The Steelers first day of minicamp got a little heated on Tuesday.
And, there were two familiar faces involved – Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey and defensive end Clifton Geathers. The details are slim, but reports say that hardly anything happened to the two throwing punches.
It was near the end of the day, but in the scheme of things, it didn’t take long before Geathers and Steelers O-linemen went above and beyond the whistle.
You’ll remember that last season during a December practice, Geathers got into a scuffle with several linemen. That story goes that Geathers did a little extra shoving and pushing eventually knocking someone to the ground. The rest of the unit took exception to that fact, and everyone piled on Geathers.
While Geathers’ extra activity might have been unnecessary at a time when starters are tired and beat up from almost 14 weeks of action, his efforts to make the team at this point is well warranted.
But, we still don’t know what actually took place, and Mike Tomlin certainly is playing it down.
"It’s not something that you embrace, obviously, but it’s something that goes with the game. It’s an opportunity to teach, more than anything, and that’s the way that I’ll approach it."
Obviously.
Pouncey is not one to win Outstanding Citizen of the Year and has been known to stir the coals a bit. Interesting that he’s the one involved in this latest scuffle when just one day ago he appeared so humble and reserved.
"We just have to keep working, attacking the day the right way. Having our mindset on the right things and not having many mistakes. You can look bad when you are messing up. I think all the guys are on the right track and we are looking positive now. – Pouncey on Steeler.com"
Strange. I didn’t think throwing punches at a teammate was the right mindset and on track.
Well maybe Geathers said something that took Pouncey out of that mindset of focusing on football and took him back to one of his favorite Miami bars.
I guess it’s safe to say that there’s a history between these two now. Hopefully, this will be the worst of the drama stories to come out of any of the Steelers training camps this season.
Next: Steelers Minicamp: Tomlin Tuesday
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