The Official Steelers Training Camp Thread 2026 the new era begins

Don't be surprise if in week 1,the steelers score over 7 points in the first quarter,a thing the steelers have not done in the last 65 games or so....

 

No names, but someone's sure taking up a lot of digital bandwidth.

 

A couple of important D players are order but others are year more improved

I actually see an improved D

I anticipate the O having a slow start

 

FYI.

Steelers were the 1 team that tackled to the Ground "Very Often"
Kansas City, Miami, and Detroit were the 3 "Often" teams.

 

I'm scared, but also cautiously optimistic.

I think for a long time we have been running a scheme that intentionally gives up easy completions on short in breaking routes. Which seems to actively go against the strength of the pass rush on this team.

I think we'll contest those passes more this season. Which I hope will lead to more pressure. But I think will also lead to more explosive pass plays.

It's up to the guys who make the big money on this defense (i.e. the edge rushers) to convert the extra pressure into sacks and turnovers IMO.

 

I think we all need to see some real football. Many here are at each other's throats over next to nothing!

 

I don't know about this.

I think our defense has been very good at limiting explosive passing plays in the last few years. This was especially true with Minkah back there. But I think also true last season.

And explosive plays are a huge part of how teams win in the NFL these days.

But it seems like we limited them at the expense of not contesting short throws, especially over the middle. I may be misremembering, but I think I heard on Scout's Eye that we were among the worst teams at defending short passes over the middle last season (and maybe in previous seasons too?). Re: last season, part of this is undoubtedly the fact that our old-guy UFA outside CB was pretty much a complete failure. Hopefully that's not the case with the old-guy UFA CB we brought in this year.

 

FWIW, I'm someone who liked Tomlin and thought he was an above average coach.

And I'm both nervous and excited about the change.

From what I've heard so far about camp there are things I like and dislike.

Like: More cameras to evaluate players when you coaches aren't there in person...probably a good teaching tool as well. Sounds like they are doing more things in parallel...cameras probably help with this too, so the HC (and other coaches) can check things on tape even if they don't see them in real time. I bet that we'll use more analytics too...because I don't think we could use less analytics than we did under Tomlin (who was all gut all the time). Not camp related, but I think the new defensive scheme will do more to try to stop the short passes that feel like they've been killing us since Brady.

Dislike: This is probably old-man shakes fist at clouds, because the league moved this way a long time ago and we're probably the last (or one of the last) teams to do so. But I think having no real contact is probably worse for the team on net. I think having at least some "real" simulated football is probably much better for the team (and certainly for the fans that are there). I think that drills like 7-shots that really emphasize situational football really matter that they are playing as close to real football as possible. I know they didn't do 7-shots today per Alex K, so that might be going away too. But sometimes apparently we wouldn't do it on the first or last day of camp with Tomlin. I think a big part of winning those close games (which I think we'll need to do again this year to make the playoffs) is winning these critical downs. And I think practicing that probably matters. I think the thing that concerned me the most when we hired MM was that my understanding is that his records in (i) close games and (ii) against teams with 10+ wins wasn't nearly as good as Tomlins (but MM did much better against sub-500 teams IIRC). I think part of this might be that Tomlin was all about training those "big moments".

 

This had been true for a long time. Turns out that having a horrible OC (Canada) and a QB who can't throw TDs (Kenny) was bad for scoring points.

But we were way better on opening drives last season. I think mostly because Rodgers was (and always has been) good in the red zone.

I think this is a little bit like how in posts about the low offensive snap counts last year, many were still blaming the offense. We got very used to that being the case, especially in the Kenny-Canada era. But last year, I think it's pretty clear that the inability of the D to get off the field was the main reason we sucked so badly re: offensive play count.

 

I honestly liked hearing about how they run camps differently.

I like that MM has them doing more things and is using more cameras (and likely more analytics related to the video).

And I like knowing that we aren't hitting in camp anymore.

On day one of camp after so long under one coach, I think that info is at least as interesting as how many passes 3rd or 4th string QBs completed or whatever.

 

Sounds like only Frasier will be starting at the same position he started at last year. 2 guys moving. Maybe 2 new starters (or guys moving).

I could see OL needing time to gel and a slow start.

I don't remember if the schedule is as bad as it has been the last two years in the 2nd half. If so, that might not be great. Because we needed fast starts both of the last two years to make the playoffs.

 

Trying to control what other people post is something that sort of infects the morale of the entire message boards at all the forums I have been to. Too much of it certainly makes me want to stay away sometimes.

