The Pittsburgh Steelers were back on the the Saint Vincent College practice field Sunday, two days after the team’s 27-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason opener. Let’s dive into what happened.
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Camp Notes (Day 13)
– Injury Report: Lots of notes in the first practice after the opener. Not practicing today were S Tre Norwood (right leg/ankle), NT Keeanu Benton (ankle), LB Nick Kwiatkoski (shoulder), CB Duke Dawson (knee/leg), DL Cam Heyward (illness), and DL Larry Ogunjobi (foot). I’ve heard Kwiatkoski’s injury is not serious and he should return to action soon. Benton did light work very early in practice with his fellow defensive linemen and EDGE teammates.
Limited today were S Keanu Neal (leg/lower body), RB John Lovett (lower body), and CB Joey Porter Jr. (possible ankle). All three missed the opener. Neal and Porter were in pads while Lovett was not, though he did light work during individual drills. It’s painfully slow but it’s progress.
– While Dawson did not practice, his injury does not appear as serious as it did during the game. He walked down onto the field today without any crutch or visible brace, though he wore long pants which made it harder to tell. But he walked across the sideline of the middle field early in practice and later in the day, had a blue stretching/exercise band between his feet. All signs, to me, of someone who isn’t dealing with a serious leg injury. Don’t know how much time he’ll miss but it seems like he avoided the worst.
LB Chapelle Russell was waived/injured with a knee injury suffered in the Buccaneers game. Replacing him is No. 46 Forrest Rhyne, who practiced in full today, including the team period.
– Injured during practice include OG Nate Herbig (shoulder), CB Isaiah Dunn (right knee), and OLB Toby Ndukwe (wrist). Dunn had a heavy wrap and ice on his knee for some time, though it was removed later in the session. Ndukwe hurt himself late in the practice after being taken to the ground by OT Dylan Cook in an offensive line/defensive line drill. We’ll see how things look following the Monday off day.
– Speaking of Herbig, I spotted a Herbig jersey while walking into practice today. Wonder if it’s a family friend or someone who just really loves guards. Today’s practice was bookended by offensive line notes. A Herbig jersey walking in while walking out and OL Coach Pat Meyer hustling past fans to walk somewhere up on the campus’ hill.
– Crazy crowd today. Every field leading into the campus was full and I ended up parking down a hill where I’ve never been before. Leaving practice, I passed a legitimate mile of cars on each side leading into the field’s entrance where people normally park. There may have been more people attending practice this year than any year before. Lots of excitement this year and today, the final weekend practice of camp. Turnout has been high.
– FB Roosevelt Nix was one of the “meet ‘n greet” former Steelers for fans to get photos with before practice. He then hung around on the practice field during practice, saying hello to Mike Tomlin, who greeted him with a big smile.
– New faces the first ones to walk down the stairs today. WR Diontae Johnson, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, and LB Cole Holcomb the big three at 1:26. Porter came down a minute later. As usual, he hit the JUGS machine, catching 33 passes before giving Keanu Neal a turn. Fitzpatrick was first man to get on there.
– Big cheer for QB Kenny Pickett, his largest of camp with a “Kenny” chant breaking out from fans who lined the stairs/fence line where the players walk down. Pickett is a bit of a lone ranger coming out, usually walking down by himself, but he linked up with QBs Coach Mike Sullivan once on the grass and took some snaps from C Mason Cole as the rest of the players filtered down.
– In warmups, the first and second-team offensive lines remained the same.
First Team: Dan Moore Jr.-Isaac Seumalo-Mason Cole-James Daniels-Chukwuma Okorafor
Second Team: Broderick Jones-Kevin Dotson-Kendrick Green-Nate Herbig-Le’Raven Clark
– Green got more fullback work in team period today but did not work with the running backs to begin individual periods. He remained with the offensive line.
First Team Session (Seven Shots)
1. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith the outside linebackers. Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts the inside linebackers. Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace the cornerbacks. Damontae Kazee and Minkah Fitzpatrick the safeties. Allen Robinson II and George Pickens the outside receivers with Diontae Johnson in the slot.
