Once the pads come on, the intensity increases. This has been the case at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp for as long as I can remember. After four unpadded practice sessions to begin camp, the pads are now on... and it's about to get physical.
Just ahead of Pittsburgh's first padded practice, second-year linebacker Payton Wilson spoke to the media about what it's going to feel like to be out there in pads.
“I’m ready to play some daggum ball," Wilson said via ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "Hit Jaylen Warren a little bit, fly around, hit some O-linemen. This is what you look forward to.”
Steelers fans couldn't have asked for a better response from the young linebacker. While Wilson wants to turn up the intensity, he also noted that there's a fine line between being physical and starting a brawl on the practice field.
“We like toughness, but we’re not trying to orchestrate an MMA squad,” Wilson stated, coining a phrase from head coach Mike Tomlin.
The Pittsburgh Steelers must avoid major injuries as the pads come on
The thousands of fans who plan to attend training camp from now until camp closes to the public want nothing more than to see fast-paced football with a high degree of physicality and a few audible collisions. But more importantly than that, fans—as well as the coaches and players—want to ensure the team doesn't suffer any major injuries before the start of the season.
Before training camp, the Steelers lost tight end Donald Parham Jr. for the season with an Achilles injury. Then, in the fourth camp practice before the pads came on, DJ Thomas-Jones went down with an injury that was originally thought to be an Achilles, but the diagnosis was a bit more encouraging.
While some injuries are simply unavoidable, the last thing we need to see is a starting lineman unnecessarily get rolled up on and blow out a knee because of the extra aggressiveness on the field.
At the end of the day, the guys in white practice jerseys and those in yellow practice jerseys are all on the same team with the same goal in mind. Payton Wilson is ready to hit some players on offense, and fans love that mentality. But he knows the uptick in aggressiveness can't come at the cost of injuries. And that we can all agree on.