This is in the locker Room with King and Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.

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Am, all right, we are back inside the locker room.

You know what time it is.

It's the top of the hour.

It's the pour hour.

For most importantly, when you hear that beat, you know it can only be one person.

That's right.

That is our sideline reporter extraordinaire, also a tremendous anchor in her own right.

But we call it the team.

Mom.

That's right, it's the one of the only.

Missy Matthews on the line with us.

What's up, Missy?

How we doing today?

I'm great, I am I'm super pumped for Sunday.

The weather is going to be perfect.

There's not much to complain about.

No, there is not a lot to complain about.

We have football, and football is in the blood and lifeline of Western Pa, especially in the city of steel itself, and we are going to get another tilt of what I like to call the Revenge Tour.

We get a matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, who so graciously and so kindly allowed us to alleviate them and employ the services of one DK Metcalf, And I'm excited for this contest not just because of that, but because I think kind of missing in my mind, this team wants to be similar to us, and they want to have an explosive passing game.

They also went out shopping in the offseason for or a quarterback like we did, and then they also drafted a quarterback like we did, and they brought a quarterback as a backup that was there before like we did.

A lot of parallels in this and just you know, what I want to just hit on is what is kind of something that that you're looking forward to in this game, outside of course the obvious DK headline of it all.

Just what's on the mind of Missy in this moment.

I mean, I think, honestly, it's both team secondaries.

I'm very anxious to see when the status report comes out because Joey Porter Junior hasn't practiced for two days.

You know, Deshaun Elliott's already out, Derek Carmon's still out, Malik Harrison is out.

I know those are guys up front, but you don't have two five.

You might not have two four.

And then on the flip side for the Seahawks, who knows who they're going to have either.

You know, I think if it's a Wednesday, you're kind of like, Okay, he was limited it or he didn't practice, it'll get better.

But for them it actually got worse.

So I'm very intrigued to see what that will look like because I think obviously, when you're talking about DK going against his former team, it's who what are they going to do to stop him?

And who will be involved in that plan.

For sure?

And you know, as far as DK is concerned, and you know, this is a big storyline, obviously he's a number one receiver.

He's a clear upgrade.

I think we saw that on Sunday in the first game.

We don't want to extra play too much from game one, but you know, and I'm not trying to take anything away from George Pickens, who I think is incredibly talented.

DK Metcalf's two time pro bowler, and we saw that.

And you know, a lot of talk with Aaron Rodgers, and you know, I know, I know you talked to Echos and Chuck Clark about playing against the Jets, and they're a little more fired up than I think.

Aaron led on, But what is what's the sense with DK?

As Max alluded to getting after his first team, but just traded him.

They traded him to the Steelers.

They said, we don't want you.

What's crazy because I was just reading how their first year offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak he got the job because he had the best plan to utilize DK in Jackson, Smith and Jigba together and then oh yeah, by the way, he's gone.

I do think that DK is very much like it is just another game type of deal.

How could you say otherwise?

Why would you give them bulletin board material?

The man, this guy is just a worker, a football lover, and I truly think that he is all business.

I mean, Aaron Rodgers asked for a scouting report, you know, before each game on like a Monday or Tuesday.

This wasn't just like a text with a few bullet points.

He said that it was like paragraphs of things that he saw or he sees, and you know, he's like he took the scouting report.

I kind of forgot about it, talked about it at training camp and we were sharing, you know, a bathroom, and sure enough before week one it is like, hands down, very impressive.

I think you talk to anybody just the way he practices, and when you practice like that, you can only imagine what you can.

Do in games.

And as you said, Rob no offense to George Pickens, but DK metcalf is just he's different.

You can call him a unicorn, a specimen, an alien, whatever you want to call him.

He's tall, he's fast, he's no, you know, no nonsense, all business, and he is certainly uplifting that entire wide receiver room.

And I think a true leader on this offense.

You have Aaron Rodgers.

Yes, but when's the last time we had a wide receiver that was like, you know, an alpha dog in a positive way.

Right, Yeah, you don't think this this means a little extra toom.

Oh?

I do?

I think it does?

How put it not?

You spent six seasons there.

This is the team that that drafted you.

But I think he has that Aaron Rodgers mentality where you can compartmentalize it and maybe after the game he can, you know, think about the fact that he just went against the team that treated him away.

But you know, he talks about his alter ego this week, which I thought was very interesting and also made sense at the same time, because he is different.

You hear the yes sir, yes, ma'am, no, thank you when he's doing media interviews, when he's walking through the halls or the cafeterias.

