Bradley assessing, molding Steelers secondary
Associated Press
Defensive backs coach Tom Bradley grabs the ball from cornerback Brian Allen (29) before a drill during training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Associated Press
Tom Bradley
LATROBE ā Tom Bradley spent 37 years coaching college football at Penn State, West Virginia and UCLA, and now heās in his first year coaching the NFL. Heās developed his skills as a teacher, fundamentalist, communicator and, as Mike Tomlin said, Bradleyās bringing the cutting-edge college football knowledge to the team. Hereās a Q&A with Bradley in which he discusses the talent with the Steelers.
TOM BRADLEY, Defensive Backs coach, Pittsburgh Steelers
Q: Do you have a No. 1 cornerback?
TB: Donāt treat them any different. We go with match-ups sometimes based on different size factors and different things, but yeah we donāt look at them that way. Thatās why we play them left and right. We donāt flip them to certain people.
Q: Ike Taylor has been that guy in the past.
TB: Sure. And we can do that. Thatās just a game-plan thing. If we wanted to do that, we could do it.
Q: Artie Burns is into his third year, former No. 1 pick, people grumbling about the one that beat him last playoff loss. Is Artie under the gun to make a big jump this season?
TB: I think he wants to make that big jump. You watch him play out here, much more confident, much more physical. He wants to do better. Heās coming into his third year. Itās his third go-around. I think youāll see a lot better play out of Artie this year.
Q: And Joe Haden. Heās old. Got cut by the Browns. Joe canāt do this or that, but he didnāt look so old when he broke up that deep ball the other day to Antonio Brown, did he?
TB: Joeās a professional. Joeās about everything in his profession. He wants to learn, heās working, heās talking technique. Itās his ninth year or so in the league.
Q: Those Florida kids are already into their ninth season?
TB: Heās in his ninth season and heās still looking for better ways to play. Heās constantly asking questions, still working his craft. Just on the side yesterday after practice he talked about it, and heās talking with everybody about it. Everybody has good ideas. Coach Tomlin has a saying, āI donāt care where the good ideas come from because it doesnāt matter.ā But heās constantly trying to learn to get better and goes about his business in a very professional manner. You watch him in meetings, very attentive to every detail, over on the side understanding the importance of mental reps, trying to get whatās going on. At this point in your career, the one thing you want to do is be as smart as you possibly can be. They say youth is a disease that can be cured. And it happens. Now they get to that point where he can continue to understand that mentally we can get better and better by looking at all the little things.
Q: He wasnāt here last year. Being in this camp will mean a lot for Joe, wonāt it?
TB: It is a big deal. I think itās his comfort level with his teammates, his players, with the communication, how people say things. I think my challenge in the spring was the way I used my terminology to get them to know what Iām saying, and Iāve got to get what theyāre saying because sometimes we talk, not different languages, but the terms are different, so weāre all on the same page. Itās been a good give and take. Couple times Iāve said some things and they say, āCoach, what do you mean?ā And I got it. Thereās always going to be that verbiage thing we have to work through together.ā
āItās not a problem, itās just certain routes, what I call them and what they call them and getting on the same page.
Q: Terrell Edmunds made a great interception the other day, and it looked like he made a quantum jump in one day.
TB: That happens, his first day of camp, new setting, the drills, where heās going. Youāll still see that a lot. Youāll still see him getting better and better as he gets accustomed to not only his teammates but Saint Vincent College. āOK, weāre doing this next. This is how the practice works.ā He knows how Coach Tomlin is going to work things through practice. Heāll keep getting better and better. Itās his first time seeing things, the changes, the speedās a little different up here. The accuracy of the quarterbacks is a little different up here. Heās understanding as you ascend from college to the pros, in college you maybe could give up a 10-incher, five-incher. Now itās two inches. These quarterbacks, you think youāve got them covered, and a guy like Ben will put it right on the ear and itās the only place you canāt get it. In college, you donāt see that every week. You see it sometimes but not as often as you see it with the quarterbacks and the throws. In this league theyāre throwing to open. In college, a lot of times, theyāre waiting to get open. Things are happening faster. Itāll slow down. Weāre putting more in every day. The mind gets going. He has to transcend all of this information in his mind, get it right, and then play fast.
Q: Youāre new and Sean Davis is your new free safety. Heās your guy out there. Is there a bond as you both come in new?
TB: No question. We talk about that a lot, him and I, of being that guy, and a lot of times we could in our scheme roll him down and let him go back to his comfort zone. Weāre not letting him do that. Iām trying to let him make sure heās a free safety for right now. We can move Sean. He has the ability to make a lot of plays inside the box. He understands that. Iām making him play in that third and get used to it.
Q: Mike Hiltonās obviously the nickel back. Do you have a dime back yet?
TB: (Chuckles) Everybody keeps bringing up the dime-backer. Weāll get to that eventually once we settle down our secondary and find out the guys weāre going to keep and then weāll maneuver into that. But itās just one of those guys going in and playing the linebacker position. Itās been going on for years. We are very fortunate that we have the body types who can do that. We have guys who are bigger, so if itās a neutral third-down play, we have guys, littler guys, for third-and-8s. We can do a lot of different things on that end. The one thing that will start to happen, weāre moving guys to different positions and theyāre learning things, so that gives us the versatility if things do come up. Itās not just teaching the corners this and the safeties that. Itās a group effort. Communication and the words, they mean something. As we get going, weāre making them work with different people and communicate with different people. Everybody sees that in their work, no matter what profession theyāre in. It takes time to communicate properly to the new guy. It works out.
Q: Haha, sometimes, as you get to know new people better, you can tell them āOK, youāve talked enough.ā
TB: Well, you want to hear the chatter, you want the communication skills, you want to hear the verbiage out there. So Coach Tomlinās on them; Iām on them. Football things, weāre trying to get them to constantly be talking. Good defenses talk. They always talk. Some guys talk all the time, which is fine, but I like to hear it. Chatter is good. It keeps people on their toes.