LATROBE, Pa. — No air conditioning in dorm rooms. Horsehair-filled mattresses. Padded practice seven days a week, twice a day, and full of live hitting.
For former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Craig Wolfley, 66, training camp at St. Vincent College was “a completely different environment” under legendary coach Chuck Noll in the 1980s. The Steelers practiced every day, twice a day, in pads, first practicing the running game in the morning and then focusing on the passing game in the afternoon.
“They wouldn’t even dry my pants and jerseys (between practices),” Wolfley recalled. “I was just sweating until I finally put (a $5 bill) in the ball boy’s hand and he put them in the dryer for a few minutes before practice.”
Wolfley, now a Steelers radio analyst, joked that he could earn a degree from St. Vincent’s after the grueling six-week camp he attended as a player. But he’s heard veterans like Andy Russell talk about the nine-week marathon camps that bruised his body and tested his will in the 1960s and ’70s.
“It’s been blood, sweat and tears throughout training camp that we’ve come together as a team,” Wolfley said. “Chuck Noll training camp was never about making the team. It was always about surviving the moment.”
#FBF To Franco & Lynn #steelerscamp1983. pic.twitter.com/Qir6iBLMl9
— Steelers History (@SteelersHistory) August 2, 2024
Long, physical days filled with hitting were the norm for generations of football players, from pee-wee to high school, college, and pro. The more you hit, the stronger you got. At least that was the thinking.
But times have changed, and so has the way teams prepare for the season.
Since players now work out year-round, there is less need for preseason conditioning. At the same time, the 2011 CBA rule eliminated the two-a-day practice. Physical activity has also been dramatically reduced. In many NFL training camps today, if you see a ball carrier or receiver being tackled to the ground, it is usually an accident.
“I don’t know how many full-on tackles an NFL team has,” Steelers quarterback Justin Fields said. “If they do, it’s probably less than three.”
Fields’ observation got us thinking: How many teams engage in live tackling during camp? work outTwenty-four of the 32 beat writers (75% of the league) said their teams rarely or never tackle players to the ground. Four teams occasionally tackle in practice, but usually for short periods when a second- or third-string player is on the fringes of the roster. Three teams tackle frequently, including Andy Reid’s Chiefs, Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins, and Dan Campbell’s Lions.
Mike Tomlin’s Steelers are an outlier in many ways. When veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts arrived in Latrobe for a three-week destination camp last season, he, like Fields, was initially bewildered.
“I was like, ‘Damn, I’m really tackling in camp,'” said Roberts, who spent four years with the Patriots and three years with the Dolphins before joining the Steelers. “It was OK, but I didn’t expect it.”
On a typical day with pads on, it’s common to see the Steelers engage in a full live tackling period. Each practice begins with a drill called “Seven Shots,” seven opportunities from the 2-yard line, often full tilt, with starters like Najee Harris or key rotation players like Jaylen Warren being tackled to the ground. The Steelers still see the value of live tackling in many other 11-on-11 situations, including short-yardage and goal-line drills. Twice this training camp, the Steelers have also staged a live back in the “Backer Drill,” where high-speed collisions simulate live pass protection situations.
#steelers Backs vs. Backs drills got rough at Light practice Friday night!👀🍿
Ellandon Roberts vs. Jaylen Warren 😱
Patrick Queen vs. Najee Harris 💪🎥: @sltphoto/Instagram pic.twitter.com/CskOe8px1Q
— Steelers Update (@SteelersUpdate1) August 3, 2024
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As the Steelers packed up their dorm rooms at St. Vincent’s on Wednesday, they completed perhaps the most physical training camp in the league.
“You can’t box without sparring,” Tomlin said. “We’re not going to treat these guys well if we don’t have a tough fight, a competitive fight, and create an environment that reflects what we’re expecting.”
When Tomlin became the NFL’s youngest head coach in 2007 at age 34, he inherited a veteran team with many of the players who had won the Lombardi Trophy with Bill Cauer in 2005.
At his first training camp in Latrobe, Tomlin set the tone and, in a sense, made a statement that there was a new sheriff in town. This was no longer Cowher’s team.
