NFL teams operate with a lot of sameness in just about every aspect, but they can vary widely on practice philosophy.
Some teams want to hit a lot in training camp to build toughness. Some teams barely hit at all to keep players healthy. There’s no consensus.
But Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thinks his team is doing it wrong.
The Steelers have a lot of injuries for this time of the year. Eight players were held out of Wednesday’s practice. Eight others are on injured reserve. Roethlisberger pointed back to the team’s physical practices in training camp.
“We have a lot of injuries,” Roethlisberger told 93.7 The Fan, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think a lot of our stuff stems from we’re one of the most physical football teams in training camp, in practice, you know. We do more hitting than most teams do and more [practices in] pads.”
It’s not often you hear a player publicly question his coach’s practice strategy, and make no mistake — that’s exactly what Roethlisberger did there with coach Mike Tomlin. Also, it’s a bit funny coming from Roethlisberger, who like all quarterbacks wears a non-contact jersey in practice. He never takes any of the punishment he’s complaining about.
You won’t often see players openly question the staff like that. But Roethlisberger obviously thinks it’s an issue. Maybe he just wants to make the Steelers great again.
via Yahoo!Sports