Recapping Day 1 of Lions-Steelers joint practice: Darius Slay humbled by Antonio Brown

Darius Slay vs. Antonio Brown: Round 1

Before the Detroit Lions headed to Pittsburgh, Darius Slay expressed his excitement toward facing one of the best wide receivers in the league.

Well, Antonio Brown didn’t waste any time in showing Slay why many consider him the best wide receiver in the league. According to several sources on the ground, Brown immediately beat Slay for a deep route during one-on-ones. Shortly thereafter, the receiver did it again, leading to some trash talk:

Slay would end up following Brown all over the field during team drills and was able to rebound nicely. According to Kyle Meinke of MLive.com, Slay was “all over” Brown for the rest of practice.

Still, it seems like Brown won Round 1 between the two star players, and he did so without Ben Roethlisberger, who didn’t practice because of an excused absence.

Ezekiel Ansah is still good

Anthony Zettel’s breakout party

Lions sixth-round pick Anthony Zettel has had a very quiet training camp through two weeks. Zettel isn’t expected to contribute much in his rookie year, but you’d still expect a little more buzz from the defensive end. That being said, Zettel seemed to sure make an impression among the Steelers media:

To be fair, the Pittsburgh beat may have been giving Zettel a little more attention since he graduated from Penn State. Still, this is promising news for a guy who has otherwise been invisible at camp.

Injury updates

As expected, Eric Ebron did not participate in practice on Tuesday, he is unlikely to play in Friday’s preseason game.

Reporters asked Jim Caldwell on Monday whether TJ Jones had suffered a concussion during the mock game. Caldwell refused to comment on the situation, but Jones sat out of Tuesday’s practice for a seemingly different reason:

Additionally, Andre Caldwell sat out another practice on Tuesday. He was spotted in some sort of cast or wrap on his right hand, which is something new. Caldwell hasn’t practiced since last Friday.

Finally, the Lions suffered an injury early practice when cornerback Ian Wells was carted off with a leg injury:

Jim Caldwell said after practice the injury doesn’t necessarily looks so good. Wells was likely a longshot to make the final roster, but no one likes to see a player lose their chance like this. Hopefully the prognosis is better than it currently looks.

New dad

Rafael Bush did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh as his wife gave birth to their daughter Tuesday morning:

In his place, Tavon Wilson jumped in with the first-string offense. Wilson was listed as the No. 2 free safety on the Lions’ unofficial depth chart, which the team released on Monday.

Bush won’t have much time to spend with his new daughter. He already tweeted out that he’s on his way to Pittsburgh to rejoin his team.