Steelers’ tradition goes only so far during camp
PITTSBURGH – For all that was surreal about the Steelers staging training camp at any place other than the bucolic environs of St. Vincent’s College, a slice of normalcy was on full display in the southwest corner of Heinz Field on Monday afternoon.
Like usual, the Steelers’ first practice of the summer in full pads was spiced by the intense, full-speed “backs on ’backers” drill. There’s nothing virtual about this. Pandemic or not, the gut-check measuring stick of pass rush versus pass protection is a tradition that won’t quit.
It was an electric exercise, with overpowering rush moves or stonewalling blocks prompting reactionary hoots from the few witnesses – players surrounding the pit awaiting their turns – that echoed through the empty stadium. As you might expect, standout veteran edge rusher T.J. Watt had a certain presence, while rookies such as linebacker Alex Highsmith and running back Anthony McFarland got extra reps by design. Welcome to training camp.
As coach Mike Tomlin put it, “Particularly to guys that are new to ball on this level, it is a period of adjustment.”
One of Tomlin’s toughest challenges this summer, similar to peers across the NFL, will be to evaluate rookies without the stage of the preseason games that were wiped out as one of the measures to combat COVID-19. The live sessions during practices will be critical for prospects needing to make an impression, which is why Tomlin talks about creating such situations in planning his practices – and balancing that against the need to preserve his players for the real games.
Throughout the first padded practice, the pure football elements seemed normal enough. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, coming off elbow surgery, aimed for tight windows on end-zone throws
and huddled with young receivers between reps for teaching moments. Special teams coach Danny Smith, with his voice still intact while it’s early in camp, barked instructions with his typical volume and zeal. After a three-week acclimation period built on conditioning and non-contact drills, they could finally tackle to the ground on physical running drills.
All according to plan. But it is much trickier for Tomlin to plan for the unknown factor of the pandemic and how it might disrupt the mission of trying to make a Super Bowl run.
Sure, the NFL has its pandemic protocols, which include daily testing (and perhaps soon, rapid-response saliva tests) and social distancing. Yet with 80 players in camp (69, after final cutdown and practice squad slots) and a pandemic, this looming season has a huge hope-and-prayer factor attached to it.
Before it’s over, the teams that best handle contingencies with quick adjustments might be the biggest winners.
“Coach T has done a great job of just simulating ways where we could be affected by the virus,” said Cameron Heyward, the 10th-year veteran defensive tackle. “We’re trying to prepare ourselves, where if there is a mishap, or a shutdown of any sort, we’re able to stay on task, stay ready for the game.”
Tomlin has harped on the message of personal responsibility, that lifestyle decisions and potential exposure to COVID-19 could be a devastating threat to the entire team.
He’s incorporated twists to the internal flow during camp as another type of safeguard. For instance, during some of the team meetings, Tomlin has had key veterans connect via Zoom while situated in private suites, with the rest of the team meeting in a huge club lounge.
No, they’re not in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, anymore. At least not this year. It’s the first time in 55 years the Steelers haven’t had camp at the small Catholic college located about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, ending the longest continuous run by any NFL team to a single outof-town destination. As part of the pandemic plan, the NFL prohibited teams from training away from their headquarters or home stadiums.
“It’s not what we’d prefer,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II told USA TODAY Sports during practice. “But we’re making the best of it.”
For physical distancing, the Steelers are using four locker rooms and two training rooms. For meals, the players file through the PNC Club, where the chefs place their choices in to-go bowls; in Latrobe, it was a self-serve buffet. Rather than having three grass practice fields and an artificial turf surface for practices, the Steelers are practicing on just one field. While they seek to efficiently maximize the space – huge chunks of practice occurred with the plays ran across the field from sideline to sideline – the wear and tear on the single field could be brutal. Soon, part of the field will be resodded; before the season the entire sod will be replaced.
There’s no shortage of reminders this is different. By necessity. After individual drills, there was the equipment guy wiping down the blocking dummies and sleds with disinfectant. Scattered were a limited number of media, fewer than 30, credentialed to watch practice from the lower stands.
At one point during practice, Heyward playfully motioned to reporters to make noise. Only in 2020.
Until this year, training camp in the NFL was the time when players were locked down for a few weeks, secluded from the outside world with the chance, to, well, bond.
In Steelers camps past, there were a few traditions that went beyond the goal-line drills or “back-on-’backers” to break the monotony. There was an annual softball home run derby contest for the players. And a thing for grand arrivals. A couple of years ago, Antonio Brown flew into camp in a helicopter. When they broke camp? Roethlisberger once compared it to the Indy 500.
“In Latrobe, we were already in a bubble where it’s everything football, nonstop,” Heyward said, referencing the bubble approach that the NBA, WNBA and NHL have had success with in their pandemic returns, while at least a couple of NFL teams are replicating that on a voluntary basis during camp.
The Steelers are housing rookies in a hotel, but the vets are already in regularseason mode after practice and meetings.
“Here, we get to go home to our families and stay up on current events and stuff,” Heyward said.
In other words, the drills might be the same, but it is hardly the typical training camp.