The old saying is you’re your harshest critic. That rings true for Pittsburgh Steelers’ center Maurkice Pouncey who believes the offense still has work to do.
“We look back on it and we look at the things we could have done a lot better. It could have been a lot more productive, but we are glad about last year and hopefully we can build on it,” he told Teresa Varley of steelers.com after the first day of minicamp.
The focus has shifted from last year to this year and after this week of practices conclude, the only event that stands in the way of a football game is training camp.
Some players loathe it but Pouncey knows what it takes to survive the Latrobe heat.
“You have to go to training hard and get in really good shape. Training camp is going to be hard, hot and a lot of hitting. Get the body ready, prepared and workout all of the time and see how things turn out,” he told Varley.
During the interview, he repeated the worst thing an offensive lineman can do is make mistakes. That was his best advice to the young lineman working behind him.
“They just have to come in and work hard, get in the playbook and don’t go out there and make mistakes. That would be the worst thing to happen to you in camp. That’s how you get yourself cut. I think all of the guys are smart and doing a good job with things and we’ll see how they roll out.”
The Steelers have several rookie lineman competing for a roster spot. B.J. Finney may lead the group but is joined by Kevin Whimpey, Miles Dieffenbach, Micah Hatchie, and Reese Dismukes. Alejandro Villanueva will also experience his first training camp with the Steelers after serving on their practice squad last season.
