DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Debuting another weekly feature, here is our first full-length video interview: Carnell Lake.

Lake, 47, was a former All-Pro safety with the Steelers in 1989-98 and is now in his fourth year as their secondary coach. The first three years, the pass defense ranked among the NFL’s top 10. Now, it’s 16th in yardage allowed and perhaps a more telling 27th in opponent’s QB rating.

Knowing Lake as a relentlessly straight shooter, I raised with him the general state of the secondary, what’s wrong with Mike Mitchell and why anyone should have hope for this group going forward.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Alejandro Villanueva’s tale has been told many times since his arrival to the Steelers, including yesterday in an NFL Network segment and back to last year in an impeccably detailed ESPN.com feature. Short version: He’s a U.S. Army Ranger who served three tours of combat duty in Afghanistan and is now pursuing his dream of playing pro football as a 6-9, 330-pound offensive lineman on the Steelers’ practice squad.

Ben Roethlisberger opened his weekly meeting with us reporters by acknowledging Veterans Day and divulging that the players approached Mike Tomlin to request that Villanueva accompany the team to Nashville, something a practice-squad player would never do.

And it’s funny, but as a side note, we always take every minute we can with Roethlisberger until the 1 p.m. closing of the locker room. Not this time. A big group of us peeled away to go talk to Villanueva once he showed up. Kid looked genuinely stunned.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

When citing the Steelers’ best offensive players, one could comfortably go 11 deep and still forget to mention Kelvin Beachum. But maybe it shouldn’t be that way.

The third-year pro out of SMU ranks seventh in the NFL among all tackles, fifth among left tackles, in Pro Football Focus ratings. This despite allowing an unsightly five sacks — three of those in one game against the Bucs — which illustrates how well he’s done on the rest of the snaps.

I spoke with Beachum at the team’s South Side headquarters about his technique as an undersized lineman, his close relationship with Ramon Foster and, of course, the Ravens.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Doesn’t exactly take work to get Le’Veon Bell to open up. So when I say I had a good talk with the young man this afternoon after the Steelers’ practice on the South Side, what I’m really saying is that he talks about as well as he runs and about as well as he catches a football, for that matter.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Been a trying week for Markus Wheaton after catching only four passes out of 11 targets last Sunday in Cleveland, then committing himself to extra work to get it right. Today’s practice was no different, as he and Antonio Brown again were the last two off the field following extra tosses.

Had a good talk with Wheaton afterward over at the South Side HQ, though you’ll also notice he was the victim of some videobombing by Cam Thomas, Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert:

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

There isn’t a trace of gosh-wow to Brice McCain, not back when he made that decisive pick-6 of Blake Bortles in Jacksonville, not now that Mike Tomlin has put him in the Steelers’ spotlight by elevating his status in the defense, not Monday when he takes on his old team, the Texans.

Had a fun talk with this sixth-year pro over at the South Side HQ: