Leave it to the Pittsburgh Steelers to have back-to-back preseason games that came down to the wire. For the 2nd consecutive week, Mike Tomlin’s group completed exhibition action in a nail-biter– narrowly defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars 16-15, to advance to 2-0 in the preseason.
There were some extremely interesting performances in this preseason game. Some players took huge advances while others looked disturbingly bad in Saturday night’s video game. Here are the greatest Steelers winners and losers against the Jaguars today:
Steelers Winners:
QB Kenny Pickett
I actually liked what Kenny Pickett did versus the Seahawks recently, but I genuinely think he took another huge step forward against the Jaguars in Week 2 of the preseason. In the 2nd quarter, Pickett showed his poise and accuracy as he led his group down the field for a rating right prior to halftime.
Pickett was on fire as he completed 6 of 7 passes for 76 backyards and a touchdown, according to ESPN. His 151.5 passer rating and 10.9 lawns per attempt on the evening were as excellent as we might have wished for. My only desire is that we got to see him play longer in the contest, as he tape-recorded just 8 total snaps. With another showing like this, we might have a real argument about who must be the starter in Week 1 versus the Bengals.
WR Tyler Vaughns
I know his opportunities of making the lineup are slim to none, but Tyler Vaughns is truly making a name for himself these past 2 video games. Just like in Week 1, Vaughns captured our attention in the 2nd half as the young wide receiver made some remarkable catches with the game on the line. Vaughn was able to chew up yards after the catch and he need to be on the radar of other teams if/when the Steelers are required to release him on cut-down day.
WR Diontae Johnson
The raw statistical production didn’t look appealing from package score (2 catches for 33 yards), however I believed Johnson played an excellent video game. The Steelers leading pass receiver from 2021, looked smooth and explosive out of his breaks and had a clear connection with Mitch Trubisky. Johnson had one good catch wiped away after a terrible offending pass interference call. Had this been a regular-season game, he most likely would have had a monstrous performance if he played more than simply a couple of belongings.
S Terrell Edmunds/Damontae Kazee
I believe both Terrell Edmunds and Damontae Kazee had extremely strong performances for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two securities made a handful of plays in run support, including some huge third-down stops. These safeties didn’t play late into the contest, yet managed to get associated with 10 combined takes on early. They looked promising versus the Jaguars last night.
Steelers Losers:
Steelers Offensive Line
It’s tough to determine the issues prior to seeing the all-22 movie, but let’s simply go on and say it was a very rough night for the Steelers offending line– especially the beginning unit early in the game. They permitted several pressures on Mitch Trubisky in the opening drive and couldn’t clear a single path in the run game. Dan Moore and James Daniels had some particularly bad snaps. This is a huge issue this year, and this unit’s play needs to enhance for his offense to stand an opportunity in 2022.
Steelers Running Backs
As much as a liked the running backs recently, I have to state that I was pretty disappointed with the efficiencies all around in Week 2 of the preseason. Benny Snell, Anthony McFarland, and Jaylen Warren each averaged 1.0 yards per bring or fewer in this contest (which is clearly not a great sign). Much of this pertained to the disappointing play of the offending line against a quality front seven of Jacksonville’s, however the reality that the Steelers had 24 rushing backyards on the night (1.7 backyards per bring) was incredibly discouraging.
Steelers Inside Linebackers
I thought the Steelers ILBs had a really bad showing overall, with the exception of Myles Jack who had a good efficiency after visiting his old group in Jacksonville. Both Devin Bush and Robert Spillane, who are contending for a starting task, seemed lost at times and unaware of their tasks. One novice linebacker, Mark Robinson, did have some decent run fits and looked much better in coverage than recentlies preseason game against the Seahawks. It was late in the video game versus mainly the 3rd string offense of the Jaguars.
I’m going to get to a more detailed breakdown of the Steelers vs Jaguars video game quickly, but after watching the video game for the very first time, these were my biggest winners and losers for Pittsburgh in their 2nd preseason game.
There were some very fascinating efficiencies in this preseason game. Simply like in Week 1, Vaughns captured our attention in the 2nd half as the young wide receiver made some outstanding catches with the video game on the line. The raw statistical production didn’t look promising from the box score (2 catches for 33 yards), but I believed Johnson played a really excellent game. It’s difficult to pinpoint the problems prior to seeing the all-22 film, however let’s simply go ahead and state it was a really rough night for the Steelers offensive line– especially the beginning system early in the game. One rookie linebacker, Mark Robinson, did have some good run fits and looked better in coverage than last weeks preseason game against the Seahawks.
