Mike McCarthy's reputation as an offensive savant understandably preceded him to Acrisure Stadium, but it was his appreciation of defense that also resonated during the press conference that re-introduced the 17th head coach in Steelers' history to his home town.
"Defense wins championships," McCarthy maintained.
The press release announcing McCarthy as Mike Tomlin's successor identified the former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach as a "renowned developer of quarterbacks, including Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Rich Gannon, Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott."
McCarthy attributed that to being "blessed to work with an unbelievable group of quarterbacks, the Hall-of-Famers," and to "mentorship" he received from Paul Hackett while working as a graduate assistant and then a wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1989-92.
"Finding time, being efficient with your workload capacity and making sure those guys get the fundamental training," McCarthy said in an almost matter-of-fact manner. "So just never really deviating from the old-school way.
"And it has worked for decades."
He was seemingly more expansive and more enthusiastic in talking about the defense he was inheriting and the significance of that side of the ball.
"I'm really excited about the defense, great seeing Alex here," McCarthy said, recognizing outside linebacker Alex Highsmith among those in attendance at the PNC Champions Club at Acrisure. "The history of the Steelers defense and staying with the 3-4 is important as far as the origin of it, and that's something we can build off.
"I've been a head coach 18 years, I've had one Top 5 defense, and we won a Super Bowl that year. The importance of defense is critical."
That Super Bowl season in Green Bay was in 2010, when the Packers had the NFL's No. 2 total defense and beat the Steelers, 31-25, in Super Bowl XLV.
The Steelers had finished No. 1 in total defense that season.
"We definitely want to build off what's in place here," McCarthy continued. "With this being the third organization that I've walked into the first day, I don't believe in the throw-out-the-baby-with-the-bath-water method. I believe in building off what's in place and there's a lot here in place.
"The defensive system has been here since 1992. It came here with Coach Cowher (head coach Bill) and (defensive coordinator) Dom Capers. I've always been a fan of it. I always thought it was the toughest one to compete against as an offensive coach, part of the reason I went to it in Green Bay.
"We're putting the staff together but ideally we want to keep the language the same. Those are big decisions when you come in here because when you have something that works the way it's worked here for so long, I think you should try to do everything you can to build off that, if possible."
Regarding the offense for which he's most recognized, McCarthy confirmed he'll call the plays for the Steelers.
But he was careful not to label the offense he'll be running.
"I'm a believer in the tradition of the West Coast offense," he said. "And the first thing that always came to mind was the offense needs to be built to make the quarterback successful. As simplistic as it is, that starts with running the football. I mean, you have to run the football, because if you don't run the football and you don't tailor your protection schemes and the action-pass game to the run game, obviously it's not going to affect the defense and have the benefits of what you're looking for.
"The way the quarterback's coached in that system, you want a more athletic player in that position, the man that can extend plays and play to the rhythm and timing and spacing and all the things that go into an offensive system.
"But at the end of the day I would never say we run the West Coast offense. If your system of football cannot take in every player that (General Manager) Omar (Khan) and (Steelers president) Art (Rooney II) want to bring to the Pittsburgh Steelers, then you need to take a look at your system. So we need to make sure we can accommodate the variety of players that are available to us."
