LATROBE (93.7 The Fan) – ‘Detail’ might be the buzz word at the beginning of training camp, from new head coach Mike McCarthy to the players, it is different this year at St. Vincent College. Highlights from day one of Steelers drills.
No pads
Whether you call it the heat acclimation period or ramp up or whatever term you use the Steelers have to work without pads at the beginning of practices, per the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. They will put pads on starting on Monday. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t contact.
The team went through one-on-one drills with offensive linemen battling each other, same on the defensive side. There were one-on-one battles between receivers and defensive backs, tight ends/running backs and linebackers. It just wasn’t over-the-top or taking players to the ground.
Tempo
It was as fast paced a practice as most who have covered the team can remember. It was run with the intentionality of a kids’ summer camp, when it was time to change, it was time to change. There wasn’t any opportunity to do a drill over again or to do a few more reps. When the team’s chief of staff said it was time to go to the next period, the players moved.
Traditionally there have been benches between the first two fields, they have all been removed. There may have been time in the past where during a special teams period, other groups got a period off. Not now. All are working the entire practice.
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I caution often new coaches (or just new to a team) will start very fast and strict and then back off a bit. We’ll see what McCarthy does, but it was often hard to write a note about a play because the next one came so fast.
There were designed two-minute drills (actually 1:14 on the clock), but also at the end random scenarios from throwing up a Hail Mary from near midfield to various game situations that almost appeared pulled out of a hat and not part of a rhythm of a series.
Best throw
Pretty clearly the best throw of the day also was the last play of the day. It was an 11-on-11 scenario with the ball placed around the 20-yard-line with four seconds left. Rookie Drew Allar went back to pass, scrambled a bit and fired a strike in the back of the end zone to new Steelers, and former Green Bay tight end, Robert Tonyan.
Watt moving around
TJ Watt said on move-in day that he was trying to be open-minded to change. During the first practice on Wednesday, Watt did play snaps on the right side. They also ran the three-outside-linebacker set the Steelers ran last year with mostly Nick Herbig in the middle.
“Whatever it takes to win football games, whatever it takes to mess up the offensive scheme, I’m willing to do,” Watt said.
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1st team offensive line
McCarthy tried to temper the early groupings before pracitce, but the first-team offensive line on Wednesday from left to right, Troy Fautanu, Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier, Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook. It’s the same as the entirety of offseason workouts on the South Side.
Second team, Broderick Jones started on the left side, adding weight since mini-camp, but still looks more like a tight end than an offensive tackle. Brock Hoffman at left guard, Ryan McCollum at center, Steven Jones at right guard and first-round pick Max Iheanachor at right tackle.
Cook did get a little work at left tackle when they started toying with different combinations.
Junior for Junior
With Joey Porter, Junior on the Physically Unable to Perform list, Asante Samuel, Junior ran with the first team defense and had nearly a handful of pass breakups, many coming early and against the first team. Samuel, Junior signed back with the Steelers in the offseason after playing six games in Pittsburgh last year with three starts.
