that you have that's worth money. What are you focus on while you're doing this? And do you think you're not getting enough credit for the salary cap gymnastics that you're doing that others have done in the past? Well, with respect to the credit, you know, until we win a Super Bowl, I don't really deserve any credit. But the reality is we you know our goal is to win a Super Bowl this year and every move we make is

reflective of that and you know we understand we can't sacrifice the future but you know we won a Super Bowl this year and the moves that we made and how we've structured these contracts it's with with that goal in mind are you done I mean you never say you're done but you know I really like the group that we have here and you know we've we've done a lot this off season and you know we'll see if there's ever an opportunity to prove the team you know we'll think about it and talk about it but you know we feel good about the team bat yeah but your phone works here you're saying phone does work here though always it works in La Trobe yeah AJ has a question for you what's it like

when you first introduce the idea say like all that you go you got you sign these big-time players say D.K. Metcalfe when you first float that idea to coach Tom one how do those how does that initially you know come about and then like the process of that I would imagine he's a pretty fun guy to go through a process like that trying to go after these big time starts about coach tea he's he's awesome him and I work great together and you know the the I don't remember if we heard about or we acquired how exactly it came about but we you know like every big decision you know coach and I'll get together with our owner our Rooney and we'll talk about to see if it makes sense and that was

one of those where you know it worked out and you know we watched decay in action and you know to have the opportunity to have an impact player like that it just made perfect sense for us whenever Mike Tomlin is recruiting Aaron Rogers via techs are you telling us Hey, let's slip in there like, hey, we want to build a team, too, with the deals. Or was money something that was kind of figured out early in the entire process of potentially getting Aaron Rogers? You know, with respect, I don't really want to get into the contract too much, Pat. But one thing I will say with Aaron is we had great communication. Contraded was reported out there, you know, and I don't know everything.

But he communicated great with us, and we communicated great with him. And we were very upfront as to what our goals were. and, you know, he was up front about his, and, you know, it just worked out. I'm glad he did. He's been awesome. Just getting to know him, it's been great. $11 million in starting quarterback contracts the last two years. No big deal.

That's con artist football, baby. Tone Diggs has a question for you. Can you kind of walk us through the Jalen and then the Janu and then Minka going to Miami? Because, like, that whole, that came out of, kind of came out of nowhere. There was Janu rumors a couple weeks, months before that, and, you know, kind of people just kind of, And then they went away. And then out of nowhere, it was, hey, Jalen, and then, oh, Mika's going there, too. And John is coming.

Like, it was weird how it all came out. How did that all come together? Sure. You know, there was word out there about John who being available. This was before the draft, and we inquired about it. And, you know, the conversation just sort of continued. And it was a few weeks process, and a couple months, I guess. And it just kind of came together.

And we just felt it made sense for us. the opportunity to get two pro bowl players, two impact, one on offense, one on defense, and it just made sense for us. So much money spent this offseason a lot more than you probably could have predicted at one particular position. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Con artists, you kind of got to the key early with the D.K. Metcalf deal, it seemed after that, some of those other wide receiver deals exploded with the T.J. Watt one was kind

of the opposite. You know, Miles, Max. I think there was a couple other pastures. De Niels. Yeah, there you go. and Neil, and now, of course, coming on the other end, here's Micah, probably not Trey Hendrickson. What did you think when you see those numbers, when you see those massive deals?

$40 million. How much does that change everything for you? Was there any point where you're close to getting a deal done with CheeJ and then boom, you know, Miles or Max Crosby signs for $100 million guaranteed, and then your deal changes? Like, was that going on when all those other contracts were happening? You know, without going at specifics of the negotiation, I'll just say it's, you know, it's obviously part of it because the players, you know, it's important to the players. But we also have to be careful and understand the structure of our roster and the contracts and what's coming forward and all that. So you take all that into account. But, you know, with TJ, I'm just so glad we got it done. Like it meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to us. And like I said, he deserves to be a one helmet Hall of Famer. And he represents us so well. And do you guys have him on? Oh, yeah, he's awesome. He's about as good as they get.

