Steel City Underground presents post-game takeaways for every 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers preseason and regular season games, focusing on the black and gold for Steelers Nation.

Football is back, baby! Well, that’s what everyone is saying. Unfortunately, the Steelers – as host at Acrisure Stadium – were hampered by mistakes despite flashes of what a polished, complete team might look like in 2024. The Houston Texans, winners of their division last season, looked more complete in many aspects, and they were happy to take advantage of the Steelers’ self-inflicted wounds, 20-12.

The big story of the game was this: mistakes kill. They kill drives, they kill momentum, they kill points on the scoreboard in your favor, and they may kill chances for some players to make the 53-man roster at the end of preseason.

Head coach Mike Tomlin expressed, ahead of the game, that he, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and the staff desired a prepared “mistake-free” showing from the Steelers offense. What they got was a poor connection between center Nick Herbig and quarterback Justin Fields that resulted in a decent drive being nullified. To add insult to injury, the pair had another snap miscue in the very next offensive possession that fullback Jack Colletto was able to scoop up for a four-yard gain. Fields finished the night 5-of-6 passing for 67 yards, took two sacks, and gained just two yards on three rushes.

Justin Fields speaks to the media following the game against the Texans: pic.twitter.com/g3aYUR3pmm

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 10, 2024

 

Kyle Allen fared a bit better with rookie Zach Frazier at center. 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.

“How we work off of (the performance) will define us. We need to be significantly better… It was nothing that (Houston) did. It was about the things that we didn’t do, or the wounds we inflicted to ourselves.” – Mike Tomlin

The defense and special teams had their share of errors as well. Kicker Matthew Wright missed his lone PAT attempt due to a poor snap by Christian Kuntz. Quez Watkins mishandled a kick at the Steelers 28 yard line that Houston recovered and subsequently converted into six points when Dare Ogunbowale was pitched the ball and ran into the end zone just four plays later, putting the Texans up 14-0.

It’s preseason, so errors are expected. The frequency of errors was what was most disappointing. There’s a lot left to refine and retool in the metal that is the core of this Steelers team.

Related: Official gamebook

There were some truly encouraging things to take away from this game; flashes of talent that, if tightened up, will carry forward and make this Steelers team highly competitive.

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Offensively, 16 different Steelers players were targeted and caught at least one pass. Six different ball-carriers were also engaged although the run game was not the priority once the Steelers got behind and were playing catch-up. John (J.R.) Plumlee didn’t take a single snap at QB, but showed he has hop as a returner. The young guys on the offensive line look like they’ve got the grit that’s been needed.

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DeMarvin Leal, Jeremiah Moon, and  Montravius Adams all earned one sack apiece on defense while Payton Wilson led the Steelers in tackles.

Priority moving into next week must be this team identifying what caused the mistakes that were made and put the solution into action. That may result in some players seeing more opportunities while others atone a bit.

Payton Wilson, Calvin Austin III, and Kyle Allen speak to the media about the Steelers 20-12 loss to the Texans in Week 1 of the 2024 Preseason. @TicketMaster pic.twitter.com/o2Yqe17Tm1

— Steelers Live (@SteelersLive) August 10, 2024