LATROBE, Pa. – It was a day for the defense, and it ended with goal-line pretty much the way it started with 7-Shots.
"A really big day, kind of the culmination of a big week for us," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "This second week of team development, you take significant steps in a lot of areas. Hopefully you're minimizing some self-inflicted wounds, and you start to see some playmaking, not based on what others don't do, but based on the quality of performance. And so we saw some signs of that. It's been a good week. We brought the week to a close with some significant football, some short-yardage, some goal-line. Appreciate the efforts and energy. We'll comb through the tape and just continue to work to get better."
The team's second week at Saint Vincent College consisted of 6 straight practices, 3 of which were in pads, with one of those being Friday Night Lights at Latrobe Stadium. There would have been 4 practices in pads if a deluge last Tuesday had not forced the team into the campus gymnasium for a walk-through. When the team reconvenes after Monday's scheduled off day, there will be three practices – 2 in pads – before a trip to Jacksonville for a 7 p.m. Saturday game vs. the Jaguars in the preseason opener.
"We've been appreciative of the presence of the NFL officials here (the last 3 days)," said Tomlin. "That's also a component of Week 2, just playing clean, not only in terms of penalties, but pre-snap cleanliness on offense and respecting the neutral zone, etc., on defense. It's the preseason for the officials as well. Their presence benefits us, but just from communicating with those guys they need the prep as well, and so we're thankful for that partnership."
7-Shots
The drill that traditionally begins the competitive portion of practice each day, ended with a 6-1 win for the defense, and the three quarterbacks who participated on Sunday were a combined 0-for-5 passing.
Aaron Rodgers was 0-for-3, with one of those being a missed connection with WR Ben Skowronek that sure felt like a miscommunication, and another being a play where there were no receivers open.
The offense attempted a running play on the first of Mason Rudolph's two plays, but that failed when CB James Pierre came down the line and made the tackle on RB Trey Sermon. On Rudolph's second snap, his threw behind TE JJ Galbreath on a slant pattern.
Will Howard was the third quarterback in the drill, and the offense scored its only TD when he handed the ball to RB Evan Huff, who punched it in off right guard. Howard then overthrew WR Roc Taylor in the left corner of the end zone.
Observations
• Best practice so far for rookie OLB Jack Sawyer, the Steelers No. 4 pick (123rd overall) in the 2025 NFL Draft. Slated to provide depth on the edge behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith as a rookie, as well as being a core special teams player on the coverage units, Sawyer (6-foot-4, 259 pounds) was a presence in several of the practice periods, both individual and 11-on-11.
In the TEs/OLBs run-blocking drill, Sawyer was matched up against TE Darnell Washington, who has been stringing together solid practices consistently since camp opened. But Sawyer didn't get pushed around in any of his repetitions vs. Washington and in fact did better than get a stalemate on more than one occasion. During the team run period, Sawyer crashed down from his edge position and made a tackle-for-loss, and on the second snap of goal-line, he kept RB Kaleb Johnson out of the end zone.
• Another player who handled himself well during the TEs/OLBs period was DeMarvin Leal. Listed at 6-4, 293, Leal has been lining up at OLB sometimes and in the defensive line other times, and he was a handful for the TEs matched up against him. On a few reps, Leal grabbed and threw his opponent to the ground.
• Watt and Cam Heyward both were dressed out, but neither participated much in this practice, and one day after having a solid Saturday with a handful of nice receptions, TE Pat Freiermuth was given the day off.
• With Heyward mostly spectating, the first-team DTs during the short-yardage period were rookie Derrick Harmon and third-year pro Keeanu Benton, and they combined to stuff RB Jaylen Warren on a run up the middle. The offense had more success during that period when it spread the formation a little bit and then ran the football.
Goal-Line
Just like 7-Shots, there were 7 plays in the practice's finale, and just like 7-Shots the defense got the better of the play throughout. But what attracted much of the attention was ILB Mark Robinson switching from a gold No. 93 practice jersey (defense) to a white No. 93 practice jersey (offense) and lining up as a lead fullback for the first couple of snaps of the drill.
"He played running back in college," said Tomlin about Robinson. "Those of you who are familiar with his resume, it's not a completely foreign act. We just wanted to give him a shot at it and see what it looked like. Maybe we'll do some more in the future with him. Maybe we'll do some more with some others. The more versatile you are, it adds to your cause and it adds to ours."
The presence of a lead fullback didn't have much impact on Sunday. On the first play, ILB Payton Wilson and Benton combined on the tackle. On the second play, Jack Sawyer kept RB Kaleb Johnson out of the end zone.
Also making plays for the defense during goal-line were S Chuck Clark who broke up a pass, and on the final play rookie S Sebastian Castro made a 1-on-1 tackle in the left flat to keep the running back out of the end zone.
TOMLIN'S INJURY UPDATE
"Some bumps and bruises associated with play, but we had a lot of guys getting back to action today, particularly in the offensive line. Some of those guys were full participants who have been partial participants, which is good as we lean in on next week and get ready to step into a stadium … The only new injury to mention — Alex Highsmith didn't finish. Don't know the severity of it. In the one-on-one pass rush period, he stopped. He said maybe he felt his groin. But we'll evaluate it, and I'll be more definitive next time we talk, not only about the injury but the significance of it."