DK Metcalf turned a routine training camp rep into a little sideline warning for one of his own teammates after a heated Steelers practice on August 6.
The moment came when Metcalf hauled in a pass and tried to get out of bounds after the play started to unravel. DeShon Elliott met him with a hard hit near the sideline, then quickly raised his hands as if to signal he meant no harm. Metcalf didn’t exactly let it slide, even if he kept it playful.
DK Metcalf says count your days DeShon Elliott. 😆 #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/yVl1RFEI3g
That snap was part of a day that had plenty of edge in Pittsburgh. Pat Freiermuth stepped in to back Metcalf up, and the tension between offense and defense kept bubbling throughout practice.
The defense was the clear winner on the day. Pittsburgh’s pass rush gave the quarterbacks almost no room to work, whether the reps were coming in one-on-ones between the defensive and offensive lines or in team periods. The offense never really found a rhythm, and that imbalance seemed to feed the temperature on the field.
The Metcalf-Elliott dustup wasn’t the only one. Lew Nichols and D'Shawn Jamison also got after it and ended up on the ground. Later, Payton Wilson and Ben Skowronek had their own run-in after Wilson came to Patrick Queen’s defense following an issue with the wide receiver.
Chippy practices are nothing new in camp, and Mike McCarthy said he’d actually be more concerned if the Steelers weren’t getting that kind of work in Latrobe.
"I'd be more concerned if we didn't have that. It's part of football. It's part of the game," McCarthy said.
It wasn’t a clean day for the offense, but this kind of friction is part of the ramp-up with the preseason coming and camp now halfway through. The intensity is only going to climb from here.
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