Hey Steelers Fans, Welcome to Friday.
The Kickoff
Mistakes are part of football. Eliminating them is part of the pursuit of perfection. This all starts with Training Camp in the NFL and such was the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you believe in luck, fate, harbingers of things to come – that sort of thing – then Aaron Rodgers‘ first pass won’t sit well with you. The 41 year-old threw an interception on his first throw in the team session as he tried to connect with D.K. Metcalf on a slant. Patrick Queen jumped the route and within seconds social media was abuzz with hot takes. This… Is Training Camp in the 21st century.
I wish I could go on a rant here and tell you that we can’t get so worked up over a single moment of Camp. We can’t get lost in ourselves if the QB goes “7 for 7” in team drills or if the EDGE rusher gets three straight sacks. It’s Camp! It’s practice! It’s not Week 12 with first place on the line. OK so I suppose that was a bit of a rant… but you get the picture. Rodgers commented perfectly when asked about it saying “I’m going to throw some touchdowns too.” Yes, yes he will. The point is that we as fans can’t get too worked up over Camp and specifically Camp stats.
The Injury Front
You already know that Isaac Seumalo is currently out for a bit with his “Non Football Injury” designation but he now has company. Jonnu Smith and Cordarrelle Patterson were also in ‘civilian clothes’ yesterday. Because teams don’t really have to designate specific injuries right now we don’t have specific details here. Neither are thought to be severe. One other item… if you happen to see Cam Heyward or Darius Slay not participating on a particular day don’t freak out. Mike Tomlin is a big fan of off days for veterans. So don’t sweat it.
The Latest Podcast
We aired Episode 431 of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc last night. Obviously the big topic was the opening of Training Camp. We discussed positions and position depth and much more!
Random Camp Observations
I think fans are going to be surprised at just how big Kaleb Johnson is. He’s got some length to him which makes him look a little thinner but he’s solid and his explosion is pretty damn impressive… As expected, Jalen Ramsey lined up all over the defensive formation on day one and I tend to believe that’s something we are going to see all season long. It will depend on down and distance of course but he will be in the slot, on the boundary and at free safety at any given time… Cole Holcomb suffered a devastating knee injury last year and he’s back. The challenge for Holcomb is that he’s got to overtake some other guys to be a starter again. He’s actually working on Special Teams in an effort to just to be on the roster… Will Howard is currently listed as the fourth QB. Mike Tomlin isn’t giving him anything. He will need to beat out Skylar Thompson with his play… WR Roman Wilson continued his good play from OTAs with a strong day yesterday. Competition is always a good thing and it will make him and everyone else at WR better.
Random Reads
The Browns are seriously going to wear all brown from head to toe? The jokes write themselves… Former NFL TE Jimmy Graham had some interesting comments about Aaron Rodgers who he played with in Green Bay. He said that it takes time to adjust to his ball because it has so much rotation to it and comes so quickly that tracking it is difficult until you get used to it… The ‘Pat McAfee Show’ will be airing from Steelers Training Camp on Wednesday. Obviously Rodgers will be a guest but I’m curious to see how the overall reception of the show being there is received… Glad to see the injury to Justin Fields was not as severe as we were led to believe. A dislocated toe isn’t good but Adam Schefter was reporting a possible ACL tear so I think it’s much better than that… I wish Presidents would stay out of sports.
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