Steelers Now
New Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has brought several new methods and philosophies to the organization. But, one difference at practice has been glaring — the removal of the benches on the practice field.
All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt was the first to reveal the one difference between a McCarthy practice and a Mike Tomlin practice.
“You don’t see benches out here anymore,” Watt explained last week. “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.”
Steelers public address announcer Larry Richert thinks McCarthy is emphasizing accountability from day one.
“They removed the benches from the South Side on the fields. No player is allowed to sit for the two hours plus. Which is a little unusual. Sending a little message,” Richert said on his Larry & The Big Man Show podcast.
The tempo at practice has been intense under McCarthy, according to former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“Well, I think from what I heard also is that this new coaching regime has these guys moving, grooving and running,” 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 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.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Mike McCarthy Has Made One Glaring Change to Steelers Practices
