PITTSBURGH — One of the key attractions of preseason football, for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL, is how the team’s rookies look.
For the Steelers’ rookies, just like the rest of the team, Friday night’s preseason opening loss to the Houston Texans was pretty up and down.
Troy Fautanu worked starting in the second series. It didn’t necessarily go all that well. He gave up a sack on his third NFL play. He made some nice run and screen blocks in space. On his second drive, he gave up another sack. At some point later on, he got hurt.
Payton Wilson knifed through the line for a tackle for loss on his first defensive snap. But as the game went on, he got lost in coverage once or twice, and added a few missed tackle.
Safety Ryan Watts had his hands on an interception, but couldn’t bring it in. He was also penalized for a hold on a kickoff return.
Rookie slot corner Beanie Bishop was picked on a good bit. He had six tackles, which is not usually what you want as a cornerback.
Cory Trice Jr. made his Steelers debut after missing his entire rookie season, but he didn’t even get into the game until the second half, with the third team.
Second-year tackle Broderick Jones was beaten several times, at both right and left tackle, in his first game action at the latter position.
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The good news for the Steelers is that one preseason game will not define the careers of those young players. But they certainly will have plenty to work on after taking a look at the tape.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Payton Wilson said. “Definitely made some plays, but missed to some plays, too. Just have to continue to work. We’re gonna go back to Latrobe. They’re gonna coach it up. Just have to make sure next game we keep stacking games. … Not as good as I wanted to play, but it’s a start.”
Part of the first-game experience is adjusting to the new level. There’s a new speed to the game, and rookies have to figure it out.
“Every level that you go up, the speed is gonna be different,” Bishop said. “And for the first game, I was probably trying to see a little to much. Just working on that, to make sure that if I do one thing better, it’s gonna be working on my eyes. … I’m excited. I’ve still got a lot to learn. I’m young. This was the first preseason game, and obviously I want to have a better game next week.”
For both Bishop and Watts, not only are they making the adjustment to a new level of football, they’re making a position change as well. Both college outside cornerbacks, Bishop is playing slot cornerback and Watts is playing strong safety.
“I think I’ve been picking it up pretty quickly, but I just still have a lot to learn,” Watts said, including how to play those tipped passes a little bit better over the middle so that he can come down with the next one. “I feel like it’s more exciting, because at cornerback you don’t want to make deflections because you don’t always get a chance on those popped-up balls. At safety? I already learned in my first game, the ball pops up and you might have a chance to get your hands on it. … You keep flying around the ball and football is going to reward you.”
The transition that Bishop and Watts have made is nothing like the one for John Rhys Plumlee. The college quarterback was the starting kickoff returner on Saturday, hauling in two for 42 yards.
“We’re gonna look at it on the film and get some things cleaned up about it, but the first impression was that I think we did good,” Plumlee said. “I enjoyed it. I liked being back there. It was fun.”
Trice has waited to so long to play in his first NFL game that almost nothing that happened was going to tamp down his enthusiasm. Then, he sniffed out a screen for a tackle for loss on his second play.
“It felt good, man. A long time coming,” Trice said. “I thought it went smooth. We’ll go back to the drawing board and see how it goes in the film room, but I feel good about it right now.”
THE JUSTIN FIELDS EXPERIENCE
Throughout his career, Justin Fields has been known for a rocket arm, electric plays with his feet, and the occasional mind-boggling turnover, mistake or poor decision that has kept him from fully realizing the potential that he possesses.
Nearly the full package was on display on Saturday. On the very first play of the game, Fields avoided pressure with a man directly in his face to complete a screen pass to Najee Harris. With two free rushers coming at him later in the first quarter, he dropped his arm angle to side-arm a pass to George Pickens for a big game. When he got time, he stood in the pocket and delivered two deep strikes to Van Jefferson — one of which, his only incompletion, was erroneously ruled out of bounds.
Fields also had two fumbled snaps between him and center Nate Herbig, and also took a pair of drive-killing sacks. Fields took responsibility for the snaps, saying he needs to make sure they’re on the same page. Tomlin seemed a lot more concerned about the negatives than he was pleased by the positives.
“I thought he did some nice things, but obviously, he was a component of the C-Q exchange, and from my perspective, that’s dual responsibility on the center and the quarterback,” Tomlin said. “It negated a lot of good things going on those first couple of drives. I think one definitively got stopped by it. The 2nd and 14. You get behind the chains, especially in the early stages, before you get real cohesion and have enough of a menu to gets you out of those circumstances, you’re a dead group. So the C-Q exchanges were an issue. …
“I thought he and we did some good things, but it was just dulled by some negativity. But from a rhythm passing standpoint, distributing the ball to people, I thought he and Kyle did a nice job. I don’t like the sacks and the one-dimensional possession down moments. We’ve got to analyze that.”
OTHER THAN THAT MRS. LINCOLN …
Besides the offense repeatedly shooting itself in the foot, it looked pretty good. Fields was near prefect throwing the ball, and the running game looked extremely strong at times.
The Steelers rushed 25 times for 109 yards, a 4.4 yards per carry average. Both Daijun Edwards and Jonathan Ward had runs of 20 yards or more.
“That component of our development has been really good,” Tomlin said. “I’m comfortable with the trajectory of it. Not only in Latrobe, but tonight.”
Even though he threw an interception on the game’s final play, Kyle Allen had a 95.0 passer rating to go with Fields’ 113.2. A total of 14 different receivers caught at least one pass, with Calvin Austin (two catches for 49 yards) and Scotty Miller (three catches for 47 yards) leading the way.
“We ran the ball well. We moved the ball well,” Fields said. “You can kind of get a feel for what Arthur [Smith] is thinking and how he goes about the game. … I think the overall process went well.”
NOT ALL PROMISING
When Tomlin was asked about his wide receivers behind George Pickens, he gave a pretty positive response.
“I think we have some good contributions from a lot of people,” he said. “Van. Calvin. Scotty.”
There are two names in that battle that didn’t get named. Rookie wide receiver Roman Wilson, obviously, missed the game with an ankle injury.
Then there’s veteran wide receiver Quez Watkins, who had some serious misadventures as a punt returner. He fair caught the first two, when he certainly had space to return them. The third one, he tried to return, and muffed for a turnover that led to seven points.
It’s safe to say that if Watkins makes the team, it won’t be as a return man.
DEPTH D-LINE STANDS OUT
The Steelers got a ton of contributions from their depth defensive linemen. Isaiahh Loudermilk started in place of Cam Hayward and had two tackles, a quarterback hit and a pass breakup.
Working with the second team, DeMarvin Leal and three tackles, a sack and a quarterback hit. Montravius Adams had a sack and a pressure.
“Leal and Mont Adams had some splash plays, but again, much like Payton Wilson, I think it’s reflective of their play in Latrobe, so I don’t think any of us are surprised by the positive contributions,” Tomlin said.
The defensive line is the one area of the Steelers defense where there may be some question marks, with Larry Ogunjboi