Like most Steelers fans, Mike McCarthy disappointed me when he announced there would be no live tackling during Steelers training camp this summer at St. Vincents.
The reaction is understandable. Toughness forms an innate part of the Steelers self-identity. There’s a reason why, at one time at least, the toll-free number for phone ordering Steelers merchandise was 1-800-TUF-TEAM.
Lew Nichols gets away with a stiff arm. Would it have been as easy had there been tackling? Photo Credit: Jordan Perez, Steelers.com
But Mike McCarthy’s announcement triggered memories of two other “Mikes” from Steelers history, one many have forgotten and another everyone remembers. And those memories have helped bring into focus what physicality in practice means to that identity of toughness.
The Mike everyone forgets is Mike Merriweather, whom Tony Defeo rightly identified as “Pittsburgh’s forgotten outside linebacker.”
I can vividly remember as a 15-year-old sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table in 1988, reading in the Pittsburgh Press or Post Gazette, about Merriweather’s holdout for either a new contract or a trade.
But Merriweather explained he wanted to stay with the Steelers because, in part, he’d observed the San Francisco 49ers practices and “they barely hit” or words to that effect.
Mike Merriweather and Edmund Nelson close in on John Elway. Photo Credit: Pin Interest
In the summer of ’88, the Steelers still owned a 4-2 advantage over the 49ers in the Lombardi count. To this 15-year old, Merriweather’s comment offered existential proof not only of why the Steelers should but also why they would maintain that advantage.
The other Mike that everyone remembers is of course Mike Tomlin who launched live, full-contact tackling at Steelers training camp on July 31st 2013.
This was big news. Mark Kaboly of the Tribune Review claimed it was the first time full contact had been allowed in 10 years. Chris Bradford of the Beaver Times reported it was a first since The Emperor Chuck Noll’s reign.
In July of 2013 the Steelers were coming off an 8-8 finish in 2012 punctuated by a December meltdown. Tomlin insisted that adopting live-tackling policy was unrelated to 2012, just as Bruce Stringsteen assures us that the implosion of his first marriage had zero influence on his songwriting or Tunnel of Love….
- Steelers Nation rejoiced.
If any fans had problems with Tomlin’s no live tackling, no go cart training camp, they sure did keep quiet about it on social media. And since then, Steelers fans have taken pride whenever a newly arrived free agent, such as Patrick Queen, remarked at how much more physical practices are in Pittsburgh.
Again, if you’re reading this, you probably feel the same way.
- But we also must ask: Did Tomlin’s full contact approach work?
Let’s go back to 2013 opener against the Tennessee Titans. When the afternoon began, the Steelers RB No. 1 was injured, their two top tight ends were out and 3 players on injured reserve. By the time the afternoon was over the Steelers would:
- Lose Maurkice Pouncey for the season
- See Larry Foote suffer an injury that ended his season and his time in Pittsburgh
- Watch LaRod Stephens-Howling fall to a career-ending injury
- Lose Cortez Allen for the rest of September
Now let’s remember: correlation does not equal causality.
Football is brutal. Mike Tomlin could have banned all contact in training camp and David DeCastro still would have ended Pouncey’s season by falling on and breaking his leg.
But injury is the back story behind most of the chapters of the Steelers disappointing post-Super Bowl XLV playoff story.
There’s no need to re-live the memories of watching practice squad running backs and wide receivers start playoff games. Nor must we repeat visions of losing stars like Cam Heyward, Bud Dupree or T.J. Watt just as the last leaves fall off the trees, turkey leftovers get finished or the Christmas decorations get put away.
- Did live tackling in training camp contribute to those injuries?
There’s no way to be sure. But only a select few argue more contact makes them less likely.*
That doesn’t mean that physicality can’t foster a willing culture – Bill Cowher famously used a late-season padded practice to break a 3-game losing streak and spark the 2005 Steelers on a run that ended in victory at Super Bowl XL.
Sure, the old school Steelers fan in me thinks there “should” be live tackling at St. Vincent’s this summer. But if the Steelers can still maintain their physical edge while staying even just a little healthier for December and January football then Mike McCarthy will have delivered a competitive edge.
Oh, and if my adult self could go back and have a “Just Sayin” moment with the 15-year-0ld me: Despite those hard hitting practices the 1988 Steelers finished 5-11. As for the 1988 San Francisco 49ers? They won the Super Bowl.
*In his autobiography In the Locker Room, Tunch Ilkin makes this exact argument. I’m not sure I agree, but Tunch was a lot closer to the game than I am and I respect his opinion enough to share it here.
