Le'Veon Bell lit up at any mention of his name or his new nickname 'Juice.' -- DAVE DiCELLO

August 22, 2015

A training camp of surprises, scraps, Big Al

²²

by Neal Coolong • Coverage • Steelers

LATROBE, Pa. — Mike Tomlin’s pre-Packers press conference Friday coincided with the final day of training camp in 2015. “I could play out of Latrobe,” the coach was telling all us reporters in the room. “I love the sterile environment. I love the singular focus associated with training camp. I would imagine not many share my

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22 Comments Newest to oldest

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Jeff 'Stixxx'
8-22-2015, 9:42 am
Cant wait!!! I feel if we'd let our Db's play 'Tighter & More Physical(Jammin Recievers, ect) That would Help Our Defense Entirely! Giv our Pass rush the xtra sec or two to Pressure QB. I think we hav the Players, Not sold on the 'System' yet! Cover 2???? Idk. LOVE My STEELERS!!! Here We Go Boys!!! Time to start Ratcheting It Up! We Hav A Tough Ro.... Thee Toughest!!! (Again) But I Believe We do hav the Team To Compete for Another Championship :)

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gjfish72
8-22-2015, 10:07 am
Not sure why but the text is so small on my android device that I can't even read it

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pattonbb
8-22-2015, 11:34 am
Same here.

zimm73
8-22-2015, 12:13 pm
Yep, same boat.

Poz
8-22-2015, 11:43 am
This summary is why I've followed DK. He's quality. He's assembled a quality staff.

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Officer Jim Lahey
8-22-2015, 1:05 pm
then you should follow Neil...DK had nothing to do with this article

Officer Jim Lahey
8-22-2015, 1:06 pm
^ ugh autocorrect, sorry NEAL...

DiegoPittFan
8-22-2015, 1:15 pm
Nice wrap up

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Pitt Critic
8-22-2015, 2:25 pm
This article made me go look at 2016 NFL Mock draft picks.
Looked at the quality and quantity of DB's for 1st and 2nd round.
Let's hope Steelers move up to snag a DB... preferrably CB.

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Neal Coolong
8-23-2015, 7:44 am
Can't even get through the preseason before it's mandated the Steelers trade up for a defensive back in next year's draft...you have no idea who's available, who's any good and where the Steelers will be picking, but the pick must be traded and a defensive back must be taken...love it!

William Maloni
8-22-2015, 2:26 pm
Excellent NC--I had one of those "and they are paying me?" jobs and I ended my professional career after two decades of happy and fruitful work.

I hope every young person I encounter has the opportunity to grad one of them.

(What upset McLendon and what did he say?)

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Neal Coolong
8-23-2015, 7:43 am
Thank you,

McLendon snapped after the offense broke off two big runs in a row. It was a great moment. He got them fired up.

pppalmer
8-22-2015, 2:41 pm
Neal,
Great wrap-up. Loved the picture. You have to sign a copy and send it to SFOM so they can hang it at McGovern's on that wall wall behind your usual table at the top of the steps.

Hope whatever mistakes McCullers, Jones, Dupree (and others on the defensive side of the ball who are still on the learning curve) might make this season are smashmouth mistakes that serve notice to opponents that Steelers style "D" is coming back big time!!!

Mayor Paul

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Neal Coolong
8-23-2015, 7:42 am
Ha! I highly doubt any of those guys even know who I am anymore. We moved to Lakeville in 2009 and I don't think we made it up there for a game after the 2010 season. I'd be happy to do it if anyone felt it was worth anything.

Skip
8-22-2015, 3:25 pm
Take it from a fellow Ranger: we will never, ever have to question the intestinal fortitude of Alejandro Villanueva. Proud to have him on my favorite football team.

Ranger Creed: http://www.goarmy.com/ranger/heritage/ranger-creed.html

Ranger Class 1-95
Rangers Lead The Way!!!

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Jay Baileys
8-22-2015, 5:35 pm
My family thanks you Skip, for your service sir!

Skip
8-22-2015, 11:38 pm
I appreciate you saying that, JB!

Phantaskippy
8-22-2015, 10:45 pm
Neal, I've been reading up on cover-2 and Tampa-2 a lot.
I have a question you might have an answer to:

Could a defense disguise a Tampa-2 or a cover-3 like we ran last season as the other one?

The reason I ask is it seems like LeBeau's weakness is Tampa-2's strength, and if you could not tip which you were in before the play it would really mess with QBs, as their reads would be delayed until after the snap.

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Neal Coolong
8-23-2015, 7:41 am
You can disguise one thing with anything. And the fact the Steelers are running both the Tampa 2 (which is a cover 2 defense but the middle linebacker covers the vertical seam by dropping deep into coverage, much like Jack Lambert did in his day) as well as the Cover 2 with 2, 3, 4 and maybe even 5 down linemen shows they really want to create a multiple defense.

My only concern is the personnel they have are still kind of 3-4 based. I think Heyward and Tuitt can play inside, but they don't have a pure 4-3 defensive end, and they made no effort to draft one. Maybe that's something for a future conversation, but they have the linebackers to do it, I really like what I've seen of Antwon Blake as a Cover 2 corner, Boykin will be good in any set, Allen should be good in any set. A little worried about the safeties. All these parts have to play together well for this defense to work, we've seen a few cracks in that so far.

Gonna need more out of the front four though. However they align whatever players, they're going to need to get in the QB's face a bit more, otherwise teams like the Packers will just run clear-outs with an underneath drag by a RB or quick receiver and just outflank the LBs in coverage.

Phantaskippy
8-23-2015, 11:50 am
I agree there. I don't know how Tuitt or any of our OLBs are going to do as 4-3 DEs.

No defense works if you don't get pressure.

mikerozier30
8-23-2015, 8:55 am
Great , great work Neal... Your steelers coverage best around

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