Steelers @ Jaguars Recap: Highs & Lows
The Steelers secured a 31-25 win in their first preseason action in Jacksonville, and while I acknowledge that the win means (mostly) nothing, it’s nice knowing the Steelers came away with one despite sitting most of their starters. With the win now in tow, I think we can all agree that we were extremely fortunate from an injury standpoint; a hamstring for Cameron McCutcheon (awaiting eval) is the only injury news we heard about. Cutch had an INT early in the second half that was wiped away by a roughing the passer penalty on Isaiahh Loudermilk. He’s virtually guaranteed himself a spot on the practice squad assuming the hammy doesn’t linger. Outside of that, like every game, there were plenty of highs, and plenty of lows.
The Highs:
Brandin Echols - The acquisition of Echols feels like an eternity ago, and has honesty become a forgotten-about move when you consider everything that followed. My guy made his presence felt in Jacksonville, though. He had a nice play in the second quarter where he high-points the football, nearly coming up with it, knocking it to the turf. Of course, you’d love to see him come down with that INT, but it’s hard to knit-pick when you watch it at full speed. Even better than the play itself is his demeanor afterwards. Dude was fired up and talking BIG shit all night long. He’s the fourth-best CB on our roster, yet he was the best football player on the field on Saturday night. That’s a nice problem to have.
Beanie Bishop Jr. - I probably could’ve tied these two together with one soliloquy, but I think their efforts both deserve to be mentioned on their own. The Beanie Bishop lore is interesting, because twice, now, I've written him off. I assumed he’d make the roster, because we didn’t know how we would deploy Jalen Ramsey, and Beanie is the only guy left with a decent amount of snaps at NB. But, that’s always kinda been my problem. While yinz have been pounding the table for receivers, I have been pounding the table for NBs. Enter Jalen Ramsey, and I let that sentiment go, but Beanie Bishop Jr. just WON’T GO AWAY. I’ve called him small on numerous occasions this summer, and he came out week one of the preseason and was form tackling guys in space like it’s December. I don’t think Beanie Bishop Jr. is a starter in the league right now, but he’s not a practice squad guy either. He’ll likely be in the fold on September 7th.
1st Team Offensive Line - With Spencer Anderson starting in place of Isaac Seumalo, the starting offensive line actually played very well against the Jags (who were playing their starters). I know that Broderick Jones has fans on high alert (it’s me, I’m fans), but he was actually able to put together a pretty clean outing. The two starting tackles (Jones and Fautanu) didn’t allow a single pressure on 24 combined pass-blocking snaps. That’s good stuff for two very unproven guys in their first real action of the season.
Arthur Smith & The QBs - There seemed to be harmony between Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, and Arthur Smith on Saturday night. Even though the run game really never got going, this didn’t feel like the stagnant offenses of the past several years. The QBs were spreading the ball, the offense was able to (mostly) stay on schedule, and we even got an ever-elusive opening drive touchdown. Mason Rudolph started this game off 7/7 and a TD, which is wonderful for him and I’m happy he’s back with the Steelers, but it’s actually testament to Arthur Smith’s gameplan and playcalling.
The Lows:
Pass Rush - Specifically Derrick Harmon and Jack Sawyer. The rookies were both pretty quiet on the day. Derrick Harmon had a pressure early in the third quarter, and Sawyer’s relentless motor was on display when he tackled Trevor Lawrence on the Jag’s first drive of the game, but other than that, Nick Mullens and the Jags QBs were kept clean all night. With the number of players that were missing from the defense in this game, there’s less than no reason to panic about our pass rush or our defensive line, but I didn’t expect them to finish the game with 0 sacks.
Kaleb Johnson - Again, we’re not panicking, not even close, but there wasn’t much to love about KJ’s debut in the Pittsburgh black & gold, outside of a poster-worthy stiff-arm on WR/CB unicorn Travis Hunter (yes, Hunter played both positions on Saturday). Johnson finished the game with 20 yards on 8 carries (2.5 yards per), and got a little ahead of himself with a bad drop on a checkdown in the second quarter. He made a comment, after the game, about needing to adjust to the speed of the game at the NFL level, and that was pretty apparent in Saturday’s game. He will acclimate.
The Jag’s Local Broadcast - Idk how many of yinz were relegated to the Jaguar’s broadcast team for this game, but holy shit that was painful.
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