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'Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances' after Steelers' scattered loss in preseason opener | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

'Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances' after Steelers' scattered loss in preseason opener

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

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Chaz Palla
Steelers receiver George Pickens leaps for extra yardage against the Texans’ Eric Murray in the first quarter Friday at Acrisure Stadium.

If anyone is looking for a way to positively spin the performance of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-team offense in the preseason opener, look at it this way:

In last year’s preseason debut, Kenny Pickett marched the first team right down the throats of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the opening drive, completing six passes and hitting George Pickens for a touchdown.

What a foundation for things to come!

Yeah. Look at how all of that turned out.

So, based on how little the Steelers’ first-team offense did against the Houston Texans on Friday night in a 20-12 loss, that probably means they’ll go to the Super Bowl.

It’s the preseason. Don’t overthink it. Simply assume that’s how things will go.

Here’s our first edition of “Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances” for the 2024 Steelers calendar. If you don’t like it, well, just remember it’s preseason for everyone.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Don’t say we didn’t warn you

You got a good look at what has been the full Justin Fields experience over his first three years in Chicago and at this summer’s Steelers’ training camp.

You got some intriguing flashes (which we will get to shortly). But there were just enough moments that went awry to halt drives.

Some of them may not have been entirely his fault.

The fourth-year signal caller was 5 for 6 for 67 yards, but he got sacked twice and he had two botched center exchanges with Nate Herbig. He was credited with 2 rushing yards on three carries.

“We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We have to do the routine things routinely. The (quarterback-center) exchange, that’s the thing that stopped us when we were moving the ball well,” Fields said.

Both Fields and Herbig attempted to put the blame for botched snaps on their own shoulders and shielded the other from responsibility.

Frankly, I would’ve let Fields stay in longer and get more action. With only one year to evaluate him, and with Russell Wilson likely assuming the starting job soon, I would’ve left Fields in to get more reps with whatever remained of the first unit throughout most of the first half.

Oh, the O-line

The offensive line did open a few nice holes in the running game. Daijun Edwards had 24-yard run and Jonathan Ward had one for 20.

But Herbig had the two bad center exchanges with Fields, and Troy Fautanu was beaten by Danielle Hunter for a sack.

The rookie first-round pick (who was reported to have a knee injury after the game) was also part of a collective O-line loss on Fields’ second sack, which came on a third-and-6 from Mario Edwards Jr. and Neville Hewitt.

Especially slow start for special teams

It was a rough start for Danny Smith’s unit. On their first chance to try the reconfigured kickoff attempt, John Rhys Plumlee bumped into one of his own blockers, aborting any chance of a decent return.

Then rookie safety Ryan Watts committed a penalty on the second kick-return opportunity, and Quez Watkins muffed a punt return. The Texans covered the loose ball at Pittsburgh’s 30 and proceeded to score a touchdown to make it 14-0.

In the third quarter, Duece Watts also got pushed back trying to block on a punt return, and he collided with returner Scotty Miller, but the ball harmlessly bounced away without resulting in a turnover.

“From a special teams perspective, the field position and points standpoint was J.V. (junior varsity),” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “You can’t play football like that and think you’ll be in games. It’s amazing we had the ball in a one-score game when you consider those things.”

Also, Matthew Wright missed an extra-point attempt in part due to what Tomlin called a poor snap.

Coming up empty

The Steelers did get a decent drive under their belts with Kyle Allen at QB in the second quarter.

Ward had his 20-yard run on second down early in the series. Allen also hit Dez Fitzpatrick for 34 yards. But the drive died in the red zone. Ward and La’Mical Perine then ran the ball three times from the 5-yard line and got only 3 yards.

On fourth down, Allen overthrew a wide-open Calvin Austin III. He tried to toe-tap and catch the ball to stay in bounds, but he couldn’t haul it in or get his feet down.

So, much like a Brandon Aiyuk trade rumor, the drive died at the goal line.

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Airing it ‘aht’

When Fields was able to throw, for the most part, things went well.

The ex-Chicago Bear completed his first five passes. The lone incompletion may have been overturned if Tomlin had elected to challenge a second-down pass along the sidelines. It could’ve been a catch by Van Jefferson.

On the other five throws, Fields showed some improv skills, flipping a completion to Najee Harris over the outstretched arms of a free rusher. It went for 16 yards.

He also side-armed a completion to Pickens for 15 yards.

Plus, Fields threw a couple of nicely placed balls to Jefferson for 20 yards and another to Pickens for a first down.

Having their moments

A few of the guys along the front seven carried over their good camps to game action.

Nick Herbig and DeMarvin Leal both have flashed at Saint Vincent. On Friday night, Herbig had Texans QB C.J. Stroud dead to rights for what would’ve been a sack. But Stroud wisely abused the NFL’s overly generous protection of the quarterback rules and grounded the ball to avoid a big loss.

On the next play, he completed a touchdown pass to Tank Dell.

Later in the first half, Leal registered a sack. So did Montravius Adams.

Outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon added a sack as well.

Kyle can

Aside from that bad pass to Austin, Allen was quite sharp. He ended up 17-for-23 for 193 yards, a touchdown and an interception on the game’s last throw. That was good for a passer rating of 95.0.

“When you look at preseason games, you just want to look at your team’s overall execution. Prodecudural stuff, in and out of the huddle. Substitutions. Just make sure it’s clean football,” Allen said. “Don’t show all that you have. You aren’t game-planning super hard. It’s about you.”

Allen had an 11-yard scramble to the Houston 6-yard line on a third-and-9 that led to the team’s first touchdown. It was a pass from Allen to Connor Heyward on the next snap.

Early in the fourth quarter, Allen completed a 38-yard pass to Scotty Miller, which set up an Edwards score.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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