Deebo & Joe - Part 2: Heath Miller on Steelers Mike McCarthy hire, retirement, hilarious training camp stories

This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed human. No gloss, no filter. Just stories, spoken without fear. A person who is not generous cannot be an artist. The world will be at peace only when it is ruled by poets and philosophers. Listen to my weekly podcast, the Pooja Bhachon on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Come for the honesty, stay for the fire. Hey man, is it anything that you miss about playing football? Because you know you left a year or two too early, but you know, we ain't go, you know, we ain't go fought you on that, you know, even though we tried to get you to stay DeAngelo and myself personally, but you know, is there anything that you miss? I miss the locker room. I miss the locker room. I miss being around, you know, like we talked about, you're around your teammates way more than your family and you know, you become close to everybody. We kind of all go through with that age and stage in life. Everybody goes through, you know, kind of monumental moments in your life, whether it be getting married, having kids, starting a family, like all these things we go through together. And then, you know, kind of when you're retired, everybody goes their separate ways and you don't get to talk to each other or see each other as often as you do. So I miss, I miss going to the way your room and seeing Debo every morning and, you know, being in the locker room and playing whatever, just hanging out, just being around the guy. That's what I miss the most. Yep, that's the same thing. I think that's the answer for most of the guys because you don't get that. You get 60, 70 grown men that are willing to be there on time at the same place, working to the same goal, trying to be the best that they can be. And there's nowhere else in the world that you can go find that. So that's the normal answer that we get. So when you say that, I'm like this, yes, it's the locker room. It's a special place because it's, and all those guys have been through probably the same thing to get to where they are, shared experiences, same goals, we're all the same people, you know, essentially at the end of the day. The core of who we are is the same for the most part. That's what builds the bonds. But yeah, when I walked in the last day to meet the coaches and retire, you know, to let them know the news, first person I see when I go through the door, Debo. And the Angelo. Yeah. He said, what are you doing here? So what are you doing here? They knew, Debo, you knew it was coming. I was talking about he retired like for what? We like, what are you talking about? Where are you going? What? He wasn't going. What? I don't came back to this. What is you talking about? Where are you leaving? Was it like a body? Was it a body situation, Heath, you think? Well, you just kind of ready, ready to go? It was a little bit of everything. I knew it was time. Maybe it was a pride thing, because I knew I couldn't play the way I wanted to or expected out of myself, you know? I knew I could still be productive and I knew I still had a role on the team. But I felt like if I couldn't, I was putting in, as you get older, you know, you put in more and more work off the field to be your best on the field. I felt like that trade off wasn't matching up anymore. You know, I was putting in more and more work and I wasn't still as good as I would had hoped to be or feel as good as I hoped to feel on Sunday. So I knew it was time. I don't have, you know, first year out was probably tough, but some, you know, some second thoughts, especially when the first game, I think the Steelers played on Monday night football versus the Redskins, I believe. So I'm excited. I'm like, I'm going to watch the game. I turn it on and like five or 10 minutes into the game, I'm like, I can't watch this. I can't watch it. I didn't watch any more games the rest of that year. I'm like, this is just two years. I'm like, wait a minute. Too soon, way too soon. Yeah. I'm like, I'm supposed to be in the huddle. Like this is, I'm looking at all my guys in the huddle and I'm like, it looks like I know what plays they're running everything. No, I got to take a step back. So, but it's all good now. Good stuff. You can watch the games now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can watch the games now. You been watching? I've been watching when I can. Yeah. You know, with our kids. We can get a big, giant ass tight end they got, bro. My Washington, it's boy like seven foot, 500 pounds. I saw him a few years ago and we all got a big before game. We went out, had a, I took a picture with all the tight ends. And then I see the picture after the fact and he's like two feet tall. I should have moved a little bit further away from this dude. He's a giant. Oh, yes. He's humongous. Yeah. But they got to, he's a really good player. I mean, going back to doing both, like you were talking about Debo, he's a problem in a running game and he makes, he's athletic enough and he has good enough hands to make plays in the passing game too. So I'm excited to see, you know, how his career unfolds. Yeah, definitely. Definitely something to watch for sure. For sure. Oh, so coming out of, coming out of UVA, I got to ask you, because I was a, I was a first round pick also, but what would you say of how did you manage your expectations coming in as a first rounder? What was your thought process? Um, well, I knew I was coming to a really good team. They were 15 to one the year before. So, 15 to one lost in the AFC championship. So I was coming to a good team. I was just trying to get in and fit in wherever I could and just kind of keep a low profile, learn the plays and just kind of earn my way. And, you know, that's one thing I think too, that back in the day it was, you had to earn your way. And I don't care where you were trapped. Yeah. I mean, and Marvell Smith, who was the left tackle at the time and Max was, Max talked to me a little more, Max Darks, he's a Florida guy. He was on the right side. So I remember when I first got there, I'm lining up, if I get reps with the ones I'm lining up beside Marvell. And I'm like trying to echo the calls in the run game because I know what I'm doing, but I want, you know, I'm needing a little confirmation. Yeah. Marvell is in his stance. He's