And he said he didn't have a name for this alter ego, but it is.

He said, the image he has of it is seek and destroy.

And I don't know if you need a name when that is what you picture your alter ego as.

And that is what we see him do, especially when it comes for yards after catch.

All right, I'm gonna give him a nickname.

It's gonna it's gonna be Battleship.

There it is right there, Oh, there it is.

I love Battleship.

I just played that the other day with my boy.

It's such a fun game.

I mean, I used to play that with my girls all the time.

We had the travel one that you could use like on airplanes and stuff.

So Battleship is a is a and it's a great strategy game, you know.

And and I think that's kind of what I think of when you were describing that, I'm like, this battleship, this battleship, see can destroy.

That's what you're doing.

You're trying to guess K two, you know, bet B six, You're trying to guess where they are blindly and you're trying to hit them.

I mean, it's that a mind sweeper.

But I I like, I like battleship.

Better that that.

That's a pom Way.

Yeah.

I mean, though you don't.

You don't need a actual government name to do that.

Like, Okay, my name is normally DK metcalf, my name is KD calf Met You know what I'm saying.

You're not trying to like trick and check yourself out of it, but that But I mean, but you see that in his work ethic.

You see that and how he goes about his business.

He's very intentional in everything that he does, So that that makes perfect sense, uh, Missy.

One of the things I just wonder, you know, what what was the mindset around this week defensively?

You know, I know Ta had had his had his media availability yesterday along with Arthur Smith.

What was a discussion about the run game for.

The defense and kind of the d line in front seven kind of responsibility and role in that run game, Like what what what?

What can we kind of glean from those conversations about how they're treating stopping the run because it did not look good.

It was a very glaring thing that we saw on Sunday and something that we need to correct really quickly because we are going to be facing good run games or people trying to establish a run on us, and we don't want to give them that opportunity.

Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think, plain and simple, the one message, the clear message is get off your blocks, and guys, coach fumm into that at halftime during that Jets game, and it was still not something were able to do.

I think everybody you know kind of said after the game, like, you know, he got a little loud at halftime telling us about, you know, shoring up some things on the defensive side of the ball.

And you can't make excuses when it comes to injuries because Derek Carmon wasn't here last year, and I know Tia was asked, did it kind of feel similar to that lost in Baltimore because that did not feel good?

He said no, he thought it was different.

But I think it's hard to look past the fact that you've made upgrades to that defense.

You talked all off season about shoring up the run defense, and then you go out and have that type of performance.

It's week one, yes, but you want to see a significant jump, especially in week two, of guys being able to do a better job in that department, because why would another offense not run the ball against you until you prove you can go back to stopping it.

So I do think, you know, Cam Hayward spoke kind of the same thing of just we we need to figure this out and fix it.

Even Jan Thornhole was saying, you know, like we're gonna be good.

We're gonna be good.

We've talked so much about it, so hopefully it is a major improvement and we're not.

Okay, he's over one hundred yards and you know, a different type of quarterback at least in that aspect.

It's not justin Field and Sam Darnold.

But still you don't want those running backs to go off.

For sure.

Uh for sure, Missy.

I mean that's you know, that's that's I think goal number one of this defense has to be to stop that running game.

For Seattle.

Do you think conversely on the other end, there is a mindset within the locker room to want to run the football more.

That was that.

I think that was Max's key, and I you know, we're gonna get to the defensive side of the ball for the Steelers.

A little bit.

But you know, look there, it's by the way, I love that the running back group gain Well, Jalen Warren and Caleb Johnson will also together in the locker room.

Look like they look like they really enjoy each other's company.

Kind of a fun group to go over and chat with.

But is your sense that you know that the Steers want to get this running game going or they just gonna take it game by game.

I mean, there's got to be I would imagine Missy and I'm kind of wandering here with this question, but kind of an off factor.

I know they went through Russell Wilson last year, but Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers.

I mean, you know, these young guys, they they played him in PlayStation growing up and now.

And now they're teammates with him.

You know, I just wonder what that whole vibe is as far as whether the offense feels an urgency to get the you know, within the locker room, to get the run game going.

Yeah, I think you know.

Arthur Smith described it like average it best.

He's like, it doesn't make you panic, but it's still something.

And I do truly believe, you know, coach Tomlin said, I believe it was Tuesday, not after the game.

It's like, look, we have Aaron Rodgers and we wanted to get him going.

He hasn't played any game and clearly and is extremely smart.

We saw what he was able to do throwing four touchdowns to the point where Rob and I are trying to find our notes of how many does he need to pass?

