After a month at Saint Vincent College, and a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium, the Steelers were back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Monday, preparing for the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.
The day was used as a dual threat, going over what transpired in Saturday night's loss to the Bucs, as well as preparing for the Panthers.
"Really productive day," said Coach Mike Tomlin following practice. "Spent the morning combing through Saturday night's game tape. It's just a lot to be learned, not only from a skill development standpoint, but from a strategy perspective and from a cultural perspective. So, I just wanted to devote the morning totally to that.
"We came out here and got some Carolina work this afternoon. We are working on a short week. So, we just transitioned and quickly moved to Carolina.
"A lot of good effort and energy out here today. It's important that we don't waste days in transition being back in this environment. We've got a lot of work to do and obviously the sands running through the hourglass in terms of team development, in terms of guys getting an opportunity to state a case for themselves and for us to just develop the type of cohesion that's necessary to get into the season.
"We're working and working with urgency."
As far as who is expected to play on Thursday night against the Panthers, Tomlin won't reveal that until his normal weekly press conference on Tuesday.
"Don't have any plans about who's playing or how much they're playing in Carolina," said Tomlin. "We'll take a look at this practice tape and give a little bit more time from the injury perspective to allow people to perk up. Certainly, because this is the last opportunity, we want to give every healthy man an opportunity to state a case for themselves. So, we'll leave the door ajar for those that are managing short term injury things."
Two players who are dealing with injuries are receivers Calvin Austin III and Ben Skowronek. It's nothing that concerns Tomlin, though.
"I'm comfortable with it," said Tomlin. "Certainly, things get a little tight this time of year. Lines get short and usually in one area, positionally. There's strength and safety in numbers.
"That's a group that's running a little light, but that's just a component of this time of year."
Thursday will be the last preseason opportunity for some young players to show what they have, one of them being rookie running back Kaleb Johnson. Tomlin was pleased with Johnson's progress from Week 1 to Week 2 and expects even more in Week 3.
"I just want to continue to see him get more comfortable in this environment," said Tomlin. "I think the more comfortable he gets, the less fuel he burns in anticipation, the more his talents are going to show.
"I think we saw it from game one to game two. It's reasonable to expect that to continue."
Tomlin came out after the first week and said he wanted to see more from Johnson, challenging him slightly. And he delivered.
"It's a bunch of individual relationships within this big organization," said Tomlin of how he approaches handling different players. "That started for me way back in draft prep. It was not only getting to know the players and their skill set, but just their relationship with the game, how they best receive coaching, how they respond to challenges, et cetera. It is a major component of the 'get to know' for me."
Injury note: While the Steelers signed long snapper Jake McQuade, Tomlin did say that the injury to long snapper Christian Kuntz was short term.
