GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Even by preseason standards, the Steelers played a terribly sloppy game Thursday night at Lambeau Field.
And the result of that sloppiness was about what you'd expect.
Both Mason Rudolph and Josh Dobbs threw interceptions that were returned for touchdowns on their first passes of the game and the Packers routed the Steelers, 51-34, setting a record for most points allowed in a preseason game in franchise history.
"There were not enough fundamental things in all three phases for a winning performance," Mike Tomlin said afterward. "You don't expect perfection at this time of the year, but we fell short in a lot of areas that will cost you in stadiums, especially road stadiums. We turned the ball over. ... We didn't do a good enough job of taking care of the football. We lost leverage too much in coverage, particularly on possession downs. You can't do that. ... I didn't think we did a good enough job of pressuring and containing the quarterback, especially early. And I thought the punting wasn't consistent enough. So there were enough issues in all three phases to address."
Thankfully for the Steelers, they'll have time to do that before lining up and playing a game that counts Sept. 9 in Cleveland. The team that took the field Thursday didn't look ready for that.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCOREBut the Steelers also played without a number of key players. Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Vance McDonald, Maurkice Pouncey and Ramon Foster didn't play on offense because of injury or coach's decision -- let alone Le'Veon Bell. And Cameron Heyward, Sean Davis, T.J. Watt, Joe Haden and Mike Hilton were held out on defense.
That left plenty of backups or guys fighting for roster spots on the field.
Rudolph started at quarterback and saw his first play turn into this:
Tramon Williams jumped in front of Darrius Heyward-Bey and returned the ball 25 yards for a touchdown. After the Steelers went three-and-out on their second possession, Jordan Berry's punt from his 10 hit at midfield and bounced backward for a 30-yard kick.
Aaron Rodgers, playing for the first time this preseason, connected with Davante Adams on a 27-yard catch and run through the Steelers defense. Then, on third-and-five from the 8, Rodgers found tight end Jimmy Graham, a big free agent pickup, for an 8-yard TD pass. Just like that, it was 14-0.
"Each week, the game can flow different ways," said safety Morgan Burnett, who was returning to Green Bay after spending the first eight years of his career here. "They jumped out early here. There's a lot of things we can learn from. There's also things we didn't do so well that we can learn from. It's good to get that live action on tape."
The Steelers failed to get much going offensively in the first half, but what did work was the running game. After going down, 14-0, they went to their ground game and James Conner didn't disappoint, ripping off runs of 8, 24 and 26 yards, the last of which went for a touchdown, on a three-play, 73-yard scoring drive that was helped along by a 15-yard facemask penalty.
"I was happy with the way we responded and came back and put points on the board," Rudolph said. "We ran the ball awesome. James Conner did a great job for us, as well as our other backs. We just stalled out on a couple of drives, and I've got to be more decisive on some snaps."
Rookie Terrell Edmunds gave the Steelers a boost on the ensuing kickoff, forcing a fumble and recovering it. That set up Rudolph for his first preseason touchdown pass, as he connected with Jesse James for a 21-yard gain to the 4 before throwing a TD pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
But the defense was unable to stop the Packers throwing the ball. Though the Packers ran for just 37 yards on 14 first-half carries, Rodgers, backup Brett Hundley and third-stringer Deshone Kizer completed 13 of 20 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns. The result was a 34-14 halftime lead.
Rudolph was 5 of 12 for 47 yards in his two quarters so, even though the Steelers ran the ball 13 times for 86 yards in the first half, it wasn't enough to keep up.
"I thought his demeanor and stuff was good," Tomlin said of his third-round draft pick. "We just didn't play as well, and he's not alone in terms of that. I thought we were a little tentative offensively and didn't make enough plays in the early going."
Dobbs opened the second half the same way Rudolph opened the game. After the Packers were forced to punt for just the second time in the game on their opening possession, Dobbs' short pass intended for Damoun Patterson was picked off by Josh Jackson and returned 22 yards for a touchdown:
"There's always adversity, especially at the quarterback position," said Dobbs, who finished 12 of 18 for 192 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. "It's how you respond to it. I thought we responded in a positive way."
But down 41-14 after the interception return for the touchdown, the game was effectively over. The only question at that point was how many points the Packers would score and if any of the Steelers' young players would shine after that.
James Washington didn't disappoint in that respect.
The second-round pick hauled in five passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns, including a leaping grab over corner Demetri Goodson for a 29-yard catch in the third quarter.
"I love 50-50 balls when you have to fight with the defensive back to get the ball," Washington said. "You have to work for it."
1. DEFENSE?
While the Steelers were playing with arguably their top three defensive players -- Heyward, Haden and Watt -- standing on the sideline along with Davis and Hilton, that doesn't totally exonerate that group in this game.
Though the Packers had just 357 yards of offense and ran the ball 29 times for 77 yards -- a 2.7 per carry average -- Green Bay had seven first-half possessions and scored on five of them. Throw in a defensive touchdown and that's how you wind up giving up 34 points in two quarters despite allowing 192 yards.
"They were just moving the sticks, really," said corner Coty Sensabaugh, who started in place of Haden. "They really didn't do too much different than they did in their first preseason game. They just made plays and we didn't."
