Takeaways: Steelers improve their look despite loss to Lions
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.
The final NFL preseason game of 2024 for the Pittsburgh Steelers ended with a 24-17 score in favor of the Detroit Lions, but there were plenty of positives to take away from Saturday’s performance. Going winless in the preseason is never a bucket-list item for any NFL team, and it’s just the first time since 2016 that Pittsburgh has posted a losing preseason record, but a win could have given this team, and its fans, a boost. It could have also better determined the fates of many players’ roster positions once cutdowns are made. We look at the biggest takeaways from this game in anticipation of the coming days of releases, depth chart determinations, and regular season preparation.
The offense came out hot
Head coach Mike Tomlin may have stated that he’ll announce which quarterback will earn the top spot later this week, but it doesn’t feel like there’s much to question. 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.
Two starting quarterbacks; two positive drives that resulted in points on the scoreboard. What more could fans want, right? To say that the offense looked improved means that execution was much higher than previous games; the results were much more elevated as a result. The squad still needs a little more juice and gel before it is a polished final product, but we’ll see how the team cleans things up before the regular season opener.
The starting spot always has been Wilson’s to lose. Fields has been given a much heavier workload throughout the preseason and, on Saturday, was responsible for a fumble at the snap due to miscommunication with Zach Frazier. Whomever is chosen (it’s highly probable to be Wilson) as the team’s top QB option will be expected to build off of their limited showing in this game.
There’s still room for improvement, as there always is, but we now know this offense can score – and do so quickly and efficiently – if they get out of their own way, and put everything they’ve been working on together into a cohesive effort.
“We’ve had a great training camp and OTAs. We finally put it together on the field under the lights.” – Russell Wilson
The defense came out hotter
Tomlin had stated ahead of the game that the starters would be playing, but never specified for sure how many would. T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward were two that didn’t take a snap. That gave Nick Herbig another opportunity at outside linebacker to show what he’s got in the gas tank. The answer: more than enough
In Detroit’s opening offensive series alone, Herbig got deep into the offensive backfield on one play, sacked 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.
“I’m just trying to have fun out there because you don’t know when your last game is going to be… You’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities… I got a start and I tried to take advantage.” – Nick Herbig
Leal and Herbig both played snaps at OLB and both tried each side, something that had been discussed per Dale Lolley of Steelers.com. Their play helped set the Lions into a hole that had to be dug out of.
Undrafted Julius Welschof also recorded two sacks in the game, giving the Steelers yet another option on the roster. Welschof may just turn out to be the biggest sleeper from camp to secure a spot on the regular season roster.
The offensive line recovered
If there were questions entering this game about Broderick Jones or Mason McCormick or anyone else in the top seven offensive lineman, many of those were answered on Saturday.
Both Frazier and McCormick got opportunities at center.
Jones got off the snap better. Isaac Seumalo and Dan Moore opened up an amazing gap for Patterson to run through. The unit seemed much more in-sync on Saturday.
Final thoughts
This game was the final dress rehearsal, for all intents and purposes, for those who wore the black and gold. Who enters the regular season on the roster and practice squad and get to put those colors on through 18 weeks of hard NFL play will be interesting to see.
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. But, that’s what preseason is for: evaluation.
Kyle Allen was not sharp at quarterback while Cam Sutton earned an interception. J.R. Plumlee may make this team as a return specialist, even though he did get his first reps at QB in this game. The third and fourth quarter defenses were out of position quite a bit, allowing the Lions back into the game for the win. Those are all things that will go into the decision making process as us Steelers fans anxiously await opening weekend of the 2024 NFL regular season.