looking straight ahead. He don't even acknowledge me next to him. I'm like, I better get my playbook because Marvell is not going to help me out. Crickies. But it was like the standard. It was like, if you're going to be with us, you better know what to do. You know, and you better get your job done. So I knew I stopped asking Marvell for the calls after that and got my playbook a little more. So... No, for sure. I love it because I think some, especially just coming in hard hat, you got to, when you coming in like same thing, you want to prove yourself to the guys. And the best way to do that is know what you're doing. You know what I'm saying? Like they already know, they know the playbook. The quicker you learn that playbook, that's the quicker you're going to get the respect from the guys when people start motioning, you not just looking around. What's the call? What's the play? No, you're in here with us. Know what's going on. And then that's going to, I think that gets you right first. 100%. Yeah. It's like, even with coaches, you know, guys think you got to be, you got to make this amazing play here, this amazing play there. They just want to be able to trust you. Yes. Are you going to know what to do? Are you going to be where you're supposed to be? When you're supposed to be there? And same with quarterbacks and teammates too. They're going to put guys on the field who they trust. 1000%. Part of that trust is just no, yeah, you got to know what to do. Yep. You talked about your body, you know, combination of pride and body. What was your off-season training like to prepare for the season? Because, you know, for me, the hardest thing was like, yo, can I make it through another off-season training for the season? Because getting into the season was the easy part. I would always take a few weeks off. And then, you know, after being at home for a little bit, you start to get in. My wife like, it's probably time for you to start working out, right? And I knew after that, like, okay, yeah, it's time for me to get back into it. But, you know, I stayed in Pittsburgh. Debo and I trained couple, like early on before you started going to Arizona. We trained a little bit in the summertime early in my career. And I kind of stayed with those guys and just push yourself in the off-season. Then I started adding the body work later in my career. So, you know, that took more time, but yeah, it was lifting, running every day, body work usually in the afternoon, and add some skill stuff in there as well. So, you know, I always tried to be, you know, again, being in condition was one of the things was in my control, just like learning the place. So I always tried to always know exactly where I'm supposed to be, exactly what I'm supposed to do, and also being the best shape possible to execute my job. And, you know, it's funny with all the money that's on the line and the NFL, every year there's guys that come in and don't know the place and is out of shape and can't do the test. And it always blew my mind when that happened. It's like, guys, what were you doing? Do you remember the one dude, the one cat? I don't know if he was there yet, but he had a, he was a receiver. He had a bullet on his leg, a tattoo bullet, and it says speed kill. I think so. I don't know exactly. He was running the 40s like it was a race. Yeah. And he liked to pass out at like eight. They ended up IVing him up and locking him down. He took off with a buzzer that wasn't even his. Were you there for that? Yes. Yes. Frank. Listen, Joe, it was a receiver there. And he correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was Tennessee, right? I think so. Yeah. He was from Tennessee. He was an SEC school. I think it was Tennessee. Yeah. Yeah, he was a track dude. And his 40 was something crazy. What was like a 42 something or something like that, goofy? Some things. At that time, bro, we did a 40 test. And basically what they did is they put like a half second on your 40 time, your best 40 time. Your half second on it. And you had to run it at that time. And then you jog back and you had, as soon as you ran it, you had what was it? 30 seconds, 35 seconds, he? Yeah. You had to jog all the way back to the line and the recovery time to go again. It was quick. Right. So everybody knows that, hey, they trying to tell him like, yo, just make it just in time. Just in time. Yeah. So, bro. Don't blow your whole life. When I say this boy was stroking out there, we were sitting back and we looking. And you know how you run and you get the boop. So you got to be like, boop touching the line when they go to the beat. No, no, no, no, no, no. He touching the line, jogging back. Boop. I said, ooh. He doing like the first two, three, four. Yeah. He still busting them, right? Jogging back. Man, that boy got to about five. He started slowing down a little bit, man. Six. He started slowing down some more, bro. Hamstrings. By seven, no. By seven, he was hitting the buzzer. What we had, 14? Was it 14? 14, 40. We had 14 of them. Yeah. 14, 40s. Listen, he got to eight and he just made that one. But it was nine that took him out. So it was two groups running. So you got the buzzer and the whistle going for the two groups. And they're separate. You can hear it. Man, that boy got so tired. You hear him? This one, he can't walk. He done got back. He done heard the buzzer from the other one. He is so out of it and gone. He takes off running, but he's doing diagonals this way. No, bro. Falls out. Yeah, he was blacked out. I got to take you there. He was blacked out. He's new. No, sir. Here's the thing, too. It's not like you showed up and the test was a surprise. It's a surprise. No. It's a condition test. We don't know what it is. Like, no, you knew what it was the whole time. You're supposed to be running this after summer the whole time, making sure. Right. Look at these times. He's not realizing this ain't a track meet, bro. This is a conditioning test, bro. He's trying to impress. They're trying to impress the coach. That's not going to impress the coach. You're telling him just running. Bro, when I say he had to be at least five yards back by the time the buzzer was hitting sometimes, wasn't he? Yeah, it was that. Yeah. I tell you another funny story. My rookie year, we showed up. And I'm nervous to run the test. And like, you know, you walk into an NFL locker room and you're not, you know, in