While it took him a long time to finally break into the NFL, it wasn’t very long after that at all that Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva started to have the spotlight shone upon himself. He is, after all, a 6’9” decorated war veteran. That alone is going to get him some attention.
But for impressive as he has been on the field—as well as the transformation that he underwent to reach the levels he now owns—he has seemingly been equally praised for his thoughtfulness and eloquence when the media shoves that microphone in front of his face.
That’s why he has become a go-to interview for all of the ‘bigger’ questions facing the team, and as they head into a critical season in which there is pressure for the offense to respond and take over in the absence of Antonio Brown, he explained to reporters yesterday why he believes they will be better.
“You can feel a sense of urgency and making sure that we’re not complacent with absolutely anything that’s happened here”, he said of his own observations of the unit since they broke camp in Latrobe last week.
He said that “all teams are searching for” the recipe for success, but he believes the Steelers have a good one in the making: “in terms of an offense, being balanced, working hard, being able to self-scout, detailed”, are some of the reasons he rattled off. “The wide receiver position, the tight end, the consistency across the offensive line”.
“There’s no magic algorithm that we can steal from Amazon and figure out how we’re going to be the best”, the big man wrapped up his thoughts, “but the old recipe of hard work and dedication is just what we’re chasing here in Latrobe”.
That has been the general sense from the outside looking in through the first week at Saint Vincent College. There has appeared to be a renewed sense of dedication to getting better, getting the work done, striving to prevent the things that went wrong last season from going wrong two years in a row.
And that applies to the offense, defense, special teams, and the coaching staff, as well. Everybody has by and large seemed to take to the no-nonsense approach, and hopefully that shows in running a smoother team with fewer dips along the way.
