Steelers Training Camp News: GROWING Concerns For The Offense + Alex Highsmith INJURED In Practice

Steelers Training Camp News: GROWING Concerns For The Offense + Alex Highsmith INJURED In Practice

Welcome in to Steelers Talk. I’m your host Jack Sperry. Thank you guys for joining me for yet another Steelers practice report. It was a fully padded practice there in Latroe today before the team’s off day tomorrow. So tomorrow on the show, we will be going live breaking down some of the latest rumors, probably go over some wide receiver uh and potentially even some offensive tackle targets that the Steelers could potentially look at here as we approach the first week of preseason. We’ll also probably go into our players to watch for the first preseason game next Saturday on Steelers Talk Live tomorrow. So, make sure you guys click that subscribe button because we got daily practice reports from Steelers training camp every single day that they have practice and then of course we’re going to be having our live watch parties for the Steelers uh preseason games this year as well as every single regular season game and hopefully at least a couple of postseason games as well. So, make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already for your daily dose of Steelers news and rumors content. With that, let’s get into our first topic of the day, which is some injury updates. The Steelers have had kind of a slew of injuries over the over this past week. Some good news, though, is that Brick Jones and Isaac Seamalo. You’re starting left side of the offensive line. Were both full participants today. It was Seamalo’s first fully padded practice day. Same thing with Brick. So, to have those two guys back from their early camp injuries, um, is really, really good to hear and good to see. Also, DJ Thomas Jones, the fullback, tight end, the UDFA. Uh, it was originally feared that he tore his Achilles, but now he was fully back at practice today. So, that was fantastic to see. Pat Fmouth, the tight end, had a veteran day off today, so nothing to worry about with him, but he was not on the field today. Um, some other guys that did not practice today, Joey Porter Jr., even though he’s looking good, I think he’ll probably be back out there on Tuesday after the Steelers is off day tomorrow. Cory Trice Jr. has a hamstring injur uh uh injury. Don’t think we’re going to see him for at least a little bit here. Same thing with Calvin Anderson, the offensive tackle, who got injured this week. And then Calvin Austin the third did not practice today either. Did not practice yesterday or today. He has an unknown ailment, but the fact that he was out there at practice today in sweats and in uh street clothes tells me that uh he’s fine and that he’s probably going to be back sometime this week. Uh, also in some bad news, uh, Dante Kent, the rookie cornerback out of Central Michigan, the seventh round pick, uh, was seen in a walking boot today. So, that’s not what you want to see. Uh, Kent was having a good camp. He had an interception on Skyler Thompson when I was still in the trove. Um, and he was showing some good things. So, for him to be in a walking boot is not great because he’s fighting to, you know, make the final 53man roster this year. And then Mike Tomlin, the head coach, announced after practice that Alex Heismith had to leave practice today with what is being feared as a groin injury. So, um, that’s being evaluated. We don’t know the severity of that, but apparently Heismith injured his groin while going up versus Brick Jones in the one-on- ones today. Um, and had to leave practice after that. So, obviously, we hope that Heismith is okay, that he’s going to be ready to go for the start of the season. Um, and honestly, he was having a really good camp. I said yesterday in my practice report that he was having really quietly an awesome camp to this point. So to see him go down um is a little bit discouraging, but if he is, you know, having to deal with an injury here for a little bit, I think it’s okay as long as he’s for the he’s ready for the start of the season. Um because I think we all know the impact that Alex Heismith has when he’s out there on the field healthy. So getting into the practice itself here, we’ll start with seven shots today. The defense won six to one in a dominant performance by the defense. said it was the most lopsided score of seven shots this entire camp. Um first play was a poor throw from Rogers. He threw it too low. Um to Jonnu Smith, it was great coverage by Jaylen Ramsey, though. Then uh the second play, Darius Slay, who’s been having a great stretch of practices here. Um locked up Roman Wilson in the one-on- ones again today, by the way. Had a PBU on a pass to Scoronic from Rogers. The third play, Rogers had no one to throw to and it was a coverage sack. Then on the fourth play, James Pierre made a great play in run defense to stop Caleb Johnson short of the of the goal line. Fifth play was Rudolph inaccurate pass uh threw it behind his receiver. Sixth play, Evan Hull had the lone score for the