But far like is this going to happen in week one?

It was just wild to see that many.

We're not we are not used to the days of thirty plus points and that many touchdowns to be quite frank, you know this it makes me think of the Todd Haley days where it was like thirty or bust or it was it was not a good outing.

That was literally their mentality then.

But I do think it's something you want to get going, and I think you did see, you know, the short game can kind of be an extension of it, but I still want to see Jalen Warren getting the ball and running people over and getting eight yards.

You know, like no explosive runs were had, and I think for an offensive line that feels like they still need to get some work done.

Obviously on the outside with the tackles.

It's like Max, you know, you talk about all the time when you get that run game going, offensive linemen are all of a sudd like, man, let's go, you know, you get that extra juice.

I think it's a It helps everybody.

And I think also too, hey, we don't want Aaron Rodgers sacked four times.

He can throw four touchdowns every game, but we don't want him back.

So I think it's you know, balancing and out figuring it out.

But I thought it was a great game that was called by Arthur Smith.

I thought him and Aaron Rodgers just the interactions that they had after every drive, just talking and looking at you know, the surface or the iPad, discussing what they liked, what they didn't.

You just saw that this is such a collaborative, positive experience for those two and it was, you know what you wanted to see after out of an Arthur Smith offense.

The first year.

Just that's not how it went.

Uh by the way, Max, I don't know if you want to comment on the offensive line thing, but I.

Do have to say.

So, so what Missy was talking about is really true.

And you know, so you get these notes and you compile them from various sources.

Missy is very generous with her notes.

Matt Williamson has his notes.

You find your own research stuff and you kind of throw it into piles.

Okay, here's what's relevant for this game.

You know, Aaron Rodgers, he could surpass Ben Roethlisberger in yardage to come.

So you put that in another another page.

Okay, that that stuff to get to in the future.

I was we were doing the game and and I did not see the possibility of five touchdown passes coming.

Messy to your point.

And so now we're scrambling around going through it.

Wait, wait, which path did I put that on?

Because I'm you know, everything's written down for me.

I don't have a computer, so I've got I'm like, Okay, where did I write that down?

I'm scrambling through the notebooks.

But that's kind of a fun scrambling around.

But I just wanted to get to some Missy made mention of that.

That's kind of the you know, we're all looking around for our notes to figure out, Oh my gosh, that can that because to me that was a future.

Okay, we're gonna maybe week two.

You know, Aaron Rodgers gets to this because Max, we aren't used to seeing that kind of productivity in the passing game.

It's been really since Ben Roethlisberger was a quarterback that we would have those kind of expectations for the passing game.

But you want to see it balanced by the running game as well.

Well, you absolutely do, and and we kind of alluded to that.

And I think you know, you don't want average, and you don't want your oc using those words when it describes a run game or any facet of your side of the ball.

You don't want average.

We're all striving for greatness.

You know where where you know the old adage I remember as a kid, and I looked up and we all had like those posters you know in elementary school that were on the wall, you know, like reading and fundamental and all this other stuff.

But one of the ones I always stock out to me and I actually never forget this MS Hanngartner's class, my fifth grade teacher at Princeton Elementary School in Orlando, Florida, in College Park.

She had she had one on the ball and said it said shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars.

And that always stuck with me as an axiom, like as a kid, was you go for the biggest object and guess what you may not attention.

It's like saying, you know, you're shooting for perfection and you find excellence along the way, right, you know, you find greatness along the way, the Vince Lombardi quote.

And I think that's what you're always striving for in every faceted life, especially your professional life, especially when your life is measured up to this point for those guys and wins and losses.

You know, it's a certain level of identity associated with that.

And at the end, we want we want to be counted amongst the champions.

And so what do you need to do to do that?

Got to run the ball effectively, stay balanced, because that keeps the defense unbalanced.

So anytime you hear average, you're okay, and I type of things like that, those aren't good words, they might be good in life, like hey, man, man, how much.

Look at that man.

I okay, cool, cool, I'll take that.

That's a positive in that moment.

But when it comes to your run game, the things that you're getting paid to do, you're being highly compensated for the work that you perform.

You don't want to hear Okay, all right, an average that's death nail.

So if anything that would piss me off during the week, that would be my own bulletin board material in my mind, like, no, I've got to go beat this guy into the dirt.

Well, I've got a lay on top of this guy and beat his butt.

One thing we know about Missy Matthews, she is never just okay averager.

Al Right.

We are delighted joining us.

We are delighted to have Missy as part of the broadcast crew, a huge part of our broadcast crew.

