This post was originally published on this site
Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
As the Pittsburgh Steelers retooled their roster during the offseason anticipation grew for seeing how their new additions would pan out in “real game” situations. What better way than to evaluate talent than during the preseason? With three games on deck, new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith would test the waters with new quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields: or so was the hope.
The team’s three preseason games appeared to be a bust, and with Wilson sitting out large portions of training camp due to injury, there were concerns over who the starting quarterback would be in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons.
The first preseason game would see the Steelers host the Houston Texans at Acrisure Stadium. It was a woeful performance, as most first-week preseason games are.
The paid attendance announced at over 63,000 witnessed the Steelers sink to a 17-0 deficit during the first half. With a number of roster hopefuls playing significant time throughout the second half – essentially third and fourth teamers – the Black and Gold made things a bit more exciting.
The Steelers would receive the ball first to kickoff the game as Fields was under center. The former first round pick of the Chicago Bears fumbled during the initial six-play drive and Pittsburgh would punt. Fields finished the night 5-of-6 passing for 67 yards, took two sacks, and gained just two yards on three rushes.
All eyes were on the “highest paid” defense in the league, but several of those highest-paid players didn’t see the field for this game. Without T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Patrick Queen or Minkah Fitzpatrick, Houston’s C.J. Stroud shredded the remaining mix of starters and backups within three plays for a quick Texans touchdown.
A muffed punt by roster hopeful Quez Watkins led to the Texan’s second touchdown on a short 30-yard drive.
Steelers third string QB Kyle Allen would come in after the first quarter, and have a similar lack of success as Pittsburgh’s would punt on four of their six possessions, with the other two ending with a turnover on downs and for the conclusion of the first half.
Allen was able to throw some nice passes, including a touchdown toss that tight end Connor Heyward took over the pylon for the Steelers’ first points of the game. Allen also missed a wide open Calvin Austin in the corner of the end zone that should have been an easy score. Allen finished 17-of-23 passing for 193 yards as he played the majority of the game. He also took a costly 10-yard sack and threw an interception that prevented any more opportunities for the offense to score.
DeMarvin Leal, Jeremiah Moon, and Montravius Adams all earned one sack apiece on defense while Payton Wilson led the Steelers in tackles.
The Steelers would lose by a final score of 20-12.
The biggest takeaway wasn’t the mistakes or performances, however, as Steelers’ first-round pick, offensive tackle Troy Fautanu, left the game with a knee injury and was being evaluated. The injury would turn out to be far more serious than thought as the weeks went by.
The Steelers would look to bounce back in their second preseason game, this time hosting the Buffalo Bills. Looking back at the 2023 season, a similar situation against Buffalo made Pittsburgh look like a potential contender. This time around, the Steelers looked like pretenders, as both teams played in a sloppy baseball score finish.
Big names on both sides sat this one out, as Mitchell Trubisky returned to boos as Acrisure. His return would be lackluster, throwing an interception as the Bills’ offense sputtered with four first half punts. Their only points would come from a field goal as the Steelers defense ramped up with three sacks before halftime.
Russell Wilson would make his Steelers debut, but the results would still mirror last week’s pitiful offensive output. With Wilson playing into the second quarter before ceding to Justin Fields, neither quarterback gained traction as the two combined for 70 yards of passing. Wilson, in particular, was statuesque, taking three sacks behind the young Steelers offensive line. (Kyle Allen would not play.)
The stats lines for both players were not special.
- Fields: 11-of-17 passing, 92 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 1 sack, rating 78.6, 8 carries for 42 yards.
- Wilson: 8-of-10 passing, 47 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 3 sacks, rating 86.3, 0 carries.
Pittsburgh would punt four straight times before finally lining up with a 52-yard field goal attempt that Chris Boswell missed. They would punt again before half, with Boswell eventually knotting the score 3-3 on an expertly run two-minute drill to get “Boz” into range.
The Steelers did a decent job eliminating big run plays early in the game, but as the clock ticked and substitutions were made, it was obvious that some of the depth players – linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs – are not nearly as good at stopping the run. In the game, Pittsburgh allowed nine rushing first-down conversions by Buffalo and 167 yards on 34 attempts.
Punter Cameron Johnston was a highlight reel, punting 5 times for 284 yards; his longest was a high, deep 65-yarder. He pinned two of those punts inside the Bills 20-yard line area.
Yet, it wasn’t enough as the Bills walked away with a 9-3 victory. The Steelers would play their final preseason game on Saturday, August 24 against the Detroit Lions on the road.
The Steelers final preseason game would see them travel to Detroit to play the Lions. There was a little more optimism, though it was still difficult to truly judge what we were watching as several of the mainstays, especially on defense, watched from the sidelines once again. Joining Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt were Alex Highsmith and Joey Porter, but the offense showed a little more star power even if Detroit decided to sit a lot of their starters for the last exhibition game.
Russell Wilson and Justin Fields would once again play a limited amount of time, with both combining for only six pass attempts in the first two quarters. This was amidst Mike Tomlin may have waiting to announce his starting quarterback for the 2025 season.
Russell Wilson got the opening offensive drive and it was capped off by a breakaway touchdown run by Cordarrelle Patterson. Justin Fields took the second offensive series, and it was also capped off by a rushing touchdown, but from La’Mical Perrine.
With many of the defensive starters sitting, Nick Herbig had another opportunity to display his skills. In Detroit’s opening offensive series alone, Herbig got deep into the offensive backfield on one play, sacked QB Hendon Hooker on the next, applied pressure that allowed DeMarvin Leal and Keeanu Benton to take Hooker to the ground for a half-sack apiece, and then flew in on the next play to make a strip sack that Dean Lowry recovered.
Undrafted LB Julius Welschof also recorded two sacks in the game. Their combined play helped set the Lions into a hole that had to be dug out of. The deeper Pittsburgh went into the game with Detroit, the more player combinations were used and that led to a noticeable decline in level of play that led to a Lions comeback.
Kyle Allen and J.R. Plumlee both received reps at quarterback, with the latter also returning kicks as a multi-use roster hopeful. Welschof showed he could stick to the 53 as well, with other notables such as Grayland Arnold, Scotty Miller, and Cory Trice all attempting to make their case for the final roster.
Things began to cool by halftime, where third, fourth and even fifth tier options were in the game. The Lions would tie the score 14-all as the second half was underway, and a missed field goal and interception gave the Steelers an edge heading into the final 15 minutes. However, they were unable to capitalize as Detroit’s deep bench put up two 70-plus offensive drives to score ten points and secure the dub, 24-17.
While the wins and losses don’t count in the preseason, three consecutive defeats and finishing with an 0-3 record didn’t sit well with many Steelers fans. The team would have to decide on who their starting quarterback would be, among a few other tight decisions on the depth chart as they rounded out their roster to prepare for a Week 1 battle in Atlanta to begin the season.
We will pick up there in our next edition of the Season Recall next week to see how the aftermath of these three game parlayed into the Steelers first game against the Falcons.
2024 Steelers Season Recall: Preseason Games Begin appeared first on Steel City Underground.