Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Merril Hoge peeled back the curtain on a major change under Mike McCarthy compared to Mike Tomlin.
“Not only as I watch it, but I asked players, I’m like, ‘What’s the difference here?’ There’s just so much detail,” Hoge said on the Straight Facts Homie podcast. “There’s so many things are detailed and then that we understand and that are not left to mystery. The development there’s all different areas of practice where we’re developing, we’re working and building. And we needed somebody with that type of seasoning, understanding.”
Hoge thinks the run game and the defense are two areas that will drastically improve under McCarthy.
McCarthy has brought several new methods and philosophies to the organization. Only time will tell if the changes result in more success for the Steelers. The franchise is craving for its first playoff win since the 2016 season.
Former Steelers cornerback Joe Haden is also very impressed with what he’s seen from McCarthy so far.
“Every time I hear Mike McCarthy talk, he’s talking ball, he’s talking fundamentals, he’s talking facts, he’s talking real ball stuff. I love every time I hear him talk,” Haden said on the Deebo & Joe podcast in May.
On the latest episode of the Deebo & Joe podcast, Haden said accountability was a major problem for the Steelers under Tomlin. That is one aspect that could be corrected under McCarthy.
“When I got to Pittsburgh, it was years and years into Coach Tomlin being there, and the one thing I could where you needed a new voice [was] the accountability,” Haden said. “Everything needs to be tight. There was a looseness that was going around. That looseness is a reason where errors come in… If star players were doing certain things, you just gotta nip it in the bud.
“Things like meetings, late stuff… When the vet leeway is getting to a point where it turns almost blatant disrespect to where your team is seeing stud like, ‘We can’t be moving like this as a team, vet aside.’ When you get a new coach in there, he’s not rocking. You set a standard from the T.J. Watts to the Ben Roethlisbergers to anybody on the team where there’s no leeway for nobody.”
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This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Former Steelers Running Back Reveals Major Change Under Mike McCarthy
