Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Today’s practice started out with a big crowd, but most left when the skies opened up and it started raining cats and dogs.

Since it was raining so much, I didn’t get to take as many notes as I normally would (my notebook got soaked).  I couldn’t take as many pictures either.  But here are my top 10 observations from Day 3 (Sunday August 2, 2009).

1)  Hines Ward did not practice today.  I don’t know if he was injured or if coach Tomlin is just giving him a rest.  However, he wasn’t in pads.  He just had on shorts and a t-shirt.  He was wearing a baseball cap turned backwards.

2)  If you ever wondered if the Steelers practice in the rain, the answer is “yes”.  It started raining really hard in the middle of practice.  A few of the players started to leave the field.  Someone on the field yelled that they saw lightning.  Coach Mike Tomlin yelled back “We play games in the rain in the NFL”, and that was that.  Nobody left the field, and practice proceeded as usual.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I absolutely love the control that Mike Tomlin exercises over his team.  He absolutely will not let them lose focus.  It definitely inspires confidence in me as a fan that the Steelers will not become distracted for any reason.

3)  Dan Sepulveda is back!!!! If there were any question about how Dan Sepulveda is healing from his injury/surgery from last season, let me put your mind at rest.  Sepulveda is back 100%!!!!!!  I actually asked Sepulveda how he was feeling yesterday, and he told me 100%.  However, I needed to see it myself.

Today Sepulveda punted for the first time at open practice.  He boomed punts that all seemed to hang in the air for 6 seconds (no exaggeration).  He probably made 10 punts.  The shortest one went 47 yards in the air.  The longest one went 67 yards in the air.  There was a slight wind at his back, but still, 67 yards is awesome.  By the way, did I mention that it was 67 yards in the rain?

4)  Mike Wallace is fast.  He got behind the entire defense for a long reception from Big Ben.  He beat the defenders so badly that it looked like Tom Brady to Randy Moss.

5)  Don’t ignore Piotr Czech.  Jeff Reed is an amazing kicker, and I hope the Steelers sign him to an extension.  However, today at practice Piotr Czech got to kick field goals.  He started with an extra point, and then moved back 5 yards on each successive kick.  He never missed.  The coaches stopped the drill after he hit a 55 yarder.  Frankly, I wanted to see him attempt a 60 yarder.

6)  Ziggy Hood beat Kraig Urbick twice in a row in one-on-one drills.  He looked like he totally outclassed Urbick.  However, Urbick stopped him cold on the third try, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

7)  Martin Nance drops too many catchable balls.  I know that he was Ben Roethlisberger’s favorite receiver at Miami of Ohio, but I just can’t see him making this team.

8)  Limas Sweed is showing good signs.  Limas made several pretty catches, including a nice diving catch by the sidelines that made the crowd go wild.  However, Limas also had some drops that drew a few jeers from the crowd.

9)  I like the way Mike Tomlin lets his assistants do their job.  Each Assistant runs practice for their particular unit.  Tomlin then circulates through the units and watches what they’re doing.  At each unit, he singles out a player and shouts encouragement to him.  When he got to the tight ends, he yelled out “C’mon DJ, show me something.  Show me what you got, DJ”.  He was referring to rookie tight end David Johnson.

I noticed that when Tomlin is watching a particular unit, the players go at it just a little bit harder.  The wide receivers in particular tend to dive for balls that they would have let fall to the ground if Tomlin weren’t watching.  The running backs also seem to hit the holes harder when Tomlin is watching.

10)  Frank “the tank” Summers is already a fan favorite.  Practice ended today when Summers had a violent (and loud) collision with a defender on a running play.  Summers didn’t win this one.  He got knocked on his back.  I couldn’t see who the defender was, but those around me said that his number ended in a “5″.  They thought it was either Patrick Bailey (#55) or Donovan Woods (#95).  The play drew ooohs and ahhhs from both fans and other players on the field.  It looked like a fight was going to break out, and I saw coaches jump in.  Tempers cooled, and practice ended.

