Fight! Steelers Address Altercations Between Stars

Training camp practice got a little chippy for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., but that's just the name of the game at this time of the year.

Tight end Jonnu Smith, who got into a bit of a prolonged scuffle with safety Juan Thornhill, stated that the team understands they can't carry those sorts of antics into the regular season and are rather using training camp to let those emotions out.

"We want to win and just bring certain characteristics out," Smith said. "We understand that we can't take this to Sunday, so we can let it out here at training camp, you know what I mean, and kind of bottle it up."

Smith and Thornhill's "fight" stemmed from a leaping catch that the former made, after which he threw the ball at the latter.

Thornhill proceeded to rip Smith's helmet off before Jalen Ramsey broke up the altercation. Afterwards, Thornhill shoved the ball in Smith's chest following a one-on-one-rep in which the pass fell incomplete. The pair of newcomers grabbed each other's facemasks, and that was the end of the spat.

“It’s extremely fun," Smith said. "It gets kinda quiet, we got to wake the stands up a little bit. It’s training camp, we are out here competing and having fun.”

Another pair of first-year Steelers in wide receiver DK Metcalf and Chuck Clark, the latter of whom signed a one-year deal with the team last week, also exchanged words. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Brian Batko reported that Clark threw punches in Metcalf's direction, though that situation didn't reach the same level that Smith and Thornhill's did.

Pittsburgh's offense got the better of the team's defense on Thursday after those roles have been reversed throughout the entirety of camp up to this point, and Metcalf stated that both units live for the competition that has arisen thus far.

"It's always fun when you've got a competitive group on the other side lining up across from you," Metcalf said. "Both sides are talking and backing it up. I just think it brings out the best competiton in people. As you saw today, the offense really kicked their [expletive] today."

Scuffles are a constant in camps across the league, which includes the Steelers, but they typically aren't a sign of any locker room issues and rather just the nature of the beast.