college, there's guys two or three years younger than you. Right. You're kind of the same age. Yes. You walk into the NFL. There's there's some grown men, right? Rown up. They got kids. Driving in in the minivans. They got kids at home. Like, this is the real deal. This is like. Yes. This means this is their career. So I look over the linemen are running and. Uh, Kimo Von Allhoffen was he was proud. I don't know what year, Divo, you remember him? Yeah, I remember Kimo. Kimo was over there running in the 1440s in his bare feet. Yeah. Like he don't even have shoes on. I'm like, how could you got this is like starting to stop. But like you're planting, like you're coming in with some force to plant and drew him back. He's over there in his bare feet. I'm like, oh, this guy's different. This this man. He's built differently. What do I say? I said he's a man of the earth. Yeah. And he's getting grounded. Yeah. Get it. Groud. He was he was on to the whole grounding thing before it took off. So. Oh, yeah. No, you when you say that, it reminds me of when I came into that locker room from to the Browns, my rookie season. And we had big baby Davis number 92. He was on the team. That was one of the biggest. Yeah. That was one of the biggest humans I've ever seen. So much swag, so chill, so nice. I was like, like he could be my dad, but he's on my team. You know what I was 21, just turned 21, seven days ago. And I got 34 year old man on my team with a 12 year old son. You know what I'm saying? Walking around. I'm like this. Oh my goodness. OK. Kids. You got kids, man. I'm like, what's going on, Mr. Davis? You know what I'm saying? Joe Hayden here ready with whatever you need. Yeah. So like really, like when I walked in there, like this, these are grown men and I'm looking to take food off their plates. That's how they're looking at me. The other corners, you know what I'm saying? You talk about looking over, not getting help on the play. I'm like, well, you better know exactly what you're doing, because you're trying to take my spot. So it's real, real loud. Well, I ain't go lie. We ain't had that. I ain't go lie. My OGs help me out, though. My OGs help me out, too. But I'm just saying when you looking around, not everybody's looking at you like trying to help you out. The OGs, Eric Wright, Sheldon Brown, looking out for me perfectly. Those dudes, they're grown. They're vets. They know what's up. Everybody else like this. All right. Hey. Hey. Yeah. That's the love. That second stringer looking at you right now. Like I was telling him even what time it was. Meetings at 47. I'm like, no, it's not. You better check your itinerary. Yeah, don't ask. Check your itinerary. Oh, man. Bruh. Heif, question. What do you remember the hardest hit that you've gotten when you were in the league? Oh, that's a good question. I might not remember it because. I might have. I got to go through so hard. Why to put you to. Yeah, I don't. I don't. There's no one that really stands out as the hardest. I took my. Welcome to the NFL moment. I took my share. Welcome to the NFL moment. That's a good one. Hmm. I say just the realization of walking down the hallway in the Steelers facility for the first time and seeing like the pictures on the wall. Like I remember playing with your own your own bed. It's like on a Sega Genesis or something. College football when he was number six at Notre Dame when I was a kid. Yeah, they're like. And then I walk into the cafeteria and he's one of the first guys I see. I'm like, whoa, he's my teammate now. Like I better be on my stuff. Like I'm blocking for the bus. I better know where exactly I'm doing. I'm not going to let my guy hit him. You know, let my guy take him out. So I think just, you know, coming coming from a small town like I grew up in, you know, not a lot of people. Well, no one did what I did as far as make it to the NFL for my school ever. I was the first person. Now we have two, actually. But, you know, and then realizing, whoa, this is like this is it. Like you see the big names and, you know, they're your teammates. And then you realize what good people they are on top of it and why they've had the success that they've had. That was probably as opposed to a moment on the field. It was probably that moment for me. OK. Hey, most memorable game because I may remind you of something that somebody said, but most memorable game, Heath. For me, I'd say number one, AFC championship game in 2000, I guess, before Super Bowl 43. So that would be oh, nine. When we beat the Ravens at home for the third time, Troy had the interception. OK. Oh, yes. OK. OK. Yeah. Followed by the suit followed by Super Bowl versus the Cardinals would be the next. But I say because we beat Baltimore for the third time that year and it was at home. That was that made even sweeter. So that was probably my most memorable game. Yeah, I think that was the year we popped the Jets right beforehand, right? Um, or was it after the Jets? No, we beat the Cardinals. No, we beat the Chargers. I think we had a buy. We beat the Chargers at home. Then we beat Baltimore home. Then we beat the Cardinals. And then we beat the Jets, I think, before Packers, right? That's right. Yeah. We beat Jets at home. Jets was before the Packers. That's right. Yeah. See, that's what I'm trying to tell you. My CTE bad. You know, that's it. Yeah, if you need that's that was good memory right there. Yeah, I can remember some things. Some my memory, my memory, high garbage. You can use it to your benefit though, sometimes, too, Debo. It's a good you know, I say, I got to do what you got to do when you can do it. I say, I say, I say, look here. Hey. When did the he chance start? Yes. It started my rookie year in the in a. It kind of grew over time, but the first preseason game at home. I caught a pass and I heard like this low like murmur through the stadium. And I just thought at the time, like, dang, I guess they didn't want like they want me to get the ball. They know what it's like. You know, they were booing. I was like, oh, they must have wanted somebody else. So but then over time, I think it just grew and, you know, started to become a thing as we had more success as a team. And I grew as a player. So but yeah, the first I remember at home first game. And it was kind of like, I'm like, oh, they're doing. Yeah, hold on. What's going on here? Yeah. Yeah, I thought I was love at