The Pittsburgh Steelers took the fields at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe Sunday for their first training camp practice of 2015 and afterwards head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media to talk about the session.
“No real injuries to speak of just general good hustle and enthusiasm,” started Tomlin. “Obviously not perfect, we’re not going to be, but it’s a good basis to begin and we’ll continue to do similar things in terms of how we structure our work and compete. We do it hard and in a professional manner is what we’re seeking. We’ve got a lot of young guys out there. We’re challenging them, we’re evaluating them but we’re teaching at the same time. I thought they did a good job of receiving the message and the instruction.”
It appears though linebacker James Harrison was extremely limited on Sunday and Tomlin was asked following practice if he’s just easing the 37-year-old into training camp.
“Yeah I’m going to protect him from himself, said Tomlin. “He and Will Allen are too old to be working right now.”
Just as they did several times during their offseason practices, the Steelers worked early in Sunday’s session on their two-point offense and Tomlin was asked about that following practice.
“Yeah, we’ve been doing that for over a year now,” said Tomlin. “It’s not a reaction to the rule change or anything of that nature. We’ve been doing it for over a year now because we realize that on both sides of the ball, that’s a significant space, a significant down. So, been good work, hopefully competitive, meaning that the defense is going to win some, the offense is going to win some. I think the defense won the majority of them today.”
The Steelers won’t put the pads on until Wednesday and Tomlin was asked if the structure of practices will change at that point.
“What we do is not going to change. Obviously the manner in which it’s done is going to change and I can’t wait for that, said Tomlin.
The Steelers will be back at it again on Monday. Make sure you check back later this evening for Alex Kozora’s recap of the Sunday practice.
