It was a big day for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense at practice Saturday.

Returning to the field for the first time since playing in their second preseason game, when the Steelers shut out the Philadelphia Eagles in the second half, defense prevailed in “seven shots” to open practice and the two-minute drill that closed it.

Running the first-team offense, Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception to slot corner Arthur Maulet with 34 seconds left on the second play of his two-minute drive. The Steelers had the ball at the defense’s 48 with one timeout and 48 seconds to play when Roethlisberger took over. Roethlisberger’s first attempt was batted down, and Maulet got the interception on a pass that was lobbed into double coverage.

Melvin Ingram, Alex Highsmith and Cam Heyward deflected passes at various stages of practice.

Working with the second team in the two-minute drill, Mason Rudolph had the ball at the offense’s 35 with 1:41 on the clock and one timeout. He couldn’t generate a first down, either.

On his first attempt, Rudolph threw the ball away under pressure. He hit Anthony Johnson for a 6-yard completion on second down. His pass on third down was thrown behind Tyler Simmons. On fourth-and-4, Rudolph also faced pressure before throwing a pass that Rob Spillane nearly deflected and Johnson dropped.

That brought a conclusion to the two-hour practice.

Practice opened with the defense getting stop on five of seven plays in the “seven shots” 2-point conversion simulation.

• Roethlisberger converted on one of three attempts. His first pass, intended for running back Najee Harris, was batted down by James Pierre, who was starting in place of the resting Joe Haden. Roethlisberger connected with Diontae Johnson for a score to the left corner on the second snap, but a fade to Johnson to the right corner was caught out of bounds.

• Rudolph went 0 for 2. His first target was too high for 6-foot-8 tight end Zach Gentry. On his second throw, he led Mathew Sexton too far across the middle.

• Dwayne Haskins went 1 for 2 to close the session. He found Rico Bussey in the left corner of the end zone with Stephen Denmark in coverage. Haskins then threw incomplete for tight end Marcus Baugh.

Worth noting from team drills:

• Ingram pulled up short on a sack of Roethlisberger, who elected to keep the play alive and heaved a deep pass to Diontae Johnson, who made a leaping catch.

• After a high snap from center J.C. Hassenauer, Roethlisberger had to force a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

• A Haskins pass down the seam bounced off the hands of running back Jaylen Samuels.

• During the second 11-on-11 session, Roethlisberger was intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick, who made the diving pick.

• Lafayette Pitts had a nice pass breakup on Rudolph’s deep attempt intended for Sexton.

• Pat Freiermuth made a nice back-shoulder catch on a pass by Haskins that turned him around.

• Roethlisberger unleashed a 50-yard throw that Chase Claypool dropped at the 5-yard line with Pitts in coverage.

• Sexton had a Rudolph pass deflect off his fingers. Justin Layne was there to haul in the interception.

• Rudolph executed a nifty shovel pass to Freiermuth after faking a handoff.

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