The Friday Night Lights practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers was quite intense. It featured not only a lot of hitting but a lot of chirping back and forth.
That was nowhere more present than in the much-anticipated backs-on-backers drills, where running backs and tight ends are pass protecting against linebackers and edge rushers.
The pads were popping once again, much like they have been through the first few days of padded practices at training camp, creating intense environments. On Friday night, running back Najee Harris and linebacker Patrick Queen were jawing back and forth throughout the session while Jaylen Warren tossed Elandon Roberts to the ground and stood over him, starting a bit of a skirmish.
For rookie linebacker Payton Wilson, who has brought some physicality and big pops in the drill, those sessions and the physicality that comes out show exactly what the Steelers are made of.
Speaking with Steelers.com’s Missi Matthews and radio color analyst Craig Wolfley Saturday after practice on Training Camp Live, Wilson elaborated on his comments.
“It’s awesome. I mean, just kind of shows you what this team’s made of. Best on best going at it as hard as they possibly can every single day,” Payton Wilson said of the backs-on-backers drill, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “And it’s really cool to see guys like that going at it because you know that you have the right to go as hard as you possibly can and compete as hard as you possibly can against the best. So it’s really cool.
“I say it all the time: I think Patrick Queen and E-Rob [Elandon Roberts] are two of the best in the game. So just to see the way that they practice and compete is truly special.”
Payton Wilson saying it’s truly special to see how Queen and Roberts practice and prepare isn’t anything new. He’s said it multiple times this offseason, but it sure does sound good and provides a lot of good feelings about the inside linebacker room for the 2024 season.
His comment about the drill showing what the team is made of is spot on. This team wants to be physical, punch people in the mouth, back down from nobody and assert itself as the true dominant force.
Though they are teammates, there is pride on the line, not only individually, but for the position group as well. As Warren said earlier in the week, those types of drills and moments are how the team is built and guys come together.
The sessions might get heated, and words exchanged. But there’s something to going through the grind with teammates, iron sharpening iron, and in many cases against Warren, going against the best pass-protecting running back in the league.
It’s very cool to see, and it’s showing at its most basic form what this team is going to be all about in 2024.
