“You blink and I’ll cut your eyelids off.”
Over his 17-year career as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, that has been one of Mike Tomlin’s favorite sayings.
Seems like he might not have to say it to the 2023 team though.
Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show Monday prior to practice, Tomlin stated that this year’s version of the Steelers has a “collective fearlessness,” which gets him excited about the chances of the Black and Gold moving forward.
“I just like the collective fearlessness of the group. They’re not scared. And that’s a major ingredient, I think, of really good teams. Man, you gotta be fearless,” Tomlin said to Eisen, according to video via the Roku channel. “What you’re pursuing is rare air. And so, you can’t be bashful about the pursuit of it or fearful. And I hadn’t sensed fear in this group at any step of the process to this point. That’s exciting to me.”
The work the Steelers have put in throughout the offseason during OTAs, minicamp, training camp and even the three preseason games has shown that collective lack of fear, which is a great thing.
The 2023 version of the Steelers seems to have a ton of confidence in themselves. That starts at the top and trickles down, Tomlin believes, as do names like T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Kenny Pickett, Diontae Johnson and more. There’s a different buzz and overall feel with the Steelers entering the 2023 season.
“Just their willingness to compete, their pursuit of victory as opposed to the fear of failure,” Tomlin added, according to video via the Roku channel. ” We had a challenging camp. We did so thoughtfully. We put them in competitive circumstances. That’s the only way to get to know ’em. That’s the only way for them to get to know themselves. … I just like the spirit, the competitive spirit of this group.”
Last year, it felt different with a team in serious transition, working in a pair of new quarterbacks in Pickett and Mitch Trubisky, as well as new faces all over the roster.
Though they are still working in a bunch of new faces after a busy offseason, the Steelers added a bunch of veterans with NFL experience, and the locker room is in a great place overall. The Steelers have the leadership at key spots, and there is a lot of hope and confidence entering the season.
Fear is not a word that this team seems to have in its vocabulary right now. They know this could be a special season for the Black and Gold, and they are attacking that head-on, embracing the excitement and the expectations, taking it as challenge rather than a burden.
We’ll see if the play on the field leads to the special season overall. But as Tomlin said, the Steelers seem to have the right ingredient in place to cook up quite a season in Pittsburgh.
