LATROBE, PA (93.7 The Fan) – Returning from an off day, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was mainly pleased with practice on Tuesday. What he said about today, injury updates, highlights from today including some big plays to Calvin Austin and Darnell Washington.
Tomlin admitted the workout at St. Vincent College was sloppy at times, but he liked the team’s ability to rally from a bad day.
“Can we flip it in the middle of practice?” Tomlin said. “Because that’s kind of reflective of how things transpire in stadiums. If things aren’t going our way, what is our ability to flip it in stadium as opposed to acknowledging it and fixing it in the coming week.”
He said he challenged the team to make those adjustments and did see some signs of positive movement in that area.
Injuries
Corner Joey Porter, Junior returned to participate in team drills as Damontae Kazee continues to run as the first-team safety with Minkah Fitzpatrick. Safety Keanu Neal also got a number of snaps during team drills as he returns from an undisclosed injury. Defensive lineman Keeanu Benton dressed in pads, but did only non-contact work with an apparent right ankle injury suffered during the game on Friday.
Safety Tre Norwood did not practice, neither did linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski (shoulder from game Friday). Defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi (boot on his foot and did not dress in uniform), offensive lineman Nate Herbig (shoulder), outside linebacker Markus Golden (Tomlin said they were ‘taking care of him’, alluding to it being a veteran day off) all did not practice.
Related
7 Shots
· Najee Harris middle run for a TD
· Pat Freiermuth made a near 1-hand catch in the back of the end zone off a Kenny Pickett throw
· Levi Wallace PBU off a back-shoulder throw to Allen Robinson
· Joey Porter PBU v George Pickens on a slant from Pickett
· Mitch Trubisky TD on a post to Connor Heyward (beat Kenny Robinson)
· Trubisky stop route TD to TE Rodney Williams
· Tomlin called the first teams back with the drill tied 3-3, Pickett threw an in-route TD to Diontae Johnson (Chandon Sullivan coverage)
Related
Other Notes
· Safety Elijah Riley had his second interception of camp, picking off Trubisky as he was under pressure. The pass intended for Calvin Austin near the middle of the field.
· Defensive lineman Armon Watts got a lot of first-team reps, he also beat James Daniels a few times on one-on-one drills and then Kendrick Green
“He’s an NFL player,” Tomlin said of Watts. “You can tell he’s been in an NFL environment. He’s available consistently every day. He’ll be given an opportunity to state a case for himself for sure.”
· Dan Moore won his two matchups against Alex Highsmith
· Minkah Fitzpatrick had a pass breakup during 11-on-11 drills against Pickens which led to a lot of chirping and then on the next down, Wallace had a fourth-down pass breakup against Johnson which led to more talking. Pickett was the quarterback.
· Wallace and Patrick Peterson remained the first-team corners. Sullivan was the starting slot back, although Peterson got a few reps in the slot.
· Rookie seventh rounder Spencer Anderson worked as the second-team right tackle and the third-team center.
· The punters competed and Pressley Harvin was clearly the better kicker on Tuesday
· Green took a few snaps at fullback. On one play, Green was the fullback and Connor Heyward the tailback.
· Darnell Washington had a big gain on a tight end screen
· Pickett hit a long pass as he scrambled to his left and found Austin in stride deep down the sideline.
· At one point of 11-on-11 drills, Tomlin yelled out about the first team offensive line ‘better clean that f#*%ing pocket up’
Related
Two more practices open to the public, Wednesday and Thursday at 1:55p at St. Vincent College.