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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin opened up to reporters on Thursday about the harsh reality of maintaining the health and well-being of players, coaches, and officials during the 2020 NFL season.
In his first media face-to-face of the 2020 training camp, which officially started sans preseason on Tuesday, the 48-year-old Super Bowl champion coach preached social responsibility among players and teams.
Article Continues Below“You message it thoughtfully,” Tomlin said in his first availability with media of Steelers' camp. “You use catchphrases, and you guys know I like catchphrases. What you’re talking about is conduct detrimental. That’s a term that’s used often in our business and appropriately so. Because in this COVID environment, if you’re not exercising discretion and being thoughtful about how you move, that conduct is detrimental — to your cause, and to ours collectively. … It’s one fail, all fail in this environment. We’re going to continue to package the messaging that way and be very transparent. It is that. It is conduct detrimental to their efforts and ours.”
The Steelers enter 2020 with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, the veteran quarterback who missed essentially the entire 2019 campaign, which was left for Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges to hold down the fort under center. Pittsburgh nearly crept into the 2019-20 postseason due to their rock-solid defense but fell a game short of clinching.
Entering the 2020 season will bring about far different challenges for Tomlin and crew, as the coronavirus pandemic has threatened the lives of players, coaches, and their families.
Several high-profile individuals, such as New England Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower, have opted out of the 2020 season, citing health risks or concerns.
