Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

LATROBE, Pa. – Antonio Brown had already got the best of Darius Slay in one-on-one drills, beating him deep three straight times, when the NFL’s most electrifying wide receiver lined up across from one of the league’s highest-paid cornerbacks during a seven-on-seven drill midway through today's practice.

Brown faked a post route inside as he ran downfield before making a right turn to the far sideline.

Slay was a step late adjusting his coverage, and, as Brown effortlessly hauled in another catch, he turned to the hometown crowd at St. Vincent’s College and raised his arms to loud cheers.

Brown jogged back to his side of scrimmage, where he talked briefly with an assistant coach and wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey before breaking out a toothy smile.

“I’m killing him,” Brown said to his teammate.

Brown-Slay was one of the most anticipated battles at the first of two joint practices between the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers today.

Brown, who finished second in the NFL with 1,834 yards receiving last year, clearly got the better of the match-up, but Slay said he walked away a better player because of it and is looking forward to the rematch Wednesday.

After holding separate walk-throughs on Thursday, the two teams play their preseason opener Friday at Heinz Field.

“It’s a big measuring stick,” Slay said of practicing against Brown. “Just a different type of guy and just go make the plays. That’s it. I just got to make more plays. I made a couple today, I just need to make more.”

Slay has been the Lions’ best cornerback the last two seasons, so much so that the team signed him to a four-year, $50 million contract extension last month.

He shut down Dez Bryant in the Lions’ playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys two years ago, and spent part of last season traveling with the No. 1 receiver on opposing teams.

But as well as Slay has played while honing his skills in practice against the likes of Calvin Johnson, Marvin Jones and Golden Tate, Brown is a different type of receiver whose speed and shiftiness is challenging in different ways.

“I’ve never seen that kind of guy in my division,” Slay said. “Nobody that, I don’t know how tall is – 5-9, that guy that’s just shifty and can make big-time plays. It’s a new little look, but I’m prepared for it.”

Brown ran three straight go routes on Slay during one-on-one drills early in today's practice. He caught two of the passes for would-be touchdowns and dropped a third.

Slay complained half-heartedly to one official that Brown was “pushing me off on the top of the route,” and, after practice, he joked that the Central Michigan product was “trying to make me pull some hammies or something.”

“Oh man, the first one I said I expected that for the crowd, that was cool,” Slay said. “But three of them in a row I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m already fitting to die here.’ Like, ‘Come on, you’re going to run another deep route?’ He said, ‘I’m going deep all day Slay.’ I said, ‘No you cannot. I’m not fixing to go with you more today. Not today.’

“He tried to kill me, man.”

Lions coach Jim Caldwell said one of the reasons he agreed to do joint practices this summer for the first time in his three seasons in Detroit was so he could evaluate players in matchups like today's Brown-Slay tilt.

“(Brown) presents a very, very unusual challenge for him because he’s a guy that’s fast, that’s quick,” Caldwell said. “He’s an extremely smart guy just in terms of understanding how he disrupts the coverage techniques of defenders. But I think that happened to us all the way across the board.

“All the way across the board there’s guys who certainly know how to play and play this game well and our guys I think did a nice job of matching up. I think both teams got better today.”

Slay said he did, for sure.

He called Brown “the best in the business,” and said he learned not to use his hands against Brown like he used to against Johnson because Brown is too “crafty” at the line of scrimmage.

In team drills, the Steelers, who practiced without Ben Roethlisberger today, didn’t throw Slay’s way as much – Brown caught several passes on No. 2 cornerback Nevin Lawson – and Slay said he walked away knowing he has a few things to get better at but feeling he had “a pretty decent day” overall.

“Oh, I’m ready for his ass tomorrow,” Slay said. “I’m ready for his butt tomorrow with all that.”

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Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.