The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media after practice on Monday and said it was a good first day in pads for the team and that there was some spirited action.
As far as new injuries on Monday, Tomlin said there weren\’t any and indicated those that sat out Monday, cornerbacks Cortez Allen (knee), Terry Hawthorne (knee?) and DeMarcus Van Dyke (hamstring), are all day-to-day and he\’s not going to speculate as to when they might return to practice.
As for Hawthorne, specifically, Tomlin said him being sidelined was not a precautionary decision as the Illinois product needs to get back on the field as soon as possible to fight for a spot on the roster.
The backs on backers drill of course took center stage on Monday and the Steelers head coach seemed please with what he observed. The reason rookies Le\’Veon Bell and linebacker Jarvis Jones squared off so much was an obvious one per Tomlin as they were the top two draft picks this past April.
As far as the running back rotation goes, Tomlin warned once again to not read too much into that. Bell ran with the first team offense for four of its five snaps in team drills to end practice and he carried three times, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
We will have more later in our daily recap.