offense. Uh rushing touchdown and then the final play was a poor throw by Will Howard trying to go to Rock Taylor in the end zone. So final score was six to1 and now that makes it four straight wins for the defense in seven shots in camp and they’re winning out of the eight matchups and seven shots to this point. Uh the defense is winning six to2 in those eight matchups. So right now the defense is clearly winning camp in that regard, but they’re also winning it in the one-on- ones and they’re also winning it in the team periods, guys. Um, you know, the defense just as a whole and kind of my major takeaway um from camp to this point is that the defense has really shown itself to be one of, if not the best defense in the National Football League. They’re flying around. They’re doing great in run support. They’re doing great in coverage. Um, you know, this defense, you know, for being the most expensive unit in the National Football League looks like it’s playing up to that standard to this point. Now, who knows how good or how good the competition is with the Steelers offense. Maybe the Steelers offense just stinks. And in comparison, the Steelers defense looks great. Um, but right now, the camp battle certainly reflects the amount of money put on each side of the football as the defense is really playing well. Some offensive notes. Uh, we’ll start with the quarterback play. Um, and you know, just in general, you know, the concerns are growing for the Steelers offense as you know, we get, you know, past the second week of practice now and the offense is still having trouble moving the football through the air and through uh the ground game. Uh but we’ll start with the passing game. Uh Aaron Rodgers, you know, just continues like every single practice there’s at least a couple of missed throws from him. Uh whether it’s accuracy wise, whether it’s miscommunication with his receivers. Today there was a number of overthrows on deep shots to DK Metaf. Um you know, Rogers’s deep accuracy, I would say, has honestly not been super impressive to start camp. Um, you know, I think he’s found ways to, you know, uh, manipulate the defense and, you know, throw underneath and still be able to get some good yards after the catch opportunities for his guys. But terms of throwing the ball down the field, you know, we covered covered it early in camp, but it’s continuing here. Um, is that the downfield accuracy lapses are continuing to pop up, which is just something you don’t want to see from your, uh, you know, number one quarterback on the depth chart. Now, obviously, Rogers didn’t have an offseason program. still trying to get, you know, back into the swing of things. And obviously the hope is by the end of camp and by the end of the preseason, you know, he’s firing on all cylinders and every opportunity that he has uh to find his receivers, he’s hitting it because right now that’s not the case. You know, it is true that the Steelers defense is uh smothering and they’re doing a really good job in coverage, but it’s also the case that Rogers has some opportunities that he’s leaving on the field every single practice. So, you know, hopefully Rogers and the connections that he has with his guys uh continues to grow in the weeks to come before the start of the season. And a connection that I would say particularly is really off is his connection with Roman Wilson. And the Steelers are really really banking on Roman to step up into pretty much this team’s true wide receiver 2 role. um because they’re going to be playing a lot of 12 personnel, which means you’re going to want kind of a maybe not, you know, somebody that’s more of a run blocker as your number two receiver in those instances. Uh and even though Zack Aani, the wide receiver coach, has said Calvin Austin the third is the number two receiver, which he kind of is. He’s the second best true receiver on this team, he’s not a run blocker. He’s just too small and doesn’t have the play strength to be a run blocker. So, they’re really hoping that Roman Wilson, who is a good run blocker and did a lot of that at Michigan, is going to be able to step up into that role, but until he proves that he has a connection with Rogers um as a receiver and as a receiving threat, you know, I don’t know if this team can truly trust him in that role. And then on top of that, Robert Woods hasn’t looked particularly great to start camp either. So, um, you know, for the people on Steelers Twitter saying we need to get another receiver, you know, I completely understand that logic and I would completely be on board with trading for a Romeo Dobs or an Adam Thelen or somebody along those lines to add to this receiver room. Somebody that’s a veteran, somebody that can realistically come here and know what Aaron Rogers is expecting because right now Roman Wilson seems like he’s not running the right depth on his routes. Rogers is kind of ticked off about that. Um, and as a result, he’s not throwing to him all that often. So, you know, that’s a connection that I want to see really get things going as the