{"id":965106,"date":"2026-07-28T18:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/965106\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T18:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:38:16","slug":"no-live-tackling-mike-mccarthy-confirms-major-change-to-steelers-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/965106\/","title":{"rendered":"No Live Tackling: Mike McCarthy Confirms Major Change To Steelers Training Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Under Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers training camps were known for their intense physicality and \u201clive\u201d tackling sessions, players going to the ground like in a real game. That\u2019s no more under Mike McCarthy. Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, McCarthy confirmed the team won\u2019t go \u201clive\u201d during any portion of camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe won\u2019t do live tackling,\u201d he said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YG6rl78kYyU\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via the team\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/a> \u201cI\u2019ve done live tackling in the past\u2026every drill\u2019s been evaluated. There\u2019s a GPS component behind everything we do. There\u2019s more stress that we need to apply to our training situations than just going to the ground. The footwork is the priority. It will always be about the feet in everything we do whether that\u2019s tackling, blocking, ball security.<\/p>\n<p>It tracks with our <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/07\/what-to-expect-from-mike-mccarthys-first-training-camp\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">article earlier this month<\/a> of Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys reporters and analysts noting McCarthy that did little to no live tackling following the 2011 CBA that eliminated two-a-day practices. Avoiding injury is the biggest reason for teams being more conservative with its practice plan and is top of mind for McCarthy\u2019s rationale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInjuries are part of the game,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think you clearly, you gotta do the best you can, and it\u2019s a judgment, to try and reduce risk. We will not live tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCarthy noted that the Steelers will have a goal-line drill but that won\u2019t be \u201clive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mike Tomlin had a different viewpoint. He routinely spoke of \u201cspar before boxing\u201d and the need to hone tackling technique not just through \u201cthud\u201d wrap ups but by going to the ground. Almost every day the Steelers were in pads, the team held at least one \u201clive\u201d session. It was usually the second 11 v 11 session. His goal line sessions were also full-contact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will definitely save that for the preseason games,\u201d McCarthy said of tackling.<\/p>\n<p>Live tackling didn\u2019t help the team get runners down last season. Pittsburgh finished among the league\u2019s worst offenders in missed tackles last season. Pro Football Reference <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/years\/2025\/opp.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">charted the unit with 126 misses,<\/a> third-worst in the NFL. Likewise, Tomlin\u2019s camps didn\u2019t seem to carry a higher injury rate compared to those that didn\u2019t have \u201clive\u201d periods.<\/p>\n<p>McCarthy\u2019s approach is common around the league. Most teams don\u2019t tackle. The Steelers now join that group and given the trends of the league, it seems doubtful Pittsburgh will ever return to what had been its norm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers training camps were known for their intense physicality and \u201clive\u201d tackling sessions, players&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":965107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[139638,17666,1545,62,939,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-965106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116999062392235931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}