The Steelers wrapped up the first day of padded practice at St. Vincent Monday evening, one that drew large crowds and reporters from the NFL Network. Sadly, the network’s coverage left much to be desired. Below in the article, I’ve included some footage taken by an attendee at camp that blows away the brief warmups shown on the NFL broadcast yesterday, but I digress…
Terry Hawthorne was out with what’s rumored to be a sore knee, as he was seen favoring it after Special Teams drills on Sunday. Hawthrone missed spring activities due to knee surgery. Cortez Allen and DeMarcus Van Dyke were out again, as well. Mike Tomlin wasn’t concerned about depth at Cornerback, though, when asked after practice. “Not really concerned about the depth at this point. One man’s misfortune is an opportunity for others.” When asked if Hawthorne being out was just a precaution or necessary, he said, “No, it’s not good to give a guy who’s fighting for a job precautionary rest. It was necessary, but hopefully not long term.”
Reggie Dunn, J.D. Woods, McNeal, and Larod Stephens-Howling were fielding kicks towards the beginning of practice, and Wheaton, Gilreath, Dunn, J. Brown, Sanders, and A. Brown were fielding punts. J. Brown reportedly almost caught one while holding 5 balls.
In positional drills, the offensive line continued working on techniques for the Outside Zone Scheme. Le’Veon Bell said after practice that the line is getting used to the outside zone, and they’re getting better and better at it. During team drills, there were two variations of 2nd team offensive line units according to Ken Laird:
Kelvin Beachum – Chris Hubbard – John Malecki – Justin Cheadle – Guy Whimper
and-
Joe Long – John Malecki – Kelvin Beachum – Justin Cheadle – Guy Whimper
1st team was the expected cast of: Gilbert – Foster – Pouncey – DeCastro – Adams
Adams is said to be looking healthy and reportedly contained Woodley well during the Oline vs Dline session.
The highlight of the day of course was the Backs on Backers drill. The running backs spent some time preparing for the battle by going over technique with ‘Big Bertha’.
Le’Veon Bell meets “Big Bertha” for the first time at St. Vincent pic.twitter.com/mcbcsB7bgR
— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) July 29, 2013
No one went airborne like Chris Rainey did last year. While the drill favors the backers by design, most of the backs held their own. Bell, who had the most match-ups at 11, preformed well for the most part. Clearly, the coaching staff wanted to put him to the test. Woodley dominated Bell a couple times, but that’s completely expected. The feature showing was Bell versus Jarvis Jones. After facing off four times, they were said to have split the battle evenly 2-2. After practice, Bell spoke of the contest. “It was 2-2. The first one I won. The next two Jarvis got me. He kept hitting me with that bull rush”. Bell added, “He got his hands on me. He’s thick. Don’t know how to explain it… he’s strong, knows how to use his hands”
Baron Batch was reported to have had a rough go of it. A few backers were said to have used their speed to edge around him. Marshall McFadden laid a mean hit on Batch. A frustrated #20 retaliated, and a scuffle ensued. Coach Wilson was quick to break it up, yelling- “We don’t fight here!”. In Backs on Backers, sometimes you’re the dog, and sometimes you’re the hydrant.
Here’s a great video account of the Backs on Backers drill taken by an onlooker in the crowd yesterday:
According to reports, Jarvis Jones was not only impressing with his rushing abilities, but in pass coverage as well.
New special teams coach Danny Smith, who was added this offseason, is said to be very loud, fiery, and animated in practice. Hopefully that fire is contagious, and carries over to the field this season.
The team reconvenes for practice on Wednesday.