Kenny Pickett wants to hit Johnson on a slant left working on CB Chandon Sullivan. But Fitzpatrick is lurking and cuts the route and throw, throwing up his right hand and batting the ball up and away. Incomplete. Good rep by one of the NFL’s best.
2. Najee Harris in the backfield. Pickett again looks for Johnson left side on an out to the sideline. But Chandon Sullivan has strong coverage, and the pass is incomplete.
3. Kazee comes out with Kenny Robinson getting first-team reps next to Fitzpatrick. A way of easing Kazee back into things. Pony grouping with Anthony McFarland Jr. slot right. Pickett looks for Robinson near the back right corner, but the pass is incomplete, defended by Robinson. Offense starts off 0-3.
4. Elijah Riley comes in the slot with the second-team defense. Run play and the offense gets on the board, McFarland taking the handoff and over the goal line.
5. Second-team offense comes in. Mitch Trubisky under center. Play-action. Hits Gunner Olszewski for the score along the right side.
6. Madre Harper and Luq Barcoo the outside corners. Trubisky empty set initially before Connor Heyward motions in from out wide and into the backfield. Throw to, I believe, WR Dez Fitzpatrick right side. Tried to squeeze it between Barcoo and LB Mark Robinson but the throw is too tight and incomplete. Contact between Robinson, who got a good chunk of Barcoo here, and the latter was a little slow to his feet. But he was uninjured.
7. Ryan McCollum in at center. Nate Herbig in at left guard. Kevin Dotson in at right guard. Elijah Riley comes in on a blitz. Trubisky throws hot behind him, where Riley blitzed, and no one on defense replaced the slot coverage. Fitzpatrick is wide open for the score, but the defense still wins the day, 4-3.
Second Team Session
1. Ball on the offense’s 29. Run period but still no tackling RB Najee Harris. He cuts back and gets about 3.
2. Offensive line of Moore-Seumalo-Cole-Daniels-Okorafor. Defensive line of: DeMarvin Leal-Montravius Adams-Isaiahh Loudermilk. Pickett play-action. WR Allen Robinson II stays into pass block, doubling with TE Pat Freiermuth on who I assume was T.J. Watt though I’m not completely sure. Pickett moves left, looks for something, nothing opens up. He throws it out of bounds into the left sideline with Harris as the closest target though he had no real chance to make a play on the ball.
3. Fitzpatrick and Kazee the safety pairing. Elandon Roberts and Kwon Alexander the inside linebacker pairing. Good lane here for Harris. I’ll give him 6.
4. Now Jaylen Warren comes in at running back. Pickett under center. Watt beats his block and blows this run up, tagging Warren at the line for no gain. All OL Coach Pat Meyer can do is double over and put his hands on his knees, trying to figure out how to block that No. 90 guy.
5. Mitch Trubisky checks in at quarterback. Nick Herbig working at right outside linebacker. Read option here, Trubisky pulling the ball out of Warren’s belly. I’ll give him 8, though scoring yardage for a quarterback who can’t be touched is difficult.
6. Good lane created for Anthony McFarland Jr. and we’re back to tackling. James Pierre pulls McFarland down by his ankles after a 9-yard pickup.
7. Markus Golden and Nick Herbig the outside linebacker pairing. Broderick Jones at left tackle, Nate Herbig at left guard, Kendrick Green at center, and Le’Raven Clark the right tackle. Don’t have the RG noted here. Jet run left to right with Calvin Austin III, who turns on the jets and gets 21 yards before being tackled by Kenny Robinson and Tanner Muse.
8. Kendrick Green in at fullback. Trubisky boots right and hits Green open in the right flat. He stiff-arms James Pierre and gets 18 yards. Crowd loving it, even if they don’t love Green along the offensive line.
9. Mason Rudolph in at quarterback. Stretch run right side, Connor Heyward on the carry. Good flow and run defense by DL Jonathan Marshall and he’s one of a couple Steelers defenders there for no gain.