Is he not? Like, I mean, he just, yeah. Let's talk, though, about that question. All right. You see that Haslam has given out another gigantic, gigantic deal at a position that you have to work. That certainly changes everything for you, right? Does it not? Whenever the market changes that big?

I mean, it went from, what, 32 to 40? To 40, yeah. Yeah, like there was no, usually things climb, especially at that position, but it goes all the way up to 40 all. a sudden. And now you got Yenzers and Steelers fans. They all know immediately. That's TJ's number. Okay, is TJ now, how is this going to work? You get a deal done, but that does change it, right? Whenever the market changes? I mean, I'd be lying if I told you didn't come into account and part of the conversation. I mean, it's natural. But, you know, that's how this goes. And like I said, at the end of the day, the goal was to get TJ done

and we got them. You're getting a text from somebody. Go ahead and check it. Go ahead and look. What happened? Hasl. What position? D.E. The one. How big? Biggest of all time. All time. Any position. Anyway, you need to do it. So it's a beautiful thing. D. Butt has the last question for you. I know why every GM is kind of different in their principles. Some people are just numbers, guys. But how much do you think about when you sign a free agent or when you trade for somebody, how they're going to impact the guys already in that meeting room? Like signing to Jalen Ramsey and bringing out Darius Layover with J.P.J. and they're developing.

Muth, you bring it in, John Hussman. you think about the factor it in it's a big part of it you know we don't we don't just throw a dart and hope to sign a guy like it's all a process to make sure they fit in their stealers right yeah you grew up here tone you know what uh what it's like to be a a stealer like it would take us two days to go over all the characteristics and how special and unique that is but every one of those is a case by case and you know we evaluate to make sure they're not gonna uh that it makes sense for us and uh those guys all have you know we're excited to have i don't know if you guys had to know a lot of those guys or had them on

I don't know who you guys had on, but we had a great, great locker room with guys right now. And I'm excited like this. I'm excited about this season and, you know, Reddick, excited for the first padded practice today. You remember those days, right? How awesome is that first day of padded practice, right? It's as exciting for all of us as it is for them. Everyone wants to see people getting knocked out cold. Well, also, you guys are going to see if they're the real deal.

And we've obviously seen it in shorts. It's a big day. Is it your birthday? No, no, no, no. I don't know where that, but I'm happy to take the. Happy birthday, wishes you to have everybody sing you. I'm happy we checked. Not me.

Happy birthday, Omar. We missed a few. You know, we missed a few. Thank you so much for stopping. Thanks, guys. You're the man. Come back and visit next year for sure. Okay.

Hey, I have a question. Let's hear it. Aaron Rogers on Tuesdays. How do the Pittsburgh Steelers organization feel about that particular? You know what? We have a PR director, Bert. I'll let you discuss that. We got our answer.

the general manager of the Pittsburgh sailors at Markham. Oh, thank you. Have a great day, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Good luck.

As we wrap up here on ESPN will continue digitally on YouTube, ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and TikTok Live. What a day it's been here in La Trobe, Pennsylvania. Big shout out to the fans that have hung out with us here on either side. either side. This side over here has been in a pretty good spot. They've got his big ass pine tree. That's going to give them some shade. I appreciate

you guys for hanging out. You're Caboley on the DoorDash, but he just put a sandwich as possible. There's a chance that the Pittsburgh Steelers actually do go to the Super Bowl this year. The AFC is absolutely stacked and loaded.

The reigning AFC champions are the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh, yeah, don't forget, Josh Allen into Buffalo Bills. Oh, yeah, don't forget Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Joey Burrow, Trey Hendrickson, and the Cincinnati Bengals, Anthony Richardson, and the Indianapolis Colts. It is a murderer's row in the AFC, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their fans do not give a damn about any of them. All they want to see is seven. Come back to this city.

The seventh title coming to the Pittsburgh Steelers is what's on everybody. everybody's mind here and it's been an honor to experience it from all of us here in latro pennsylvania to you watching wherever the hell you may be we can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living you're the greatest people on earth here we go Steelers here we go Nailed it all right we're off all right sweet Only in Theatres August 29th From the director of Meet the Parents

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that marriage isn't always a bed of roses. See The Roses, only in theaters, August 29th. Get tickets now. You've seen the headlines. Heard the debates. Point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game. Has the three-pointer ruined basketball? And how did we get here?

