LATROBE, Pa. - Key takeaways from today's practice at Saint Vincent College:
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The Pittsburgh Steelers participated in another practice at Saint Vincent College, despite temperatures in the nineties.
SEVEN SHOTS:** QB Ben Roethlisberger rallied from an 0-for-3 effort on Sunday and went 3-for-4 in the practice-opening, 11-on-11, 2-yard drill. Roethlisberger threw for conversions to WR Markus Wheaton, WR Antonio Brown and Wheaton again prior to a throw-away on Roethlisberger's final attempt … QB Landry Jones went 1-for-3, converting on a pass to TE Ray Hamilton, who made a tough catch in traffic in the back of the end zone … LB Anthony Chickillo and S Will Allen had passes defensed … The offense won the drill, 4-3.
ONE-on-ONE: CB Brandon Boykin picked off Roethlisberger on a fade to WR Martavis Bryant in WR-DB work. Bryant beat Boykin the next time and hauled in a TD pass from Roethlisberger … S Alden Darby intercepted QB Bruce Gradkowski on a throw for WR Kenzel Doe.
11-on-11: Alejandro Villanueva, who had been working at LT, played RT for the second consecutive day … S Ian Wild got ILB reps for the second consecutive day. Wild also came up with another big hit, this one on RB Braylon Heard, the latest example of Wild making a play that head coach Mike Tomlin noticed … S Mike Mitchell forced a Heard fumble but Heard recovered ... Rookie DE L.T. Walton got first-team snaps.
PLAY OF THE DAY: Roethlisberger and Brown combined for a 20-yard TD on a fade route that beat CB Antwon Blake in Red Zone. The ball was perfectly thrown and Brown was able to haul it n over his shoulder and get both feet down in bounds in the back corner of the end zone.
HOUSEKEEPING: WR David Nelson, WR C.J. Goodwin, CB Cortez Allen, S Ross Ventrone, LB Jordan Zumwalt, NT Steve McLendon, DE Stephon Tuitt, LB Lawrence Timmons and LB Vince Williams were among the players not practicing or participating fully due to either injury or a coach's decision.
