SCB Steelers Hot Reads – An Opportunity

Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Friday!

The Kickoff

Disclaimer: The Steelers have been wearing just shorts and shirts in Camp to this point so keep that in mind. OK, here we go.

We tend to focus more on the offense in these early days of Training Camp especially given the need for this offense to be better. That said, when you can’t break up passes through laying a pop on someone, you have to make plays using your arms and hands. Asante Samuel, Jr is a guy right now who is doing this very well. To be clear, playing defense against the pass is like playing defense in basketball. It starts with your feet. They get you into a position to make a play with your hands and that’s exactly what Samuel, Jr is doing. He made two fantastic plays yesterday and that followed a couple of nice plays on Wednesday as well. Samuel, Jr is doing exactly what a guy in his position should be doing. He’s taking advantage of a situation where another guy isn’t on the field and he’s making the most of his opportunity.

Our Season Opening Podcast!

The four-man band was back together last night and just in time as the Steelers’ 2026 season is officially underway. Episode 483 of the SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc is available. Lots of great talk about Camp so far, Broderick Jones, Joey Porter, Jr, the QBs and much more! Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!

QB Update

After giving way to Mason Rudolph on Wednesday, Will Howard got more opportunities yesterday and largely performed well. He did end his time in 7 on 7 with a pick but prior to this he made some solid reads and made some great throws. Make no mistake, this will be a competition that will largely be decided during preseason games. As for Drew Allar, the arm strength has never been an issue. It’s always been the accuracy but he’s looked much improved in that area through the first couple of days. Mike DeFabo of The Athletic said that Aaron Rodgers looked as good as could be during his reps yesterday. That’s never a bad thing.

This Post Makes Me Want to Hurl

Favorites

There is zero doubt that Aaron Rodgers has his “favorites.” Mason Rudolph is one and Roman Wilson appears to be one as well. That didn’t help Wilson much last season as his time was limited which goes to prove one thing. If Rodgers doesn’t trust you on game day then you aren’t getting any playing time. So far through the first couple of days, Wilson has been the third receiver and appears to have Rodgers’ trust. Whether this changes under Mike McCarthy I cannot say but remember this; QBs always have favorites.

Random Reads

Is there any sports organization more poorly run than the WNBA? It’s a different disaster every week… Deebo Samuel is headed back the Niners. They need the help too with Ricky Pearsall out for maybe the season… I’m still against Mike McCarthy’s “no tackling” policy for Training Camp but I understand what he’s doing… Know who has been really quiet so far in Camp? T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward. I don’t know which outlet – ESPN, FOX Sports, etc – will get the interview but I would request both of them. Their comments on the departure of Mike Tomlin would be good television… Is there anything worse than prescription drug commercials? The jingles, based off real songs, make my ears bleed… Major League Soccer did itself no favors by holding their All-Star game in a football stadium. Attendance was about 35,000 but the stadium holds 70,000 plus. The thousands of empty seats were a really bad look… We are less than a week away from actual football with the Hall of Fame Game next Thursday. OK, maybe not “actual” football but it’s a start.

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