10. Offensive line of Spencer Anderson-Ryan McCollum-Nate Herbig-Bill Dunkle-Dylan Cook. Heyward carry left side this time. Cuts inside of new LB Forrest Rhyne whose tackle attempt is too high. Heyward stumbles and falls forward with his right shoulder for about 3 yards.
11. Now Le’Raven Clark is in at left tackle with Anderson moving to left guard. Green the Y-off and split flows across the formation. Carry for RB Greg Bell, who gets about 4 before Mark Robinson takes him down up the middle.
12. Trubisky under center. Connor Heyward initially aligned as a fullback before motioned to Y-off. Toss left with rookie Darius Hagans on the carry. Strong run defense from CB Madre Harper, who is the first man there to make the tackle for a loss of 5. Good rep from Harper though this play felt predictable based off the Heyward motion, doing the same Friday night and running the same toss play. Even I called it out to myself before the snap.
– Some notables from STs Coordinator Danny Smith during one of the special teams periods. Working on kick coverage.
– “Gotta get a turnover every game,” he yelled at the starters, an obviously impossible bar but Smith setting the standard high. “We gotta steal a possession….10-point game, one minute, it ain’t over.”
– Smith talked and coached through the rep, noting the offensive players have to work harder on coverage units because they don’t tackle every day like the defense. So, they gotta rep it more often. “Showed on that damn sled the other day,” Smith says, unhappy with whatever happened a few days ago.
– To the coaching point of knocking the ball out, as the players went through a wrap/forced fumble drill (first player wraps, second player goes for the ball) Smith repeatedly called out “knuckles to the ground” to highlight the need to punch down on the ball.
– Fans love watching Smith work, clapping for him each time after one of these periods when he’s coaching right next to the bleachers.
Third Team Session
1. Ball on the offense’s 44-yard line. Dan Moore in at left tackle, Najee Harris in at running back, Kenny Pickett the quarterback. Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts the inside linebackers. Pickett hits Diontae Johnson on a crosser for 16 yards before Johnson steps out of bounds down the right side.
2. Montravius Adams and DeMarvin Leal the defensive tackles. T.J. Watt with his hand down as the left outside linebacker opposite the stood-up Alex Highsmith. Pickett complete to TE Pat Freiermuth in the right flat, Roberts pushing him out for a gain of 6.
3. Johnson and George Pickens the outside receivers with Allen Robinson II in the slot. Chandon Sullivan blitzing from his nickel spot. Screen right to Harris and it’s a gain of about 10. Damontae Kazee the man in the area for the tag/stop.
4. Armon Watts and Isaiahh Loudermilk the defensive tackles with Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace the cornerbacks. Kwon Alexander seeing first-team reps as Pittsburgh rotates its inside linebackers, opposite of Roberts here. Pickett complete to Pickens on a curl for 6 yards. Roberts blitzed up the middle free here.
5. Offensive line of Jones-Dotson-Green-Herbig-Clark. Armon Watts and Breiden Fehoko the defensive tackle pairing. Kenny Robinson and Miles Killebrew the safety duo. Mitch Trubisky comes in and hits Calvin Austin III along the right sideline, an 11-yard gain working on LCB Chris Wilcox, seeing extra reps with Porter not working in full.
6. Wilcox and James Pierre the second-team corners. Austin and Cody White the wide receivers. TE Rodney Williams aligned off-ball. Trubisky wants White on a curl right side but the pass is short and skips incomplete, about 2 yards shy of White.
7. TE Zach Gentry goes in motion. Trubisky quick throw over the middle complete to Connor Heyward for 4 yards. Robinson right on top for the stop.
8. Riley in the slot with Wilcox and Pierre at outside corner. Gunner Olszewski in the slot for the offense. Tanner Muse and Mark Robinson the inside linebacker pairing here. Screen right side to Jaylen Warren to beat the blitz, Robinson rushing in. Kendrick Green and Bill Dunkle lead the way downfield, Green outrunning Dunkle and he throws a block in space on Miles Killebrew far downfield. Big gainer here on a well-timed screen, a pickup of 26.
