Another Pittsburgh Steelers recap of Hard Knocks. Episode Two aired Tuesday night. Like last week, I’ll point out the details, little things, and overall impressions from tonight’s show.
And check out the articles we’ve already written about tonight’s episode that I won’t go into further detail below.
Joey Porter Jr. Cleaning Up Penalties
Mike Tomlin’s Wise Words About Greatness
George Pickens Laments Missing Sunday’s Game
– One of the episode’s opening shots. Early-week game plan meeting. Mike Tomlin leading a conversation with the three quarterbacks – Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen – along with TE Pat Freiermuth and RB Najee Harris. Tomlin might be known as a “defensive guy” but he has influences and meetings with everyone and can speak to every element of the game.
– His focus here was on ball security. Not just as boiler plate best practices but also knowing with the Browns’ three turnovers the previous week against the Denver Broncos, Cleveland’s coaching staff was going to emphasize that even more throughout the week.
“Sometimes man, we gotta pause and look at the matchup from the perspective of the people we were playing against…you know their offensive unit is working their ass off to take care of the ball this week,” Tomlin said in the meeting. “As a natural reaction to what happened. And we gotta match that urgency. In your own way as a leader, how are you going to convey that to your people?”
And that was Tomlin’s actual point. Not just “take care of the ball,” a message preached by every coach in every NFL meeting room. He was harping on the point so the players, the leaders of each room, could impart that message to the rest of the group. A player-led way of team-building.
I think of the old adage. On bad teams, no one leads. On good teams, coaches lead. On great teams, players lead.
Tomlin is trying to build a great team.
– Timely story Christy Porter, Joey Porter Sr.’s wife, shared during the episode that brought cameras into the Porter home. She discussed the time she wore a Porter Sr. jersey to a Browns’ game despite Porter warning her not to because of how much Cleveland fans hated him. Words that were proven true.
“I didn’t make it to halftime,” she said. “I had to be escorted out the stadium. Because the Cleveland fans were, “Joey Porter’s wife! Popcorn, hot dogs, drinks,” she said, mimicking fans throwing those things at her. She said she that was the last time she attended a divisional game.
That comes on the heels of the wife of Browns OG Wyatt Teller calling Steelers’ fans disrespectful for what appears to be some general yelling in her direction during Sunday’s game. Light work compared to what the Porter’s dealt with.
– Maybe I missed or forgot it but the camera angle and clip of the pre-game fight between Joey Porter Sr. and Browns RB William Green in 2004 seemed new. I don’t recall seeing it from that on-field angle and the near-full extent of the fight. I just remember seeing the grainy CBS footage that showed a sliver of what happened during the in-game broadcast.
Of course, the other thread on that story is Porter’s ejection paved the way for James Harrison’s first career start. Harrison finished that day with six tackles and his first career sack. By his career’s end, he’d hold the franchise’s all-time record.
– Porter Sr. notes about his “surgery neck” that has limited his mobility. He can basically only move it side to side, not up and down. I don’t recall him having in-season surgery on it so it may have happened post-career as a product of his playing days. A reminder on the long-term toll football can have.
– Back to a Steelers’ team meeting. After allowing three first half sacks to Browns DE Myles Garrett in Week 12, Mike Tomlin had a clear message for the rematch.
Tomlin referenced Garrett’s viral pre-snap crossover in 2023 that had him standing up over center and beating him for a a sack.
“Don’t be surprised if they’re in five-down and they put 95 on your ass because this is so easy.”
Tomlin didn’t hold back about the threat Garrett posed or the need to slow him down.
“I’m not doing my job if I don’t paint a picture for you. If I don’t give you the damn answers to the test. If I don’t prepare you and ready you.”
In a one-on-one interview, Tomlin offered his classic “he needs no endorsement from me” line with a funny quip at the end.
“Wikipedia him.”
A cousin of Curt Cignetti’s “Google me,” I guess.
– Meanwhile, in the Browns’ meeting room, head coach Kevin Stefanski put up this slide.
“Watt, he doesn’t like to be chipped…our goal is we’re going to funnel him in to the tackle inside,” Stefanski said. “The switch is going to occur right there, we’re going to alter his rush, we’re going to stop his feet, we’re going to disrupt his rush.”
He showed a clip of the chip the Dallas Cowboys had on Watt on QB Dak Prescott’s game-winning touchdown to beat the Steelers in Week 5.
– One practice clip showed Watt forklifting RT Broderick Jones off his feet. Maybe Jones got his foot stepped on? It’s hard to tell, but I don’t think that was the case.
– Tomlin on team-first pass rush mentality.
“I don’t care who gets home. As long as we get home.”