that point. I guess not. But it turns out. Did they have any champ before that for the tight ends? No, not that I know. I think so. There was a fullback food. He might have been even before you. I played with food. I played with Chris. Did they do something when he ran the bar? No, I don't remember. I ain't gonna lie. Yeah, I feel like someone said they might have did something when he had just the like food. But I'm not for sure. It's possible. We might be right. We need a Steelers historian for that. You know, you're right. But I'm saying now it's like every tight end is like, yo, he getting he getting the heat. How you how you feel about that? You you started something and passed it on down or or. You like, hey, you just yell he don't do nothing for nobody else. That's mine. No, I'm fine with it. I figure I didn't know if it was just another white guy caught the ball. They were just they were sure. Yeah, they're not sure. First time I was like, damn, they still yelling he. They're yelling for more for five. You know, you know, he retired, right? They were. They were. I'm like, damn, now realize he done left us. He left us out here to hang just dry out. You know what I'm saying? He didn't care. You know, he just left. He went home. I respect I respect the heat. You going to give it to anybody that's balling and that's worthy. Like mood, they giving it to fire move right now. Move, he getting a little move. It's not it's not hitting. I was not hitting like the heat, but it's still it's a little something in there. No tight in love. I'm fine with it. Yeah, you show the tight ends love. I'm good with it. Come on, man. I'm with it. And I'm like, don't mind care about no tight ends, man. Well, what advice would you give to these young tight ends out here? He that got to do what you did. Do both because a lot of these guys don't know how to do both. I would say. And longevity. Embrace it. Yeah, because I think a lot of guys just want to pinhold them pigeon themselves as like I'm just a passcatcher and I'm just or I'm just a blocker or whatever. But I think a tight end that can do both has huge value to your offense, to your team, because now you're not predictable. You know, if you're if you're just a passcatch and tight end and you're in the huddle, Joe, I'm sure as a as a secondary guy, then you know what to expect. But if you're a guy who can do both, you always pose a threat and, you know, blocking is. It's a difficult thing, but it's not as hard as it may seem. You know, if you if you fully embrace yourself into it, you can become a good blocker and just learn the technique and give some effort. You know, a lot of guys I see, they don't even give effort. They're not even trying to block. Yes. Come on, you got to give some effort. It's not that hard. Get your hands inside and run your feet. You know, come on. Yeah. No, it's like they don't forgot it, man. Yeah. It's like. All you got to do is just hold. Get your hands inside and hold. Hey, that's what it is. That's what it is. Thank you. I'm like, dude, I've been getting held. I'm like, I'm like, yo, they're going to it's nothing you could do. They can hold you. I'm trying to act like they're not acting. But get your hands inside. That's still holding, but that's not holding. That ain't holding. That ain't holding. But I'm like, they're going to grab onto that breastplate, man. You go for a ride. You can't go anywhere. That's what you're trying to break the arms over. They got you too tight. Nothing. You reached them hands up like that. You might go flying, Joe. Literally. No, that's what I'm saying. Now I'm up in the air. Now I'm exposed. Now he's trying to throw me on the on my back. Yeah. Hey, you've been paying attention to our stillers and the coaching hires with the with the moves by the GM. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, what you what you think, buddy, what you think? What's your first time? What do you think Omar and his moves with the with the guys that he done acquired, man? I love Omar. You know, I think the same as Omar as you do, Debo. And he was there the whole time I was there and always treated me well. He and I have a great relationship as he does with, I think most players have the same opinion of him. So I was real excited for him that he got the opportunity and I'm excited to kind of see what he's what he's going to do moving forward. Kind of probably getting a little more ownership of the team now. And I think, yeah, I'm excited to see what transpires. Where are you playing in the McCarthy? I was I'm not going to lie. I was surprised at the beginning just because the history of the Steelers. I just expected and the end if you and if you're around Steelers, which you guys both are like it's big on tradition. Like the Steelers do things the Steelers way. So I was like, OK, then they're going to hire a young guy who I probably never heard of. You really have a defensive background. He'll be a good coach because they usually, you know, they don't really miss. And so to hire when they hired McCarthy, I was like, oh, different. OK, OK. But then then the more you wrap your mind around it. And I think I forget who I heard say something's like they talked about his history of developing quarterbacks and, you know, the success he's had at quarterbacks going back to Green Bay and. You know, in the state of the Steelers are in now, they're looking for the future quarterback like everything made perfect sense to me. And he knows the history of the Steelers. He grew up in the city of Pittsburgh. He loves bleeds, black and gold, no matter where you go. If you grew up in Pittsburgh, you're always going to bleed black and gold. So I'm excited about it. I think it was a good hire. OK, yeah, that's where we at with it now. You know, I was up. I was a little off on the other side for a minute, but I came to. Yep. Yeah, it was just it was out of the box. We did. Yeah. It happened often with the Steelers. Yeah. Yeah, it was. What do you think about? I go live. What you think we should do a quarterback? He do you think do you think that we got Will Howard? Do you think we should use a draft pick to get a quarterback? Or do you think we should wait on a rock? Well, obviously, I think we're waiting on a ride to what? Well, what do you think? Wait on it. But it sounds like you put your gym hat on. Well, I haven't heard anybody say anything bad about the young