Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has implemented several new methods and philosophies to the organization. One of the changes has been the tempo at practice.
“Well, I think from what I heard also is that this new coaching regime has these guys moving, grooving and running,” former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast. “There is no slowing down, there’s no sitting down. From what I have heard, it’s eye-opening and a big change. Change isn’t always bad by any means.”
Roethlisberger has one concern with the new practice method, however. He doesn’t want to see the Steelers get burned out late in the season. That famously happened with the Steelers in Mike Tomlin‘s first year as the team’s head coach in 2007.
“I know Tomlin, one of his big things was he didn’t have any issues with guys being in pads. We would be in pads, guys would be hitting, it’s like we are in Week 12 and we are hitting still, like our bodies were beaten up… He gave guys breaks early so Tomlin felt like he could get away with that,” Roethlisberger said. “From what I hear with this staff is it’s go go go, and OK, so what’s going to happen on the backend of this, because guys are going so much in camp. It’ll be interesting to see. Obviously McCarthy is not a newbie … He knows what he’s doing.”
Steelers All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt peeled back the curtain on some of the differences between McCarthy and Tomlin.
“It’s been a lot. Yeah, I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s been a lot of studying, a lot of learning a lot on the iPad,” Watt said at minicamp last Wednesday. “Also trying to see new faces, not only players and coaches. There’s been a lot of good work.
“As you guys can see, things are a little bit different around here. It’s tougher as you get older to get the work in, but it’s all been phenomenal work.”
Watt shared one difference between a McCarthy practice and a Tomlin practice.
“You don’t see benches out here anymore,” Watt explained. “It’s just interesting. There’s two ways to skin a cat. There’s many different ways to do things. We’re just doing things much different than what I’m used to over the last nine years. And it’s good, change is good. Hats off to [outside linebackers coach] C.J. [Ah You]. He has a lot of really good drill work for us to do. He breaks down film well. And we just have a solid outside linebackers room to begin with, so it’s really competitive.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Big Ben Weighs in on Eye-Opening Mike McCarthy Practice Method