– This is routine scout team stuff, to be fair, but Browns’ assistants/coaches playing the role of No. 6 Patrick Queen and No. 39 Minkah Fitzpatrick during a Cleveland practice.
– On a touchdown in practice by a receiver, I think Scotty Miller, CB Joey Porter Jr. mimicked a push-off. Even in practice, they’re looking for calls.
– Former Steelers LB Vince Williams, who assisted the team during training camp, on the sidelines here.
A linebackers coach at Pine-Richland High School, Williams helped lead his team to a championship this season.
– WRs Coach Zach Azzanni’s goal board.
1. As a unit…lead the NFL in S.O.P.
2. Master weekly game plans “Gold jacket meeters”
3. [Take] care of body and mind
I think that first bullet point is “S.D.P.” Not sure what it means…maybe someone in the comments can take a crack. In the top right corner, he has his classic R.D.A. mantra he’s said for years as a coach. As our Dr. Melanie Friedlander figured out for me, it means “Ruthless. Decisive. Aggressive.”
The acronym also appeared on the power point slide he had in the front of the room underneath the message “Some do…Some Don’t”
R.DA. is also in the back of the room. And look, Roman Wilson!
– Tomlin with another inspiring message during a team meeting.
“We talked about it last week, man. “You’ve got an opportunity, men, to be the best in the world at something. I’m saying, man, these are not jobs that we hold. These are careers. And there’s a difference between a job and a career. Make sure that you’re treating your career like a career.”
Mid-sentence, Tomlin then referenced someone who squandered an opportunity.
“He went through the week, he covered his assignments, he didn’t detail his work, he didn’t put himself in position to maximize it. And that shit comes at a cost. You don’t get do-overs, man. You don’t get an opportunity to run this stuff back, man. Do you treat your stuff like a job or a career? Are you positioning yourself to maximize opportunity for you and for us?”
Who was Tomlin talking about? No surprise that got left on the cutting room floor. If you have ideas, drop them below.
– A genuinely funny moment when Browns QB Jameis Winston signed a football for a Steelers’ fan.
“I respect your strength and courage to get me to sign this ball when you have on those colors.”
Winston seems like a solid dude.
– Part of T.J. Watt’s pre-game speech.
“60 minutes in the AFC North. What’s better than being in the North, fellas?!”
– Cam Heyward on the bench mid-game.
“We’re at home. We’ve got a job. We’ve got shit to do. We’ve got shit to do.”
– Myles Garrett on the sideline.
“We’ve been on the field a lot. We haven’t been threatening them as an offense.”
Masterclass in leadership, Mr. Garrett.
Also texting during a Browns’ team meeting where Stefanski is trying to motivate the group to dig deep and stay focused.
– Kevin Stefanski very different personality than Mike Tomlin. After Winston was picked by NT Keeanu Benton.
“Oh no. Don’t do that buddy.”
And later in the game,
“For us, it’s 0-0” he said to Winston.
Cleveland trailed 27-7. I get his point but yeah, hard to go buy into it.
– Mike Tomlin with a wide smile after Wilson’s 20-yard touchdown to TE Pat Freiermuth.
“Hey, he’s cookin.'”
– Tomlin getting animated to his defense at one point in the game.
“Keep that pressure on them. We get off this field quick, they gonna feel it. This defense is gonna feel it if we get off this field quick.”
Meaning, if the Steelers’ defense got a quick stop, a tired Browns’ defense would have to immediately take the field and the pitfalls of fatigue would set in.
– OLBs Coach Denzel Martin, the most energetic man on the team, was shouting a similar message.
“It’s our rush right here,” he said.
– Hard Knocks doing their best to make the Browns interesting roping in comments about how the team just doesn’t quit. Aka that storyline you desperately use about a bad team with nothing else to say.
– Tomlin after Winston’s second INT, two plays after RB Cordarrelle Patterson’s fumble.
“Gunslingers,” he repeated.
Meaning, Winston prone to forcing throws and making mistakes. Pittsburgh capitalized on their chances.
– And Tomlin to CB James Pierre after making an impressive pick.
“Football justice, man. You’re so deserving. Way to go. You had a great week of practice, bro. Ball don’t lie.”
– Post-game and in the parking lot out of Acrisure Stadium, Porter Jr. obliging to a fan request to sign his Terrible Towel “King Of the North” with his signature. Pretty cool.
– The last 12-15 minutes were dedicated to the Bengals’ game but overall, not much Cincinnati and hardly any Baltimore shown in this one. Ravens on a bye gave them little footage. As expected, this was a Steelers and Browns-centric episode. Imagine they’ll try to tip the scales in the Bengals and Ravens’ favor next week.
