Defense shines at night
Picks off three passes under the lights Friday
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin gives his veteran players days off throughout training camp. He does it for two reasons — to keep his older players fresh and to give younger players opportunities with the starters.
With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and cornerback Joe Haden resting for the annual Friday Night Lights practice at Heinz FIeld, backup quarterback Mason Rudolph and cornerback James Pierre stepped into the spotlight.
On the second play of practice, in the daily seven shots drill, Pierre picked off Rudolph and returned the interception 107 yards for a touchdown.
The play set the tone for the practice. The defense dominated and grabbed two more interceptions, including one from Minkah Fitzpatrick that Rudolph also threw.
“When the defense is enjoying success, then I talk to the offense about better ball security, about better decision-making, about better coordination between quarterback and receiver,” Tomlin said. “That’s the thing about it when we’re working
Steelers on Steelers. There are two sides to the coin. Although it may be a good day for the defense getting the ball we don’t spend a lot of time talking about that; we talk about the offense securing it. And vice versa. If we have a good day protecting the ball we’re talking to the defense about creating more turnovers.”
Rudolph had been having a consistent camp, but Friday
night was not one of his better days. He badly underthrewDiontae Johnson on a fade attempt to open practice.
“He made a great play on the ball, but I have to put it where it belongs on the back pylon and let him make a play,” Rudolph said.
Pierre said he relishes these opportunities. He made the 53-man roster as a rookie last season after impressing as a gunner on special teams. By the end of the season, he was playing in the dime defense as a fourth cornerback.
This was yet another opportunity to show the coaches he is ready for a bigger role.
“It’s next guy up,” Pierre said. “We’re just preparing for down the road. I might be called upon. I don’t know what week or what day. I just have to be ready for the opportunity.”
After practice, Rudolph and Johnson talked about the play and worked on it again. Tomlin noticed, but he wasn’t impressed.
“That’s just appropriate,” he said. “It’s professional ball and what’s required, to be quite honest with you.”
Rudolph struggled one day after Tomlin noted that No. 3 quarterback Dwayne Haskins is having a strong start to training camp and two days after Tomlin made it known jobs are open across the roster.
“Let’s be clear: All positions are open,” Tomlin said following Wednesday’s practice. “Somebody makes enough plays out here, we’re going to believe them. Particularly as we get in the preseason games and we get an opportunity to play those four preseason games, that’s just the right attitude to have this time of year, not only in the offensive line but across all positions.”
Tomlin was asked Friday if that included backup quarterback.
“That goes for every position. I meant what I said when I said that.”
Backs-on-backers Part II
Tomlin wanted to have a competitive run-blocking drill Friday night for his tight ends, outside linebackers and defensive ends, but he changed plans with two of the tight ends, including starter Eric Ebron, out with injuries.
That led to a second backs-on-backers drill in three days, and running back Najee Harris took center stage again. This time, Tomlin challenged Harris by pitting him against outside linebackers rather than inside linebackers.
Harris struggled going up against outside linebackers Alex Highsmith and Jamir Jones, but Tomlin remains high on his ability to pass-protect.
“I just liked the competitive spirit of [Harris] again,” Tomlin said. “And he lost some today because he was going against bigger men. We pit backs on inside linebackers and outside linebackers that are almost D-end like. Those matchups get a little bit challenging.”
Ballage fighting for a job
Veteran running back Kalen Ballage and rookie outside linebacker Calvin Bundage don’t appear to like each other very much. For the second time in three days they fought during team drills. Bundage tossed Ballage to the ground on Wednesday, which led to that scrap. Then they went at it again Friday night on the final play of a team run period.
But that’s not the only reason Ballage is getting noticed. Ballage has been solid in pass protection and flashed some running skills the first few days of camp. He was signed this spring after spending his first three seasons with the Dolphins, Jets and Chargers.