2018 Steelers Training Camp – Day 12 Recap

An unpadded Pittsburgh Steelers team returned this afternoon at St. Vincent for another training camp session, after a well-earned day off. With their first preseason game in the books, the Steelers have only three open practice sessions left until the conclusion of this year's training camp and their next preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.

Today's camp storylines include the return of an All-Pro receiver in full effect, players renewing their training camp rivalry, and a receiver's long overdue combat catch, and

So Steelers fans, let's go!

Injury Report

The biggest news on the injury front was the return of All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown. As captured by DKPittsburghSports Steelers reporter Dale Lolley, Brown was not just doing drill on the sidelines, he was in full effect mode. Brown was previously sidelined with a minor hip flexor injury based on a report by Senior Steelers Writer Mark Kaboly. By all accounts, Brown was back to his normal, high-energetic form which is great news for the Steelers.

New to the injury list was reserve guard BJ Finney, who suffered a quad contusion during Thursday's preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Currently, there is no set timetable for his return, and considering there are only a few practices left, it is likely he will be out for the remainder of training camp. Also new to this list is tight end Xavier Grimble, who was seen sporting a cast/brace on his wrist, he was later confirmed by Lolley having a thumb injury which he sustained early in practice. With free safety Sean Davis not participating in this afternoon's session, veteran safety Morgan Burnett took over at free safety according to Lolley's report. Speaking of safeties, rookie Marcus Allen was seen leaving practice early with trainers, according to "Locked On Steelers" host Tony Serino.

The rest of the injury list contained many of the usual suspects; outside linebackers TJ Watt (hamstring) and Bud Dupree (concussion), Vance McDonald (foot),

News and Notes

• The offense prevailed for the second straight practice in the 'seven shots' drill with a score of 4-3. Rookie quarterback Mason Raymond ended the drill finding receiver Marcus Tucker for the winning touchdown.

• Brown did not waste time in this afternoon's session as he routinely beat cornerbacks in many of the one-on-one drills. In this instance, as reported by analyst Christopher Carter of DKPittsburghSports, after beating cornerback Joe Haden, he gave a message to everyone.

• With Brown fully active in practice, he and cornerback Artie Burns Jr. renewed their traditional one-on-one rivalry in this afternoon's session. Their battles were as expected, competitive and intense. Based on the reports seen from different beat writers, Brown had the slight upper hand; Burns by all accounts did not back down showing he has come a long way from his rookie season when he was consistently beaten by Brown during training camp.

• One of the things that Brown should expect to see from defenses this upcoming season is more double-teams. Being the best receiver in the league comes with a price as defensive coordinator Keith Butler reminded him after one of the sequences.

• Something that has become a theme in this year's training camp is rookie receiver James Washington's ability to make combat catches. So far he has made at least one in each training camp session. As Serino noted in his report, Washington continued his combat catch streak this afternoon.

• Speaking of combat catches, receiver Justin Hunter made a rare combat catch in this afternoon's training camp session against Haden. One of Hunter's noted weaknesses has been his willingness to make combat catches, so this catch is a step in the right direction.

Camp Photos

From Steelers.com