"Great play, Eight-Nine," Tyler Matkevich yelled.
Those were words not heard around the Rooney Complex since spring practice.
"Eight-Nine," better known as Vance McDonald, had just come down with the play of practice.
Yes, that Vance McDonald.
"Yeah, its great to be back out there," said McDonald, a man of few words.
For the first time since going down with a foot injury in the first week of training camp in Latrobe, McDonald was indeed a full participant. And he made the most of it.
Josh Dobbs lofted a pass between two defenders — Matakevich and safety Jordan Dangerfield -- about 20 yards down the right sideline. McDonald jumped high, using every inch of his 6-foot-4, 267-pound body, to pull down the ball right before stepping out of bounds.
"It's just good seeing him back out there," Matakevich said. "I know he's been frustrated and stuff. I've been here all off-season working out with him, so I know how much this means to him. Just seeing him out there, I'm just happy for him."
McDonald is hopeful he'll make his 2018 debut this week when the Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs. But that will depend on how his plantar fasciitis is feeling tomorrow.
"That's always the case," he said.
The Steelers were hoping that McDonald would play last week against the Browns. He was a limited participant in practice last Wednesday but was shut down the rest of the week. Mike Tomlin said yesterday that McDonald did not suffer any setback with his injury.
Getting a healthy McDonald could potentially be a big lift for the Steelers, who used Jesse James in 82 percent of offensive snaps while Xavier Grimble lined up for only 26 plays against Cleveland. McDonald averaged 13.4 yards per reception last season, his first in Pittsburgh, but was limited to just 10 games due to various injuries.
"It's huge, just his presence out there," Matakevich said of McDonald. "Definitely affects the game when he's in there. You saw what he was able to do last year. Shoot, it's only going to make us better when he's healthy."
As encouraging as the news was on McDonald, the Steelers are still dealing with some injuries — though none would appear to be too serious.
As expected, Ben Roethlisberger (elbow), David DeCastro (hand) and Joe Haden (hamstring) did not practice, along with Cam Hewyard (knee) and Tyson Alualu (shoulder).