preseason, you know, starts to Wayne and the regular season gets closer, cuz to this point that connection has been non-existent to start camp. Uh, when Romans had his best moments, it’s actually been with Mason Rudolph as his quarterback when he’s running with the second unit. And speaking of Rudolph, he had a good day today. Uh, started off a little slow and, you know, every single practice Rudolph has a couple of accuracy lapses. Um, but you know, you can kind of expect that from Rudolph, right? He’s a backup quarterback, good backup, um, that’s going to be able to operate the offense that you put in front of him, but you know, he’s not going to do much out of structure and he’s not going to be perfect from within structure. You know, he’s just a good solid backup. Um, but, you know, he has been more consistent than I would say even Aaron Rogers in this camp to this point where he’s hitting his guys more reliably when there’s opportunities to throw down the field. You know, I’d say the accuracy has been slightly more efficient than Rogers. Um, now when Rudolph has played with the first team, it hasn’t looked much better. So, I do think Rogers is still the best option for this team at quarterback. Don’t get me wrong. Um, but Rudolph is looking like somebody that, you know, if Rogers gets injured or if he’s just terrible, you know, he seems like somebody that can step in and and play a pretty decent quarterback for this football team. And I think that’s kind of what we knew about Mason Rudolph bringing him back here to Pittsburgh. But then Will Howard um made a couple more mistakes today than what we’ve seen from uh previous practices. He was late on a couple of throws. He threw an interception. We’ll talk about who had that interception uh later in the show. Um but you can tell that his connection with Rock Taylor is legit. The UDFA receiver out of Memphis who continues to make impressive plays. Um you know, and I think that this is going to be a connection to really watch during the preseason games because these two obviously have a good chemistry built up with each other. Taylor has some really good route running acumen even though he’s not the greatest athlete in the world. um didn’t test the greatest, which is one of the reasons why he didn’t get drafted this year. Um but he’s got really good hands. He had his first drop of camp today, which you know, he had one drop all of camp and it was today, but he also made some nice plays down the field, had a nice dig route on play action on a dagger concept. He’s been making plays down the field with that third team offense consistently all camp. So, I’m really excited to see what these two are going to be able to do in the preseason uh because they’ve been lighting it up during uh during these training camp practices. And, you know, there’s been a lot of talk about Rock Taylor potentially getting some first team reps. And I do want to see Rock maybe work with that first team offense with guys like Robert Woods uh and Roman Wilson getting off to slow starts here because Taylor’s a big guy and he can theoretically be that second receiver in your 12 personnel packages and be a run blocker for you. Um and you know, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from his route running. I like I’ve liked what I’ve seen from his ball uh tracking ability down the field and his contested catch ability is something that he’s known for coming out of Memphis and has certainly showed up um you know in these training camp practices. So if he’s going to make this team, he’s going to have to beat out probably Robert Woods. And even though Woods is kind of a bigger name, has been around the league for for longer than Taylor has, obviously, I wouldn’t pencil or or wouldn’t, you know, put Robert Woods’s name on this final roster in pen just yet. Um, you know, he’s had kind of a slow start to camp. He’s had a couple catches here and there. Honestly, his connection with Aaron Rogers is better than what it’s been with Roman Wilson to this point, but if Rock Taylor continues on his current trajectory and Robert Woods and Roman Wilson continue to kind of disappoint in Steelers training camp, Taylor’s opportunities are only going to go up. And if he continues to continues to capitalize on those opportunities, um you know, we could look at Rock Taylor being somebody that could sneak onto the final 53man roster. Um but now kind of shifting away from the passing game, which obviously has its concerns with Rogers’s accuracy lapses and miscommunications and all that stuff. The run game has been just as bad, if not worse, uh to start camp. The run defense has been just absolutely dominating. The line of scrimmage isn’t really getting moved by the Steelers. um run blockers and uh their screen game has been non-existent as well. I don’t think they’ve run a successful screen one time the entire uh training camp to this point. So, you can tip your cap to the defense for stopping that, but also, you know, if it’s going to be iron sharpens iron, which is something I hear on Steelers Twitter all