Behind the Steel Curtain
Thursday night football was still preseason football — an ugly watch all around. Thankfully, the regular season is just around the corner. But there are still plenty of takeaways to be had from yesterday’s game:
Pittsburgh ended the night with a whopping 13 penalties for 104 yards. Opening the game playing quite a few starters, they still had five penalties for 50 yards with over six minutes left in the first quarter.
Multiple holding calls. There was an offsides call, unnecessary roughness, and 12 men on the field. Reserve center Ryan McCollum had three (!!) penalties alone.
Multiple veteran players didn’t look great, either. Starting running back Jaylen Warren, who’s been able to sit out of the first two preseason games, fumbled early and slipped on two carries, finishing the night with an uninspiring 1.5 yards per attempt.
Mason Rudolph threw an ugly interception, failing to see a safety and underthrowing a deep route. The starting defense looked like they were running through jello trying to stop the Panthers’ backup offense in the run game.
“The tackling was shaky at best at times,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said following the game.
Later that night, a coverage bust that looked a lot like the team’s defensive woes last season resulted in a Carolina touchdown.
Preseason football is always painful, and even as rough as last night was, it shouldn’t be indicative of what either team will look like in the regular season.
Still, it was a junior varsity, unfocused effort for Mike Tomlin’s players — not a good look for athletes trying to make the final roster, or the team’s long list of tenured veterans.
“So we got some things to work on” — also Tomlin after the game.
The good news? The Steelers’ next kickoff isn’t until Sept. 7. They have plenty of time.
Speaking of penalties, one of the more memorable ones against the Panthers came in Jalen Ramsey’s lone drive of the game, where he earned an unnecessary roughness flag for shoving a running back well after the play was blown dead.
Yeah, it was yet another penalty. And yeah, a veteran player like Ramsey should probably know better.
But to return to Tomlin’s postgame presser, “I’d rather say ‘whoah’ than ‘sic ’em.’” Especially at the defensive back position.
While D.K. Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers are probably the two biggest-name additions to the Steelers this offseason, Ramsey is the one I was looking forward to seeing on-field the most. The versatile defensive back opens up a number of possibilities for the Pittsburgh secondary, and viewers got a taste of what that’ll look like in the former All-Pro’s handful of snaps Thursday night.
With Juan Thornhill sitting out the game, it wasn’t an exact replica of what the team’s starting secondary will look like Week 1, but Ramsey was still moving around, seeing snaps at safety in base defense and moving into the nickel...
