NewzPITTSBURGH (AP) — Earlier in his coaching career, Mike McCarthy leaned into pushing the limits of his players during training camp. Two-a-days in full pads for two weeks straight? Practices scheduled for two hours that would sometimes bleed into three?
“I’d go to jail today if I tried to do that,” McCarthy joked. Or at least, the NFL’s version of it. The league has evolved over the last 30 years.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement banned two-a-days long ago. There are now specific time limits on practice, and they are policed down to the minute. So McCarthy has made it a point to get ahead of the curve.
Well, when the Pittsburgh Steelers walk onto Chuck Noll Field on Monday for their first padded practice of the McCarthy Era, they’ll do it with one particular instruction in mind: no tackling. While most of the changes to camp at Saint Vincent College have been subtle as the team transitions from Mike Tomlin to McCarthy — the volume of the music over the loudspeakers is softer, for example — the decision to do everything but take a teammate to the ground is not. Tomlin’s 19 years in Pittsburgh often began with an “iron sharpens iron” approach during the club’s annual stay at the small school tucked in the western Pennsylvania hills.
He plans to run a physical camp, but the “Tempered Steel” mantra the club has adopted — one printed on shirts worn by players and staff — is real in more ways than one. “It’s a risk-assessment decision,” McCarthy said. Banning tackling during camp is hardly new.
A significant chunk of NFL teams, Pittsburgh’s longtime rival the Baltimore Ravens included, have adopted the policy in recent years. Still, these are the Steelers, who have historically embraced — by reputation if not always in reality — the idea of being a throwback of sorts. So yeah, expect an adjustment period.
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