LATROBE, Pa. – On yesterday's schedule was a practice in pads. On tomorrow's schedule is the preseason opener, which is at 7 p.m. against Houston at Acrisure Stadium. And when you add those two things together, the outcome was a walk-through on Thursday morning at Saint Vincent College.
This was a walk-through in every sense of the word, too. No pads of any kind, only helmets. No 7-Shots, or any other competition periods. During special teams periods, even the snaps and kicks were simulated. Nothing was done at full speed, and Coach Mike Tomlin didn't address the media when it was over.
One of the few personnel groupings worth noting came during the first 11-on-11 session when the offensive line was configured as follows: (left to right) Dan Moore Jr., Isaac Seumalo, Nate Herbig, James Daniels, and Broderick Jones. A few snaps later when Seumalo was removed, Spencer Anderson took his place.
Then when it was time for the No. 2 offensive line to take the field, it was configured as follows: (left to right); Dylan Cook, Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier, Spencer Anderson, and Troy Fautanu.
NOTES & OBSERVATIONS
• Russell Wilson took the first offensive snaps of the practice, and when the alignment contained 3 wide receiver, it was George Pickens, Van Jefferson, and Calvin Austin III.
• When the defense deployed 5 defensive backs, it was Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson at cornerback, Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott at safety, and Beanie Bishop at nickel.
• Cordarrelle Patterson, still on the non-football injury list with a hamstring issue, did more running on a side field while the rest of the team was practicing.
• Everything was done at walk-through pace, and it looked like the only full-speed running that took place by guys wearing practice jerseys happened on a side field where Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt were running sprints to keep up their conditioning.
• The "wow" moment of the session came when Payton Wilson was aligned at inside linebacker for a pass play where the ball was thrown over the left tackle and toward the sideline about 7 yards downfield. Wilson drifted over and with the receiver at the sideline and 5 yards downfield, he jumped and got his hand high enough to deflect the pass away. As Dikembe Mutombo might have said while wagging his index finger, "No, no, no. Not today."
