The Steelers plan to continue their scheduled training camp practices this week, as Ben Roethlisberger mentioned via Zoom on Thursday.
"We just got done having our first set of team meetings and then some league mandated stuff to talk about," Roethlisberger said. "Coach [Mike] Tomlin addressed the team briefly about the stuff that's going on. Practice was never voted on or anything, we just anticipate going out to practice at a normal time. We have unique days with today and tomorrow with a 'night before the game' type of situation with mock games tomorrow. As of now, we're all moving forward as scheduled."
Several NFL teams have cancelled their Thursday practices in the wake of protests over the Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department's reported shooting on Sunday of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, in the back seven times resulting in his being paralyzed from the waist down.
Nine NFL teams opted not to practice/scrimmage today:
🏈Bears
🏈Broncos
🏈Cardinals
🏈Chargers
🏈Colts
🏈Jets
🏈Packers
🏈Titans
🏈Washington Football Team— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 27, 2020
This followed the action of players in the NBA postponing multiple playoff games, and were followed by the postponement of games in the MLB, MLS, WNBA, and other professional sports.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said after practice that he spoke to his this morning regarding the situation but never considered canceling practice.
"We desire to have an impact," Tomlin said. "We had conversations not necessarily in reaction to the latest incident, but I continue to appreciate the heart and actions of our players wanting to participate and engage in a positive way. That is their right. They will continue to be supported by us as long as their efforts are done thoughtfully and with class.
"I'm excited to continue to grow as a football team and have an understanding of our platform and utilize it in a positive and constructive way. Also (they should) understand that we're targets. Our perspectives and our opinions can be weaponized for agendas and against us. We want to move forward thoughtfully with everything that we do. We're excited about being parts of solutions if we can be."
To continue reading, log into your account:
