Pittsburgh Review

With a crowd of 12,268 on hand for the Steelers' annual "Friday Night Lights" practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium, the team seemed to feed off the energy provided by the audience.

Head coach Mike Tomlin expressed satisfaction with his team's performance as they returned to a padded practice after having a day off from pads on Thursday. "I can't say enough about this atmosphere tonight," Tomlin said. "We can't say enough about the relationship we have with this community. We appreciate their support. Hopefully, we showed that with our effort tonight. We had a high-intensity practice. But it's part of the process. It's iron on iron, Steelers versus Steelers. We do it with a mindset that we're working toward something. There's only one way to do it. There are no shortcuts. I tip my hat to the guys for the intensity they brought tonight."

Leading that charge were running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, who not only ran hard but also excelled in the "Backs on Backers" drill, which typically favors defenders.

After tight end Darnell Washington and linebacker Alex Highsmith split reps to start the drill, Harris stepped in against linebacker Patrick Queen and managed to toss him to the ground despite Queen's aggressive attempts.

Queen demanded a rematch but was again unable to overpower Harris, leading to an exchange of words between them.

Warren then faced linebacker Elandon Roberts and stood up to a hard hit before flipping Roberts to the ground during a subsequent rep, resulting in a scrum involving both running backs.

Both Queen and Roberts are recognized as excellent pass rushers at inside linebacker positions, but Harris and Warren met their challenge effectively.

"I can't say enough about those top two backs, Naj and Jaylen," Tomlin said. "They set the tone for the drill. That's a drill that's advantage linebackers, obviously. But when you've got some strong-minded runners, it makes it highly competitive. Those two, in particular, don't run from the fight; they run to the fight. I respect it."

Washington also stood out by beating all rushers he faced during drills and stopping DeMarvin Leal twice off the edge before handling Nick Herbig on a spin move.

Leal has been notably active in knocking down passes at scrimmage lines throughout this camp and making hustle plays downfield.

Though Harris bested Queen in "Backs on Backers," Queen retaliated by disrupting a screen pass from Justin Fields intended for Harris for a five-yard loss during team drills.

Russell Wilson participated in handoffs during 11-on-11 team running drills while throwing in 7-on-7 sessions; he was fully geared up with pads and helmet for tonight's practice.

Cam Sutton made an impressive interception of Kyle Allen at the goal line during red zone drills by jumping over-the-middle route likely destined for touchdown conversion if not intercepted.

The offense had its best showing of this training camp during 7-SHOTS sessions where they won all seven possessions:

Justin Fields threw two touchdown passes targeting George Pickens—one at goal line boxing out safety Damonte Kazee—and another splitting safeties into back-end zone scoring opportunities alongside faking inside handoff play-action sequences resulting wide-open Pat Freiermuth left-flat scores plus additional touchdowns facilitated via Najee Harris behind fullback Jack Colletto first-team offensive setups culminating Kyle Allen’s precise touchdown pass execution connecting Rodney Williams end-zone footwork maneuvers followed-up La'Mical Perine's Colletto-led hole-bouncing scoring runs further cementing offensive dominance despite defensive holding penalties drawn against corner Joey Porter Jr.'s failed fade coverage attempts enabling offensive wins across board.

Tomlin provided an injury update stating: "Bumps and bruises associated with play; nothing of any significance I'll have more information as we move forward tomorrow."