9. Offensive line of Anderson-McCollum-Green-Dunkle-Cook. Mason Rudolph comes in. Looks for Darnell Washington along the right side. He extends out away from his body to initially make the catch, but S Trenton Thompson closes in and knocks the ball out on the way down. Incomplete.
10. Spencer Anderson false starts. As is standard punishment, especially for young guys, they lose the rep and Anderson is replaced by Le’Raven Clark. Mike Tomlin not happy. “Junior varsity!” he yells out as Anderson walks to the side. Rudolph complete to WR Hakeem Butler right side for 7 yards on a curl.
11. Trenton Thompson and Jalen Elliott the safety pairing. Forrest Rhyne and Tanner Muse the inside linebackers. Luq Barcoo and Madre Harper the cornerbacks. Toby Ndukwe has his hand down as the right defensive end. Rudolph fires over the middle and completes to WR Dez Fitzpatrick for a gain of 14 before Harper spins him around at the end. After the rep, WRs Coach Frisman Jackson pulled Fitzpatrick aside and went over a coaching point for a moment.
12. Broderick Jones in at left tackle, Spencer Anderson in at left guard, Ryan McCollum at center. Anthony McFarland Jr. slot right side. Dan Chisena and Jordan Byrd in at wide receiver, Chisena the X. Rudolph wants to hit McFarland on an angle route over the middle, but Thompson is there again to break the throw up underneath and over the middle. Good reps here from him.
Fourth Team Session
1. Ball at the offense’s 19. Kwon Alexander and Cole Holcomb at inside linebacker. Nice back-shoulder throw from QB Kenny Pickett to WR Diontae Johnson, low but Johnson finds it, and it’s a 24-yard gain. Good throw and catch.
2. Pickett checks down to TE Pat Freiermuth underneath. Holcomb and Alexander converge. Gain of 8 with Alexander trying to punch the ball out, finishing the rep like the coaches instruct. Freiermuth tripped and fell at the end.
3. Kazee and Fitzpatrick in at safety. Don’t have the yardage but Pickett complete to Freiermuth left side. Had this been a real game, T.J. Watt would’ve had the sack almost instantly, getting into the backfield right away and all up in Pickett’s grill.
4. About a 15-yard completion to Pickens over the middle, who wrestled the ball away from S Damontae Kazee. On this rep, Broderick Jones was first-team left tackle and Dan Moore Jr. shifted over to right tackle. Chukwuma Okorafor getting a breather here.
5. Mitch Trubisky comes in with the Steelers’ twos and hits Calvin Austin III over the middle for 11 with CB Chris Wilcox covering.
6. Markus Golden and Nick Herbig the EDGE guys. Trubisky looks for Austin on a corner/seven route along the right sideline but James Pierre drives on the ball, steps in front, and jumps to pick off the pass right in front of Austin. Good rep here from Pierre.
7. Trubisky with another less-than-stellar play here. Wants Connor Heyward on a short curl route right side. He either doesn’t see or thinks he can fit the ball into the window despite S Jalen Elliott buzzing into the flat. Heavy contact from Elliott on Heyward at the catch point and the pass is incomplete, nearly picked off.
8. Trubisky looks to bounce back with a pinpoint throw over the middle on a dig to Gunner Olszewski. But the pass goes through his hands and hits off his chest, the ball popping up into the air. It falls into Pierre’s arms, who should have his second pick of the period, but slips through and reminds you why he’s a cornerback, not a receiver. A zany play but ultimately an incompletion in the box score.
9. Connor Heyward in the backfield at running back. Rudolph hits Hakeem Butler on a shallow cross for 7 yards, Luq Barcoo trailing.
10. Tanner Muse and Mark Robinson the inside linebacker pairing. Rudolph fires deep down the left sideline and WR Cody White makes a strong diving catch with a step on CB Elijah Riley. Big pickup here of 31 yards. White spikes the ball and he’s amped up about making the play.