“He wanted to come in and set an example and establish his toughness,” said Max Starks, a former Steelers lineman who played three seasons under Cowher and six under Tomlin. “He didn’t want anybody to seek comfort. We hit every day we could, up until Week 13 of the regular season, at a level we’ve never hit before.”
But more isn’t always better over the course of a long season. On a team full of veterans, the knocks took their toll. After a 9-3 start, the Steelers lost three of their last four regular-season games before being eliminated from the playoffs in the wild-card round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“He got the right results,” Starks said. “We got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs because he had to learn from the veterans on this team and understand that we can be light during the week and play nice on the weekends.”
Mike Tomlin (right) and Ben Roethlisberger during the Steelers’ first training camp as coaches in 2007. (Joseph Sargent/Icon SMI/Icon Sports Media via Getty Images)
Throughout his time with Tomlin, Starks has seen the coach learn from his experiences and adjust his approach. While the Steelers still hit hard in camp, Tomlin learned to tone it down and take care of his veterans through the offseason. In Tomlin’s second season, the Steelers won six of their last seven games and finished 12-4, surging in the closing minutes. They rode that momentum to win the team’s sixth Lombardi Trophy.
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“He’s not too cocky to take a step back or say, ‘Hey, you know, I can do this better,’” Starks said. “That’s why you see the consistent success model he’s created. It was so hard at first. Okay, now I’m taking a step back.”
Now in his 17th season, Tomlin, 52, has gone from being the league’s youngest head coach to the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach. His first training camp at Latrobe feels like a lifetime ago.
“My God, it was a different time,” Tomlin said. “It was the Middle Ages.”
Even the oldest players on the Steelers’ current roster, Russell Wilson and Cameron Hayward (both 35 years old), have never participated in a two-day workout at the NFL level. The practice was banned under the new CBA in 2011, Hayward’s first year in the league and a year before Wilson was drafted. (The NCAA eventually followed suit, ending the two-day workout with contact in 2017.)
There is no doubt that Tomlin’s philosophy has evolved somewhat. In compliance with the CBA, padded practices have been significantly reduced during the season. Often, when Tomlin has the Steelers wear pads during the season, it is to emphasize their lack of physicality on Sundays. Even early in camp, Tomlin has been protecting himself by shooing away veterans like TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Hayward.
Tomlin also used to intentionally schedule training camp practices during the hottest hours of the day to create adversity. He has since changed his approach with a new strength and conditioning staff, practicing early in the morning when it’s cooler.
At the same time, the coach still sees the value in creating game-like situations at Latrobe, and so do his players.
“The way we do Seven Shots, I don’t think anybody else in the country does it,” Fields said. “The way the practice is run and the parameters of everyone’s intensity, it’s very competitive here. And you wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Iron sharpens iron ⚔️
📸: https://t.co/tg8VtjVLDf | @Acryshur pic.twitter.com/EeHTbUWz7v
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 12, 2024
In addition to preparing a starter for the season, physicality in camp is an important evaluation tool. Two seasons ago, Warren emerged as an undrafted rookie running back who had been working his way up through junior college. As an early back in the “backer drill,” his pad-popping attitude caught the attention of coaches and ultimately helped him earn a spot on the roster. Now, he’s one of the league’s best pass-protection backs.
“I really love it,” Warren said when asked about the environment Tomlin created. “It’s a challenge every day, but I really love what it brings and what it creates.”
The word physicality has been on many players’ lips, especially at this camp. When the Steelers brought in Arthur Smith, known for his run-oriented, tight-end-friendly offense, the new offensive coordinator said he wanted to build the most physical offense in the league. That buzzword has carried over to the practice field.
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“Whether it’s getting involved in the run game or getting yards after the catch, he wants all 11 guys to be physical,” wide receiver Van Jefferson said. “He wants to be a physical offense. He’s instilled that in us since Day 1.”
What does all this mean when the season finally begins? Coaches often say there is no playbook for coaching a football team, and while there is no perfect answer to how many hits are enough (and how many hits are too many), the Steelers believe they are starting to establish an identity that will lead the season with a physical approach.
“Other teams know what it’s like when they play the Steelers,” Warren said. “They can see what we’ve created here.”
(Above photo: Joe Sargent / Getty Images)
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