Steelers inside the ropes: Chippiness kept to minimum during joint practice with Bills

During a 7-on-7 period late in Thursday’s joint practice at Acrisure Stadium, Pat Freiermuth reeled in a pretty one-handed catch while running full stride toward the back-right corner of the end zone while Christian Benford was in tight pursuit.

After Freiermuth came down with the reception off a pass from Russell Wilson, he had strong words for Benford. The two stood closely together, and the palms of one of their hands might have faced up and outward in a token effort to shove the other.

That moment might have represented the highest point of animosity between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills as the teams shared the field for what was the Steelers’ first practice with another team in eight years.

Players on both teams behaved themselves for the two-hour practice — no easy task, what with 181 rostered players shared one 120-by-53.3-yard field.

At one point during one of the first 11-on-11 periods after the traditional “seven shots” 2-point conversion simulation that opened team-drill practice, players from the Steelers offense and Bills defense gathered as if a skirmish was about to erupt — but, aside from some jawing, it blew over.

Later in a team period, some light pushing and shoving ensued, but it was nothing significant. Certainly far from the worst-case scenarios often playing out across the league when two teams practice together.

• The format with twice the number of players on one-third the number of fields (as compared to Saint Vincent College) led to dueling 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills taking part on opposite sides of the field. The Steelers offense would go against the Bills defense headed from just inside midfield toward one end zone, while the Buffalo offense faced Steelers defenders headed toward the other.

• The Steelers offense worked “seven shots” into the end zone on the Ohio River side of the stadium. Wilson took the first four snaps, tripping after taking the first snap but finding George Pickens in the back of the end zone on the second and Dez Fitzpatrick wide open behind the defense on a quick toss for the third snap. Jaylen Warren was stopped for a loss on a run to the left side on the fourth and final snap for the first-teamers.

• The Justin Fields-led second offense scored on all three snaps, albeit the first comes with the sizable asterisk that his scramble into the end zone (which ended in a light jog) likely would have ended in a sack during true football circumstances. On the next play, Fields found Cordarrelle Patterson coming out of the backfield for a connection at the goal line. The final play, again, took long enough to develop that it is fair to wonder if Fields would have been sacked if it was a game. But, officially, Fields zinged a pass to the right corner of the end zone where Scotty Miller deftly toe-tapped two feet in bounds.

• Simultaneously on the other side of the field, Josh Allen led the Bills to scores on three of his four snaps as quarterback. The fourth such play was an option pass by tight end Dalton Kincaid to receiver Mack Hollins, after which Hollins dunked the ball over the crossbar in celebration. Former Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky had his first two snaps blown dead, and his third — an attempted throw to K.J. Hamler in the end zone — was knocked down by Cory Trice.

• NFL officials were on hand, as is standard for joint practices. They threw flags even during individual, one-on-one style drills. At one point during a team drill, everyone seemed to think Steelers outside linebacker Nick Herbig jumped offside … but the official called a false start on a Buffalo lineman.

• During a drill of quarterbacks throwing to running backs and tight ends while linebackers from the opposite team worked in coverage, Steelers fullback Jack Colletto on consecutive reps drew pass interference flags on Bills defenders.

• As much as special teams was an emphasis — and indeed the impetus for the entire joint practice — it’s difficult to glean much in regards to observations during punt and kickoff work. It is becoming notable that Patterson — a player the Steelers signed this spring who happens to hold the NFL career record for kickoff return touchdowns — has not yet fielded a kickoff during a live practice throughout camp. Thursday, running backs La’Mical Perine and Daijun Edwards were deep receiving kickoffs for the Steelers.

• New punter Cameron Johnston again wowed, consistently booting 50-60 yard punts during a live period.

• Allen had the best pass of the day, a pass about 30 yards downfield in stride between the hashes caught by Khalil Shakir, who’d beaten Damontae Kazee and the Steelers’ first-team defense to catch the ball at about the 5 and ran into the end zone.

• Soon after, though, Jalen Elliott had an interception of Allen.