As stated on the official site of the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin will conduct a series of exclusive chat sessions for Steelers Digest and Steelers.com.
Here's a sample of the topics covered by Tomlin in the first of these such sessions:
Q. After the final roster cut-down, you made the statement that you wanted the competition within the team to continue. Has it been your experience that guys have a tendency to relax after they make the team?
A. It's human nature to breathe a sigh of relief at times, and we have to make a conscious effort to resist that if we want to continue to move forward. The reality is that whichever team is going to be the Super Bowl champion this year is not as good now as they're going to be in February. So we have to respect that element of it if we're going to be a candidate for that. We have to continue to grow and develop, and that's the point I'm trying to get across to them. We're into September, we're playing games for keeps, but we have to keep moving upward and onward. If we're going to be a world champion, we're a developing world champion right now.
Q. During the early phase of training camp, you said you were going to select the team captains. You changed your mind and let the players vote. Why?
A. Coming into this thing, I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, in terms of the transition. That's the way I've approached every day with respect to this job. From a preparation standpoint, I was prepared to select captains if I didn't have a feel for what this team would be capable of in that regard. The more I spend with these guys, the more we do what we do, I'm very comfortable with where they are mentally. The way they love and respect this game, the level of camaraderie they have. I trust those guys to make good decisions in that regard, and that's why I gave it to them.
But again, what you prepare for and what you hope sometimes for are two different things. Actually, in this case, like a lot of things as it relates to this team, it was more toward my hopes than what I was prepared to deal with.
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There's only a few more questions answered by Tomlin in the online version of the interview, but apparently there's more if you pick up a copy of Steelers Digest. You can also subscribe online if you can't seem to get your daily fix of Steelers news and notes here and elsewhere on the web.