Steelers inside the ropes: Light, non-padded practice includes ‘scout-team’ work

The weather Wednesday was among the best it has been for a practice during this entire Pittsburgh Steelers training camp. The level of intensity and game-likeness, however, was not.

A day before camp breaks at Saint Vincent and three days before their second preseason game, the Pittsburgh Steelers conducted a practice without pads that featured “scout team” work and even eschewed the popular “seven shots” 2-point conversion simulation drill.

That the team was using “cards” on offense and defense (alternating) in preparation for an opponent suggests coach Mike Tomlin is mimicking “gameplanning” as the regular season draws closer. With one side of the ball playing the role of the Jacksonville Jaguars for most of the team drills Wednesday, the depth chart was useless in that first-teamers often were sharing the field with third-teamers.

• The defense again showed a look with three safeties, again for the first 11-on-11 snap of practice. Damontae Kazeee joined Terrell Edmunds and Minkah Fitzpatrick in the secondary, though the Steelers kept two inside linebackers on the field (Myles Jack and Devin Bush). Kazee, in effect, was deployed instead of No. 3 cornerback Levi Wallace. It will be interesting to see if this package is used with any regularity once the regular season begins.
• Mason Rudolph had the best throw of the day, a ball 35 yards downfield that Cody White caught in stride down the middle after beating Justin Layne. Rudolph later hit White again with a well-placed pass into a window when White was well-covered. White (who wears No. 15) had to reach out and up to catch a high-velocity ball, drawing the praise of the head coach. “Good hands, 1-5,” Tomlin said. Late in practice, though, Rudolph missed White about 30 yards down the field when he overthrew him after White had gotten open in between Kazee and James Pierre.
• Over the three weeks of camp, among the three quarterbacks who regularly get reps Rudolph is by far the one most likely to throw the ball downfield in drills.
• Continuing a recurring theme, Gunner Olszewski unofficially caught the most passes in team drills. His best catch was off a rocketed ball from Kenny Pickett, which Olszewski caught over top of Kazeee.
• Another trend in high-volume receiving options is rookie tight end Connor Heyward, who again caught plenty of balls Wednesday. His best reception was from Rudolph about 15 yards downfield as he worked his way across the middle.
• Recently signed wide receiver Christian Blake showed some speed in making a catch off a pass from Pickett and quickly turning upfield, finishing the play by running all the way into the end zone.
• During one rep when Bush was in coverage on Pat Freiermuth, the tight end beat him clean and with ease and made a catch.
• No. 4 QB Chris Oladokun took a handful of snaps during team drills late in practice, albeit while part of the scout team. It was his first significant action of camp in an 11-on-11 or seven-on-seven session. Oladokun did not attempt anything down the field in his limited work, and he had some struggles. At one point, he underthrew what was nothing more than a screen pass, and practice ended with a ball he threw that was in the hands of rookie linebacker Mark Robinson. Robinson, though, couldn’t hang on to the interception and did pushups as penance after holding the sides of his head in a combination of disbelief and shame.
• Oladokun’s reps appeared to come in the place of Mitch Trubisky, who unofficially had his lightest workload of any day this camp.
• In his first practice with the Steelers since being claimed off waivers, Ryan McCollum had a bad exchange with Rudolph to cap one of the 11-on-11 sessions. McCollum took the roster spot of Nate Gilliam, who himself was having issues delivering clean snaps. It seems as if among the quarterbacks Rudolph is the one most often involved in the botched exchanges.
• A pair of key special-teams contributors who have missed most of this camp because of injury — safety Marcus Allen and fullback Derek Watt — took part in individual drills and ran on their own, each appearing as close to ready for a full return as either has in recent weeks.
• The “highlight” of the drills that take place in between team sessions was the live field goal kicking on the second field. Chris Boswell and rookie Nick Sciba alternated in booming long kicks.

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