UPDATE: The team has officially announced the practice for Aug. 15. It will be closed to the public and will be at Acrisure Stadium, not St. Vincent College as previously noted in the NFL’s release.
The #Steelers and Bills will hold a joint practice at Acrisure Stadium on Thursday, August 15 that will be closed to the public.https://t.co/YHKlfShHoR
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 15, 2024
For the first time since 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers will hold a joint practice in training camp. On Aug. 15, the team will host the Buffalo Bills for a joint practice, per a release by the NFL.
The practice will be held at Acrisure Stadium, not St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., where the Steelers will hold their training camp.
The last time the Steelers held a joint practice was with the Detroit Lions in 2016 in Latrobe, and just last training camp, general manager Omar Khan said the Steelers hasn’t had one because they’re comfortable with the level of physicality in their own practices.
“There’s no real specific reason,” Khan said last year on The Pat McAfee Show. “We’ve done it recently with the Bills and Lions, I think maybe five or seven years ago we did it. But for us, it’s just kind of worked out coming to camp and we have a pretty good camp. We like the physicality of it.”
A joint practice with the Bills makes sense given that Sean McDermott and Mike Tomlin were teammates at William & Mary and seemingly have a good relationship. The two meet in a preseason game at Acrisure Stadium on Aug. 17, Pittsburgh’s second preseason game, and a joint practice will be a good ramp up for both teams.
Pittsburgh and Buffalo also held a training camp joint practice in 2014, which was the second-most recent joint practice the Steelers have had. Doug Marrone was the head coach of the Bills the last time Pittsburgh and Buffalo met for a joint practice. Ahead of that practice, Art Rooney II talked about the benefits of going up against another team during training camp.
Last season, Pittsburgh played Buffalo in the preseason and came away with a 27-15 win, but Buffalo got the last laugh when it actually mattered. The Bills beat the Steelers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round.
The joint practice is the latest change from what Pittsburgh has done lately in training camp. Weekday practices will now take place in the morning instead of their usual early afternoon slot, a move that could be tied to nutrition and helping players stay healthy.
It’ll be a nice change of pace to see a joint practice, and with two teams that have a lot of recent history, it wouldn’t be a surprise if things got a little physical ahead of their preseason meeting.
