UNITY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Steelers started training camp with an injured Russell Wilson and uncertainty about their quarterback position.
Wilson was given pole position by head coach Mike Tomlin, but as he missed more and more time, and Justin Fields began to impress after an up-and-down first week, questions started to be asked.
To close camp, Wilson answered them. No. 3 has probably his best day of camp on the last day, operating the offense smoothly, with confidence and without any hint of negativity. He had no fumbles, no interceptions, no pre-snap gaffes, no missed reads — nothing at all to suggest he’s in any danger of losing his grip on the starting job.
There are two preseason games to go and Wilson has yet to appear in one, but unless what happens in the preseason goes dramatically south from what we’ve seen so far, you should expect Wilson to lead the Steelers out of the tunnel in Atlanta on Sept. 8.
SEVEN SHOTS
1) Russell Wilson is the quarterback, and Spencer Anderson is at left guard in place of Isaac Seumalo. On the defense, Keeanu Benton starts in the Nickel alignment with Cam Heyward getting the day off. Payton Wilson and Mark Robinson start in place of resting linebackers Elandon Roberts and Patrick. Nick Herbig and Jeremiah Moon are the outside linebackers, with T.J. Watt off and Alex Highsmith limited to individual work,. and Cory Trice once again fills in for Donte Jackson at boundary cornerback.
Russell Wilson looks right and fires quickly to George Pickens, running a post route. He easily grabs the ball above his head, with Grayland Arnold in tow.
2) Wilson looks to the middle of the fields, where he finds a wide-open Pat Freiermuth. Joey Porter Jr. was the closest defender to him, but I doubt that was the plan. We’ll call it a busted coverage.
3) Wilson aims for the left end zone corner, where Van Jefferson was well-covered by Cory Trice Jr. The ball was placed out of Jefferson’s reach.
4) Wilson goes for the other corner, finding Scotty Miller for a score over Arnold. Miller made a nice over-the-shoulder catch of the lofted pass.
5) Justin Fields enters practice and runs a play-action bootleg to the right. Fields checked it down to Jonathan Ward, who got in for an easy score.
6) Fields scrambles from pressure by Julius Welschof, and goes untouched into the end zone. These reps are usually scored as wins for the defense, because the quarterback can’t be hit, but this one would have certainly been a touchdown for Fields. We’ll give the defense the win for consistency’s sake.
7) Fields, pressured by Kyron Johnson this time, scrambles to his left and throws back across his body to the middle of the field, where Quez Watkins had a step on Beanie Bishop, but the ball was high and out of the back of the end zone.
The offense finally gets a win without pads, just their second of training camp, on the final day. On the whole, the offense probably had the better of the end of camp, after starting out way in the hole at the beginning.
IN THE HALLWAY
The Steelers frequently run a 1-on-1 tackling drill between defenders and offensive players, with the ballcarriers constrained in about a 10-yard wide channel near the sideline. The idea for the offensive player is either to get to the edge, or to cleanly cut back to the inside. The defender wants to make a tackle — today, a touch, since there were no pads — or force the offensive player out of bounds.
The drill usually attracts a crowd, with players of all skill position groups wanting a turn, and even players on one side of the ball switching over to the other.
Luquay Washington had quite an adventure here. The Steelers rookie linebacker, who was just signed earlier this week, had a couple of nice reps, getting clean wins over Rodney Williams, and then in something of a mismatch, also getting Justin Fields. Then, something dramatic happened.
Journeyman 28-year-old third-string quarterback Kyle Allen, who possesses a career 2.5 yards per carry average, gave a little hesitation move and beat the rookie linebacker to the sideline. Allen, who was probably only going to take one rep in the drill anyway, kept running down the field, as some of his offensive teammates celebrated with them all the way to the end zone.
To cap off the victory, Allen dunked the ball over the crossbar of the uprights at the far end zone. That one had to hurt for Washington.
Connor Heyward got two nice reps against Kyron Johnson. The speedy linebacker should be at an advantage in this drill, so that’s a nice couple wins for Heyward.
Calvin Austin III is a cheat code. No one can touch him. He torched Thomas Graham twice.
Joey Porter Jr. tried running with the ball. It didn’t go well. Minkah Fitzpatrick locked him up. Porter got an easy win when Fitzpatrick tried the other way. Maybe those guys should stick to defense.
NOTES FROM STEELERS TEAM PERIODS
The biggest difference I’ve seen between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields is how much faster Wilson gets the ball out. He’s just a much more decisive passer. Fields makes some pretty passes, but they are frequently after several tense seconds in the pocket. Fields make a beautiful pass to George Pickens in the back of the end zone in one team period today, with Pickens going up over Beanie Bishop to make a nice catch. But Isaiahh Loudermilk probably would have sacked him before he got it off in a live rep.
Wilson hit Jaylen Warren on a screen that rumbled for more than 20 yards. Broderick Jones and Nate Herbig formed a moving wall of lineman that plowed the path for him. After getting a bunch of screens blown up early this training camp, the Steelers offense seems to have gotten pretty good at them.
Fields and Najee Harris fumbled a handoff. No laps were run.
Fields found Darnell Washington down field for a big play over 25 yards. Washington has been quiet in camp as a receiver, though he’s shown greatly improved blocking ability. Today, he got free a number of times down the field.
John Rhys Plumlee, Jonathan Ward, Jaylen Warren, LaMical Perine and Daijun Edwards were the kickoff returners. The first-team return unit included Arnold, Tyler Matakevich, Miles Killebrew, Payton Wilson, Nick Herbig, Rodney Williams and Ryan Watts. Ward and Perine also rotated in as blockers when there weren’t returning.
Beanie Bishop, Jalen Elliott, Jeremiah Moon, Matt Sokol, Jacoby Windmon, Jack Colletto, Julius Welschof, Kyler McMichael, Luquay Washington and Aaron Shampklin were on the second-team coverage unit.
Fields had Miller open on a deep post behind Graham, but Miller couldn’t haul it in. It would have been about an 80-yard touchdown.
Wilson found Austin on a deep in-breaking route, directly in front of deep safety Damontae Kazee. That’s a piece of this offense that has been missing over the last few years, and a strong sign from Wilson, who has not always been great at finding guys over the middle of the field in his career.
Sokol had the best catch of his Steelers tenure, beating Killebrew deep down field.
Moon sacked Fields in the final team period. Alex Highsmith was extremely complimentary of the work he and Nick Herbig have done with him out and T.J. Watt getting the day off.
Zach Frazier replaced Nate Herbig after a late-practice injury. Their work has become near indistinguishable. Herbig has continued to play well, but the rookie has raised his game to match the veteran. Call it a 50-50 battle from here.
SUMMARY
Training camp closes from St. Vincent College with the offense on the upswing, the bulk of the team largely healthy, and ready to finish out the preseason.
