Fillling the void

Tunch Ilkin’s voice will be hard to replace for Steelers fans.

For two hours every weekday morning during the NFL season, Tunch Ilkin would talk Steelers football with his best friend and former teammate Craig Wolfley on an ESPN Pittsburgh radio show called “In The Locker Room With Tunch and Wolf.”

Their normal routine consisted of much laughter, more than frequent mentions of Chuck Noll, Mike Webster and Rollie Dotsch, analysis of offensive line play and Tunch poking fun at his partner’s creative invention of words that are not found in a dictionary. On occasion, Tunch would playfully mock the dialect of his own Midwestern upbringing (“Ah Cheez”) or feign the accent of his native Turkey, usually resulting in more laughter from the two co-hosts.

On game day, when he shared the broadcast booth with Bill Hillgrove and Myron Cope, Ilkin would rely on the tireless film research he did during the week to offer pinpoint analysis for the radio listener. Yes, he could deliver the occasional malaprop, such as the time he said an opposing player “got his bell cleaned.”

But he was not beyond letting his black-and-gold emotions get the best of him. That was never more evident than the time Jerome Bettis fumbled at the goal line in the waning minutes of a 2005 AFC playoff game in Indianapolis and Ilkin kept repeatedly pleading on the air, “Somebody tackle him,” as Colts defensive back Nick Harper was running the other way with the ball.

As always, there was a measure of light-heartedness and comedic banter in the booth, sometimes spontaneously. In a 2002 game in New Orleans, Cope found himself mispronouncing the first name of Fakhir Brown, a backup Saints defensive back, who had just been beaten for the go-ahead touchdown pass from Tommy Maddox to Terance Mathis with 1:26 remaining. In his exuberance while describing the play, Cope paused and said, “What’s that guy’s name?” and proceeded to pronounce his first name as, well, you know. Overcome with laughter, Tunch tried to collect his breath and said to Cope in one of the all-time classic radio moments, “Myron, just call him Brown.”

Ilkin announced this week he will retire from his role with the Steelers Radio Network while he continues to aggressively fight back against ALS, the insidious disease that has inflicted his 63-yearold body. His listeners will miss his humor and his insight, his knowledge and perspective. Those of us who have had the good fortune to work with him on the radio, whether in the broadcast booth or a remote show location, will miss being around as wonderfula human being that you will find anywhere.

And yet, for all the words he ever said on radio, or the ones he spoke during his playing days with the Steelers, none can compare to the ones he so eloquently and touchingly expressed on the day he delivered the eulogy for his first wife, Sharon, who died at the age of 55 in 2012.

Tunch stood there, relying on his faith to honor the person he met in college at Indiana State, spiritually empowered to celebrate her life as a wonderful mother, partner and best friend. Anyone who was in attendance at the South Hills Bible Chapel and watched him that day left the service inspired, not sad; uplifted by life, not deflated.

That was Tunch Ilkin’s greatest quality — making everyone feel better about life, about themselves. It was part of his everyday routine, not just on radio.

On the offensive

Ben Roethlisberger’s comments the other day about adapting to coordinator Matt Canada’s offense — “It’s definitely harder when you’ve had a similar offense for 17 years,” he said — has apparently caused people to wonder if Roethlisberger will actually buy into the new system.

That question, of course, is fueled by Roethlisberger’s reluctance last season to use any of the pre-snap shifts or motions that Canada helped bring to Randy Fichtner’s offense.

But here’s the difference: Unlike last year, when he still had Fichtner’s offense at his full disposal, Roethlisberger does not have any choice this year.

This is a new offense that Canada has installed and Roethlisberger has no other option but to embrace the new wrinkles.That was something that was spelled out to him as part of the discussion to bring him back for 2021.

Roethlisberger alluded to that the other day in his first group interview with the local media when he said he told Canada “this is your offense” and said he would be amenable to anything he is asked to do, including lining up under center.

“I’m just really trying to do everything I can to be open to the new challenge and say, ‘OK, I’m learning, OK got it, got it,’” Roethlisberger said. “If something is confusing or something doesn’t quite make sense, I say, ‘Talk to me, tell me how I can better understand this or how I can learn this or learn the formation names or what is your trick to learning things.’ We just have been constantly communicating. And he has been really good about, ‘Hey Ben, if there is something you don’t like, just let me know and we can talk through it or throw it out.’”

Will that continue? He doesn’t have much choice.

Wait on Dwayne

Just because Roethlisberger said he admired the throwing mechanics of quarterback Dwayne Haskins and gushed that his arm is so strong “he can throw a football through a car wash and it wouldn’t get wet” doesn’t mean Haskins is in line to be his heir apparent. Or to replace Mason Rudolph as the No. 2 quarterback.

What Haskins has shown in OTAs is the same thing Washington saw in him when they made him the 15th overall pick in 2019 — someone who can really throw the football. Someone who looks good throwing to a specific receiver with no defenders coming at him.

But what OTAs can’t show — and what Washington didn’t see once Haskins got on the field — is the ability to go through progressions and find receivers when pressure is collapsing the pocket.

That will only come when he gets to play in a preseason. Until then, the misplaced hype is all wet.