Jun 23, 2023 4 min read

In a recent episode of “The Standard” on Steelers.com, head coach Mike Tomlin agreed to have a team meeting recorded.

His message to his team was a simple one, “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”

That’s not just a message for a football team, but one that works in all walks of life.

Tomlin is a good football coach. But he’s even better when it comes to commanding a room, in this case a room of 90 men with a common goal.

His message in this case was a simple one. Players, from Cam Heyward, the team’s most veteran member, to the last guy on the roster, have to be like sharks. They have to keep moving forward. If they don’t, they’re in danger of backsliding.

That will be a big reason why, when the Steelers open training camp at Saint Vincent College in another month, conditioning won’t be an issue.

After an uneventful offseason, one in which the team suffered no injuries, the Steelers will roll into training camp ready to go.

That’s why Tomlin’s message was what it was. Don’t spend the five weeks between minicamp and training camp not looking at the playbook or sitting around eating pizza. Keep working or you won’t be working long – at least not in Pittsburgh.

• The Pirates’ start to the season, as it turns out, was a house of cards.

When injuries started to happen – and they are inevitable in a 162-game season – this team just wasn’t up to snuff.

That’s a shame. The 20-9 start probably wasn’t sustainable. The Pirates didn’t have that kind of talent.

But if they could have just stayed healthy and kept their head above water, the National League Central is a winnable division.

It doesn’t look like a division anyone is going to run away with.

There was plenty of excitement early about this team. Local baseball fans are eager for a winner.

But it’s not happening this year.

• When the Steelers not only kept Mitch Trubisky this offseason but extended his contract by a year and then re-signed Mason Rudolph, some wondered why?

The reality is, it’s extremely unlikely that Kenny Pickett plays in all 17 games this season.

How unlikely?

Only seven quarterbacks played all 17 games for their team last season. Over the past two seasons, only four quarterbacks have appeared in 34 games. And one of those was Tom Brady, who’s now retired.

Chances are, every NFL team is going to need their backup at some point.

• There are things even Bob Huggins couldn’t walk away from and keep his job at West Virginia.

The DUI Huggins got last week in Pittsburgh was the last straw for the Hall of Fame coach.

Huggins had a big offseason working the transfer portal. A lot of big-time transfers committed to West Virginia in order to play for Huggins.

We’ll see how many of them stay now that he’s gone.

• The 2023 Washington County Pony League World Series team was selected this week and promises to be a solid unit.

Of the 15 players selected from the 48 players who tried out, five different school districts are represented – Trinity, Canon-McMillan, Washington, Fort Cherry and Burgettstown.

The addition of players from Fort Cherry and Burgettstown is a first for those two programs, showing just how much the Founders League – from which all the players are chosen – has grown.

With continued growth, the team could be even stronger.

There also will be a second team from the Founders League, which includes the Trinity, Washington, McGuffey, Canon-McMillan, Fort Cherry, Chartiers-Houston, Avella and Burgettstown school districts, that will try to qualify for the Pony World Series in August in the Host Area Zone.

That second team also will include players from the aforementioned school districts and also should do well.