Week Two of the National Football League Preseason is upon us and the Pittsburgh Steelers will host their only home contest of the exhibition season as the Buffalo Bills come to town. With all healthy players expected to see action here’s what I’m looking for (besides everyone staying healthy) as the Steelers look for their second win.
Offensive Line Cohesion
You’ll find few fans of the Steelers who believe that this offensive line will be worse than last year. That’s no knock on the 2022 unit either as they improved and played every snap together. That said though, with Isaac Seumalo and a bigger, strong version of Dan Moore this year’s unit should be better. Whether that will eventually include first round pick Broderick Jones or not doesn’t matter. This unit has to be good. Last week was “OK” in my opinion. The play of Kenny Pickett largely overshadowed any attention the OL may have received. While their pass protection was above average the run game wasn’t where it needed to be. I’ll be keeping an eye on the interior, specifically Saturday night.
I was pretty hard on Jones after last week but he answered the bell in practice all week and I expect improved play from him. He wasn’t “bad” I just expected a bit more in pass protection. I’m willing to bet we will see him a bit more aggressive and less willing to give ground against the Bills.
Can Pickett Have a Repeat Performance?
While we don’t know for sure, it’s expected that the Bills will play a lot more of their defensive starters than the Bucs did last week. At best, Tampa Bay had just two starters in the lineup that Pickett drove the field on. Should he repeat that this week against better competition then we can start to sing his praises even more.
This doesn’t take away his work from last Friday at all, but we must have some context here. Buffalo’s starting unit is vastly better than the Bucs’ reserves. I also think we’ll see Pickett for a couple of more series too.
Specialists in the Spotlight
In week one, we saw Jordan Byrd do most of the returning while B.T. Potter and Braden Mann handled the kicking and punting duties respectively. Mike Tomlin is now on record as saying Anthony McFarland will handle kick returns and Calvin Austin III will man the punt return job. He also made it clear that both Chris Boswell and Pressley Harvin III will see action. Whether they handle the full complement of work we don’t know.
While Potter has zero chance of dethroning Boswell, Mann has been giving Harvin a run for his money. That will be in focus as will be Austin’s ability to field punts. Should he do so flawlessly, then Gunner Olszewski could suddenly become expendable. The same can be said for McFarland as well. He has to show consistency and proper decision making as the kick returner.
The Running Backs
Najee Harris had a weird appearance last week. He caught one pass for basically zero yards and didn’t carry the ball once. Why bother even playing him if that’s all he’s going to see in terms of action? It’s not surprising that some fans are already calling for Jaylen Warren to be the feature back citing Harris’ lack of burst and explosiveness. That’s not going to happen so let’s just relax. That said, we do need to see Harris get some carries don’t we?
As for Warren, he’s easily solidified himself as the number two but Anthony McFarland can really help himself this week in terms of making this roster. Above I mentioned McFarland’s opportunity in the return game, but a strong showing against a better defense as a running back could solidify his roster spot. You’ll recall that last year McFarland started Camp and the preseason the same way. But when the competition got stiffer, he struggled. With few options behind him, Mike Tomlin needs McFarland to make that leap.
Other Things to Pay Attention To…
Nick Herbig had a really nice debut last week earning 1.5 sacks. Can he sustain that pace?… Something to pay close attention to is right tackle Chuks Okorafor. He didn’t have the best game last week and with Dan Moore getting some time at right tackle when Broderick Jones plays on the left. If Tomlin and O-Line Coach Pat Meyer think Jones can handle the left then don’t be surprised to see Moore on the right… Kenny Robinson has had a very nice Camp but is currently on the outside looking in at safety. Strong play there and on Special Teams would help his cause… Lastly, Mitchell Trubisky has to play better. If he doesn’t and Mason Rudolph plays well again then it’s not going to help. Trubisky needs to solidify his number two status.
