Ten days of training camp are now in the books for the Pittsburgh Steelers and below is your recap of tidbits from around the world wide web.
Head coach Mike Tomlin seemed pretty happy with what he saw during practice on Sunday and said the players are getting into a good rhythm.
The list of players that sat out the Sunday practice was again long and it includes LaRod Stephens-Howling (unknown), Larry Foote (unknown), Lawrence Timmons (personal), Nick Williams (knee), Troy Polamalu (coaches decision), Terry Hawthorne (knee), Curtis Brown (unknown), Cortez Allen (knee), DeMarcus Van Dyke (hamstring), Matt Spaeth (knee), Ross Ventrone (unknown), Adrian Robinson (unknown), Brian Rolle (unknown) and Curtis McNeal (unknown).
While Jason Worilds (toe), Steve McLendon (unknown), Le\’Veon Bell (knee) and Jarvis Jones (unknown) all reportedly dressed on Sunday, there were a few reports suggesting they all took part in a limited capacity. That usually means they were limited to just drills.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been limping around a little bit lately, but Dale Lolley of the Washington Observer reports that it\’s nothing to worry about.
Tomlin said after practice that Polamalu had a contusion of the birth certificate which is just a witty way of saying he had a veteran day off.
Timmons is away due to a death in his family.
There are so many players sidelined right now that Mike Prisuta of DVE Radio said Sunday evening that at one point during practice Marshall McFadden and Terrence Garvin were the first team inside linebackers. This answers my question about where Garvin would play. I kind of thought they might work him outside, but the Steelers see him more as a run and hit MACK linebacker. Garvin, a West Virginia product, wasn\’t signed until after the rookie mini camp. Prisuta also said newly signed cornerbacks Ryan Steed and Buddy Jackson were third team due to all of the cornerbacks being down right now.
Bob Labriola of Steelers Digest said Sunday after practice that nobody can cover fullback Will Johnson in the backs verses backers passing drill. Not only is he catching short passes out of the backfield, but balls down the field as well, according to Labriola. So, is 30 catches out of the question for Johnson in 2013? That\’s a little less than two a game and certainly seems achievable. Labriola also notes that Vince Williams was the only player to get his hands on a pass intended for Johnson and that McFadden did a nice job in jamming Jonathan Dwyer, who was still able to make the catch. He also notes that backup tight end Jamie McCoy did OK on Sunday. During the 11-on-11 run portion of practice, Labriola notes the defense as wining that period. The best run reportedly in that period was made by Baron Batch as both Dwyer and Isaac Redman were bottled up on most plays for short gains.
Ralph Paulk of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that William Gay, who is filling in for the injured Allen, was pretty hard on himself Sunday during practice when surrendering a completion. Paulk also reports that rookie wide receiver Justin Brown continues to catch everything thrown his way and that David Gilreath is doing the same. Batch evidently took a pretty good pop in practice and Paulk reports he didn\’t participate in special teams drills after that.
Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert remained flipped right now with Adams playing on the left side. Jim Wexell of Steel City Insider reports that offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. told him that it is still early and that they are just trying to find the right combination of five.
According to Labriola, the second team offensive line was left to right: Guy Whimper, Justin Cheadle, John Malecki, D\’Anthony Batiste and Kelvin Beachum.
That\’s it for the day ten recap and the Steelers will again practice on Monday with their next day off coming on Tuesday.
