Friday night's practice at Latrobe Stadium was highlighted by a second round on backs/tight ends on backers drill.
David Johnson and Barron Batch were the clear stars for the offense - with Johnson drawing praise after practice from head coach Mike Tomlin.
Batch didn't win his matchups as decisively as Johnson, but after a poor showing the first time the Steelers did these drills, he showed some real toughness and a willingness to finish blocks.
Isaac Redman has a groin injury and did not take part, joining LaMarr Woodley, James Harrison and Jason Worilds on the sidelines for this one.
Heath Miller also did not take part.
Defensively, Lawrence Timmons still brings the noise in this drill.
@ Ben Roethlisberger was held out tonight, as was Brett Keisel. Both were just given the night off.
@ Talked to Joey Porter during practice. He said his wife really likes Pittsburgh and has him looking for a house back here.
Porter would also like to get into coaching.
@ Cam Heyward and rookie Mike Adams had some Ohio State on Ohio State violence after Adams pancaked Heyward in a team drill.
Heyward apparently took offense to Adams going for the kill shot and the two squared off and started swinging.
Willie Colon stepped in to break it up, but then also started swinging at Heyward.
@ Speaking of Colon, he got rolled up in a team drill - right before the fight - after Ramon Foster tossed someone into the back of his leg, tweaking his ankle.
It was a scary moment for Colon, who is coming off an Achilles' injury.
He went a few more plays, then shut things down.
Foster moved over to left guard and rookie David DeCastro took over at right guard.
I'm Hearing a lot of good things about Adams and his spirited battles, but not so much with DeCastro. Is he just flying under the radar or is his play unspectacular?
ReplyDeleteI am not at ALL worried about DeCastro. He's solid gold, no matter what the camp reports say. I would way rather be hearing great things about the boom/bust Adams and mild things or nothing at all about DeCastro than the other way around.
ReplyDeleteI'm not worried about DeCastro at all. Adams has looked good, but DeCastro has had his moments as well
ReplyDeleteI'm not worried about him either, its just that everyone keeps talking about him as the next Alan Faneca or Steve Hutchison but then there's no buzz at camp. I was just curious.
ReplyDeleteThere's been some buzz. Pouncey, our interior lineman that was voted an all-pro his first two seasons, has said that DeCastro is far ahead of where he was at this time as a rookie.
ReplyDeleteI also heard that he is light years ahead of all of our other linemen in terms of athleticism and mobility. And that's not just coming from college tape, that's from what he's displayed at camp.
The best quote I heard about him (and possibly anyone, ever) was from Andrew Luck, who said that he doesn't even like to high five after a touchdown because he doesn't want to risk a break in concentration. Maybe he won't have quite the rookie season Pouncey did, but maybe he will. In the long run, he won't disappoint at all.
"Willie Colon stepped in to break it up, but then also started swinging at Adams."
ReplyDeleteWillie Colon swinging at Adams, is that right?
Tim,
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, I did hear that recently I guess I just wanted more gushing news about Decastro pancaking Ta'amu and cracking a few heads (I like nasty OGs) but I'll take that as a ringing endorsment coming from Pouncey. All of that said, I think we're going to have a stellar offensive line over the next several years.
o-line getting a hurt achilles could take a long time to get healed up. Too much weight on then...SNAP
ReplyDelete