The Packers as a group completed 13 of 20 passes in the first half for 164 yards and two touchdowns, also adding a pair of Mason Crosby field goals. So even though their long run of the half was 10 yards on a touchdown run off a scramble by Hundley, the Packers did enough to keep the ball moving and put points on the board.
Tomlin attributed some of the pass plays given up to players "losing leverage." What's that mean?
"As a DB, you play inside or outside," Burnett explained. "If you're inside and you get beat inside, that's losing your leverage."
Penalties also didn't help. The Steelers had six in the first half for 73 yards, giving the Packers some free first downs.
"Penalties hurt us," Burnett admitted. "Technique and losing leverage, those things hurt us. And turning the ball over. Those things all hurt us. The key thing is all about how you respond. That's good going into a work week. We'll see how we respond to a game like this."
2. HELMET RULE IN ACTION
The Steelers made it through their preseason opener last week without being called for the league's new penalty for lowering the helmet. But they didn't make it through a second such game.
Sensabaugh was called for the penalty late in the first quarter after tackling tight end Marcedes Lewis at the end of a 23-yard catch.
Sensabaugh and Burnett both hit Lewis at the end of the play, with Sensabaugh drawing the flag, much to the chagrin of many, including former Steelers offensive lineman Kraig Urbik.
This is a penalty now?! They are going to have to fix this new helmet rule quick pic.twitter.com/gkRdgoaudk
— Kraig Urbik (@kraigurbik) August 17, 2018
Sensabaugh didn't think he did anything wrong, either, as he appeared to hit Lewis with his shoulder.
"I thought I did, too," he told me. There was a little bit of contact. I don't know, I'll have to watch it on film. Hopefully, they rescind it. I'm not trying to give money away."
But he also understands there will be an adjustment period not only for the players, but for game officials, as well, as they try to figure out how to play within the new rules.
"It's such a thin line. But we're all learning, us players and the officials," he said. "We've just got to keep working so it won't get called at all."
3. WASHINGTON KEEPS SHINING
The coaching staff has been slow to work Washington in with the front-line players, but that's going to have to change after his strong game against the Packers. Washington followed up an excellent week of practice with being one of the few bright spots for the Steelers in this game.
"We'll see how it goes," Tomlin said. "He didn't do anything in the stadium that we hadn't seen on the practice fields of Latrobe, so that's a good sign."
Washington's ability to go and get the ball in one-on-one situations is drawing the trust of the team's quarterbacks. His catch over top of Goodson was as good as you'll see anywhere. At 5-foot-11, 197 pounds, Goodson is roughly the same size as the 5-foot-11, 213-pound Washington. But not really.
Washington plays much larger than his size.
"I like the matchup, I'll say that," said Dobbs. "We've seen it in practice throughout camp. In one-on-one matchups, he's able to go up and grab the football. He's got big hands, strong hands. You want to throw the ball perfect, but you don't want to be too perfect. You want to give him a chance to go up and get the football."
Washington worked on those strong hands baling hay on his parents' farm in Texas. He enjoys making those kind of catches. But he also had another later in the game for a 54-yard gain where he simply ran past the defender.
"They were playing off coverage, but we had run so many outs and stops that I think he was kind of sitting on that," Washington said of Packers defensive back Josh Hawkins. "So I was able to get by him."
4. CONNER RUSHES THROUGH
Conner has been running with the first-team offense throughout training camp with Bell still not with the team as he waits to sign his franchise tag tender. Bell isn't in danger of losing his starting job anytime soon, but Conner is showing he might be part of the answer in the future as a replacement.
His five carries for 57 yards and a touchdown against the Packers gives him nine carries for 82 yards in this preseason, a healthy average of 9.1 yards per attempt.
"I'm not really thinking about that," Conner said. "I'm really just trying to execute and do my job well. I love to play football, so any opportunity I get, I am trying to make the most out of it."
The Steelers are intent on giving Conner some kind of role after an injury-shortened rookie season a year ago. That's why he was still running down to cover punts in the second half of this game.
"I thought he represented himself in a similar way he has throughout the process, whether it's on the practice field of Latrobe or last week," Tomlin said of Conner. "I've been pleased with the progress he's making, and it just needs to continue."
5. LOOKNG FOR ANSWERS
The Steelers once again played things pretty straight up with their defensive packages, largely sticking with their base 3-4 and only going to a nickel look on passing downs, keeping two inside linebackers on the field.
They also switched things up, giving Cameron Sutton a shot to play in the slot in the nickel at the expense of Hilton, who won that job last year.
One reason they might be doing so is to get an extended look at the coverage abilities of inside linebackers Vince Williams, Jon Bostic and Tyler Matakevich. And they probably won't be happy with what they saw in this game.
The Packers worked the middle of the field pretty easily and their tight ends Graham, Lewis, Lance Kendricks, Emmanuel Byrd and Robert Tonyan accounted for nine catches, 106 yards and two touchdowns.
That's not likely to make Tomlin very happy.
But what's the answer there? Is it adding a free agent such as 30-year-old NaVorro Bowman, who remains unsigned? Or do they wait and see who becomes available via a trade as they did a year ago when they acquired McDonald from the 49ers at the end of the preseason?
The Steelers currently have $4.3 million in salary cap space and they typically like to go into a season with around a $3 million cushion. That could be why the team has been slow to work on extensions with some of their own potential 2019 free agents.
They want to wait and see how this inside linebacker situation works out.