I love Twitter. No, I really love Twitter, and if you follow me you know that I am telling the truth. Twitter provides real time updates of everything in 140 characters or less. Real time updates of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp practices, however, are both good and bad. The good is obvious, the bad, however, comes in the ability to overreact to each and every tweet.
Friday night was a perfect example of overreaction after it was reported, or should I say tweeted, that guard Willie Colon punched defensive end Cameron Heyward in the helmet, after Heyward gotten into it with tackle Mike Adams. At least that is the way Twitter describes it.
Oh the humanity.
Yes, this is the same Colon that also got into it with linebacker Lawrence Timmons a week ago in practice. News flash for you. That wasn\’t the first time that those two have scrapped in practice before and it likely won\’t be the last time either.
So should we be concerned? Is Colon picking up where Chris Kemoeatu left off in regard to unnecessary penalties? I mean this is a player that has played in just one regular season game the last two seasons. You think he doesn\’t have any bent up frustration that he has been looking to release for a while? Wouldn\’t you?
So players have fights during training camp practices. I certainly don\’t think this has reached the level of the minicamp fight in the lockerroom between Earl Holmes and running back Richard Huntley back in 2000. At least not according to Twitter.
Colon is the veteran on the starting offensive line right now. He is setting a tone for the unit. A nasty tone at that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a scrap every now and again as long as everybody remembers at the end of the day that they are on the same team. I have faith that the veterans in the lockerroom are making sure that no bad blood exist long-term between any two players.
Still worried about Colon moving forward? Let\’s look at his history in regard to penalties. In 51 regular season games he has been penalized once for a personal foul and once for taunting. That certainly does not scream Kemoeatu-like.
Here is one positive thing that you should focus on in regard to training camp and Colon. He has not had any false starts yet. At least not according to Twitter.
Until this starts happening in regular season games, it is a non issue. When Mike Tomlin was asked about the incident following the practice, he did not even dignify it with a reply.