The rise of the three-point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story didn't turn out quite the way he imagined. I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history. 30 for 30 podcast presents chasing basketball heaven. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now digital, and I've never thought that I'd get an opportunity to do this, but our dad is here. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for Pittsburgh Dad. Hey, welcome to these Trojans, guys.

Yeah, so is it Latrobe or Latrobe, Dad? You know what, that's a judgment call on your part. What did Mr. Rogers say? I don't remember. I was trying to think about it, honestly, because my dad. says Latrobe, Diggs' dad says La Trobe. Artie Palmer says Latrobe. Yeah, so what do you think?

You're kind of the... I would say La Trobe. It sounds more like Yinzerific at way. Yeah, little Latrobe. Speaking of Yinzerific, how often are you come up to training camp? Is it every day, every step? Every single day, I quit my job in the summer. I come up here and I sit with Steelers Nation,

getting the team ready to get number seven. How do you feel about this year's team, Dad? You know, I'm going to go out on a limb here, Pat. I don't want to, like, I don't want to get too overreactive, but I'm going to go ahead say 17 and O. Oh, really? We got Aaron Rogers now, AJ Hawks. We got Aaron Rogers. Okay, so expectations very high for Pittsburgh, Dad.

Is that normal for you or no? No, you know, sometimes it's normal, absolutely normal. Yeah, we're going to win all the time? All the time every time. But what if there's a little hint of negativity that happens? What happens? Who said that? Well, I'm just saying.

Was there some kind of browns fan in the audience there? Yeah, I don't think there's any bronze. fans out here dead there's a fangles fan i'll get down to hell out here yeah so i don't need that negativity up here we have to start the whole camp over no actually not a bad idea i think that'd be fun i have a pittsburgh dad everybody has Pittsburgh dad you are very similar to them and we know that if Aaron rogers throws a pick to Patrick queen on one of the first days of practice it might be a little bit of up just like we fucking said this guy's old and out of touch Is that how you are?

I heard that he threw interception on the first play. I was the first to go and emailing Omar Cullen and tell him to get him out of here. But then I call him down, and I think he's still going to do a good job. Okay. Okay. Because he owes us a Super Bowl. I ain't forgot about Super Bowl 45. I forgot about how the Packers greased up the ball with Wisconsin cheddar.

So Menon Hall fumbled it. I ain't forgot about that. I forgot about that, Dad. I didn't know that happened. Tone has a question for you, Dad. Yeah, Dad. Obviously, there's been some favorites over the years. Chris Hu Matamala fall.

That's not his name, Chris Fuamatu Mahfala. Exactly. Ma'i-Fi. Yes. Suamatu Ma-Fi. You put too many syllables in that. Kimu von Olhofen. There's been others, Dan Kreider.

He does a big favorite. That thing, Dan Kreider. Is there a Pittsburgh favorite on this roster yet that you've discovered as like in that ilk of those type of guys? You know who I really like to watch it? He's getting his chances every year in and you're out here the last couple years. I like Nick Herbig. Yeah. Every time that guy, every time he gets his chance, he makes a splash.

That's good call you right now. He's going to get more and more chances and he's going to make his year this year. I love him. I saw him at the Jelly Roll concert. He's electric. He's an electrifying human being and great actor. Schedule release. Remember, he was a part of that video. That's right. That's right. AJ Hawk has no idea what's going on here, I don't think. No, I do. Aaron's been a big fan of yours for years for years. Aaron loves you, Pittsburgh. He loves you for a long time. But he did tell me, you obviously played ball in high school, most likely college. Did you get a scholarship? Were you a quarterback? You have the physical build of a guy that played in the...

Well, you know, it's underwraps, all that kind of stuff. I don't like to discuss the old days because, you know, you see you start putting your name out there. That's when someone gets on a dark web and steals all your Giant Eagle fuel perks. Thank you. You got my Giant Eagle water right here. That's all you need. You don't need any of that fancy stuff.

