Brooke Pryor
Multiple Authors
LATROBE, Pa. — After leaving their first workforce assembly of the 2026 coaching camp Wednesday morning, the Pittsburgh Steelers discovered new shirts hanging of their lockers at St. Vincent College.
“Tempered” stretched throughout the black shirt in gold lettering, and the again expanded on the definition of the slogan: “More than talented. More than tough. Tempered.”
“[It’s about] the parallels between the city of Pittsburgh, the Steel Mill industry, the tempering process of how steel was built — and still is today — and the parallels between coming together as a football team,” coach Mike McCarthy advised ESPN.
McCarthy mentioned as a lot to his workforce of their first assembly, that they need to be a mirrored image of the town’s gritty heritage. It’s why McCarthy selected “tempered” because the defining phrase of his first coaching camp because the Steelers’ new head coach.
“We have to be tough, hard, and this is a blue-collar town,” Steelers guard Spencer Anderson mentioned, relaying what McCarthy advised them. “Button up, bring your lunch pail and let’s go, because that’s always where we’ve been since 1933. … Can’t fold under the heat. And when the heat comes, you got to make steel — or I guess do the right things, so to speak.”
But tempered in McCarthy’s use has twin meanings. Not solely can it imply toughened and made resilient, however it could possibly additionally imply being managed. To McCarthy, tempered is not nearly uncooked power. It’s about being managed within the method to constructing that power. And by means of per week of coaching camp, McCarthy’s practices have been intentionally, even scientifically, tempered to coach the thoughts as a lot because the physique.
“Everything’s calculated,” McCarthy mentioned, including that he depends on GPS information on units worn by gamers to assist assemble his apply plan. “Everything’s regulated. There’s obviously science behind it. We’re in tune with the conditioning of our players. The commitment the players made in the spring was evident. … This is all by design. There’s history behind it. … Everybody has a genetic background that you pay attention to. Some guys can rev higher than others. And so this is part of the process.”
Through 5 practices, the variations between McCarthy’s method and former coach Mike Tomlin’s are palpable. One is not essentially higher than the opposite, gamers pressured, however the practices are totally different.
“We’re used to a hundred miles an hour, nonstop, and we’re kind of dead tired by the end of practice,” Anderson mentioned. “But now we can kind of temper it down, and we still have maybe 10% left in the tank. But obviously don’t tell [McCarthy] I said that.”
Part of that, in fact, is the workforce remains to be in its ramp-up interval with shorter practices as mandated by the collective bargaining settlement. But McCarthy can be closely reliant on sports activities science in formulating his apply plans. That’s why Monday’s apply, the Steelers’ first in pads, was noticeably much less bodily than the primary padded practices within the Tomlin period (2007 to 2025).
“It did feel different when I’m used to all that physical,” Pittsburgh working again Jaylen Warren mentioned Monday. “But I understand why we don’t do it, and the philosophy behind it. Just adapting to it. … At the end of the day, we’re trying to keep guys up, keep them healthy. The season’s the most important thing and winning is the most important thing.”
Warren advised reporters Saturday he was sure that even with McCarthy’s modifications, the workforce would nonetheless undergo the signature backs-on-backers drill. During Tomlin’s tenure, it was a spotlight of padded practices, typically starting with the primary one, during which working backs and linebackers matched up in a one-on-one battle. Monday, although, the working backs and linebackers did not sq. off. Instead, the offensive linemen and cross rushers went in opposition to each other whereas the talent place gamers labored in a 7-on-7 interval.
“As long as we have it, I’m prepared,” Warren mentioned of backs-on-backers. “I’m trusting the process that they got us going through, so I ain’t complaining about nothing.”
McCarthy, who mentioned he’s “absolutely” a fan of backs-on-backers, would possibly nonetheless have the drill in a future padded apply, however one factor he will not have is reside tackling. While a lot of the league additionally spurns reside tackling in camp, Tomlin embraced it in his ultra-physical late afternoon practices.
“The only thing that’s different is we don’t want to go to the ground and risk injury, but I think everything else will look the same,” McCarthy mentioned, affirming that his practices would nonetheless be a lot bodily.
To coach tackling with out truly doing it, McCarthy and his workers are breaking down the fundamental parts of the talent. In truth, nearly all of McCarthy’s early practices are all concerning the fundamentals — the “Steelers Six” — coached by means of meticulously scripted and executed particular person durations. That’s a departure from a Tomlin period that featured intensive workforce durations and all the time opened with “Seven Shots,” an intense objective line competitors.
“A lot of Coach T’s camps, it was a lot of team periods and mano-a-mano type of thing, but this is kind of more, get good work, working smart and hard,” Anderson mentioned. “Not to say that we weren’t working smart back then, but it’s just Coach McCarthy explains to us that he’s a big sports science guy, so he’ll never run us into the ground or do things that’ll make us feel like we’re dead tired. I think it’s a good balance of work and taking care of us.”
Through 5 practices, McCarthy’s coaching camp hasn’t featured a single goal-line workforce interval. Instead, along with the intensive particular person durations, McCarthy has emphasised situational soccer — working first on two-minute offense after which starting the second week of camp with third and fourth downs. By stressing these conditions in his up-tempo practices, McCarthy is strengthening the workforce’s nervous system and psychological fortitude.
“Everybody talks about the physical and the mental stress of a physical camp,” McCarthy mentioned, explaining the cadence of his practices. “Well, what the hell about the nervous system? Who’s training that? How are you tapping that? How are you pushing that? Where are you getting that at? Where’s the mental toughness? Where’s the emotional toughness? How do you train that on a football field? This is all by design.”
And although McCarthy’s method is an adjustment for gamers who grew accustomed to Tomlin’s camps, many are embracing change.
“I got to,” mentioned Cam Heyward, the longest-tenured Steeler. “The dinosaurs didn’t, and look what happened to them.”