And Missy, thank you for the time.

We look forward to talking with you on Sunday.

I'm ready, let's go, guys, Let's go.

Here we go home opener.

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Paul Moyer, former Seattle Seahawks player coach and now a member of their broadcast crew, is going to join us next inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by our neighborhood Ford Store.

Here on the Steelers Audio Network.

This is in the Locker Room with King and Starks on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.

The F one fifty is the.

Official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop.

Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.

And we are getting you ready for the one and oh Stealers taking on the OHO to one Seattle Seahawks.

And we are joined by.

Paul Moyer, whose career pretty much yeah, there's a few years before you got there.

Paul pretty much stretches for well a huge portion of the Seattle Seahawks history as a player, a coach.

I'm now an analyst.

Paul, thank you very much for being on with this.

Really appreciated.

No, and I appreciate it.

And by the way, I look a lot younger than you do.

No, you do forty three years man, dude.

It's we actually have the fiftieth season this year, so a lot of celebrations.

They did Top fifty players, so you know, every every week there's something new going on.

And myself and Steve are Abel, who still does our play by play.

He's been here since day one.

Yeah, we've seen a lot, that's for sure.

Yeah you have.

By the way, before we get onto this year's team, you played for a guy who's a Pittsburgh legend.

Yeah, in Chuck Knox.

What was that like playing for coach Knox?

He was amazing.

I grew up in Orange County, California, when Chuck was the l A Ram coach, so I knew, you know, obviously about him.

And when I got to the Seahawks from Arizona State my rookie year, it was his first year as the head coach, and he used to talk He has so many knoxisms, but one of his big one was eighth grade Squickly where he grew up.

And you know, he was a legend and his toughness, I mean really it came from, you know, the Pittsburgh area and his upbringing.

So yep, a lot a lot of fond memories of Chuck.

Yeah.

I think it was if something was obvious, it was eighth grade Squickly, right, that's what he said.

Yeah, yep, yep, for sure.

And he was such a mentor man.

You know, we obviously we lost him a couple of years ago, but we we actually have a segment that we did a podcast on I'm waiting for them to release that, and it's it's all about the Chuck knoxisms.

And I used to write him down because I went right from a player and I got hurt my seventh year.

So he came to me and said, look, you need to retire, but I want to hire you as one of our coaches.

So I went right from a player to a coach.

And I used to write I've got notes and notes on you know, the little things in life that he was trying to teach people was just about football, but it was how to become a man too.

You know, it's an interesting coaching pedigree in Seattle and lineage.

I mean you go from Chuck Knox at Tom Flores, Dennis ericson, Mike Holmgren obviously phenomenal job in Seattle, and then you know, Pete Carroll was there, won a championship.

You know, I just think he came at a time that that organization needed him and kind of got it into shape.

And obviously coach Carroll, you know, a parting of ways you bring in Mike McCormick last year, What is your thoughts?

And at ten and seventeen so a very good record, same record as the Steelers, what's your thoughts on what?

Uh, Mike mcgo I said, I think I said, Mike, Mike McDonald, what what Mike McDonald brings to this team as the head coach.

Well, Mike McCormick was great too.

He was a great player in our GM for a long time.

But that's but Mike mc I think Mike McDonald actually brings a bit of Pete Carroll with him.

And what I mean by that is he's so sure how he wants to build a team, and and that was Pete Pete from the get go.

I mean, you know the stories.

I mean, he's got a great book and and you know, for those who want a chance on how to build an organization, it's it's worth that read.

But when when Mike came here, it was what he wanted and it was it's a different team.

You know.

Pete was about, I will make this guy a great play, I'll get the most out of him.

I I'll be that person who who's with him and gets to know everything about him.

And Mike McDonald is he's he's different and that I don't have time.

Here are the guys I want.

And you either buy into the system or you don't.

And if you don't want to be here, we're not going to try to convince you to be here.

And you know, we love DK Metcalf, love Geno Smith.

Both of them didn't want to be here and they were gone two days later.

And you know, he had some things last year in the middle of the season where he made a decision and I think John and him believe in each other.

They trust each other's decision making and what they're trying to do.

And so it's I think it's been a really good.

I don't I guess marriage between John Schneider, our GM president and Mike McDonald.

I like him that.

Mike McDonald is one smart guy and he has that defense playing very well, and he's got the players he wants.

So now they got to go do it on a field unlike last week.

Absolutely well, Paul, that's kind of what I want to kind of get at.

Obviously, last week not the intended result you want to, especially in Division, you know, giving one up to San Francisco, a team who's also kind of in transition.