Get the stuff in Giant Eagle. I got my Turner's tea. You got your Iron City. So the guy chugged at Iron City out here earlier. I don't have any. out there. You just keep a low. No one can see that. Bring back the sun. Are you a Permanagh's guy or Rudy Sub's guy? I'm a Permanagh's guy all the way. Put the fries and slaw on everything. I put the prize and slough on my baby when he was baptized.

DeBund has a question for him. Rudy's guy. But we got this phenomenal gift from me and Joe Green. What's your first memory coming to Pittsburgh Steelers training camp? First memory coming to Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at season. That's year 1994. That's whenever they Whatever, Neil O'Donnell was at the hell. That piece of shit. We had a lot of hope for that guy. We had a lot of hope that guy. Neil Adonle went to the Super Bowl.

He threw the Super Bowl. He went to Larry Brown. He went right to Larry Brown and it passes. Two easy interceptions. And that's the first guy I seen when I come up here, didn't sign my football card. You know who did? Cordell Stewart. Bingo.

Slash. You like Slash? ahead of his time. Slash way ahead of his time. He's the Lamar Jackson. And if there's a found in the youth, that's the first person I'm giving it to. I think there is actually science has found it. AJ's been on it throughout his entirety,

which is why they might have won the Super Bowl. Ty has a question for you, Dad. Yeah, Dad, I've seen a lot of rumors out there. I don't know if this is true, but when all that stuff was going on with TJ and he wasn't here and he hadn't signed yet, didn't you, like, publicly say, like, hey, TJ, it's time for you to pack your shit up and get out of time.

I think you're looking at the wrong account. You're looking at some Bengals guy account for Trey Hendrickson. That's not how we do in Pittsburgh. And if that is how we do it, that was done in private down in my cell over a couple irons. I was never put out there on the internet for anybody to see. Why are you guys? Why are you lying about this?

I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. Too much. Hey, listen, AI these days. AI these days. You can never trust anybody. Agreed.

Oh, yeah. Watch that AI. I'll tell you what. You have too much New York. We're out of the darkness retreat. We're in the light of Pittsburgh now. Bingo. You an ayahuasca guy, dad?

I don't know if Pittsburgh dad's been. I was good guys. I heard about that. Is that some kind of tea? Yeah. That's a stronger tea? Yeah. It's like a Turner's tea, but also like,

Oh, I think they do have the turner's team. I think they do have the turners. I'll try one of those and watch a game, see how that goes. The lemon-flavored ayahuasca, I think. Oh, I'll think I'll get mad watching the game on that? No, I don't think you'll know much. I know that. Yeah, I don't think you're watching any games.

I'll try one. I'm always down for a new tier. You're going to Kenywood after this? I already done the Kenneywood trip. I'll tell you what, we went down there. We rode the Steel Curtain. We sat down and prayed at Steel Curtain because that's what the log jammer used to be, and now it's not there, rest in peace.

We all missed a logjammer, but we made ready for a Steelers ride. We still haven't got a playoff win since that ride's been there, so I don't know if we're going to have to have a petition to get that ride removed. Starting to think about it. We'll see. Did you see Cedar Point had that one get stuck up there?

I don't see nothing about Cedar Point because that's over in Ohio. And that whole state needs to be abolished. Whoa. I need to get away from me. It's too close, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. That line of demarcation is too close to Pittsburgh.

Well, actually, wheeling, I think. kind of splits it. West Virginia. I'll let West Virginia slide. That's okay down there. Yeah, you like West Virginia. Yeah, you don't mind West Virginia. I like it down there. How about the Mountaineers may be back? I don't find a mountaineers either because I think there's a good portion of pit fans and Mountaineers fan who really love Steeler Nation. All of them. Yeah, West Virginia, I think there's a lot of mountaineers. I love. Last question here from Boston Connor, Dad. Yeah, Dad, of course, it's football season. We're all football, but 20 years today, the Pittsburgh Penguins drafts at Sidney Crosby.

