Art Rooney II on Steelers: ‘We feel good about where we are’

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished 13-3 last season.

Although they fell short of the Super Bowl, the Steelers demonstrated their typical dominance.

‘Guys are working hard and that’s what we need to do’

And this year doesn’t appear to be any different.

“We feel good about where we are,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II told Alex Marvez at this week’s NFL spring meeting in Atlanta. “But everybody’s undefeated at this point so it’s a long way to go. Good spring practices coming up here, so guys are working hard and that’s what we need to do.”

‘I hope (legalized gambling) doesn’t have any impact on the game, frankly, so we’ll see about that’

Rooney touched on several other key topics that he and his fellow NFL owners addressed:

On the advent of legalized gambling throughout the United States. “It’ll be different. We don’t know exactly how. I hope it doesn’t have any impact on the game, frankly, so we’ll see about that. We don’t know how soon Pennsylvania’s going to get into the business, but they’ve already passed the legislation, as well as other states. It’s going to be a different environment and we’re working to be prepared to deal with whatever comes from it.”

‘I think we’ll have to tweak (the new kickoff rule) probably as time goes on’

On the new rule for kickoffs designed to reduce violent collisions. “This one’s pretty dramatic, I must admit. I think it’s a good change. I think when we first started talking about this, the idea of making it more like a punt where there’s less, let’s say, free grass for people to run and have high-speed collisions. I think that’s the goal and I think this will be a good change. I think we’ll have to tweak it probably as time goes on. But I think it’s a good change.”

On the new rule banning all players from lowering their helmet when making contact with another player. “I think that it’s, hopefully, going to be targeted the more egregious plays. There’s still some plays in the game that are unnecessary. Guys using the helmet as a weapon is really the key language that I think we’re focused on and I think, if we can get that out of the game, it’ll be an improvement.”