Did Steelers use Wednesday’s live practice period to set a tone?

Mark Kaboly | Tribune-Review

Mike Tomlin explained the unusual and almost-never-seen-anymore practice period Wednesday of a live session where runners were actually tackled to the ground to the limited practice time set forth by the collective bargaining agreement.

Sure, that might have where the idea originated, but make no mistake about it, the session had a more deep-rooted meaning than that.

There’s no secret that the Steelers want to run the ball this year. No, like seriously run the ball like they used to.

The Steelers ran for just more than 1,500 yards a year ago – their second fewest in a full season since the NFL adopted the 16-game schedule in 1978. It was also was their fifth-worst rushing season in the past 50 years and their worst in any nonlosing season during that time.

So, of course they want and need to run the ball better to be successful and they also want to play to their strengths.

All of a sudden, the Steelers biggest (potential) strength on offense is their offensive line with Mike Adams, Marcus Gilbert, David DeCastro, Ramon Foster and Maurkice Pouncey.

Add those guys to one of the best blocking tight ends in the league (Matt Spaeth), the unlimited potential of rookie second-round running back Le’Veon Bell and a new zone blocking scheme and, of course, the Steelers want to run the ball.

And what better opportunity to prove that than with an old-fashioned live practice period.

Ryan Clark sure seems to feel that way.

“(Coach Tomlin) has to set a tone,” Clark told me. “Not necessarily because we were 8-8 last year, but because we want to be a physical football team. Offensively, we are going to run the ball. We drafted a running back in the second round who is a pounder and can break tackles so you want to get those guys reps.”

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Steelers Hope To Reap The Benefits Of Live Contact Drills

Entering his seventh training camp as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin decided to do things a little differently this year, something even veterans such as Larry Foote have said that they’ve never experienced before during a Steelers training camp: live tackling in 11-on-11 drills.

Foote, of course, also played under former head coach Bill Cowher, meaning that it has been some time since the Steelers last ran full contract drills in this manner, outside of the goal line drill, during training camp.

According to Tomlin, the idea behind the physical exhibitions is to get a better look at the young players on the roster. With the myriad restrictions limiting what teams can do during practice under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement—not to mention the expansion to 90-man offseason rosters—the player evaluation portion of coaches’ jobs has gotten harder.

“It’s just appropriate in today’s NFL”, Tomlin said after the first of these live contact drills. “We have off days. We only get a chance to practice once a day. There are fewer and fewer opportunities to sort themselves out. We’ve got some young guys. We’ve got to sort through a lot of young guys and we’ve got to take advantage of opportunities to show improvement. That is what it is about”.

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/08/steelers-hope-to-reap-the-benefits-of-live-contact-drills/

This is good to see him walk right up to the line without crossing it. Let's see some fire Mike.

Quote :

Tomlin takes a page out of the Noll playbook

By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Something quite rare has occurred at Saint Vincent College the past week of Steelers training camp, something not seen with this kind of regularity since Chuck Noll brought his teams to Latrobe in the summer.

The Steelers are tackling in practice, and not just in the annual goal-line drill that ended the workout Saturday. Mike Tomlin has run them through live 11-on-11 drills at least once each day, starting Monday when they pulled on the pads for the first time.

That is old-old-school, something Bill Cowher did not even do. You would have to go back to the 1980s to see that many real, live tackling practice sessions when Noll's players wore no numbers on their jerseys and twice-daily practices were common.

Even in Tomlin's first training camp in 2007 that he admitted was perhaps too tough, he did not put his players through as many live drills.

"We're young in a lot of areas, particularly in the lines," he said as an explanation for increasing the hitting. "We got young, talented defensive linemen, we got young, talented offensive linemen. The only way to improve is to play football. I've stated that many times and it's something I believe in. I'm going to give them an opportunity to do that and show what they're capable of."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/steelers-notebook-tomlin-takes-a-page-out-of-the-noll-playbook-698043/#ixzz2b0uxih3F