UNITY TWP., Pa. — There was so much happening at Acrisure Stadium on Thursday when the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers got together, that it was hard to tell where to look.
During individual periods, small groups of players filled the playing surface, with a different set of drills being performed every few yards. During team periods, there were two sets of teams on the field at the same time, with the Pittsburgh offense working toward the scoreboard and Josh Allen and company headed to the closed end zone.
It was honestly hard to tell which way to look. Then, at the very beginning of the second team period, a full-throated scream from Najee Harris told everyone where the action was.
Harris took the first handoff of the second team period right behind left guard Isaac Seumalo, made a man miss in the hole, and took off up the field for a 35-yard touchdown.
After that, the Steelers rattled off a 15-yard run by Jaylen Warren, a 10-yarder by Aaron Shampklin and a 10-yarder from LaMical Perine. The Buffalo run defense wasn’t great last year, and they lost Matt Milano for the season just before Thursday’s practice, but it was a dominant rushing performance.
The Steelers seem to have gone from a team that wanted to run the ball, to a team that’s good at running the ball.
SEVEN SHOTS: STEELERS OFFENSE vs. BILLS DEFENSE
1) Russell Wilson took the first team reps, with Broderick Jones at right tackle and Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle and Zach Frazier at center. The Steelers started in 12 personnel, with Van Jefferson and George Pickens the wide receivers, Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington the tight ends and Najee Harris at tailback.
Wilson took the snap, from under center, and got his foot stepped on by an offensive lineman as he tried to pull away with the ball. He tried to toss it to Harris, but his toss was low and Harris couldn’t field it cleanly. He picked it up, but was almost immediately tackled.
2) Wilson surveyed the field and was looking for George Pickens in the back of the end zone, buy Greg Rousseau beat Dan Moore Jr. around the left end and would have had a sack first. Wilson completed the pass to Pickens anyway, but we’ll call this a win for Buffalo.
3) Wilson executed a play-action fake to Jaylen Warren and then found Dez Fitzpatrick on a post for a wide-open touchdown.
4) The Steelers went three tights ends, with Pickens the lone wide receiver. Warren pounded straight ahead, but Rousseau was there again to stop him short of the goal line,
5) Justin Fields entered practice along with the second team. He executed a beautiful read-option fake, kept it for himself and basically walked into the end zone off to his right.
6) Fields ran a play-action fake, rolled to his right, and dished it off to Cordarrelle Patterson, who stretched the ball over the pylon on the run for a nice score.
7) After a false start by Mason McCormick, Fields scrambled right and found Scotty Miller in the side of the end zone for the drill-winning score.
Both units were doing seven shots at the same time, so I wasn’t able to view the Steelers defense, but I got a report that they lost, 4-3.
OFFENSIVE LINE 1 VS 1s
There was so much going on during this individual period. There were two sets of wide receivers vs. cornerbacks skeleton drills, two sets of running backs and tight ends against linebackers, and two sets of offensive line versus defensive line one-on-one drills.
I took a focus on the latter, mostly because I wanted to see how the Steelers’ young offensive linemen handled a pretty talented Buffalo defensive front that includes Von Miller, Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Daquan Jones and A.J. Epenesa.
It was a pretty strong performance, starting with Broderick Jones, who got solid wins over Rousseau and Miller. Dylan Cook had a pancake. Spencer Anderson had a pair of wins. Zach Frazier split with Jones.
My first real up-close look at new tackle TyKeem Doss was of him essentially driving Kingsley Jonathan through the turf. He’s impressive.
NOTES FROM STEELERS OFFENSIVE TEAM PERIODS
🏈 Van Jefferson had a great sliding catch going out of bounds. I know
it’s borderline cringeworthy when the Steelers brass talks about how much they like their wide receivers, but they probably should be pleasantly surprised by Jefferson.
🏈 On the other hand, I don’t know what happened to Calvin Austin III. He went from being the second-best receiver all spring to not getting a single target on Thursday.