I mean, the effects of that game are being felt in San Francisco.

So you guys played them tough and now they have players that feels like dropping like flies after that contest.

But when you kind of look at just the makeup of this squad, obviously you go and you get Sam Darnold in the off season to bolster that.

You have a lot of a lot of.

Vets defensively on especially in your front seven.

You know, what what what's what's what's the.

Do you can you glean an identity from this team?

Is it too soon to tell what their identity is or what are they trying to accomplish?

Philosophically, just as a team, what what what do you see that as being?

Yeah, the last three or four years on a side of no our identity, I think Pete Kara was trying to adapt to the way that the rules were in the NFL.

Was going our offense change from We're going to run it no matter what, and all of a sudden we became this spread offense where you know, the quarterbacks, you know, in a gun position all the time.

And I would say it's hard to be physical when you're not running downhill that you know.

Defensively, we really got away from what Pete was back on the Super Bowl run in thirteen and fourteen, which really was a Cover three type of defense.

I would say we just didn't have the players.

The identity is very clear here.

They are a physical football team.

They look they want to be a traditional Pittsburgh Steeler team.

You know of Baltimore Ravens.

You know on defense what they've had a nice run on so far, and if you go watch the film, this team's physical.

Now, whether they're good enough yet, man, you know, that's still to be determined.

I think they're going to be a really good football team by the end.

Of the year.

You know, they got to get it right on offense.

Offensive lines much improved.

But we saw last week.

You know, preseason versus regular season is different, and teams game plan and the forty nine ers were slanting and doing some stunts, and all of a sudden, when we were pulling guys, you were seeing pile ups in the backfield.

So it wasn't as clean as we saw in the preseason.

If you go watch the tape last week on our defense, I mean, look Leonard Williams.

I mean that's a man there.

Now he double team.

Forget double team.

I mean he goes, he picks up people and throws them.

And he's quick enough also that he's got that shake to get loose.

I knew he was good and he played really well last year, but you go watch that tape, Yesterard, I mean he looks like one of the top five interior defensive linemen in the NFL.

He's a force, and I think we have hunters.

Give an example, Ernest Jones.

Ernest Jones is a hunter.

I mean he hunts the football.

He's downhill.

You know when we had Bobby Wagner, we look at he's great players gonna be in the Hall of Fame.

Don't get me wrong, he's a great player.

But Bobby was a gatherer.

Bobby gathered tackles.

He wasn't hunting tackles.

You know, he made He would have twelve fourteen tackles, but they weren't on the line of scrimmage.

They were, you know, three four yards downfield.

And he wanted to change that.

He goes, no, we're an attacking defense.

We got to get better in the secondary and make him place that is.

Look, you guys know the game comes down to the final two minutes of the half, final two minutes in the fourth quarter.

Last week, twelve of the sixteen games were within one score.

We forty nine ers make a play.

I mean, perty just throws it up.

I mean, just throws it up.

You know, game's over.

We just got to come down with it.

They come down with a touchdown.

We're on the ten yard line.

You know we're gonna have three shots at the end zone, and you know, we run into our own offensive tackle and we fumble the ball.

So you got to make plays.

But the answer to your question is it's it's it's the central man.

It's he wants that type of defense.

He came from Baltimore, a physical running game, and now they just they got to making that place hopefully to win some you know when.

You look at this team too, and and uh, you know, I'm sure they don't want and I understand where you're coming with end of the year, right like they they want to find a way to win games and then be scary getting into the playoffs.

Right.

Uh, you're Ozero and one.

Obviously there's gonna be a chip on your shoulder coming into this week too.

You don't want to you don't want to drop to Owen two.

But it's hard for me not to look at this team and wonder about the injuries early on.

I mean, Emon Worry, who both Max and I loved and and I was shocked that he, you know, got to the second round.

You know, Christian Haynes, Uh, well he's he's on offense obviously, but he's hurt, you know, just just in general, Uh, you know, we don't know what the status is of Devin Witherspoon going to this game.

We don't know Julian Love.

There's a lot of injuries offensively and defensively on this team.

And you know, guys more counted on than others.

I don't know whether Haines was supposed to be a starter this year or just a you know, a backup or what have you.

But you know, there's only so many injuries a team can sustain, especially I think when they're trying to make that transition in year two from one style of team to another style of team.

Yeah, Rob, I we're young in our depths.

They're no question.

Christian Haynes and the Anthony Bradford they battled in training camp.

Anthony Bradford absolutely won it.

It was clear.

I mean he was the better guard.

