Practice Report: The return of Big Ben

LATROBE, Pa. - A breakdown of Practice No. 11 at Saint Vincent College: **RED ZONE:** QB Ben Roethlisberger was back for Round 2 against Detroit after missing Tuesday’s joint practice with the Detroit Lions due to an excused absence for personal reasons. When the ball was placed in the red zone, Roethlisberger did his best to make sure it ended up in the end zone. He hit TE Jesse James for a 20-yard TD on which James made a contested catch over LB Tahir Whitehead. Roethlisberger’s second throw in the drill missed TE David Johnson in the back of the end zone from 17 yards away. From there, Roethlisberger connected with WR Darrius Heyward-Bey for a touchdown on a slant route out of an empty set from the 7-yard line, and with WR Antonio Brown at the goal line pylon for a 3-yard score out of another empty set. BACKS-ON-’BACKERS: The Steelers’ backs and tight ends met the Lions’ linebackers while the Detroit running backs and tight ends opposed the Pittsburgh LBs in simultaneous action. The Steelers’ offensive players won 13 of 25 reps (unofficial count) and their defensive players were successful 16 of 23 times (unofficial count).Running backs coach James Saxon gave RB Brandon Brown-Dukes a chance to make amends after an unsuccessful rep against LB Kyle Van Noy. “Get up here again,” Saxon ordered. Van Noy wasn’t interested in a rematch, but Brown-Dukes got the better of LB Antwione Williams on the following rep. TWO-MINUTE DRILL: QB Landry Jones ran the first-team offense and was unsuccessful in moving the ball 54 yards for a touchdown in 1:23 with one timeout at his disposal. Jones completed five of nine passes for 51 yards on the march, including a 3-yard gain to Brown on fourth-and-2 from 26-yard line. Jones’ incompletions were a clock-stopping spike, a drop by WR Sammie Coates and a 23-yard pass to the back of the end zone that Brown caught but was judged to have been out of bounds by the visiting officials. The last snap occurred from the 23 with :01 on the clock and resulted in a shallow cross to Brown, who was stopped at the 3. **MEDICAL FILE:** Head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t meet with the media after practice so no injury updates were forthcoming. WR Markus Wheaton, CB Artie Burns, LB Travis Feeney, LB Bud Dupree, C Maurkice Pouncey, OT Jerald Hawkins and LB Ryan Shazier didn’t practice. S/CB Sean Davis started practice but didn’t finish. True to his daily ritual, Davis stood next to defensive backs coach Carnell Lake when not participating in drills, even though Davis had his shoulder pads off and his left knee wrapped in ice for the latter part of practice. AUDIBLES: “They don’t want none of this.” - Unidentified Lions RB after “Backs-on-’Backers” was temporarily delayed because a Steelers LB was slow to get in position for a rep. “Oh yeah, they do.” - Steelers outside linebackers coach Joey Porter just before LB Tyler Matakevich hurried into position and allowed “Backs-on-’Backers to continue.