It’s well-known that Steelers assistant coach Adrian Klemm wants his offensive linemen to play with an edge, to the point of being downright nasty. Turns out that another new assistant, Alfredo Roberts, is looking for the same thing from his tight ends.
Eric Ebron reveals that Roberts has given them a nickname.
“Bad Asses, or Bad Donkeys,” Ebron says trying to be G rated but he quickly reverted. “We should be able to block bad-ass, we should be able to run bad-ass routes and we should be able to score on anybody in a bad-ass way. That’s the mantra we’re going to take this year and that’s the mantra we’re gonna take for our room.”
Does this mean that Ebron, not exactly noted for his blocking, will actually embrace that part of the game?
“Well, you know who our first round pick was?” Ebron laughs, “we don’t draft first round picks for us to not block.”
“I changed my attitude about it,” Ebron explains, “I don’t always have to be as dominant on third down or in the red zone. I need be a full-on tight end. I took into account learning a lot from Mercedes Lewis,” pointing out that Lewis this off-season because he’s a bad ass at it.
Having said that, Ebron still wants to be a big part of the passing game and says he has been working with Ben Roethlisberger to see that it happens. “Ben’s starting to understand what kind of a route-runner I am and I’m starting to understand how he likes to throw people open,” Ebron says.
“I like Ben, I like his aggression, I like who he is; I’m going to continue to be a pet peeve to him and hopefully he enjoys it,” Ebron says, insisting this doesn’t mean he’s going to demand the ball be thrown his way more often. “I just want to understand him and when we’re in situations, in tough spots like he with JuJu I want him to know I’ve got his back as well.”
Exactly as a good bad ass should.