Wednesday Afternoon Practice: Scouting Report & Analysis

The muggy conditions during Wednesday's workout were tempered a bit because it was somewhat overcast for the second hour. The first one was rough, though, as the heat index reached 97 degrees on the field by 4 p.m.

"(They) were good for us (and) part of this team building,'' Tomlin said. "There was good, focused work. Nothing extraordinary as far as what was done, but ... we accomplished a lot.''

While there appears to be some separation at certain positions, Tomlin said that performances in the preseason games would be a major factor in determining basically who stays and who gets cut.

One difference during Wednesday's practice was he appearance of several local officials, who manned the sidelines to keep the Steelers playing within the rules. There were a lot of team drills with Byron Leftwich working primarily with the first team, followed by Ben Roethlisberger and then Dennis Dixon. Charlie Batch didn't take a snap in the team (11-on-11) sessions.

Both Roethlisberger and Leftwich were sharp when they threw the ball, but the majority of team drills were first-down situations. So, the Steelers ran the ball more times than not. Roethlisberger did hit Emmanuel Sanders for nearly a 40-yard gain down the middle. The rookie wideout has displayed excellent hands and concentration in traffic, and he slipped in between the deep coverage.

Occasionally, the second-team offense went against the first-team defense and held its own for the most part with Roethlisberger at the helm. He completed passes to Antonio Brown and Isaiah Williams, as well as another toss to Sanders.

Dixon also hooked up with......