guy, Will Howard. But seeing it, obviously seeing it in practice and snippets and seeing it in the game is two different things. So I think if you really love it and you think you really see a future with him, then let's see what he can do. And that's obviously, you know, who knows what a role will do. A-Rod is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play. Yes. You know. And I think if you draft the guy, I don't think you have to reach for a quarterback if you like Will Howard. I don't think there's any point at reaching. But maybe if A-Rod doesn't come back and Will plays this year, then you'll have a better idea of what you got in him going into next year's draft. Maybe he's the guy and then you can surround him with better players. But and looking back to Ben's situation, they had a great team and they had it been in the fold. So I think keep building our team and putting the pieces around. And if Will's the young quarterback who takes over, great. If they got to draft the guy, then he can come into a team that has solid pieces around him to where he can. He doesn't have to be the man, the man he's done to the huddle. He can grow into that kind of like Ben did. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think we're all saying the same as you. At the end of the day, we know the quarterback position is such an important position. But if you have a team around that guy, you're not asking him to be too much. But just do your job. You know what I'm saying? When you have a great great running game, you say like when Ben came in and you had that team around them, you're not asking Ben. You he throws 18 times, 15 times a game, you win by 21 points. Like, Will, you could do that. You know what I'm saying? Like give have a lot of players around him where he's handing the rock off. You're not he's throwing it 15 times and you're winning by 21. Like that's a great situation to be in. And then you could start getting hold of the offense, starting to open it up a little bit more, you know, but defense. We have great players on defense. So I love the way you're saying it. Team got to play. So everybody always panics about the quarterback and that's why I asked you about the quarterback position. But it's no panic. If you got a team around you, if everybody's balling and you need one, you need to go draft the quarterback, then we need a quarterback. But you always need to make sure you're off the line. Can we run the ball? Can he just hand it off? So now he's in a more comfortable position. Yeah, I agree with that 100 percent. 100 percent. Hey, he's before we jump into these super chats, man, you got anything going on, man? What you got? What's what's what's what's what's prominent with you right now? You got anything? Uh, well, a few years ago, kind of I took over. I started coaching high school football. OK, then that's been kind of fun and exciting. I probably never would have did it. I didn't have aspirations to do it. But my my oldest was going into high school. They needed a coach. Man, listen, the kids are how you doing something. Them kids are how you doing something. What? So now I'm I'm 10 toes in. I'm all the way in trying to hear. Coach, what's up? You're the head coach. I'm a head coach. Yeah. Come on. I was aware what the school is. Give me the school. That's in toes in St. Ann's Belfield School. It's the name of the school. It's in St. Ann Belfield School in Virginia. In Virginia. It's a it's a what? It's a private school. Oh, it's a private school. Yeah. So what was it? What was it? It's just some play. So I'll have two on the team next year. My oldest play safety and receiver. And the next one will play some receiver probably outside of linebacker. You know who to call? Yeah, we're going to send in with Debo for this summer. Send him on down here. Daisy, man, I got to go and send him back, man. Five star already. Got it. He's on the way. You're one five star year one. But is this your you're in you're in playing no daddy ball like Joe is. See, Debo man, chill out. No, no favoritism here. The best players will play. That has to happen. Hey, that's why I left football. Just like a team. I had to surround myself with the best coaches that I could. So I got and there's a lot of UVA alumni guys in the area. So I'm like, hey, oh, you guys want to help coach football? They're like, yeah, we'll help. So I got two or three guys that play to UVA on staff. So that's the way you do it. It is my hardest thing is setting the calendar and the schedule. And those guys those guys coach and yeah, I could just manage that. That way they can they coach my kids. They decide who plays. They could be on them and I don't have to do that. So OK, we got a good situation. We're building something cool. Something special, baby. Yeah, it was something special. That's good stuff. This your first year? So no, we just completed my second season. So OK, my second. We we made it to the state championship last year and lost. So we're trying to build trying to build up to the sea this year and see how we do. Yeah, this. To well, there's two two divisions in private school in Virginia. We were in the lowest. Now then next year we're going to be in the highest. They're moving us up. Oh, yeah, because you're moving up as they put in belt now. And pulling that belt out. What's your numbers? How many students you got? Y'all can't be moving us up when our numbers ain't high. Your numbers high. We're numbers. We got we got around 200 boys and they they moved the number down a little bit. So now we're moving. We'll be the boys out there. They know that football team. So we'll be the small school. We'll be the small school. It's not school. They crazy. Yeah, that's OK. Hey, Craig, can we recruit? That's it's a private school. So you can recruit. You can we. So we have we have boarding beds so we can we got some international players on our team. So we get some Europeans. We got some Canadian guys. They come down and they they board right on campus. So OK, OK. Don't hit. I got a couple. I got a couple I can see until you know what I'm saying. I got a couple of I'm going to send this in the business. But you got to come coach. You got to come help coach. Well, you just messed that up. You're not too far away. I know you guys. Joe, come on. Say the one. Joe, we're in Virginia. So you send me the address. You send me the address. All right. I definitely want