Like every NFL team, and really all of us for that matter, the Steelers have had to adapt to working remotely. But now, with a handful of players on the Restricted/COVID -19 list they're taking working remotely up a notch, maybe a few notches.
Instead of breaking up into positional meeting rooms, the players are broken up entirely into separate locations and are learning via Zoom. It's an adjustment, especially for the linemen who are typically the most closely-knit position groups.
Offensive Line Coach Shaun Sarrett says it really hasn't been all that bad.
"Everything is the same, even the camaraderie part of it; guys re cutting up on one another," Sarrett says. "The difference is that I don't see them, I don't see their eyes so when I'm explaining something I can't look at the guy in the eyes.
"That's just something we have to adapt to as coaches," adds Sarrett who knows his guys need to do a better job to resurrect a solid run game that helped carry the team through the first several games but has since practically disappeared especially the last 2 weeks.
On the other side of the ball, assistant Karl Dunbar needs to get his defensive linemen to start stopping the run again. And without Tyson Alualu, plus experienced backup Chris Wormley, Dunbar has been forced to rely upon younger players which makes the current environment even more challenging.
"That's the only thing about the virtual stuff; you don't get a chance to see them," Dunbar says. "They can hear you, you can hear them, but you don't get a chance to you see them face to face. Coaching, like all things football is personal and is interactive and you don't have that."
But Dunbar's message must be getting through because he has seen his younger linemen starting to make plays.
"When I was at LSU, Coach (John) Mitchell (now Steelers Assistant Head Coach) was our Defensive Coordinator and he always used to say if a dog's gonna bite he's gonna bite as a pup and these guys are starting to sharpen their teeth on getting some playing time."
Second-year man Isiah Buggs made two crucial stops against Lamar Jackson late in the Baltimore game and both former practice squader Henry Mondeaux and rookie Carlos Davis had tackles for loss in Dallas. All three may continue to get playing time as Alualu and Wormley makes their way back.
