LATROBE, Pa. — Mike McCarthy’s first practice of training camp is over.
The day started with a “nostalgic message” from McCarthy.
“I talked a lot about the identity of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the city of Pittsburgh,” McCarthy said. “I think the parallels, the comparables are incredible. Growing up here, so I referred to some of the stories from the past, the steel industry, how it relates to the game of football. So just had a little bit of nostalgia, just to try to get the heart rate going a little bit.”
Channel 11 Sports Director Jenna Harner has been previewing for days that training camp would be different this year, including earlier practices. But once players actually took to the field, the pace was something she immediately picked up on.
There is no downtime; the Steelers are using every second of practice time.
Players are rotating in and out of reps rapidly; when one drill ends, another one begins within seconds.
Everyone is learning just how meticulous McCarthy is when it comes to the work he wants to accomplish in the practice window.
For veteran Steelers, like T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, there’s a lot of newness in the camp, but they’re embracing the change.
“We understand there’s going to be growing pains, but, you know, being professional means doing what your coach asks of you,” Heyward said. “And we’re very big on servant leadership and serving an entire group. So, Coach McCarthy said to us, he wants to serve us. So we’re all going to be in this together, and we’re all going to put our hands in the pile.”
Heyward joked with Channel 11 when he was asked if he liked all of the change, saying the dinosaurs didn’t embrace change, and look what happened to them.
Another emphasis in practice was the two-minute drill. McCarthy said while this is just one day and it is just football in shorts, they want to really lay the foundation.
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