Herbert Ramps Up With 11-on-11 Work

It was a back-and-forth affair between all offensive and defensive units during Tuesday’s practice.

The beginning portion saw a lot of work in the run game, where both sides had their moments.

During a 9-on-7 session, the second-team defense was able to make an impact early on. It was the same for the first team, as Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu limited the offense to minimal run gains with Stick and Luis Perez under center.

But the offense responded during some live plays between the third teams as Jaret Patterson and Isaiah Spiller each broke free in reps with no safeties on the field.

It remained much of the same throughout the rest of the drills, as the defense was able to get the upper hand on the offense during the red-zone period and deny a touchdown on all but one rep.

To end the period, the Bolts offense tried to run the ball at the 15-yard line but were immediately stopped by linebacker Denzel Perryman for a tackle for loss.

The offense was able to put together some momentum during later 7-on-7 periods, however, as Stick found Derius Davis, Jaelen Gill and Johnston for some nice gains while Perez connected with Jaylen Johnson and Cornelius Johnson.

Asante Samuel, Jr., Kristian Fulton (two), JT Woods, Tarheeb Still were among the players to notch pass breakups Tuesday.

The Bolts special teams unit were back at it with the pads back on during Tuesday’s practice, continuing to build after getting two preseason games worth of reps under their belt.

In addition to punt work near the beginning of practice, the unit also closed out the session with a focus on kickoffs.

With a bit of game experience now in the books with the NFL’s new kickoff rule, kicker Cameron Dicker said the unit has more of an idea of what to expect.

“It’s interesting. It’s been fun to see,” Dicker said. “You’re getting a lot more returns than normal. I’ll be interested to see what it’s like during the season.