This. And it does seem as though the Penguins might never. win again. Do you think they should trade Sidney Crosby? Because you're from Boston. This is a Boston talk over here. He's about the hell out of here. Trade Sidney Crosby and that. I said, you know what? Just because you've lost Tom Brady, he couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. No, me our stars are ready to leave. They want to stay here. They want to be buried here. They want to enjoy it here. Yeah, buried in nine and eight graves. No. No. Hockey's 82 games. Do I see Gene Sterator come up and down here? Yeah, the ref was here. Oh my gosh. I saw him handing out gifts.

He was giving you a gift. Mean Joe Green. Oh, that's amazing. And since he's handed out gifts, let's get him back up here as an official of the NFL to decree now that Jesse James caught that ball. Okay. Thank you, Pittsburgh, Dad. Appreciate you, Pittsburgh. A regular season game.

Sell a team, Bob, sell a team. All right, Pittsburgh, Dad. Thank you, Pittsburgh, Dad. You're the man. What a living life. Thank you, Dad. Thank you, Dad. Thank you, Dad.

Look at this. Look at this fucking God. the one seat how's a regular season game you have that much real estate for because they got screwed brother we're gonna be the one see that was 17 that was going super bowl year one six titles they will never forget getting screwed by the rest that's that was the killer beast that was the one that was last year yeah Pittsburgh dad okay I think at the beginning of Pittsburgh dad's run everybody in Pittsburgh myself included wanted to hate Pittsburgh dead like this is

bullshit this is terrible see not my dad they just keep going he's like this guy actually is kind of my like my dad yeah and then everybody in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh's like, hey, Pittsburgh Dad is like all of our dads. Close my eyes and hurt him. Yeah, it's like a perfect, it's like a perfect thing. He is, and he hasn't tried to go Nashville. No. He is not like tried to become, he is very content being a Pittsburgh guy.

I think he also has a job. We love Pittsburgh, Dad. Hey, Dad. Hey, Dad. Hey, Dad, hey, good work, Dad. Congrats. He has a full career. Bruce Town.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is actually DeBones Dad. The guy who is the Pittsburgh Steelers correspondent, for the Pat McAfee Show. Eichibons, baby. Ladies and gentlemen, living legend, Mark Caboli. Yeah. Boxes out stairs. Hey, what's in your fucking pot, bro?

Drop his glasses, drop his glasses, Ty, help him out. He's got presents. Oh, yeah. Oh, Rudy sucks. That's a Rudy sucks. That's a Rudy suck. Put in my pocket, San Valer. Thank you, Cobol's.

Thank you, Cabols. Thank you, Colbles. Oh, thank you. Fucking baloney! Bologna! Bologna! To the people. Rudy sucks for the people from my Caboley.

Rudy sucks for the people. That guy's checking to see this. Santa Claus Caboan. Sandwiches Jackie for all these people. Rudy, somebody got in there. You need one. You need one. You need one.

You get us up. How many's gotten there? And obviously, Kaboli's got his pocket sub. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure you eat that one. That was Nature's Mike. Oh, we had another one.

He was straight. Probably got third in there somewhere. He was double strapped. You know that it's a hog. Shout to CFO, Phil. Shout to CFO, Phil grabbing those. Shout to Rudy's subs. Appreciate you guys.

Hey, Rudy's Subs and Pizza 286. How can I help you? help you. I'd like a whole Italian hot lettuce on your mayo. Sorry, we're out. You're going to have to go down the street. That's what got me fired from Rudy Sub. But I still eat there. There's a microphone next to you. I don't know what you're planning on doing sitting there without one. The, uh, Koboli. Your microphone's off. Caboli. Boom. Try that one, buddy. What's up? Yeah. There is. Yeah. You come barren sandwiches and obviously great

vibes. You look good. I see the haircut. You look like you're fighting shape here. How is training camp in thus far i saw your tweet about this being the hottest by far as you can tell it's kind of warm out if you guys get to go down there later you will find out we are we're done let me tell you something all the water just lays there from the um rain the past couple of days and you can see the heat just coming up on your legs oh yeah i did the old man thing the other day i went to the tent in front of the fan really take it anymore you just parked it started eating the fan do you have the mister behind the fan no i only think i was permissible it in there, but I just snuck in.

