TAMPA – When the Pittsburgh Steelers limped into the locker room at halftime trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by double digits Sunday afternoon, they did so without their head coach.
Mike McCarthy spent the 13-minute intermission on the Steelers’ sideline having his foot examined in the medical tent, saying he “just had to shake it off.”
“I don’t recommend it,” McCarthy said following the 26-19 overtime win at Raymond James Stadium. “It’s really hot in there. I got my foot stepped on. We have a really good medical staff. I just communicated from the tent to the locker room.”
McCarthy said that communication came through assistant head coach Joe Whitt Jr., who coaches the secondary.
“Joe Whitt did a great job. Joe has head coach responsibilities normally, so they didn’t miss a beat,” McCarthy said. “Adjustments were made. Halftime is quick, anyway. Frankly, the biggest part was really just getting the offensive conversations to me when the guys came out. I thought the guys did what they needed to do.”
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said halftime can be “disjointed,” with players eating bananas and sandwiches and talking amongst themselves, but people were wondering what was going on when they realized that McCarthy didn’t come into the locker room.
“There’s not a whole lot of stuff that happens at halftime — at least, so far with this staff,” Rodgers said, noting that for him it’s mostly 30-second talks with offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio and quarterbacks coach Tom Arth. “So, it wasn’t a whole lot different at halftime. It was still the same chaos.”
When word spread that McCarthy was OK, it was a relief to Rodgers.
“He’s from Pittsburgh,” Rodgers said, “so he toughed it out.”