 

Honest question do you think in the last dozen years that 7 shots has served the purpose for which it was intended? I had begun to see it as a fan service and one that didnt serve a real purpose beyond giving players a small morale boost while giving the fans something to cheer about. When Ben was still playing they'd use it on trying to force the ball into the mismatches they were hoping to exploit in season, any number of tall wrs or te's and it came to nothing. I'd like to think the change in coaching will bring a different focus on both sides of the ball. If backs on backers and 7 shots goes away but we see an uptick in gameday performance so be it.

 

Disappointment #1: couldn't get stops on 3rd downs, especially long.

Disappointment #2: they made zero progress on improving in the postseason.

I'll take change over what we have seen for the last decade.

 

All data here from Gemini. It wouldn't specifically give me a total in a 7 year span. Not sure why we chose 7 years, but I have the data below [edit...sorry, looks like I misread your post thinking you asked for 7 years and not 12. I think it's likely we were better at close games when Ben was in his prime (before the 7 year block below)].

Tomlin has a record of 111-62-2 in one score games across his tenure. I don't know if this is the best across the league. But it's the same win% as his career rate. And IIRC from a podcast I heard (scout's eye) right after MM was hired, it's much better than MMs (which I think was sub-500?).

Expected win rate here should be 50% if it were random. Tomlin was basically 63% in a large sample. This includes a good sample post Ben's injury when QB play wasn't good.

Our record in 1 score games in the following seasons:
2025: 7-3
2024: 6-3
2023: 9-2
2022: 6-5
2021: 7-2-1
2020: 7-1
2019: 6-5

It's not only 7-shots. There's obviously more than that going on.

But we've been excellent in close games for (1) this 7 year span and (2) Tomlin's entire career.

Personally, I think the focus on situational football (part of which is 7 shots) is part of that.

I think you're also right that part of it is also that we are one of the few teams that allows fans to come to camp. And 7-shots is probably the most entertaining part of camp.

I'll be very happy if our record in close games (and our record in general) gets better. I think it's unlikely though.

I think this is the reason we've been playing such boring football for a while.

We've been the 90s / 00s NJ Devils of the NFL (except they had playoff success too). Talent level isn't all that great. But we figured out a glitch in the system that got us to more success than our talent dictates.

Unfortunately, it's very entertaining.

I think we'll have a team that's more fun to watch this year. But I think we're not likely to be more successful.

And I'm OK with that. I think we need to rebuild. And having a down year would hopefully help Rooney see that...

 

I don't mind spinning the wheel here either.

I would like to see data on our 3rd and long conversion rate vs other teams. I certainly remember lots we blew. But I don't know how bad we were relative to the league. Although I think it's a safe bet we were very bad at this last year. Since we were generally bad at defense last year (if we didn't get turnovers).

But I think in the last couple years (last year in particular) we were something like 3rd worst in defensive stops on 3rd and worst on 4th (in a large sample).

Because we didn't seem to want to really cover short passes over the middle, teams destroyed us with the dink and dunk. Which was also the best strategy for them to minimize the impact of Watt, Herbig, and Highsmith. And I think it went on for years. Which is poor coaching IMO.

But despite all the flaws, we were still very good at winning close games...even when our QBs were bad. My guess is that will get worse (even if it were only mean reversion). And I just don't think the team has enough talent to be consistently winning by more than one score.

I also think we need a lot of good luck in game we're not playing to make the playoffs (like we got last year). So there's not a big cushion I don't think.

 

Why would the thought of controlling what others say be something to correct?! Part of any message board is the diversity of thought; something that is comically important for the proliferation of discussion. Remove that and message boards become boring very quickly.


Opinions are not the issue. People who are unable to properly reinforce their claims and resort to nothing but ad hominem attacks are. That said, such is the price one must pay when joining any message board.


As for me?! I welcome it.

 

This.


Learning any new system is difficult enough. Learning a new Offensive Philosophy?! That makes it even harder.


This isn't accounting for new personnel to McCarthys system either sans Rodgers.

 

a difference of opinion is good as long as they know mine is right.

 

I’m glad to hear that. The previous regime kept him in one spot. You move your best pass rusher around for unpredictability and better matchups.

 

Steelers were good in close games when they kept the opponent under about 20 pts. If the opponents scored more than that then they won almost exactly 50% of their games. Not sure how that compares with the rest of the league.

 

Great

Now the team is left and right liberals