Caballi, you own the place. You do what you've got to do. Both Achilles are intact this year, which is incredible. Let's talk about the team. Seemingly, everybody healthy, knock on wood, training camp football happens. What have you seen from this team? Is it going to live up to the hype from what you've seen thus far? Yeah, I mean, everything seems to be going as planned right now.

I mean, Aaron Rogers has made, I think, a huge difference already, just the overall morale of the team. Confidence level, you mean? Oh, it's unbelievable. Just his smooth attitude and his. not getting excited over, you know, silly stuff. I think he brings the calm to the entire offense and the defense. There's not one person. I've heard something say something negative about the guy.

Hell, yeah. Oh, you have a long ago here. Not one, boss. Where you've been? Caboli. Well, within the organization and the fan. Sure. Well, I don't think you've heard that in a lot of places about him legitimately

because how he shows up. He's definitely different. You know what's not different? This Rudy's subs hits like a motherfucker. What did you get? What is it? Tadip hot. Nice.

There isn't lettuce, onion, mayo on it because I think the travel, you don't want the lettuce to get kind of chopped up. If you come to the Pittsburgh area, obviously grab some permannies. Okay, you got to do permitties. Do the permannies. It is our thing. Obviously, putting the fries and swlaw on the sandwich. The steel workers didn't have a lot of time to eat their lunch.

So we put their shit into one sandwich and then we keep it moving. Then you go to Rudy's subs and you get yourself an Italian, best sandwich in the world. Best sub in the world. And thank you for bringing you. You got the pocket version, so you were special. No, mine was at the back. Somebody out there got the pocket one. AJ has a question for you, Cobol's.

I love reading everything that you write, and I think of you sometimes, like, you put these tweets out that look like they're, you know, 16 pages long, or these stories that you write. I think of you as a writer, like, what's your process like is when you're speaking, like, your words for men isn't off the chart speaking super fast. So when you're saying, he's saying, I can't talk. No, no, no, no. Like me, like I'm a monotone, so, like, so when you're typing. know how long does it take for say one of your tweets it feels like it could take a take a couple minutes you're doing a great job it all depends if you have a good idea but are you a home road guy are you picking and pecking through your you know your keyboard i struggle

with the tweet on the phones because the fat fingers small keys type of thing so and you if you try to voice tweet it it comes out who knows what it comes out especially but actually writing i mean i've been doing this for 23 24 years now you pretty much know what you want to write as you go into it and you get things like today I was talking to the Y receiver coach Zach Azani you pick up different things you see what it's important a lot of people were interested in Y receiver 2 so he talked to Roman Wilson but it doesn't what are you looking for today when you watch practice oh it's absolutely paddling yeah I mean they're going they're going straight from individuals to seven shots to backs on back on backers to probably team run

Boom, boom, boom. And you're back on backers. I suggest AJ. If you have a kid in there, AJ's never done it before, actually, Caboli. Debutt has a question for you. You just talked about Y receiver two. Are there any other position battles you're looking at closely during this camp?

Who. Punter? There's a battle? No. Just saw a mess. Danny Smith told us a battle. Danny Smith is actually, I mean, nothing against Presley Harvard. He had a great season last year.

That's not it is. There's a mess with a ball. What I say? President Harvey. You know what? He tweeted something in mine the other day. That's why I messed that up. See?

Those are both black bunners too. How do you see how you can? Yeah, yeah. Cam Johnson is a difference maker. Cam Johnston can punt the living crap out of the ball. I think he's a difference maker. I think Danny just wants to create competition right here with Corliswain. Any other positions?

You're looking a lot of backups. You're looking who are they going to go running back, right? Is it going to be Jalen Warren? is there going to be a mix of the two. I'm not quite sure yet of that. But they're pretty much set, Pat. I mean, you look at that defense, and there's not much in the way of battles,

maybe free safety, but I don't even know how much you're going to use free safety. I mean, they got three shut down corners. Massive balls. It's jugs, brother, jugs, brother. Nobody's pointing, yeah, yeah, I was about to say. I didn't hear the perfect. They're perfect.