to coach. We're going to be the defensive coordinator. I'm telling you. Hey, listen, D-boy, that's how we get our feet wet. And then we'll get up here to Pittsburgh. And next thing you know. I'm telling you, Heath, you give me head coach vibes. A thousand percent. I promise you. So you keep this thing going. You'll be the head coach for the still is next. And then D-boys, your coordinator and then I'll go cornerbacks coach. OK, OK. Well, you might have gone and keep. Position coaches. This might want to be the position coach. You might want to be this. OK, little order. We can all go. We can all go in there as business coaches, get off feet wet together. And then we figure out what we want to trick. Y'all trick. Hold up, hold up, hold up. I ain't on that bull. Shit, y'all tripping. I told you I ain't going with something to hit. I got to be at least DC. I can't. Hell no. No, that's what I'm saying. You can be defensive coordinator. You DC, you DC. OK. Heath, you can come in as whatever you want. I'm trying to tell you. I think you can get the head coaching job. But if you want to be the tight ends coach. Instantly tight ends coach. I'm telling you, we can get that done now. OK. I don't know what you're saying. Give me about five or five more years. Five more years. You're going to win a couple of ships, win a couple of high school ships. Yeah. Then we can do it. Yeah. If you win a chip. Nope. I ain't about to say nothing stupid because then I got to do it. Never mind. Go ahead. We're going to get over here. What are we going to do? What are we going to do, D-Bow? I ain't saying nothing. I was about to say something goofy. Like I was going to come down there. Yep. No, I ain't. No, I ain't moving on. This year before game, I called Keezle up. I always have a guest speaker. So before home games, anyways, a guest speaker. So Keezle zoomed in to the team and got the guys fired up before the game. So he's he's one to know for the pregame speech. So he's zoomed. You know, you can do that. I go zoom. He ain't even show up. We had him on the big screen. We had him on the big screen, you know, and he's like stroking his beard. But he had a Super Bowl ring. Yeah. Stroking his beard with his ring on, you know. Yeah. Yeah. He had the room rocking, though. Yeah. He's like, what's up, guys? You know, I love it. That's how you get it motivated. Yeah. We got coming in life back on the Super Chat, Joe, 20 hours. She said he practicing again, practicing against guys like James Harrison and Troy Palamalu every day had to be intense. Is there a specific practice story where one of those defensive legends made you realize you had to level your game up? Yeah, I think probably when I am my rookie year, James and I went against each other a lot early on, whether it be one on one's when we get team reps. We seem like I was always going against James and James never talked to me. Like, you know, he was. You know, it's had the scowl on and like I kid you not, Joe. After every practice, I'm going and I'm trying to get the cold tub, get my body right. Yeah. Every time I turn the corner for the cold tub, Debo's in there. And it's just me and Debo. He's not saying a word. Me and Debo. And then he's like, you know, it's up. I'm like, son of a gun, he's in here again. I can't get away from this guy. Debo, getting his body right, looking, looking at him. He's getting his body right. I'm trying to get my body right. We see each other at practice. He's grunting at me. He's already intimidating. You know, he's just scowling at me. Like rookie coming in. That's just my natural look. I'm just looking. Oh, my. Now I know it's just his natural look. Sometimes scowls a little more to like play up on it a little bit. Yeah, no, he knows. Yeah, he does that on purpose. Yes. Yeah. You see, now I know that it took. But that took a couple of years to figure it out. You know, I mean, sometimes it's for real and the shit just come out. No, for sure. Yes, I finally know, you know, you know, you know, right? Yeah, they be like, oh, no, he ain't playing. No, no. No. And then but then after, you know, after a while, it was we take we take care of each other during practice. No question. You know, no question. The game. So I'm. Yo, I'm thankful for that. And I ain't making no deals in training camp. Training camp. Y'all are. I ain't making no deals. Yeah. Acts on backers. That's crazy. I ain't making no deals in training camp. But Liam nine zero eight seven ten dollars. He. How far do you drive the golf ball? See, it's a further you. Big Ben. P.S. We haven't played around with Joe yet. Is it because he's. What is it because he's victim? See, you know why they call me victim? Debo says anybody under 200 pounds is victim weight. That's Debo. No, man. I don't want to hear. I want to. That's a legit statement. That's not a legit statement. I'm changing it to. It's not. I agree with it, Joe. You got to prove it wrong, Joe. I'm trying to put it to at least the best press. I can't. Like I'm 185, but I could throw up to 225, 10 times. Then I don't feel like a victim. Then I can get somebody up off me. You know what I'm saying? Like, look, see, look, he's being nice. He doesn't believe it. He believes I'm a victim. You don't know. He knows that. Crazy. How far you drive the golf ball? He I don't even know. I don't even know. There was all everybody like that. You didn't even got clubs, do you? No, I do have clubs. But I have a played in. In a decade, probably in 10 years. I would say I play more than you. You played more than that. Yeah, I play. I played last year. Yeah, I'm going to play again. This year, I just think I'll drive the ball. I want to, man, I pulled my belt. Here's my problem with golf. When I first came to the league, I played but only like four or five times a year. And I'm thinking I should be getting better every time I played. But then I would get worse. And I'm like, I could spend four hours of my life doing something that I actually enjoy as both of us mad for four hours of frustrated, trying to find these golf balls that go with the wood. You know, yeah, you like the fish. Yeah, a little bit. Yep. Do a little bit of fishing. That's what I never been a bit of hunting, a little bit of shooting. You can leave me if you're fishing and you're not the fish aren't catching. You could or biting. You could just leave. You're not stuck on the course for four hours. I stuck there. You