11. Rudolph follows up long to short, hitting WR Jordan Byrd on a short crosser for about 5 until CB Madre Harper envelops him, far taller and bigger.
12. Barcoo and Harper in at cornerback. James Nyamwaya and Jonathan Marshall the defensive tackles. Toby Ndukwe at left outside linebacker, DeMarvin Leal at right defensive end. Riley in the slot. Rudolph waits and hits WR Dan Chisena beating zone over the middle, a gain of 19.
– Some Offensive line/Defensive line 1v1 notes.
O-line Vs D-Line
1. DeMarvin Leal dips under Broderick Jones at the top of the arc. Decent battle but I’ll give Leal the win.
2. Jones gets revenge. With good hand placement, he gets under and leverages Leal, under his chest plate, and shuts down the rep early.
3. The tiebreaker. Jones seals upfield and though Leal escapes late, Jones should get the win here to take the series.
4. Armon Watts tries to bull rush but loses his balance and falls forward on OG Bill Dunkle.
5. Watts rips under Dunkle late.
6. Kendrick Green re-engages with Montravius Adams after the two initially collide off the snap. Green stalls him out. Good rep here.
7. Green with good lateral mobility here to seal Adams upfield as he attacks the outside shoulder.
8. Nasty bull rush from NT Breiden Fehoko here, working under Ryan McCollum and walking him back.
9. Fehoko might be trying some different stuff in a practice environment and tests out a spin on McCollum. He mirrors but Fehoko finishes with a club, bowling McCollum over and off his feet.
10. Dylan Cook flashes the dead hand and wins the rep on Toby Ndukwe, mirroring him well.
11. Again, Cook wins on Ndukwe, handling Ndukwe’s favorite move, the inside spin.
12. Easy win by rookie Spencer Anderson, sealing Nick Herbig up the arc.
13. Here, Herbig wins on Anderson with a successful cross chop to soften the corner and turn upfield.
14. Herbig goes back to the cross chop in the tiebreaker, but it doesn’t work as well. Giving Anderson the “W” here.
15. Broderick Jones with a good rep against Herbig. Initial punch a bit wide but he’s able to steer him inside.
16. McCollum seals Isaiahh Loudermilk upfield.
17. Loudermilk swims and beats McCollum off the line. But as he tries to turn upfield, he loses his balance and falls, a reminder of the lower-half tightness he has.
18. Loudermilk is able to rip under and through McCollum.
19. Good punch by Green to win early as Pat Meyer teaches it. Wins against Jonathan Marshall.
20. Marshall sheds Green late here but I’m giving Green the overall victory.
21. Dunkle is top-heavy but sticks to Montravius Adams well enough, even if it wasn’t pretty. Got the job done.
22. Dunkle again loses his balance and falls over.
23. Anderson pushes David Perales up the arc, though Perales dips very late. Still, advantage Anderson.
24. Perales sheds Anderson to the inside here.
25. Tiebreaker. Anderson rides Perales upfield and then mirrors him as Perales tries to double back and come down. Good rep for Anderson.
26. Very effective snatch and trap by Dylan Cook to knock Toby Ndukwe to the ground. This is where Ndukwe hurt his hand/wrist.
27. Cooks seals Herbig upfield.
28. Broderick Jones seals Herbig upfield.
29. Nice swim and shed by Herbig to beat Jones. Lots of good battles between Herbig and Jones/Anderson in this period. Everyone congratulates each other as they wrap up.
Fifth Team Session (Two-Minute Drill)
1. Two-minute drill. Ball at midfield. Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle, Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle. Nice job by Moore to seal Alex Highsmith’s speed rush upfield. Pickett tucks and runs for roughly 5.
