Behind the Steel Curtain
The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-25 in both teams’ preseason opener on Saturday. As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had:
The preseason is not serious football.
I’ve written this column for a few years now, and this is always my first takeaway of the year. It’s a necessary caveat for the rest of the article, as well as discourse on this website for the next few weeks.
Teams don’t gameplan in the preseason like they would for a regular game. Starters don’t play much, if at all. And we’ve seen plenty of preseason heroes fall well short of expectations when the games that matter finally start.
Never forget Kenny Pickett and George Pickens looking like the next great quarterback/receiver combination in the summer of 2023.
Does the preseason still matter? Well, yeah. But probably not as much as our football-starved minds want it to.
Combined, Steelers quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson put together a stat line of 29/38 for 317 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Rudolph went an impressive 9/10 with a touchdown, managing to produce with the Steelers’ backup skill position players against the Jaguars’ starting defense. Thompson led the offense from the Pittsburgh 26-yard line to the end zone in the final two minutes of the first half en route to a three-touchdown day.
Outside of a coverage sack when Rudolph held onto the ball for a laughably long time, both passers looked sharp, with a nice mix of deep and intermediate play-action shots to supplement the short game.
Of course, the Steelers’ offensive success in 2025 is far more dependent on the play of Aaron Rodgers in the regular season. But Pittsburgh’s quarterback depth had about as good of a preseason showing as it gets on Saturday, even with fan-favorite Will Howard sidelined with an injury.
The Steelers will probably only keep five wide receivers in 2025, but the battle for that fifth roster spot should be a fun watch over the summer. Speedster Scotty Miller logged four catches for 47 yards against the Jaguars in a nice showing while veteran Robert Woods ran with the ones with D.K. Metcalf and Calvin Austin III out for the game.
But it was a trio of undrafted rookies who looked the best on Saturday night.
Steelers camp darling Roc Taylor hauled in two catches for 38 yards, capitalizing on the in-breakers he’s reportedly excelled in during practice.
Max Hurleman didn’t have quite the same following entering Saturday’s game, but burst onto the scene with two catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.
A college special-teamer and jack of all trades who was listed as everything from running back to cornerback to receiver entering the NFL, Hurleman looked the part at wideout. He logged a tough, contested grab down the seam before turning a quick out into a score (and...
