Steelers' inside the ropes: Defense carries the day, twice stops 2

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All of the daily repetitions the Pittsburgh Steelers put in during “Seven Shots” to open practice paid off for the defense at the end of Sunday’s session.

The defense came up with red-zone stops against Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky in the two-minute scenario that concluded the two-hour workout at Saint Vincent.

Each quarterback was given 1 minute, 41 seconds to drive the offense from its 35 to the end zone. Pickett advanced the first-team offense to the 2 before slot corner Chandon Sullivan batted down a fourth-down pass attempt. Trubisky moved the second-team offense to the 8 but ran out of downs. He looked for Darnell Washington in the back of the end zone on fourth down, but the rookie tight end slipped and the ball fell incomplete.

Coach Mike Tomlin credited the practice habits formulated in the seven cracks the defense gets to stop the offense in the simulated 2-point conversion drill.

“That’s the overriding purpose of Seven Shots — to be able to apply it to other circumstances and keep a point total down,” Tomlin said. “We spend a lot of time in that area of the field to familiarize ourselves with calls down there and to be in position to execute.

“Things happen quickly down there, and it was a good day for (the defense) in that regard.”

Pickett’s big play while running the two-minute offense was a pass to Cody White that covered about 40 yards and provided a first down at the 4. White got up and ran into the end zone, celebrating as if he had scored, but he was ruled down by contact and the drill continued.

Pickett’s next two attempts — to White and George Pickens — were thrown out of bounds and too high, respectively. On third down, Pickett ran up the middle but was touched at the 2. His fourth down pass never got beyond the line of scrimmage thanks to Sullivan’s swat.

Trubisky had a 27-yard completion to Miles Boykin to put the ball on the 23. His next pass was a low spiral that Connor Heyward plucked at the 8 while on his back before the ball hit the ground. Trubisky’s next two attempts were deflected, and Luq Barcoo broke up a third-down pass intended for Boykin. Several defenders were in the area when Trubisky’s final pass zipped past the fallen Washington.

• The defense also prevailed in “Seven Shots” by a 5-2 margin. Pickett was 1 for 4, his only score coming when White beat Levi Wallace in coverage. Trubisky was 1 for 3. He connected with Washington on his first attempt, but Boykin couldn’t hang on to the next pass while falling out of bounds. Boykin then had a drop on virtually the same pass play to end the drill.

• Nate Herbig, returning to practice after leaving early Saturday with a thumb injury, took snaps as the second-team center and got reps as the first-team left guard while Isaac Seumalo got the day off.

• In the opening period, Barcoo lunged and broke up a pass intended for Dez Fitzpatrick, prompting Tomlin to yell, “Good play, good play.”

• Safety Kenny Robinson closed on Heyward on a deep pass, getting there in time to deflect the ball away. Elijah Riley and Kwon Alexander also had pass breakups in a drill that featured individual matchups against running backs and tight ends.

• Tanner Morgan took snaps as the third-team quarterback. In one team period, he found Hakeem Butler over the middle for a completion. Later, the duo teamed up for another completion when the 6-foot-5 Butler went over 6-2 corner Chris Wilcox to make the catch.

• Morgan was intercepted by Robinson, but he ended a 7-on-7 session by throwing a perfectly placed deep pass into the arms of Dan Chisena, who ran untouched into the end zone to finish off the 50-yard score. While Morgan was being mobbed by the other quarterbacks, the receivers congratulated Chisena in the end zone.

• Pickett and Calvin Austin hooked up on a deep ball down the right sideline with Sullivan in coverage. Austin, though, had the ball stripped by linebacker Cole Holcomb on a jet sweep in the next team period.

• After a day off Monday, the Steelers return to practice at 1:55 p.m. Tuesday at Saint Vincent.

Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

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