A quick reward
LATROBE — If the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't already know there would be big differences at training camp now that Mike Tomlin is their coach and Bill Cowher is comfortably enjoying a season off in North Carolina, they found out Monday.
Sometimes the transition is bringing welcomed change, at least from the players' perspective.
Tomlin allowed more than half of his players to skip the conditioning runs that traditionally open camp, something Cowher never let any player do during his 15 seasons as coach unless there was an injury. The runs were much more demanding for those that took part — the 14 runs covered 110 yards each, rather than the 40-yard sprints under Cowher — but most of the top players were allowed to skip them.
Cowher considered the run tests so important that he devoted the first full day of camp to them. Tomlin staged them less than an hour after some players reported Monday, eager to get them out of the way so the real practicing could begin this morning.
Some players, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, chose to run despite being excused. Only 36 of the 86 in camp were required to run.
"Guys are ready to compete, and they want to show what they can do," Tomlin said. "The guys that did not participate completed a required number of voluntary workouts as part of our offseason program. We wanted to reward those guys."
He'll get plenty of chances to do that, too. Tomlin has double practices scheduled for five consecutive days starting today and 10 of the first 11 days of camp, with no off day until after their first preseason game Aug. 5.
Seven of the 15 two-a-day practices will be devoted mostly to special teams, but it's an increase from the six multiple practices staged by Cowher last summer.
Still, none of the Steelers' veteran players expect Tomlin to work them so hard that it affects their play. And Tomlin has hinted he'll call off or shorten practice if he feels it's necessary.
"He's not a dumb coach," safety Troy Polamalu said. "He's not going to go out and kill us. He knows we've got 16 games to play and we have an extra preseason game and he'll be fine with it."
Polamalu, like most veterans, wishes that training camp was more like the less-demanding regular season practices.
"It's like going through boot camp every year," he said. "The Army only does it once. We've got to do it every year."
Wide receiver Hines Ward also is geared up for a demanding camp, even if he doesn't expect it to be that much different from those under Cowher. The Steelers won only two of their first eight games last year after winning the Super Bowl the season before, but Ward doesn't blame that falloff or their 8-8 record on Cowher lightening up the workload at camp.
He also doesn't expect Tomlin to make the camp overly hard to prove a point that he's now in charge.
"He's smart about it," Ward said of Tomlin. "He's been in this profession, he's not going to wear us down. But don't be mistaken, training camp is going to be hard this year. It's his first year, and he's going to do whatever he has to do and the team has to believe in his beliefs."
All-Pro guard Alan Faneca showed up on time, despite saying in May this will be his last Steelers season. He can become a free agent after this season, and the Steelers have shown no signs that they will re-sign him.
"I still stand by what I said," Faneca said. "But it's always good to be around your friends, your buddies, and that's what these guys are."