can look, you can do nine holes to or you can just leave whenever you want. And normally, though, if you have a. Pay the whole bunch of money to. I can't I can't just leave you, Joe, for golf. I can't leave you in the middle of the game. If you get if you get upset, I'm gonna be like, man, he's, you know, it's not even that, you know, definitely. I because the one thing I want to have a good time. I'm in for a good time. Leave in the middle. You're gonna have a good time because it's gonna make you feel better. When you watch how bad I am, you're gonna feel about your golf. You get as many Mulligans as you want. He. Mulligans. Mulligans, D-Bow. You know what a Mulligan is? Yeah, I know you just I give mine away. No, you get Mulligans. Did you strong? You just missing the ball. No, I don't. I stopped swinging, Joe. I'm trying to tell you, I don't drive the ball no more. If it ain't a putt, I don't even I'm not. I'm not that ain't I'm gonna sit around there. I'm a goner. I'm a smoke on my guard. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm drink my I'm a drink my Zivia. I drink Zivia, you know, that that is good. It's good. It's no no alcohol. So there's no sugar, no nothing like that. No. No. And then I go ahead and. I, you know, you get it up. I talk trash. Actually, when I get there, when I first get there, I talk so much shit that they like, oh, my goodness, he's good. And then they realize. I ain't got no clubs. I ain't got I ain't got no I ain't got no shoes. I ain't got I ain't got nothing to go with golf. I ain't even got a glove. But they be scared until they because I talk. Do you have your you have your shirt tucked in? Do you have a color shirt on? Dude, I look the part. Look like you got the belt and everything. OK, all right. I got the belt. Yeah, you got a header belt. You got a headed shirt tucked in. Yeah, OK. Little puff out on the you know, and I'm you seeing the guns is out. I'm like, yeah, they scared to they like, oh, this is the smallest golfer in the world. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I'm like, I ain't gonna lie to you. I don't drive it no further than about three seventy five. You got too many muscles to swing. You're too. That's what I'm saying. If you heard what he said, it rotate. No rotation. You ain't played in 10 years. I will take you out there with your ass. You heard what Debo said. He said he tore his his dealt trying to swing the golf club. That was swinging too hard. Happened. That's what I'm saying. You're not posting. I think I think I could beat Debo. That's a fact. Right now, I know you could. You know what? That's a fact. You coming up. Yeah. You coming up for the drive, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. We get it together. Yeah, yeah. Put it together. Put it together. I don't care. Nine holes. I'm going to bring about three boxes of golf balls. How many more? Yes. Yes. How many holes we playing? Nine holes. That's just not. We can't play team. We'll be there. How many? How many? How many? How many? How many? You said nine holes. Now I know. How many balls is in each box? 12. Yep. Right. We only need about 20. See, no. Nine holes, right? Only nine. OK. Yeah. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there for this one. He's going to be jotting stuff off, left and right too. Yeah, Joe, you know the rules. I'm coming with the rules for sure. So we got to keep him within the rules. Yes. Yes. Debo talking about he going to need 20 balls. You just going to need to make sure double bogey and we going to beat Debo. What's a double bogey? Two over par. If it's a par four and you make six, that's a double bogey. You're going to be working about quadruples. Sing tuple bogeys. Like, if it's a four, you're going to get a 10. If it's a three, I'm doing it too. See, that's a birdie. Yeah, that's what I do. And I ego. See, if we got ego, we got him. Covenant life back $20. She said a few players in NFL history have their name chanted by the home crowd every single time they touched the ball. How much did that support influence your play style and did and did you feel did you ever feel extra pressure to deliver when you heard it? I think it was more probably just just you felt the love from the city of Pittsburgh and how much, you know, I think I only played in Pittsburgh, but I can only imagine like Pittsburgh's kind of unique. It's like it's like a small town with with big city amenities, I say, and the reason I say that is because everybody loves their teams. Like it's all whether it's the penguins, the pirates when they're good, the Steelers, the whole city is behind you. Like everywhere you go, they got on black and yellow. They know what's going on with the team. They're wishing you luck. So, you know, that was just kind of like you just felt the love from the city and how much they appreciated what you were doing for the team and the hard work that you were trying to put in. That was a pleasure. Covenant life back again, Joe, $5. How about it? She said, Will Howard came from Old Money. That's why I call him Country Club. But when when he show up this year, he will be Iron Club Will. Hush, Dbo. But do you like you ain't like the nickname? Hell, no. Hey, listen, Covenant Life. Covenant Life is a great supporter. Great supporter. She is. She's she's she's she's number one. Number one fan of Dbo and Joe. But she was calling Will Howard. Country Club. Well, I like Country Club. He you want to be called Country Club? He don't that sound soft. You can't be. Yeah, you can't be the quarterback of the Steelers. And that be your right. Damn it. I got the he when you say it. Thank you. Exactly. That's like that's like an air. That's like a Cardinals quarterback or something like that. OK, OK. This is blue collar. We're two blue collar in this in the steel city to have a quarterback. I ain't doing that. I'm listening to Heath. I'm listening. I'm listening. You're correct. You're correct. I'm going that was being too. I like it. I like it. I'm going that was being too. OK, Covenant Life came with a better one. I'm club Dbo. If he he said I'm going to ask you no more. I'm going to you. I'm going to you. I give you that. OK, that's the club. That's just so soft. Like I come into the country club like, you know, my bad. That's my bad. I stand corrected. No more. Covenant Life back again. $20. You said, Heath, you had two Super Bowl wins. How many of you