The Pittsburgh Steelers were a real mixed bag on Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here are our big takeaways from the NFL preseason win.
What happened with Kenny Pickett?
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin put Kenny Pickett in with the starters in the second quarter. He was highly effecient with the football going 6-for-7 for 76 passing yards and one passing touchdown. But Tomlin only left Pickett on the field for 10 snaps. Did he see enough and did Pickett impress so much we could see a change on the depth chart?
The offensive line stunk
The Steelers had no business winning Satuday’s game with how poorly the offensive line played. This group lacks punch and physicality and are grossly inconsistent in assignments in the passing game.
The defensive line wasn't much better
I can’t put the defensive front as low as the offensive line but this group did take its lumps on Saturday night. Jacksonville built their team from the lines out and it showed. Meanwhile the Steelers were missing Cam Heyward and that showed even more.
Why not Mason Rudolph?
Saturday night was Mason Rudolph’s turn to play hero and throw the game-winning touchdown. In fact, Rudolph looked very good as he threw for 127 yards in a half of work. Unfortunately, it feels like even if Rudolph played like Ben Roethlisberger, he’s not going to get a fair shot at being the starting quarterback.
Zone defense got gashed
The Steelers defense lives and dies by the pass rush. The secondary sits back in zone, guys like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt cause havok and passes go awry. But on Saturday, when the pass rush wasn’t there, the secondary fell short and some of that bad tackling showed back up.
