Steelers Training Camp: Defense Dominates A Chippy Practice

LATROBE – The Pittsburgh Steelers returned to the practice field on Thursday for what would end up being their longest – and chippiest – practice of training camp thus far. There were also multiple players that left with injuries on a day that was dominated by the defense. Let’s dive in.

Multiple scuffles take place

It appears the Steelers saved their aggression specifically for today. After a week of clean practices with little to no fights, a handful of altercations took place Thursday. During an 11-on-11 team period, Ben Skowronek and Payton Wilson exchanged words and open-hand punches were thrown.

“He just grabbed me from the back,” Skowronek told me after practice. “Grabbed my jersey. I was blocking PQ, we got into it… we’re just competitive. When you’re out here 11-on-11 a bunch of days in a row, we’re all competitive, we all wanna win. Sometimes some extra curriculars happen after the play. But at the end of the day we’re teammates and we’ll be out there in a handful of weeks on Sundays going against the other guys.”

Lew Nichols and D’Shawn Jamison also got into a skirmish, this one a bit more physical. Nichols blocked Jamison, who was coming for the quarterback. The two went to the ground and had to be pulled apart. They continued to chirp at one another on the sideline after the play.

There were other close calls in which players nearly came to blows. DeShon Elliott lowered a shoulder into DK Metcalf as he was running out of bounds. Metcalf hit the ground and multiple offensive players came over to Elliott, though he immediately helped Metcalf up, recognizing his mistake. Asante Samuel Jr. also tripped Pat Freiermuth during team period. Like Elliott, he immediately got up and patted himself on the chest as a way of admitting fault. For a camp that features no live tackling, Thursday was very physical.

Injuries hit multiple contributors

The Steelers had a great week with limited injuries, but the bug finally bit on Thursday. First-round pick Max Iheanachor left practice with an injury, as did cornerback Brandin Echols. The severity of both is yet to be known. Additionally, running back/wide receiver Eli Heidenreich and defensive lineman Logan Lee were both held out of practice with undisclosed injuries.

Defense wins the day

After a very successful week for the offense, it was the defense who won the day on Thursday. Derrick Harmon and T.J. Watt both batted down passes at the line of scrimmage, and Sebastian Joseph-Day got enough of one pass that prevented a completion to Rico Dowdle. Jaquan Brisker had a great play in coverage, breaking in on a one-on-one deep ball from Mason Rudolph to DK Metcalf to prevent a completion. Nick Herbig blew up a run play for what would have been a three-yard loss. They capped off the day with a win in the two-minute drill. An overall very nice day from the defense.

Other notes

• The Steelers continue to toy with looks that involve T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig all on the field. There were looks where all three lined up on the ball, as well as Herbig playing off-ball.
• Doneiko Slaughter had another nice day. After Brandin Echols went out, he ran with the first-team and had what would have been a tackle for loss on a swing pass to Jaylen Warren.
• Jack Sawyer had a great rep against Broderick Jones. Gets outside leverage and would have been a sack in-game.
• Aaron Rodgers hit Roman Wilson for a long touchdown in team period. It gets called back due to a penalty on DK Metcalf away from the play, but Wilson continues to light up training camp.
• Writing may be on the wall for Kaleb Johnson. Travis Homer and Lew Nichols continue to get the second and third-team reps at the same rate, or at an even higher rate, than No. 20. I truly don’t see a spot for him on the roster.
• Pittsburgh may need to go get one more receiver. Kaden Wetjen is not a good pass-catcher. Drew Allar looked his way on consecutive plays during the two-minute drill, both of which Wetjen dropped. No matter how terrific a returner he was in college – and may be in the NFL – he isn’t an NFL receiver.

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