2. Pickett complete to Allen Robinson II over the middle for about 6.
3. Pickett hits Najee Harris on a short checkdown underneath for a gain of 7.
4. Pickett drops back, nothing appears to be there, and Highsmith gets some pressure. Play sorta falls apart and it’s whistled just as Pickett goes to throw, looking for WR George Pickens right side with James Pierre underneath, a Cover 2 hole shot. Everyone basically stops and Pickens, feet just inbounds along the right sideline, throws up his right hand to try to catch this one while perfectly still inbounds. He can’t but it’s a fun moment of levity, Pickens throwing up his hand, leaning and leaning and leaning before finally falling over like a house of cards.
All of that is to say the pass was incomplete.
5. Third down. Diontae Johnson did limp off, but he was okay. This time, Pickett is able to successfully hit Pickens along the right corner and he wisely gets out of bounds. A gain of 17 down to the 15-yard line.
6. Pickett fires down the left seam and Allen Robinson II makes a great diving grab to keep the ball off the ground for the score.
– Now the second-team comes in.
1. Same scenario, ball at midfield for Mitch Trubisky. Kendrick Green at center. First throw is complete left side to Darnell Washington for 5 yards with Mark Robinson throwing a hard shoulder into him out of bounds.
2. Gunner Olszewski sits and settles against zone coverage, jumping to grab the ball above his head. It’s good placement by Trubisky. Elijah Riley tags him from behind and it’s a gain of 18.
3. Some miscommunication here, Trubisky expecting Olszewski to sit with McFarland leaking to the right flat. Olszewski runs through it and the pass is behind and incomplete, off Olszewski’s hand as he tries to reach back for the ball.
4. Miles Boykin and Cody White the outside receivers with Olszewski in the slot. Greg Bell in at running back. Trubisky again finds Olszewski for roughly 10 yards, the latter baseball sliding down to get the next play off as quickly as possible.
5. Again, the Trubisky to Olszewski show keeps rolling along, open down the left seam to 2-yard line. About 15 yards here.
6. Finally, someone not named Gunner. TE Darnell Washington breaks open over the middle and after coming off his initial read, Trubisky finds him for the score in the middle of the end zone. Hard guy to forget about but Washington was pretty open.
Camp Summary
– Solid and successful two-minute drills from Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky. Trubisky struggled a bit more during the team period, really just two negative reps back-to-back, but ended the day well.
– During the run period, Connor Heyward received two carries ahead of Greg Bell and Darius Hagans. Heyward may be a real backup option as a No 3 type of runner this year.
– Cody White and Gunner Olszewski are practice kings, though Olszewski occasionally lets a pass hit off his chest. But overall, they look good in camps.
– Like I wrote above, good battles from the rookies in offensive line/defensive line. Nick Herbig on Broderick Jones and Spencer Anderson. Jones and Anderson are plus athletes. Jones needs to work on his initial hand placement and punch.
– You get some good James Pierre and some bad James Pierre. Sometimes on the same day. Overall, a good day for him with the interception and I think he had a breakup in 7v7, though he should’ve had two picks in the team period. He’s talented but just never found consistency. I don’t know if that’ll change at this stage of his career.
– Mentioned his name a few times but OT Dylan Cook is serious practice squad material. He’s a solid pass protector with good hand usage and nimble feet. Don’t see many bad reps from him.
– Safety Trenton Thompson can play a bit too out of control and take bad angles downhill but he’s tenacious with ball skills. Pick in the preseason opener and two breakups today. He could stick on the practice squad.
Saint Vincent Photo Of The Day
WR Dez Fitzpatrick making a nice snag in individual period.
Better Know A Steeler
A daily blurb offering a brief bio of an interesting former Steeler.
While Limas Sweed is remembered as the Steelers’ big wide receiver draft miss of the 2000s, he actually caught more passes than Willie Reid. The team’s third-round pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, Reid spent just two years with the team and caught only four passes while chipping in a handful of returns. After being cut, he never played in another NFL game.
Bill Burr’s Quote Of The Day
“I wish they would teach it in schools: give people the belief that they are going to do well. A lot of people are really talented and scared to follow their talent because you don’t know where it’s going.”