Note: I was wrong about the hit on Frank Summers yesterday.  According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it was Willie Gay who put the big hit on Summers.  In fact, he knocked Summers down with the hit.  Read about it here.

If you haven’t already read our coverage of Day #2, please click below:

Notes from Steelers training camp Day 2

Also see our coverage of Day 4 by clicking here.

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In a very un-Steelerlike move, the Steelers added five free agents today.  That’s right, five.  I can’t remember the last time the Steelers have signed that many Free agents at once.  I’m not talking about unsigned college seniors.  That’s normal this time of year.  Nope, they signed 5 veteran free agents.  It usually takes the Steelers about 7 years to sign that many veteran free agents.  Of course, not all of them are going to make the roster, but still….

The team added cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, punter Dirk Johnson, wide receivers Shaun McDonald and Jayson Foster, and kicker Piotr (peet-er) Czech.

Ratliff (5-11, 188) was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round (49th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft out of Florida. He most recently spent a portion of the 2007 and 2008 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and finished with 34 tackles and two interceptions during his time with the Colts.

Ratliff spent three full seasons with the Bengals before being released in September, 2007. He was then signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and spent two weeks on their active roster before being released.

I like this move.  Although the Steelers drafted 2 rookie cornerbacks, it might be a bit much to expect either of them to contribute so soon.  Having another veteran in camp should take some pressure off the rookies and allow them to develop at a more normal pace.

Johnson (6-0, 210) enters his eighth NFL season after playing 12 games with the Arizona Cardinals in 2008. He averaged 41.8 yards on 40 punts with the Cardinals, including a 35.2-yard net average. In 69 career games played, Johnson has averaged 41.7 yards on 320 punts (13,356 total yards).

Johnson, 33, originally signed with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted rookie out of Northern Colorado in 1998. He was released in training camp by the Seahawks (’98), New York Jets (’99) and San Diego Chargers (’01), before playing with the New Orleans Saints (‘02), Philadelphia Eagles (‘03-06), Chicago Bears (’07) and the Cardinals. Johnson was released by Arizona last December and signed with the Washington Redskins in March 2009 before being released in April.

I’m going to assume that Dan Sepulveda has healed from his injury, and that the Steelers are just bringing Johnson in to add a little competition during training camp.  However, perhaps there is something that we don’t know about the pace at which Sepulveda is healing.  Either way, I’m glad that we won’t be hearing the names Berger and Ernster this year.

McDonald (5-10, 183) was originally drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft out of Arizona State. McDonald spent four years with the Rams before signing with the Detroit Lions during the 2007 offseason. He led the Lions with 79 catches, 943 yards and six touchdowns that season.

Foster (5-7, 185) spent time on the Steelers’ practice squad in 2008. He originally signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2008 as an undrafted rookie from Georgia Southern. He was on the Denver Broncos’ practice squad towards the end of the 2008 season, but was released by the Broncos on April 28, 2009.

Foster probably won’t be a factor this year, but McDonald is a good acquisition.  He is an experienced veteran who can compete in training camp with Limas Sweed, Dallas Baker, Martin Nance, rookie Mike Wallace,  and the 3 undrafted free agents that they recently signed, for a position on the roster.  I like the competition that is being set up, and my money is on Ward, Holmes, McDonald, Sweed, and Wallace to emerge as the Steelers wide receiver corps this year.

Frankly, I’m a tad disappointed that they didn’t sign Asley Lelie.  After both sides indicated that they’d had a good meeting earlier this week, I was hoping that he’d become a Steeler.  Oh well.

Czech (6-5, 210) spent the 2008 training camp with the Baltimore Ravens after signing as a rookie free agent out of Wagner College.

Czech is training camp fodder to be chewed up and spit out by Steelers’  super kicker Jeff Reed.  Good luck Piotr.  But I wouldn’t suggest buying a house in Pittsburgh.

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