Mike Tomlin’s COVID-19 response mantra: “One fail, all fail”

[Steely McBeam]

Getty Images

With players rolling in for testing this week in advance fo training camp, coaches are preaching personal responsibility for the collective good.

And Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is no exception.

Via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com, Tomlin emphasized the message he’d be preaching to players throughout camp.

“You message it thoughtfully,” Tomlin said. “You use catchphrases, and you guys know I like catchphrases. What you’re talking about is conduct detrimental. That’s a term that’s used often in our business and appropriately so. Because in this COVID environment, if you’re not exercising discretion and being thoughtful about how you move, that conduct is detrimental — to your cause, and to ours collectively. . . .

“It’s one fail, all fail in this environment. We’re going to continue to package the messaging that way and be very transparent. It is that. It is conduct detrimental to their efforts and ours.”

So far, the Steelers have put two players on the reserve/COVID-19 list for either testing positive or quarantining because they had been in contact with someone who had.

Tomlin hopes that number doesn’t grow, considering all the preparations that have been taken, and what’s on the line when a large group gathers.