Everything was running smoothly at Steelers practice – their second-to-last public practice of camp – until one of the final plays of the day when Chase Claypool went down after catching a Mason Rudolph pass down the sideline then didn't get up.
That drew at attention of Dr. Jim Bradley, who just happened to be there, and trainer John Norwig. Ben Roethlisberger was the first player on the scene, followed by Eric Ebron. Those two helped Claypool off the field which actually could be a good sign since they did not call for a cart.
As expected, Mike Tomlin didn't have much to offer after practice only to say, "he's being evaluated."
Otherwise, Tomlin broke with training camp tradition and did not start practice with the 7 Shots goal line competition, instead going right to 11-on-11. He said he wanted to simulate a Wednesday practice with a game on Saturday night.
For the first time – and that's the first time, period, not just this summer – fans saw the presumptive first team offensive line working as one unit, with Kendrick Green at center, Trai Turner and Kevin Dotson at guard and Chuks Okorafor and Zach Banner at tackle. When asked if this means the rookie Green has won the center job Tomlin played it coy. "Ummmm, you can surmise that," Tomlin grinned, "but the will no bold announcements."
In individual OL-DL drills Chuks held his own, albeit against Jamir Jones and not Alex Highsmith, Melvin Ingram or TJ Watt (who continues to condition along the sideline). Tyson Alualu pushed Green back into the faux QB on the first match-up but Green recovered fairly well in the rematch. Banner had some trouble with Cassius Marsh while Ingram has Joe Haeg look rather silly with a pair of spin moves. Dotson battled Cam Heyward to a draw. Stephon Tuitt still did not participate.
Players were dressed out, except for Ben Roethlisberger who was in shorts, but there was not a lot of intense contact. Roethlisberger lined up under center more than half the time and made some plays, even if the defense didn't really bite on play fakes as if they knew what was coming (which they probably did).
Working against back-ups, Ben hooked up with James Washington on a beautiful deep ball, "throwing him open" against Justin Layne and Tre Norwood and Washington laid out for a nice diving catch. A few plays later, tight end Zach Gentry made a solid pick-up on Jamir Jones which gave Roethlisberger time to slide up in the pocket to find JuJu Smith-Schuster in the middle of a zone.
In a subsequent 11-on-11 period, Ben completed a pair of nice mid-range throws – to Ebron and Claypool. Benny Snell, who has been out with an undisclosed ailment, finally reappeared in that session and looked fit on his carry.
Next Up – The final training camp practice open to the public at 1:30, which is a change from a schedule you may have seen. The Steelers will play their only home pre-season game Saturday night against Detroit at 7:30.
