Two-minute drill receives more attention in camp
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers worked on the two-minute drill in practice again Monday after what coach Mike Tomlin said was a lackluster performance in the same drill Sunday.
Rookie quarterback Josh Dobbs once again ran the drill with the first-team offense. William Gay intercepted one of his passes and returned it for a touchdown on the first series.
On the next, James Conner caught a swing pass and turned it into a long touchdown. Bart Houston, another rookie quarterback, ran the third series, but the offense did not score.
“It was more competitive,” Tomlin said. “I’m not necessarily looking for any side to win or lose, but I like the drill to be competitive and get down toward the end where guys have to think and make some on-your-feet type decisions. From that perspective, it was a better drill.”
Tomlin said he wants to get his players, especially the younger ones, to think about how they’re going to react in those situations.
“I want them thinking critically prior to the snap,” he said. “Many of those instances of situational football, having an understanding of how the game changes in those circumstances really give you an opportunity to excel in it. It’s not necessarily winning the drill, it’s about educating both sides.
“The play James made is a calculated risk under those circumstances. He gets tackled in bounds we have to burn a timeout there. He made a guy miss and created a big play. He has to understand what he’s doing when he does those types of things. There are a lot of lessons to be learned under those scenarios on both sides.”
Coates close to returning
Receiver Sammie Coates, who has been on the physically unable to perform list since the start of training camp, is getting closer to being cleared to practice. He had knee surgery in July and was expected to be on PUP for 2-3 weeks. If he returns Wednesday it will be one day shy of three weeks.
“He’s working,” Tomlin said. “You guys see him working. He’s getting close. We’ll see what it looks like when we come out of the off day.”
Other injured players who were rehabbing on a side practice field Monday included Bud Dupree, Mike Mitchell, Senquez Golson, Keion Adams and Demarcus Ayers.
Ryan Shazier, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, appears to be the furthest away from coming back. He attempted to go through the agility drills with the others, but had to leave early. He even tried walking through the drills, but it was too painful for him to continue.
Shazier grimaced afterward and walked back to the sidelines to watch the healthy players practice.
Severin ties
The Steelers cut receiver Canaan Severin Monday and signed outside linebacker Austin Gearing. The Steelers liked Severin enough to place him on injured reserve last season after he had a training camp injury, but he got off to a bad start this training camp when he failed the conditioning test and never recovered.
Gearing will add depth to an outside linebacker group that is dealing with some injuries.
“We had to fortify the depth there,” Tomlin said.