Professor

excerpt:

Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu loves playing football but hates the Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp — the drudgery, the never-ending practices, the lack of free time. No wonder he and the rest of his teammates can't wait for a day off.

Guess what? Tuesday will be the ninth consecutive day of work during new coach Mike Tomlin's first camp, and there's no day off scheduled until after Sunday night's Hall of Fame exhibition game against the Saints in Canton, Ohio.

No wonder Polamalu isn't ready to disclose what he thinks of spending nearly as much time on the practice field in a day as the Steelers would in a week of practice during the season.

"I'll tell you in private, but not in public," he said.

So far, Tomlin is getting the maximum out of his team — the maximum permissible training camp time, that is. The NFL's labor rules mandate a day off if a team hasn't had any before its first preseason game, so Aug. 6 will be the Steelers' first day off since camp opened July 23.

"It is drudgery," Tomlin said, refusing to apologize for the heavy workload. "More and more, they're showing evidence they love the game, and that's the only way we're going to be special. It comprises more than physical talent, to be special."

Former coach Bill Cowher routinely gave his players Sundays off once two-a-day practices began, but Tomlin put his players on the field once Sunday and two more times more Monday — their 12th and 13th practices in the first eight days of camp, including the opening day conditioning drills. Two-a-days are scheduled again Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, though the Friday morning session figures to be devoted to special teams in advance of Sunday's game.

"I wanted to get to know this football team, present some adversity to them, see who could rise up and see who had competitive spirit," Tomlin said Monday, reflecting on the overloaded first week of camp.

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