They're talking about every single word. over ahead and I'm seeing just massive fun. Yeah, I think we got jugs. I think the punters are off today. You talked about not a lot of battles. It's all kind of sort of at the top. You'll figure it out. I know there's been a lot of battle amongst wrestling fans, you know, about something that has

happened. Connor has a question for you, Mark. Yeah, Mark, obviously it's still real to me, damn it. And the WWB Unreal show on Netflix now is kind of removing that curtain. K-Fabe seems to be dead, so in my mind, I'm going to have to re-evaluate myself

when I think of myself as a W.W.E. wrestling market. I know. I'm bummed out about it. I will always, always acknowledge. But when it comes to Odie Oads and some of the other guys, I mean, look, I'm not here for it. I don't want to hear about Kevin Owens and Cody's sitting up this fucking match, brother.

So what the hell's going up? Watch other. That's a W&E ruined my business. Did you watch it yet? Yeah, man, I watched it. And I turned it off because if I don't think they review that much. Two people have sex. What?

Yeah, you're not supposed to do that. So you had to cover your eyes like this. Like, no, no, Mr. H. I don't want to know this. I just don't think they revealed as much as they could have rebuilt. I think it made me. Excuse me? You wanted more? I only got through two episodes so far.

And it seemed like me wanting to come back for more. Just wanted to see what it's a great show. I will say it is a phenomenal show. Like, I think a lot of people that aren't wrestling fans or might just say like, oh, that's wrestling might learn like hey there's a lot of psychology going on right now in a lot of business and a lot of big brains going on but i just it is tough it is tough like i think about michael cole's the goad at it but i think about commentating like a day after one of those episodes is released and it's like these two guys hate each other i know you saw him yesterday on

netflix i think 20 million people saw it is one of the biggest shows that netflix has ever had but like i just it's an interesting dynamic we're in a very new world now with the ww with this unreal i think first i mean even stuff like you saw uh triple h even talking to michael cole uh during the scene attorneys like you didn't even know did you go no i didn't know and i think that's interesting i don't think they've pulled the curtain back as much as they could have i think they've been a nice happy meeting i feel like there are some people in tide made this point um the other day like it's a mature show so they're saying everything they're not bleeping everything so those younger kids aren't going to get it but uh i don't know just just just person this is just how i

feel it's almost like that's it's cool to see it in an a w dot or not a w excuse me a and e dock down the road where stone cold you mentioned this stone called in the rock like them talking about when you know they're in the ring and stone cold the rock have the moment of like i love you and now it doesn't matter now we're just gonna know i think k fave has been dead for since the internet right oh fuck you to a degree. They're telling you to take it off.

No, not the hat. You're saying. You must be joking. No, no, they're being serious. They're talking to you. Caboos, I want to let you know. I think you're doing great work on X, buddy. I appreciate it.

You keep us all very much updated. How have you enjoyed it? Have you enjoyed being next? Absolutely great. I mean, I can do what I need to do. I don't, I can write what I want to write and not be constricted by the newspaper rules.

It's great. I think you're doing a great job. We're appreciative of everything you're doing. Yeah, you and D-Bone were great. Oh, D-Bone's great. He's your kid. He's your kid. He knows that as well.

All right, we're going to wrap up from here as practice has begun down here for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We're going to head down there. Remember to follow Cabal. He deserves a follow. Yes, he does. He tells us too much about his personal life.

Yeah. How's it all been? How's it all been? Everything's been good? Yeah, you know what? Yeah, it's been pretty good. Other than the fact that a wipe company reached out to me and offered me free wipes today. It was kind of interesting.

You should do that? You want that right? I don't know. That's kind of weird. You want some cash. No, it's good. You want money deal? They were going to send me like a case of wipes, I guess.

That's good. Which is fine. Which is fine. Not wiping your ass. It's weird, man. No, but somebody reaching you out that you don't know who it is and said. Well, what you just said there, yeah. Was it an individual or was it a company?