joke? Oh, never mind. I'm sorry. But I was I was really I was thinking I was reading a lot. She said, Heath, you have two Super Bowl wins. But was it. But it was the latter for me. Would you rate that game against the Jets? Part of the top moments or was there a quieter play that was top for you that 31 yard snatch and grab was fire? I don't know. Top play for me personally. My second year I scored an 87 yard touchdown. Was that on Cleveland season? Charlie Baster, that that was on Cleveland. Good old Charlie. No, that was against the Dolphins. I was against the Dolphins, man. Joe said he made you fumble. Oh, pop you. He was like, I made me. I made it. No, I put my head. I put my hand in the ball. I did one time. I did one time. I don't remember that. I love you. May have. May have. He said he said he he said he fired off on he. I didn't say it like that. And then I was like, did you win? He was like, no, we lost for sure. We lost. It was the Thursday. It was a Thursday night game. We lost. Hey, I will I will say when Joe was maybe your rookier, second year, I called him on the flat. I said, I'm going to give it to Joe. I'm going to try to welcome him to this. You know, I'm going to give it to him. And I feel like I got it pretty good. And I looked up and he was up. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I got a little helmet. You know, I got my helmet. Yeah. Pretty good. Yeah. So he kind of just started walking back to the huddle. So OK, Joe. Thank you. D-Boy, I try to take it. I'm not I wasn't afraid. I was on my little sister. You had on soda pads and all the other shit. You might have been 200. I'm 200 with my shoulder pads and helmet. That's OK. But you ain't no more. You don't play the game. Yeah. You can't do it. You won't do it. Refuse to do it. Y'all, y'all are funny. But I appreciate that he for letting me to tell him, D-Boy, that you know that I'm out here hitting. I'm not just avoided. He was. Hey. He would not hold up. He said he wouldn't hold up the receiver if I was running in to come smack him. Like I would tell Ike, I'd be like, I hold him up, hold him up. Ike, hold him up. And I come in there and I pop with that. We on. He said he wouldn't do that. Ain't that soft? Hey, that's between you guys. Why not, Joe? Why not, Joe? Why not? I'm trying to. That's the long. That's where the longevity in the league comes in. If I'm still sitting there holding him and D-Boy comes and hits me and puts me to sleep, then I'm trying to play still. I'm just make the tackle, get him down. D-Boy, hold him up, hold him up. He's running over there full speed. I'm like, how do I know where you're going to launch a missile? You're going to hit both of us. No, as long as you hold him up, he gets it. All right. You know what? I hold him up for you. Ike will be on. Ike will be on. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about Ike will be on. And he going to tell you it was only one time he went to sleep. And that's because he let him drop. Dude went dead weight and just. Heath, would you hold him up if you was on there? You playing safety? If you playing safety, D-Boy was like, hold him up, Heath. I'm coming. Maybe so. Yeah, I think so. Yes. Oh, yeah. That's a man. He hit for real. He ain't hit them. He don't got the mentality of it either. It didn't Ike though. Ike took one. Did Law Dog get Ike one time in Carolina? That's Law Dog. You know Law Dog run around like a blind dog in a meat factory. Law Dog. He's trying to hit shit. Yeah. And he hit him. He hit him. Yes. Ike got hit. You got D-Boy, you got Ike once and then Law Dog got him. He didn't go to sleep though. I got him up, woke him up and he still played. And I covered him in that play so he could get his marbles back. How good are you, D-Boy? D-Boy, he'll wake you up. He'll wake you up. That's what he's saying. No question. I'll put you in the game, baby. I'll make sure you stay in the game now. Like, got to. Got to. I'm in the protocol. That's how nice of a guy is. If he puts you in the game, he'll wake you up. What a friend. Definitely, man. Definitely. Hey, he, man, I want to thank you for joining us, brother. I will see you at the draft for sure. When you getting in? I think I'm coming on Wednesday. Okay. Hit me up when you get in. You're going to be, obviously, you're going to probably head over to Keezles, right? Probably at some point, yeah. We'll get together. We'll get together though. We'll get together. Yeah, I'm going to be, yeah. Matter of fact, Joe will be here then too, right? Yeah, I'm staying on. I'm staying on. I'm pulling up on D-Boy. I'm staying at D-Boy. Yeah, he's staying over here. So everything's going to be good. Hey, man, you know, if I need to bring my clothes and we'll make the wager. Yeah, whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to do. I might need to practice for what I got a week. I got a week to practice. Good. Who got, I ain't, I don't even need to practice. I don't even need to practice. That's that practice overrated. We're talking about practice. If my money on you. I feel confident about it, Joe. I feel good. I'm talking about practice. I watched the Masters yesterday, so I'm good to go. Come on. That's all it'll take to watch. Yes. OK, well, I'm going to watch it. I'm going to go watch the repeat of it. No, I ain't doing that. I can't do that, bro. I can't do that. I can't sit there and watch. I just think it ain't watch the highlights. Yeah, I watched the last one. What's the highlight? They hit the ball. Did you see how narrow it is that those guys got a drive through? That's the way. T. Yes. That was crazy. And then my man Roy, he still kind of threw it in the past. Yeah. And then he got him about he got out of the bottom there. Man, whatever, man, I see you when you get here, man. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, Miller, for showing up. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you, brother. I love the good work. Thank you, brother. Thank you, man. I will see you on Wednesday, Thursday, if not sometime around there. Matter of fact, we go to the barn, Joe. Yeah. Yeah. For show, for show, for show. Heath. Keezo. Couple of other boys, all the other stuff, man. Guys, thank you for joining us on this episode of D-Born Joe. Please make sure you like, subscribe and download where you get your show. Joe. Yo, see you tomorrow, same time, same place. Yo. This is an I Heart podcast.