Steelers Now
UNITY TWP., Pa. — As each day passes here at St. Vincent College, one thing becomes more and more clear—the Pittsburgh Steelers defense is light-years ahead of where the offense is at this stage in the proceedings.
This is most notable when the starters are out there on the field. Even without very much participation from guys Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt in team periods, they’ve dominated the trenches and routinely reset the line of scrimmage on run plays. The gap on passing downs is possibly even larger, with the defensive backs swarming all over the wide receivers and forcing scramble drill opportunities at seemingly every turn.
Is the offense struggling, or is the defense just that dominant? It’s really an eye-of-the-beholder sort of thing, but it’s still early. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here.
It’s been encouraging to see a guy like Scotty Miller string together some nice practices in an effort to crack the 53-man roster once again, but the alarm bells start going off when he’s arguably been the second-best playmaker from the group. With Calvin Austin III out at least in the short term, it would be really surprising if the team didn’t pursue an addition at this point. Roc Taylor has quickly established a nice rapport with rookie signal caller Will Howard, and even though there have been some inconsistencies from one rep to another, a solid preseason outing would make him a practice squad candidate.
For obvious reasons, most of the buzz surrounding training camp has been surrounding Aaron Rodgers as he continues to acclimate himself to Arthur Smith’s offense. It’s been a slow start, particularly for his standards, but his detail-oriented approach stands out. Prior to practice, Miller stated that “if you aren’t where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, the ball might hit you in the facemask.”
An on-field example from Sunday’s practice came when Roman Wilson ran an out-breaker, presumably at the wrong depth, which caused the ball to fall incomplete. The future Hall of Famer gave him feedback after the rep was concluded.
Alex Highsmith exited practice with a groin injury that will require further examination. For as stellar of a player as he is, the Steelers depth at the edge spot is one of the strongest areas of the entire roster. We have proof of concept that Nick Herbig is an electric pass rusher, having put some of the league’s best tackles in a blender at times during his first two seasons. He showed off his ability to set the edge today in practice, creating knockback on the tight end to force a zone rushing play back inside.
His partner in crime, Jack Sawyer, ran down the play from the backside and was quick to get up and celebrate. His size, hand usage, and overall activity in the run game have stood out since the team put the pads on.
By Alan Saunders...
