STEELERS CAMP REPORT
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin felt it was a good first day as the Steelers took the practice field.
“It was a good start today,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of today’s first training camp practice. “No real injuries to speak of, just general good hustle and enthusiasm. Obviously we’re not perfect. We’re not going to be. It’s a good base to begin.”
A big focus for Tomlin in OTA’s was two-point conversations and today was no different with the Steelers starting off with two-point conversions, though, Tomlin tried to downplay the rule change playing any factor in the over emphasis the Steelers have had.
“We’ve been doing that for over a year now,” Tomlin said. It’s not a reaction to the rule change or anything of that nature. We’ve been doing it for over a year because we realize that on both sides of the ball that’s a significant space on a significant down.”
The defense won a majority today.
Ben Roethlisberger today told reporters today that the Steelers offense has the ability to score 30 points a game. In typical Tomlin fashion, he stated he only cares if the Steelers score one more point than the opponent.
“I just want to score one more point than our opponent, so whatever that entails,” Tomlin said. “I don’t worry about the style points. I’ll let you talk to Ben about that.”
James Harrison sat out today’s workout and Harrison getting days off is likely to be quite frequent in camp. “I’m going to protect him from himself,” Tomlin said. “He and Will Allen are too old to be working right now.”
With Harrison sitting out, Howard Jones ran 2nd team ROLB.
— Lot’s of talk in camp about the Steelers defensive ends being used differently under Keith Butler and will be put into more situations of rushing the passer than taking on blockers, It’s a welcome development for the likes of Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt as both are eyeing the opportunity to put up bigger than normal sack numbers for defensive ends in the Steelers system.

“I’m excited for the new defense that we have,” Tuitt said. “There’s a lot of hard hitting out there so I can’t wait.”
— Cortez Allen prior to practice said the Steelers will have a great secondary, Tuitt today touted the Steelers being a fast and powerful defense. “I think that we have a very powerful and fast defense and we are going to be able to show that once we put all the little things together,” Tuitt said. “We are going to be a really tough defense in the NFL.”