The common theme throughout OTAs and minicamp for the Pittsburgh Steelers was the palpable sense of intensity that all who witnessed it noticed. Whether it was players or coaches or even reporters, everybody seemed to have something to say about the heightened competitiveness on display, even when the heavy hitters weren’t on the field.
That wasn’t by coincidence, defensive captain Cameron Heyward feels. He talked about that and more with John Middlekauff on the 3 And Out podcast on The Volume recently. “It’s about the communication we have, holding guys accountable, showing how we practice, showing guys how competitive we are”, he said of the role of established leaders like himself at this time of year, even when they’re not on the field.
“I think our minicamp and OTAs have been some of the most competitive drills we’ve had just because guys are really buying in and trying to take as much as they can from each drill”, he added. “We have to do everything in our power to really take advantage of this time. I think we’re really doing that”.
The latter is because this time of year, as he noted head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say, is “football-like”, and not actually football. It takes extra work to make the intensity on the field in May and June applicable to real football when the time comes. And Heyward is grateful his team doesn’t take this time for granted.
“Some teams, I think, do a disservice in saying, ‘Oh, we’re not in full pads so we’re gonna scale back and we’re gonna prevent guys from doing a lot’”, he said, “but I like to think we accomplished a lot during that time, really bringing up the young guys and showing them how we do things around here”.
Of course, it’s Heyward’s group, the guys in the trenches on both defense and offense, who arguably have the least to gain at this time of year, at least when it comes to putting your talents on display. It’s hard to get very football-like in the trenches in May.
For years now, the Steelers’ training camps under Tomlin have become known with the most physical practices you’ll see in football in this era, featuring live tackling drills that most other teams shy away from. But then again, an increasing number of teams also opt to skip chunks of their allotted OTA practices altogether, as well.
Then again, results when it counts tend to vary significantly, so it’s rather difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the correlation between intense and physical practices during the offseason and successful football in the regular and postseason.
But this is the way that Tomlin believes in doing it. It’s the way the team leaders on the roster like Heyward know how to do it. it’s the example that they set from day one in the hopes that the players who come after will pick up the same habits, and eventually pass them on as well—the CBA permitting it of course.