the time when, you know, reports are getting out that this offense is struggling, they just keep saying, “Well, going up against the Steelers defense is going to make this team better.” And it’s like, that’s not necessarily the case, right? for iron to sharpen iron, both sides have to be good. You know, if if it if the offense is bad, but the defense is good, then that’s just iron go that’s just iron cutting through like butter, right? Because, you know, that’s just kind of the way it works. And like butter doesn’t get sharper if you cut through it. It just remains butter. So, you know, we’ve kind of seen this in Steelers training camps the last several years with Kenny Picket out there and Matt Canada’s offense and last year early in camp with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson where the defense was dominating. Everyone was saying, “Oh, going up against the Steelers defense is going to make this offense better.” And then the offense trots out there for the season, and they’re not good, right? So, you know, in in years past, it’s been more of iron cutting through butter. And I’m worried that it’s kind of this similar kind of dynamic going on right now. Now, hopefully it’s just early camp dynamics. Seamalo hasn’t been out there because of injury. Same thing with Brick and they’re still getting that chemistry together and by the time we get to the season, everything is going to be uh just fine. Um, you know, that’s the optimistic outlook here, but we’re now two weeks into training camp and the run game really hasn’t really been able to get anything going when the pads have been on and then the screen game uh has done literally nothing. So, you know, this is supposed to be the foundation of the Steelers offense is the run game. And you would want to see guys like Caleb Johnson and Jaylen Warren get consistently more yardage than what they’re getting right now. Um, so it’s a little bit disappointing to see this defense dominate the level that they are. Especially because guys like Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, and these other guys are not practicing. Like Cam Hayward has not taken a team rep all week. All right. And then, you know, that’s and then TJ Watt has barely taken any either. So, you know, for the defense to be dominating this much without their their best players really on the field for most of the week of practice, it’s it’s a little bit concerning for me uh when it comes to the offensive side of the ball, and it needs to get better as the weeks uh continue to go on. Um, some final offensive notes here. Brick Jones has bounced back with two pretty darn good practices uh in a row. Today he went up against Alex Heismith on the one and ones and he looked really good against him and he was looked pretty pretty solid in the uh uh in the team periods as well. It was a fully padded practice for him for the first time this camp and it was his best practice. So that is unbelievable news if you are hearing that as a Steelers fan. This offense needs Brick Jones to be able to be a good offense this year and protect Aaron Rogers who’s 41 years old. So he’s a very key piece to this offense. So to see him have his two best days of camp backto back these last two days is really good news. Also a wide receiver that is showing out and somebody that I would say might be having the second best camp out of any receiver maybe besides Rock Taylor and DK Metaf is Scotty Miller. Scotty Miller has been awesome to start camp. He looks thicker than he did last year and in his days in Tampa. uh he still has the speed though. Like he’s right there with uh Calvin Austin the third in terms of speed down the field and his ability to track the deep ball is legit. So I do expect Scotty Miller uh to be somebody that is going to be a preseason monster for this offense. He’s going to be a deep threat for this offense and uh somebody that could very well make this final roster because you know obviously he had some playing time last year. This off he knows the offense. and he does have the speed and deep threat ability that Arthur Smith likes from this position. So, Scotty Miller has been uh a pleasant uh good has had a good performance in camp to this point. And then kind of a crazy final note here, the Steelers asked linebacker Mark Robinson to play some fullback today in their goal line period and he accepted. So, he was playing fullback today. Um and I kind of like it, guys. I kind of really do because Mark Robinson is a hard hitter. He’s a thumper and, you know, he’s athletic so he can get out there in space and find his guy and then uh lay some wood down, pause. Uh so Mark Robinson, I’m I’m kind of excited to see what he can do at fullback. I hope to see see him out there a little bit more as camp goes on and maybe even some preseason games and, you know, maybe even use him there a little bit during the regular season because I do think he’ll make the final roster. uh he’s just too important to their special teams and if he, you know, adds fullback duties to his uh plate there, I think that you can