Steelers inside the ropes: Dwayne Haskins continues to open eyes

The team portion of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers camp practice began with Dwayne Haskins directing the only assured scores during the “seven shots” 2-point conversion simulation.

Practice ended with Haskins leading the only drive that scored during a 2-minute drill simulation.

And Haskins did that latter deed while leading the first-team offense; Mason Rudolph guided backups.

Whatever Haskins’ odds are in his quest to unseat Rudolph for the No. 2 quarterback job, fuel keeps being added to the fire. Haskins has performed admirably during preseason games. He also regularly shows off his first round-caliber arm in camp practices.

That was the case again Sunday.

Not that coach Mike Tomlin would allow himself to express he was impressed.

“More than anything lesson to be learned is defense had an interception in his hand and didn’t finish the play,” Tomlin said when asked about Haskins driving the offense to a score in the 2-minute drill, referring to Cameron Sutton allowing an interception to bounce out of his hands. “You can’t give signal-callers another shot at you. That was lesson from that period. Obviously, (Haskins) went on and produced a scoring drive — but when defense gets hands on the ball, we have to close it out.”

• Sutton’s botched interception bounced into the arms of TE Pat Freiermuth for a short gain, instead, early in the drill that began with 1 minute, 48 seconds and about 60 yards to drive with one timeout. Haskins completed passes to WRs JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool during the “drive” — the latter caught over top of CB James Pierre while Claypool was running across the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

• One of Haskins’ better throws of the day was about 30 yards downfield to rookie WR Isaiah McKoy during 11-on-11 play late in practice. Because McKoy was in the midst of three defenders, the throw needed to have some zip on it to get it through to the intended target.

• Both of Haskins’ “touchdowns” during “seven shots” were to rookie WR Rico Bussey. The first was over the middle and the second a quick slant from the left side. Those were Haskins’ only two snaps of the drill; they were also the lone two that went to the offense without a dispute. Johnson probably, but not assuredly, got into the end zone off the third and final throw by Ben Roethlisberger.

• Roethlisberger’s first two throws were intended for Freiermuth. Neither was completed, the latter was broken up by S Terrell Edmunds. Roethlisberger, incidentally, had a very light day of work.

• Rudolph’s two “seven shots” snaps were incomplete throws: one to WR Cody White in which he could not get his feet in bounds, the other on a “free play” because of an offsides was high and off WR Tyler Simmons’ fingertips.

• Rudolph ended his day on a good note when he elicited the practicing-ending air horn by hitting WR Anthony Johnson for a “touchdown” with 12 seconds left in a 2-minute drill. Johnson dropped a would-be score the play before. Rudolph completed two passes to WR Mathew Sexton to start the sequence, and he also completed passes to TE Kevin Rader and White.

• If play was truly live with tackling, rookie OLB Quincy Roche probably would have sacked Rudolph before one of his completed passes.

• No. 4 QB Josh Dobbs had two nice completions to Sexton a handful of late-practice 11-on-11 snaps apart. One gained perhaps 50 yards down the middle of the field, the other about 30 yards to the left sideline. On each, both CB Stephen Denmark and S Lamont Wade were victimized in coverage.

• ILB Joe Schobert’s first practice with the Steelers was relatively uneventful to the observer. He wasn’t noticeably beaten while in coverage during any 11-on-11 period, nor did he particularly stand out in such capacities. It was a non-padded practice, so tackling and run defense are difficult to evaluate. In passing drills involving linebackers on running backs and tight ends, Schobert appeared to hold his own. If there were two players on routes and Schobert was in coverage on one, quarterbacks seemed to go to the other option. However, RB Anthony McFarland beat Schobert on a fly pattern down the right sideline for about a 40-yard gain from Haskins.

• Rookie OT Dan Moore again took reps at right tackle during practice, indicating the Steelers are taking a long look at him to serve as the top backup “swing” tackle this season.

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