Jim Colony's Steelers Practice Posts
The Steelers practiced twice on Wednesday at St. Vincent College, the team talked ratifying a new CBA, Emmanuel Sanders foot injury, LaMarr Woodley continuing contract talks. Find out more about that on this site and on 93.7 the Fan and KDKA-TV. Here is what happened during the open practice...
After practicing well Tuesday, James Harrison and Troy Polamalu were given the afternoon off by Mike Tomlin ... Harrison left midway through practice with Dr. Joe Maroon but did not appear to be in any kind of pain or distress so perhaps just a checkup (after Harrison underwent two back procedures during the off-season).
2nd year CB Crezdon Butler and veteran Bryant McFadden still out with hamstrings ... vets Ike Taylor and William Gay unavailable ... 3rd year man Keenan Lewis was back on the field so he got first team reps with rookie Curtis Brown ... and twice had excellent coverage on speedster Mike Wallace. It's quite possible that Lewis can cover Wallace better than any CB in the NFL ... if he could do that against other teams' best WRs the Steelers could have one of the best CB tandems in the league.
Tomlin spent one period watching LB v. RB/TE pass coverage ... the highlight was Lawrence Timmons on Rashard Mendenhall running down the seam ... Timmons had great coverage but Byron Leftwich threw a perfect rainbow to his Mendenhall in stride. Timmons was audibly displeased.
Among the highlights of the final first team 11 on 11 session ... Ben Roethlisberger to Wallace on an intermediate route and a Roethlisberger connection to Antonio Brown ... Brown a standout in camp early on.
7th round picks Baron Batch continues to hit holes decisively and run with confidence ... and on one run drew whoops and hollars from the first team defenders on the sidelines ... but when I asked about Batch Tomlin only said, "he's a rookie."
Thursday's practice is 2:55 ... don't forget Friday night at Latrobe Stadium ... Saturday at 2:55 ... players off Sunday.
