Week one of the NFL Preseason is officially in the books. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it provided far more positive performances than negative but perspective is important. The three quarterbacks all played above expectations while the team as a whole put up 28 points and limited Green Bay to just 9. The old saying in football is that your biggest improvement comes from week one to week two. That generally refers to the regular season but let’s use that in looking ahead to week two of the preseason for the Steelers.
The Offensive Line
I think we all need to take a deep breath with this group. Considering the shift in position for Troy Fautanu, Mason McCormick and Dylan Cook, some patience is required. We should also remember that the OL Coaching Staff is also completely different too.
Looking back to Thursday night, the Steelers ran the ball 28 times for 72 yards. That’s an average of just 2.6 yards per carry and they recorded just three of their 20 first downs via the run. Lew Nichols had the longest run at 11 yards. Of the other five ball carriers, the longest rush was four yards. Eli Heidenreich carried nine times and was contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage more than half the time. That’s not good.
Pass protection was better overall but the QBs deserve both some credit and praise for that. Mason Rudolph had a handful of escapes that would have made Houdini jealous. Drew Allar and Will Howard each had a moment or two where they held the ball a bit long which of course creates pressure.
Anytime you start talking about pass protection you typically start looking at the tackles. Troy Fautanu would be the first to tell you he didn’t play well. He was beaten wide a couple of times and was shoved backwards a time or two also. Watching the tape, I get the feeling that he’s just not 100% confident. Fautanu is an excellent athlete and is more than capable of making the switch from right to left but he needs more “live fire” to instill muscle memory and confidence.
Dylan Cook was similar on the other side. He had solid moments and then some that weren’t so good. Guys getting inside on him seems to be a reoccurring issue for Cook. I don’t need to tell him how important his length is in terms of his success. The interior of the line is something I have to go back and watch more. What concerns me most with the line isn’t just in regards to the starters. The depth guys didn’t fare any better when it came to opening holes for running backs. There has to improvement here Friday night.
Penalties
The Steelers had 11 accepted penalties for 134 yards on Thursday night. There is an old saying about “you play like you practice” and the Steelers have been doing this throughout Camp so it’s no surprise it continued. In fairness, officials tend to be “overly officious” during the preseason but some of the calls were very questionable. From Ben Skowronek’s personal foul to Anthony Goodlow’s roughing the passer, there were several that walked a very fine line. That said, the team cannot afford to surrender over 130 yards in yellow flags.
I think there are certainly some other areas like more consistent tackling, special teams play and downfield blocking but I can nitpick all day long.