Christian Haynes, you know, were hopeful.

He's just a bit still undersize.

He's just you know, you come into this league, you haven't quite built the mass yet unless you've got you know, your three hundred and forty pounds when you come out that that wasn't him.

He's an athletic guy.

He's a technique guy, but he's going to need to put another I think ten fifteen pounds of muscle on it, and he's just going to get stronger.

And he's young, and so you know, all of a sudden, you're twenty four to twenty five, get into your prime with mass you know, hopefully that one works out.

You mentioned Nick, he's You're right, he's in a phenomenal, phenomenal athlete, and they they had a role for him and he got hurt early in that game, and all of a sudden, now the matchup with Kittle, they got a touchdown on us.

Maybe that doesn't happen if he's there.

It looks like he's gonna be out for a while.

They I don't think they've put him on IR yet, but they're they may end up putting him on IR, so we'll lose him for four games.

If that's the case.

That hurts the rest of us.

Were nicked up, you know, Julian Love I think's nicked up.

Questionable, Witherspoon's questionable.

There's a few questionable guys.

But we should be pretty healthy.

And I think it's gonna be a really fascinating game because I think both teams are still question marks.

You know, Pittsburgh looked, you know, obviously really good offensively.

It was kind of shocked that the Jets could run like they did with the players that pitt has, you know, on that front there, you know, Aaron Rodgers looked really good.

But it's still the Jets.

And but you go and beat somebody like that, every wins.

Critical.

I think this game is going to tell a lot about both teams, all right.

Are the Seahawks truly a playoff contending team, which you know the coaches and players think they are, and as Pittsburgh, you know, is Aaron Rodgers back and he looked back to me.

He said, he made me scared again.

So I think it's gonna be a great game.

And so I think they're excited about it, and I know I'm excited about it too.

I do think it's interesting, and I agree with you that you know there is there are the elite teams, and I think we can point them out, and they obviously shift from year to year.

We're trying to figure out maybe Green Bay is one of those elite teams.

Maybe they've supplanted some other teams in the NFC North.

But last year you could point to the Lions and the Vikings and the Chiefs and the Bills and the Ravens as the elite teams.

And you know, there's there's some others, but everybody's trying to catch those teams.

And then there's the teams you know, if you want to divide it up, that that are kind of in that middle ground, and then below them the teams that just really don't have much chance at all.

And I think we can all identify those kind of teams.

But I do think it's interesting.

You know, you have to be able to beat the team sort of in your class if you want to take that step up and look around and say, okay, Baltimore, Buffalo, Green Bay, you know, bring it on, We're ready for you.

So I do think you're right.

I think this is a really interesting game.

I mean, both these teams finished ten and seven a year ago.

Both these teams want to ascend to the status of, you know, division champion contender, and then you know, you look around and say maybe beyond that.

And I think that's a great way of looking at this game.

Paul, I agree with you one hundred percent.

Yeah, I'm getting fascinated on the matchup.

You watch the Seahawks, so of your listeners there, you know, San Francisco probably shouldn't have scored a touchdown the first drive.

They end up scoring a touchdown, but we get off the field third and eight.

They you know, in today's league, you know, flag football they call roughing the passer when he's out of the pocket, and it's it's a grace, I mean, and you're off the field and that's you know, those those are ones are tough.

And third down we didn't do a great job last week.

They were seven for fourteen on us.

There are other touchdown they throw it to us.

I mean, here, here's the game.

I want you guys to win it.

And you know we wrik wool and who's taking some heat here in the Northwest.

Not making a couple of plays on that final drive when you're up.

You know, you got the lead in that final drive and two chances for interceptions we don't come down with.

So I think we're a tough team to run the football on.

You know, you know Pitt's gonna find out, Okay, you know, can we truly win the game throwing the ball every time?

And I think you can.

I mean just watching Aaron Rodgers now, and you guys got weapons and so again, I think you'll find each team after week two, by week three, you really know everybody's identity.

I think you're gonna know Pitt's identity completely and what your strengths are, what you can do, and I think the Seahawks are too.

I think this is going to be I think again it's gonna be fast.

You know, the strength of the Seahawks as our defense.

Did you guys think that Pitt's offense was going to be the strength coming into this season?

I mean that one a great question.

I kind of looked at him as a I kind of looked at him as a balanced team.

I mean, you know, you add dk Metcalf and you know, I think the receiving corps is probably a little underappreciated.

You know, you add John new Smith to that.

You know, you're I think the offensive line, you know, with the with the shifting of Roder Jones to left tackle, Troy foult Town and starting at right tackle for the first time, and then figuring out the running back position.

