By Teresa Varley
Steelers.com

Latrobe, Pa. - Ben Roethlisberger might not have been pleased with the performance of the offense in their first practice of training camp, but head coach Mike Tomlin was happy at the end of the first day.

 

“We had a very productive start,” said Tomlin. “I think the excellent condition of the football team showed up. I liked the way the guys ran on both sides of the ball. I liked the way they finished. That’s always a great start.

 

“It’s far from perfection, but that is what day one is about. There was great enthusiasm, great communication. Guys were verbal today. Overall there was good hustle.”

 

Tomlin understands why some of the players were a bit frustrated with how things went on day one, but he said that is natural at the start of camp and isn’t anything to worry about.

 

“At this time of year you are always going to be less than satisfied with your performance,” said Tomlin. “If you were ready to go this wouldn’t be a necessity. We are not going to be perfect and some of the things that we stressed today did not have to deal with perfection. It was about communicating, it was about hustling and it was about finishing.

 

“I was pleased from that standpoint. Assignment-wise and execution-wise we are miles away, but so is everybody that we are competing against at this time of year.”

 

Roethlisberger isn’t worried either. He knows it was just day one and that they will work out all of the kinks in the next few days

“It’s a bunch of little things because it was the first day, first day getting out here,” said Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger was impressed with the performance of running back Rashard Mendenhall in his first day, including how he is already working into the passing game. He also likes what he sees overall from what the offense can do.

“We are really young on offense and that is part of the excitement,” said Roethlisberger. “Some people might look at it and be a little nervous. I like the young attitude that we have and I think that we can be very good.”