Schobert gets crash course in defense
The Steelers didn’t waste any time in getting Joe Schobert acclimated to his new surroundings. In his first practice since being acquired in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Schobert lined up with the first-team defense Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field.
Schobert, an inside linebacker, was acquired for a sixth-round draft choice. He took the place of Robert Spillane on the first-team defense, and when the Steelers played their dime defense it
was Schobert who played the dime linebacker role.
“They threw me on the field playing with the ones today, which was good because those guys know the communication, and they can help me when I have questions on the field,” Schobert said. “It was just jumping both feet right in.”
Schobert said he has been told once the regular season starts he’ll have the green communication dot on his helmet and will be responsible for making the defensive calls. The linebacker with the green dot on his helmet is designated as such because he never comes off the field.
Devin Bush handled those duties last season before he injured his knee and went on injured reserve. Spillane had the green dot on his helmet for most of the rest of the season.
“Once the season starts, getting the green dot on the helmet, getting the calls from the coaches,” Schobert said. “That’s the plan.”
When Steelers coach Mike Tomlin spoke with reporters Saturday after practice, he said the Jaguars called the Steelers to let them know Schobert was available. Schobert relayed a different story on Sunday. He said Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke told him the Steelers pursued Schobert and initiated the trade talks.
“[Ballke] told me Pittsburgh called 12 hours before, and were very persistent in trying to get a deal done to send me up here,” Schobert said. “I think it came out of the blue from my perspective. There were no warning signs. I was talking to the defensive coaches right after I talked to the general manager, and they were pretty shocked about it. It’s just something that came out of the blue and just happened.”
When he was asked if Schobert would be the dime linebacker, Tomlin said, “We’re just trying to teach as much as we can, and the best way to teach is to get him in competitive situations.”
Schobert has another six days to learn the defense before the Steelers play host to the Lions in a preseason game at Heinz Field. The first regular-season game against Buffalo in New York is 28 days away.
“Hopefully by Saturday I’ll be able to run the basic stuff pretty confidently,” Schobert said. “It’s just going to take reps. I don’t know how many reps I’ll get before I’m 100% comfortable, but I think it’ll be a pretty fluid process, especially with all the veterans here.”
Tomlin isn’t overly concerned about Schobert picking up the defense, either. Schobert said this will be his sixth defensive scheme in his six NFL seasons. That type of background should help in his transition.
“Usually guys who have played football acclimate quickly,” Tomlin said. “I remember we acquired Joe Haden a couple of years ago going into the fourth preseason game. Veteran players usually adapt pretty quickly. Most of them have been in multiple systems and can relate things to what they’ve done in the past. I’m sure he’s been in enough systems that he can do that.”
QB watch
Ben Roethlisberger worked with the first-team offense for the majority of Sunday’s practice, but when there was a two-minute drill at the end of practice, Dwayne Haskins ran the drill and led the offense to a touchdown.
Haskins threw a touchdown pass to Chase Claypool a few plays after Cam Sutton dropped an interception that would have ended the drill.
“More than anything the lesson to be learned there is the defense had an interception in his hands and didn’t finish the play,” Tomlin said. “And you just can’t give signal-callers another shot at you. That was the lesson from that period. When the defense gets their hands on the ball we have to close it out.”
Haskins hasn’t had many
opportunities to lead the first-team offense in camp. Usually when Roethlisberger sits out, it’s Mason Rudolph who takes over.
Rudolph ran the twominute drill with the secondteam offense and also led the offense to a touchdown. He threw a touchdown pass to Anthony Johnson.
A few other notable occurrences from practice on Sunday: With Melvin Ingram getting a day off it was Jamir Jones who lined up at outside linebacker with the first-team defense. Cassius Marsh had been getting those reps with the first team for the first few weeks of camp.
In addition to Ingram, Haden, Antoine Brooks, Kendrick Green, Eric Ebron, T.J. Watt and Stephon Tuitt did not take part in the team portions of practice. It was the second consecutive day Green has been absent.