No, it was a company. I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, so I'm not going to say it. If it's Cottonel, you do it now. No, it wasn't going right now. Is it dude wipes? It was dude wipes. Yeah, you should take the dude wipes for sure. One per flush.

Yeah, I just posted a picture of like the hillside and they're like, I think you need dude wipes. I'm like, yeah, I probably do, but. You know, you know, sometimes throw it in the trash. Yeah. Oh my God. If I'm you, I'm throwing them in the trash just because. Well, I'm not talking about. After you do your business, I'm talking about to dry it up a little.

Yeah, yeah, you dry it out, let it get all hard and crust. And then you're going out. You'll be down there. You'll see what the swamp ass is all about. Come on, I already got this swamp ass, but I ain't wiping my ass and throwing it into the trash kit. What are you talking about? Didn't you know a guy? Yeah, we had a guy.

There was a guy who came from, I think he was in New York somewhere, and he, they're talking to you, Cabo. Can I flip him off? No, no, they're injured. You should not flip him off. These are good people. He did that. He wiped his ass, and he threw the toilet paper into the trash because he didn't want to clog the toilet or whatever.

Yeah. So the entire place smelled like shit. Right. God damn animals. I walked in and I was like, why does it smell so bad in here? And they're like, what are you talking about? And I like literally sniff it out. And I go to the bathroom, and I'm like, is that ass toilet paper in the trash?

Like, yeah, we don't want to crack the pipes or whatever. I'm like, you flush that fucking toilet paper. I didn't know I need to tell you the same thing. You need to be flush in your toilet paper. Depends on where you're at. One per flush. No, it does not depend where you're at. Well, if I'm in a public place, it's going wherever.

If I'm at home, maybe that's just. You are a rare animal. Would you act like you've never done this? No. No. We wipe our ass and we flush it. That is what we do. Not all the time.

The only time I don't see it go away. Wait, wait, wait. Come on. They back me up. This guy is raised by the country bears on the box. Ladies and gentlemen. That's it. That's been the show.

We're going to go watch practice. Caboli. That's unbelievable. Dude. You need to know that. That is unbelievable that you do that. Just wear a diaper. You need to be putting your toilet paper and your dude wipes into a fucking toilet after you wipe your ass.

Every time. Every time at the bottom of the garbage can. They won't, though. From Caboli for us for all these paper. Practice is about to start. We're going to head down there. Thank you to Bert Lawton and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thank you to the production crew that set all this up here on the

side of a hill. We appreciate your incredible work. We appreciate the Jensers and the people that travel to hang out with us. Tomorrow we'll be live from the Pro Football Hall of Fame right next to a highway, chit-chat with the entire class of this year for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and other legends. You all are the greatest people on earth. Thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. Our swamp pass in our toilet paper that we're flushing down the toilet. I don't What do you want to look at this guy? That should be death by firing as far. Yeah, you're all lying.

This is a fireable offense? Oh, yeah. A fire. You can land him on fire, too, yeah. I think we should make him go walk in the highway and get hit by a semi. If you're actually doing that on a regular face. Just don't look at that. Don't look at that trash can right over there.

That was good. Ladies and gentlemen, he's waiting his house and throw a paper and then wiping his mouth. This has been the Pat McHivie show from myself, Ty Schmidt, Boston Connor, one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP Tone. Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, AJ Hawk, a man who needs to take his shirt off, Mark Caboli. To everybody back in the truck, great work, boys. They got a four-season setup in that truck.

Really nice setup in that truck for the boys. They deserve it. Life's good, boys. Yeah, we know. We know. You guys do great work. Faso, great work. Bruce, really good job.

All right. Be a friend, tell the friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. from the whole fan tomorrow team on me team on three one two three team goodbye this isn't just another ESPN fantasy football season it's your shot at greatness with a refreshed design the ESPN fantasy app is sharper than ever so you can draft like a pro and dominate your lead and introducing gridiron gauntlet a new game mode where the best compete to be crowned the number one fantasy football player

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