🏈 Scotty Miller beat Kaiir Elam deep on a slot fade and drew a pass interference penalty.
🏈 Fields worked with the starters in the second team period. In the third, it was Wilson, and he was clinical.
Short completion to Pat Freiermuth in the right flat.
Complete to George Pickens on a 15-yard out to the left.
Complete to Scotty Miller on a slant that went for 15 yards after some nice yards after catch.
Complete to Jaylen Warren on a check-down that went for 10 yards after Warren made a nice move.
The Bills dialed up a big blitz, Wilson diagnosed it, checked the protection at the line of scrimmage, and when the offensive line picked the blitz from his left, Wilson planted his foot and dashed past the blitzes up field and into wide open space. It would have probably been a 30-yard gain.
Arthur Smith had seen enough. Fields and the twos came on.
🏈 Fields has a unique talent for adjusting his arm angle to avoid the hands of defenders. He completed an out route to Connor Heyward almost completely sidearm, with a defender in his face, and it was rocketed to the sideline. Heyward made a fabulous catch. His game is an awkward fit for this offense sometimes, but he has great hands.
🏈 New wide receiver T.J. Luther made two highlight-reel catches along the sideline. The only problem was that both times, the throws just took him too far to the sideline to make the catch. It was a nice show of hands and body control, though.
🏈 Fields throws on the run nearly as well as he does from the pocket, and I think he’s done a better job of using his feet but keeping his eyes down field lately. It’s all about his vision and decision making, not the physical tools. He nearly threw one through Scotty Miller as he was sprinting right and found Miller coming back to the ball.
🏈 John Rhys Plumlee and Perine were the kickoff returners. Anthony Averett, MyCole Pruitt, Tyler Matakevich and Dez Fitzpatrick were all on the top coverage unit, which has to be good signs for their 53-man roster candidacy. Fitzpatrick, Matakevich, and Pruitt were also on the return team, along with rookie safety Ryan Watts.
NOTES FROM STEELERS DEFENSIVE TEAM PERIODS
By Chris Ward
🏈 The Bills had several explosive plays against the Steelers defense during 11-on-11. Josh Allen connected to wide receiver Khalil Shakir down the seem for a 40-yard touchdown.Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen was in zone coverage, and Allen dropped it right in the bucket to Shakir between Queen and safety DeShon Elliott.
🏈 Mitch Trubisky also found tight end Quintin Morris down the seam for a touchdown. It was a similar play to Allen’s touchdown pass to Shakir. The Steelers were also in zone coverage.
🏈 Overall, the Bills’ tight ends were pretty impressive. They have a solid duo in Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox. Kincaid and Knox certainly had their way against the Steelers in the Bills’ wild-card playoff win this past January. It will be interesting to see how the linebackers do in coverage on Saturday night against Buffalo.
🏈 And, of course, Josh Allen was as advertised. He was dropping some dimes. He completed touchdown passes to wide receiver Tyrell Shaver and tight end Quinton Morris. Allen also completed a bootleg in the flat to Knox that went for 10+ yards during 11-on-11.
🏈 The only interception by the Steelers during the team period or 7-on-7 was by safety Jalen Elliott. Elliott picked off Trubisky on an ill-advised pass that floated over the middle.
🏈 Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was called for pass interference when covering Bills rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman during 7-on-7. Porter disagreed with the call, and discussed the matter with secondary coach Grady Brown on the sideline.
🏈 Strong safety DeShon Elliott and offensive tackle Spencer Brown shoved each other after a screen play to wide receiver Tyrell Shavers. A few plays later, Elliott had a nice pass breakup a curl route. Elliott waived his finger after the play to no one in particular.
🏈 Defensive back Kyler McMichael had a nice pass breakup that caught the attention of starting cornerback Donte Jackson. “Knuckles to the ground!” Jackson shouted at McMichael.
SUMMARY
The teams got in a solid day of work, avoided getting fined for fighting one another, and generally seemed to enjoy the process. Next up, they’ll do battle in a preseason game.
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