What's that linebacker room looking like?

I think it's looking good.

I think, like I said, PG has s- instilled a lot of confidence in the room.

Um, and Payton has made a lot of strides from the last time we played ball, so, um, but the room is deep.

We got Cole coming back, and Cole's starting to look like his normal self.

Um, Carson, who's still a young guy going into year two, um, but he's looking like he's been in it for three or four years.

So, um, we got depth pieces.

Yeah

How does he compare, Patrick?

Yeah, I think, um, you could tell he loves the game.

Um, it's just, like, from the first day in, the way he talks about it and the way he approaches it, um, you can tell he's really, truly got love for the game.

And like Peyton said, like, he's so detailed about every single thing, and he'll get on you about it, but it's in a, a way that you gonna be able to learn it and accept it and, um, be able to, you know, be better moving forward.

So, um, I think he's probably one of the best DCs I've ever been around as far as just getting his players to understand and knowing the game.

Um, but him knowing the game and knowing, like, "Hey, we gonna get guys to move around, so we gotta go out-- we can all go out there and have fun."

You-- Were you excited whenever you heard the news that he was gonna take over, Patrick?

Yeah, I, I mean, you, you know the history of him, um, what he's been able to accomplish as a coach.

How, how, how are you, uh, how you enjoying the new, uh, new DC and the, uh, changes and, that, that he's brought?

Yeah.

I'm loving it.

Um, you know, you got so much free will now, um, to be able to make checks whenever, um, we see fit.

And, you know, that was the whole thing, you know, I wanted this o- off season talking to the new, new staff, new coaches and everything.

Mm-hmm.

Um, personally just me, I would say just every down showing up in some way, some fashion, um, whether it's hitting somebody, um, getting to the ball, getting the ball.

Um, I think that's the biggest goal for me right now is getting the ball.

Mm-hmm.

Um, personally just me, I would say just every down showing up in some way, some fashion.

Um, whether it's hitting somebody, um, getting to the ball, getting the ball.

Um, I think that's the biggest goal for me right now is getting the ball.

Um, last year I didn't have one.

Uh, maybe a forced fumble.

I think I had one forced fumble last year, and that's not usually like me, so-

Available on Plus and Pro plans.

How does it feel when you play against the Ravens? You

thought you needed to get there.

You wanted a little more.

Yeah, I mean, the first two, for sure, I was amped up.

Especially the first one.

I was home first two.

I was amped up about this world.

Your time here as a Pittsburgh Steeler, when you're done, what do you want the fans to say about you as a player and as a man?

Can you take us back to the moment when you found out that he would no longer be your head coach and what that was like for you?

Yeah, it was crazy, especially when you come to a team for a guy like that.

You want to be coached by the best, and that's how everybody looked at him, and that's how we still feel about him.

It sucked.

It was random.

It just sucked that energy out the entire place where people started crying on the spot.

It was just a moment that I don't think a lot of people experience unless you went through something where the players were connected with a coach like that.

How did this even come about? Because you're actually competing in tournaments here.

Let's talk about Mike, tell me y'all relationship and what type of coach he is to the Steelers.

Yeah, he's a good dude, man.

Every single day he's telling me we gotta communicate, we gotta be on the same page.

Um, if I don't like something, let him know.

Um, anything that I see during the game, be talking to him, let him know.

He comes check with me every single time after every single drive.

Um, but just the man he is, like every single day he checks on people, um, mentally, physically, every single thing that you could think of as more like a dad, you know.

(laughs)

What do you make of that hit? And then, what is Jalen's all-pro experience and mindset brought to that D?

Yeah, that's a, that's a hell of a player at the end of the game, um, that we needed, e- extremely needed.

Um, just, um, it's fourth down, you gotta get off the field, um, you know, they got one timeout and it's, it's difficult when you got Justice Brantley like that.

Um, just for him to be able to just stay true to his own, be able to come up and make a play, he knocked the ball out, um, you know, that, that gets us, gets us juiced up right there, um, to end the game right there.

But, I think overall, I think when you got a guy like Jalen who can play every single position on the field, um, just ultimate competitor, a trash talker, you got everything that you want in a, a DB who can also play inside the box, um, like a linebacker.

So, um, with five, we know he can make any single play on the field at any time, any given moment, so, um, definitely love having that guy.

What is it about the game you love so much?

It's football, man.

What was that process like? And free agency, you know, then becoming a Steeler?

Yeah, just wild.

I mean, when you go from having a list of teams that you know you could go to and it kind of shifts once a person signs and then the prices get talked about different and stuff.

So it was definitely stressful.

It pissed me off very bad.

But like I said, like, you know, I talked to you about it.

Like I had five teams that I came down to and it was just like you got a chance to go win or you got a chance to.

So I

Give us the biggest difference between John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin.

You know, it's crazy.

I think players can relate to Mike T a little bit better than they would with Harbaugh.

But I think both of them got excellent strategies.

They've got two different strategies when they go into the games.

And I don't want to get into the whole details about it because I know they got their – stuff about the whole public knowing about that stuff.

So I ain't going to get into that.

So what has been his message this year to make sure that we don't get repeat seasons of the previous years?

Give us the biggest difference between John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin.

You know, it's crazy.

I think players can relate to Mike T a little bit better than they would with Harbaugh.

But I think both of them got excellent strategies.

They've got two different strategies when they go into the games.

And I don't want to get into the whole details about it because I know they got their – stuff about the whole public knowing about that stuff.

So I ain't gonna get into that, but I could say the similarities are there.

So what has been his message this year to make sure that we don't get repeat seasons of the previous years?

So I just wanna know, defensively, what is your goal this year for you guys?

I think it's to start faster than we did, and to be able to con- continue to be a better defense as the season go along and not regress.

Um, I think last year, look, we lost the last, what, six games or whatever it was, and, um, we just steady declined the whole, every single game is like we just got worse and worse and worse.

So, um, I've been talking to this, with the reporters and stuff, like, this year it's so much more detail gone into the defensive playbook.

Um, there's a lot of new stuff gone into the defensive playbook.

Um, it's just us being able to start right now with the basic fundamentals and building off of that right now every single day, not taking our time like, "Oh, we'll get to that later." Everything is detailed now, so that way when we get into the season, we can just game plan.

We don't have to switch up what we do.

That's dope.