pretty much pencil him in for a roster spot this year. Now, some defensive notes. I think there’s less notes on defense and on offense just because the whole unit does look good. Uh the defense, like I’ve said, has dominated out there in camp. Now, how much of that is the defense being good versus the offense being bad? Who knows? But the defense is certainly uh taking care of business out there to start camp. But three players in the secondary I want to give special shout outs here. The first one being Juan Thornnehill, the starting free safety. Seems like every single day he is making plays on the football. Um and he is all over the place, man. He’s been good in coverage. He’s been keeping the top on the defense, not allowing Rogers to go deep too often. And uh uh he’s been really solid as a tackler as well. And then he’s he’s he’s getting a legitimate pass breakup like every single practice. So um I think I’m starting to see here what the Steelers were seeing in his game. uh and to mandatory mini camp that made them more comfortable letting go of Minka Fitzpatrick because you know Thornhill people forget this was a starting free safety on a Super Bowl defense with the Kansas City Chiefs just two years ago um before he ended up going to Cleveland and having some injury issues but now that he’s back to 100% health guys he looks like the real deal out there um so good on Juan Thornhill. Another safety that had a really good day today and honestly backtoback good days is UDFA out of Iowa Sebastian Castro. He had a PBU in seven shots yesterday. And then today he had a one-handed leaping interception on Will Howard, one of the best plays in camp to this point. Um, and then he had another really great open field tackle today as well. Um, and then he had a great play in run defense at the goal line in the goal line period today. So, Sebastian is really starting to to kick it into high gear here as he gets more comfortable in the Steelers defense. I really liked his film at Iowa and I really couldn’t believe he didn’t get drafted. Um, you know, I really thought he would be like an early day three type of guy, but he ends up going undrafted and signs with the Steelers and he’s looked pretty good so far, especially over the last couple of days for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. So, he’ll be a name to keep your eye on during these preseason games. Then, the final defensive player of note is James Pierre, who’s put together three really good practices in a row. Um, he had he’s had three interceptions in the last three practices. He was really good in run defense. He had that big run stuff um in seven shots today and he’s just looked good in coverage overall. So Pierre is certainly somebody that is making a little bit of a statement right now and he’s making his case to make the final roster. He’s certainly played some football for this team in the past. Uh the team is familiar with what he can do as a backup corner and you know so far so good in training camp so far for number 42. All right, that’ll be it for today’s practice report guys. Uh obviously a little bit of some growing concerns for the offense as you know we’re still seeing some offensive struggles two weeks into this training camp. Um but of course we still have a long ways to go. We still have another week of camp in the trobe. We still got the preseason games to come. Um so you know I’m I’m certainly open-minded for this offense to you know get a little bit of a groove and uh start to play a little bit better before we get to the start of the season. I’m not panicking yet. I’m just a little bit concerned. That’s where I’m at right now. Um, of course tomorrow we’ll have more Steelers coverage for you guys on this channel for free. So, make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already.

Pittsburgh Steelers training camp news on Steelers Talk continues with yet another Steelers practice report from host and Chat Sports NFL Analyst Jack Sperry as the Black and Gold had yet another fully padded practice in Latrobe before their off day planned for Monday. On today’s show, Jack breaks down his growing concerns for the Steelers offense in both phases as Aaron Rodgers and the passing attack as well as Kaleb Johnson and the rushing attack continue to struggle to move the ball vs. the Steelers defense in training camp practices. Also, get the latest Steelers injury updates on Broderick Jones, Isaac Seumalo, Alex Highsmith, Donte Kent, and more.

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– Steelers Training Camp News: Roc Taylor IMPRESSING + Will Howard Picking Up Aaron Rodgers’ Tricks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjW9PmlMMc
– Steelers Friday Night Lights Practice Report: Broderick Jones STRUGGLES + Cory Trice Injured AGAIN – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTKeLAOnovw
– Steelers Trade Rumors: Could Omar Khan Land Terry McLaurin Or Micah Parsons In A Blockbuster Move? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMEMRIQmeM

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