I thought more that that if if one thing was going to happen, the defense might carry the team early before they achieved balance.

And I think it can be a team that can achieve balance.

But I did think and do still think that it's the defense, which was what eighth in the league in scoring, and really felt like they added a lot of players to make it better.

I really think it was going to be the defense, especially early.

Max, was that kind of the way you thought about it too?

I think thought the same Okay, can you guys hear me?

Got you?

Yeah?

Sorry about that?

Hello?

Yep?

Okay okay?

Uh No.

I I thought it was I thought it was the same thing.

I mean, I thought defense would be the lead in this given the level of talent and experience that they were, that they possess three eighty agents that we brought in.

Thought that would be a strength early on.

We saw in the game against against the Jets that was you know, guys need more time together.

I think you can agree with this, Paul.

You know, the preseason is not what the preseason used to be, and that chemistry that's usually developed over the four preseason games.

Your starters get a lot of playing time together and they start to develop their rhythm and then you kind of developed the endurance as the season progresses.

Didn't see that.

You saw the fact that when you said eighteen guys in the preseason, this is what it looks like a lot of key players that don't play you develop, You don't develop that rhythm and that flow and that accountability and that understanding of how each new guy's playing style is and how you guys have to kind of fit together.

And I think that's what you're seeing, you know, league wide.

I don't think it's something that's exclusive to the Steelers or the Seahawks, but you know, this is a new evolution where those first couple weeks of the season are also a feeling out to see what this team is going to be.

When you don't play and you don't get reps, things are a little bit slower to develop.

And you know, even with.

That, we still thought the defense would be that did not expect Aaron to go for four tds in this opening game and to have the efficiency that he did.

So it was a bright spot to know that.

You know, the balance comes from we get to lean on each other in different points special teams.

Cut creates a quick play that allows for two of the touchdowns to happen in a minute, but also the defense standing up in the two point conversion situations even though they've been run on all day and had had you know, had a bad outing, you could still lean on each other and play complimentary football.

And I think that was the key that we kind of saw from end the Steelers.

And Paul, I'll bring it back to you because I would have said that, I would have described the way I described the Steelers.

I think that's the way I would have described Seattle to a team that you expect and hope the defense to lead you early in the offense to catch up as you go along.

Am I correct in that?

Or what's what's your assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Seattle team.

Yeah, there's no question.

It's defense.

Again.

I think offensively they're they're going to be much improved.

And and you know, Max, you're right too, man, this isn't This isn't Madden Football where you just throw up x's and o's and everything is executed on a on a video board there or a screen.

I mean, you got to go and you know there is continuity and understanding and trust.

And I'm looking at our offensive line as a good examp.

We got three new offensive linemen.

You know Jalen Sendell, who's did a really good job at center for US in preseason.

They really liked him last year.

He's a North Dakota State kid and played with Gray's Abel our number one, our first round pick this year at left guard and then you know you're throwing Anthony Bradford, who finally has taken that position at right guard.

So you got three guys and you know it takes time.

I do believe they're going to be good.

But the type of zone, uh you know, outside zone particularly, you know, it takes coordination the way we're running it.

And I think you're right as well.

Go look at the teams.

The veteran teams that played early.

The veteran teams played well, you know, the other teams that didn't it didn't play any preseason, you know, struggled a bit.

But this is the week two and week two is the moment because everybody knows what offense and defense now you really are going to run.

You didn't get a chance to see it in preseason.

Everybody hides it now and they don't play their starters.

I got to see it.

You guys got see what we do defensively.

Offense, we get to see what you guys did, so you know, now, to me, it becomes more of a true test of Okay, you know, let's go see who the better team is.

And I think we'll see a lot this week.

Can't wait.

Paul Moyer, a former player coach now an analyst with Seattle.

A long history that's Seattle Seahawks organization.

Paul, thank you very much, really appreciate it.

Look forward to seeing you on Sunday at Akroshuer Stadium.

I appreciate it.

Thanks Rob, Max.

Good luck to you guys, and have a great day.

Same to you, Paul Moyer.

What a great history he has with the Seattle Seahawks organization.

Stick around.

More to come, including Max.

We're gonna get Max's key in on defense for the Steelers.

We haven't gotten to that yet.

We're gonna get to it next when we continue inside the locker room with King and Starks presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.

Here on this year there's audio network.

He is in the locker room with kingon Starks on Steelers Nation Radio presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.

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Yes, sir, we're getting ready for the home opener.

Max.

It's exciting, it's good stuff.

