Steelers camp report: Spirited, padded practice in effort to avoid a ‘corporate Monday morning’

Facing their first game week of the 2023 season, albeit merely the preseason, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin passed on the chance to take things slow Tuesday.

Following a scheduled idle day Monday, for the first of two practices in advance of Friday’s preseason opener at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Steelers practiced in pads. Tomlin formatted the session with drills that encourage physical play, too.

“I didn’t want to warm up to our work week,” Tomlin said after the practice at Saint Vincent. “We’ve got to be a group that works going into off days and works coming out of off days. We don’t need to waste time. We don’t need to have the ‘corporate Monday morning’ or ‘the corporate Friday afternoon,’ if you will, in terms of our progress. And so, I like what I saw in that regard. I thought they brought energy and enthusiasm and urgency to this work today. They didn’t warm up to it.”

The practice featured goal-line, short-yardage and one-on-one tackling drills. Three of the Steelers’ past four practices have been in full pads.

“It was important that we hit some of those things before we get into the stadium this weekend so that they’re duly prepared and have that experience under the belt,” Tomlin said. “It’s also a great platform for guys to show capabilities and we’re interested in seeing guys do a variety of things and provide versatility.”

Mike Tomlin jumped the Steelers headfirst into the work week

“We don’t wanna have the ‘corporate Monday morning’ or ‘corporate Friday afternoon’, if you will” pic.twitter.com/EBFbr4ENIc

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) August 8, 2023

Every day’s a win

Tomlin didn’t take the bait when it was pointed out to him that the offense was a big winner Tuesday in that it prevailed during 11 of 14 snaps in the seven shots 2-point conversion simulation and goal-line drills Tuesday.

“You know, I win on all of these days, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “I don’t care who wins. It’s a platform for teaching and learning, and that’s just my mindset at this stage of the game.”

Injury report

Safeties Damontae Kazee (ankle), Keanu Neal (undisclosed) and Tre Norwood (lower leg) and outside linebacker Nate Herbig (hip) also remained out of team drills because of injury. Kazee and Herbig took part in individual drills.

Rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (ankle) and defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal (ankle) returned to team drills, albeit perhaps in a slightly less-than-usual workload.

Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.