LATROBE, Pa. – Everyone has heard the old saying, 'When opportunity knocks.' It's that moment when you better be ready to answer, because opportunities don't come often.
Third-year quarterback Landry Jones is trying to take advantage of every opportunity given to him this training camp.
"He did some nice things with the extra snaps we gave him," said Coach Mike Tomlin at the end of last week. "That's all you're looking for when you take the time to give a guy an extra snap or two. You'd like to see him take advantage of it with execution, and I thought he did that."
With Bruce Gradkowski still on the physically unable to perform list with a shoulder injury, Jones has been getting more snaps in practice and making the most of them.
"It's just an opportunity to get better," said Jones. "I am getting more snaps than I ever have in camp, especially with Bruce not being there and Ben (Roethlisberger) gets his normal day off. I get to go in there with the 1's and it's good.
"The more reps you are going to get, the more comfortable you are going to feel. The more and more I play, the more comfortable I get."
Jones is likely to see extensive work against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, and is hoping to show the coaches that the extra work in practice is paying off.
"I don't know what the rotation will be, but I am sure Ben won't take a lot, Bruce won't play, so me and the other guys are probably going to get a lot of playing time," said Jones. "The more they see you, the more they are going to know about you. You can have that in a good way or a bad way depending on the way you play.
"You can't get too high, you can't get too low on practice days and things like that. If you have a really good day, there is another day coming so you have to stay consistent."
Jones has shown enough consistency his first two preseasons to make it as the Steelers third quarterback the last two years, but hasn't taken a snap in a regular season game.
"Everybody wants to play," said Jones. "That is why we are here. We are here to get better and hopefully get on the field and play. It's tough, but you have to be patient and wait for the opportunity."