Man cannot wait for this game.

We got to your keys on offense, which is run the football.

By the way, we just were finished, finished up and really really delighted to be joined by Paul Moyer, part of the Seattle broadcasting crew.

Player there, a coach there, and he said, it's gonna be hard for the Steelers or anybody else to run the football on the Seattle team.

So, knowing that and knowing the Studers still want to do it, let's move on to Max the defense and what are the keys to the game.

And once again the keys to the game are presented by our neighborhood Ford.

Sure the F one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Well, I'm gonna say this.

You know, defensively, similar to Seattle, you got to stop the run.

But I mean you put it on tape.

It showed that we had a hard time with getting the run stop with a mobile quarterback, and that's something I kind of I wish I would have been able to ask Paul that question about Jalen Milroe and how they plan to package him and what he's seen, because I think after watching the film, I would have to imagine and you've lost you now got to change things up, and I would think that Jalen Milroe would come into play in that creating some type of package to get him in.

I know we had talked about it with Justin Fields.

Remember how we tried to utilize justin fields with Russell Wilson a year ago and we didn't really get that accomplished with a true package for him.

I think because of the injuries early on in the season, didn't really get to establish it.

But I would be interested to see how they used Jalen Milroe to kind of put pressure on the Steelers defense because they know that they're going to come out and want to re establish their run prowess.

And if you can run zone behind that because of the Sam Darnold at the quarterback position, that's only going to help strengthen the pass rush.

But a Jalen Milroe presents a different a different element, And I think for this defense, you've got to atone for the sins of a week ago.

You've got to stop the run, you've got to do it effectively, and you've got to pressure the quarterback.

That's the number two thing.

You have way too many talented guys on that front that can get after the passer, and I think because of the lack of run stoppage, you never really got into true drop back situations.

And then we you did, you got to get the guy on the ground.

Like they had a tough time getting They had a lot of touches on justin fields, but not a lot of quarterback hits on justin fields or sacks.

You have one sack for the contest.

So I think that's how I kind of look at it as being.

The keys for the defense.

I couldn't agree with you more.

You know, they've got to be able to stop the run because and you know, look, I think the other guy who obviously bears repeating is Jackson Smith and Jigba.

But if one guy goes off and he had a I think he.

Got sixty percent of the targets last week, some incredible statistic, a little over sixty percent of targets.

Just I mean, you don't see everything going to one guy that much.

I don't expect that to continue.

They've got, you know, a couple of tight ends, including a second round pick this year in Elijah Arroyo.

You have Cooper Cup who's got a long lineage of being successful.

But for them, it starts with the ability to run.

If they can run the football with Kenneth Walker and Zach Sharboney, maybe George Allani gets a couple of carries too.

But if they could run the football with those guys and with Jalen Row, that's going to open up everything.

And now we are going to start to hear, Oh my goodness, gracious, what's going on here?

This Dealers have trouble stopping to run.

So I think in many.

Ways, Max, that that might be the number one key to the game, regardless of anything else that happens in this game.

No, no, absolutely, I mean I think I think you have to assume that and what work do We couldgo won't work this week?

Just go operate in that mindset.

It might, But what I'm saying is, don't operate in that.

Don't expect it.

You gotta go will it to be to being true.

And I think if the Steelers stay in that type of mindset, you'll be good.

All it takes is a one percent improvement every day.

It just that's all it takes.

And if you can improve by one percent every day, by the end of every game, you're six you're six to seven percent better.

When you get to that game and that throughout the course of a season leads to you being a better team and a more concise team.

But this is ability.

But this is the first reaction to the first game of the season or your previous game.

This is the first time the Steelers really get to react to what they did and change some habits and build uponitive habits and then move further on.

And that's what I'm excited to see.

I'm really excited to see what this team has learned from themselves and the opponent and what they're going to go show us Sunday at one o'clock.

And after sure, totally one hundred percent with you.

Max cannot wait.

I cannot wait to get in that booth through you and and bring the call along with Missy Matthews to the home opener as the Steelers look to improve to two and zero against the Seattle team.

It's tough, but if you want to be good, hopefully you can find a way to vanquish teams like this.

Max always enjoyed the time.

Thanks my friend.

Look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Look forward to seeing you down and after sure on Sunday, Bud, talk to you soon Yeah, that's Max Starks.

Our thanks to Missy Matthews who joined us every Friday, to Paul Moyer from the Seattle Seahawks Radio Network, and of course our thanks as always to you for listening to Inside the Locker Room with King and Starks, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store here on the Steelers Audio Network.