Kovacevic: Sloppy start to Steelers' preseason just might be beneficial taken at Acrisure Stadium (DK's Grind)

JUSTIN K. ALLER / GETTY

Calvin Austin can't come up with a touchdown catch in the second quarter Friday night at Acrisure Stadium.

DK's Grind

Kovacevic: Sloppy start to Steelers' preseason just might be beneficial

By Dejan Kovacevic

Aug 10, 2024 • 5:00 am

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Broderick Jones didn't have an answer. Not a verbal one, anyway.

I'd asked how all this went, the Steelers' 20-12 preseason-opening loss to the Texans on this Friday night at Acrisure Stadium, and he knew I'd meant from the first-team offensive line perspective and not at all the irrelevant overall outcome.

"Yeah," he'd finally begin replying, "I guess ... "

Dan Moore, the other starting tackle seated at the next stall, chimed in, "What was the question?" So I repeated it.

"It was a start," Moore would reply without hesitation.

"Yeah," Jones would echo. "It was a start."

To which both big boys nodded.

Not that I make a habit of arguing with human redwoods, but I kinda liked that assessment.

____________________

In fact, I found it to be fair on all fronts.

Because, as with the line and pretty much every other facet, there was some stuff I liked, some stuff I didn’t like and, more than anything, some stuff I’m certain could never have been exposed in the mirror-image environment of everyday sessions at Saint Vincent College. 

Or, let me word it another way: At this time a year ago, we as a society had elevated Kenny Pickett to sainthood with his perfect preseason passer rating, we'd hailed the entirety of an offense that'd steam systematically through any defense for six points and, in turn, we'd convinced ourselves -- and I'm not pretending to be an exception, by the way -- that it'd combine with a star-studded defense to ... wow, who knows?

Which, of course, was when the 49ers strode through our inbound tunnel, utterly emasculated everyone in sight, then strode right back outbound before we could add to local educational curriculums that a perfect passer rating's precisely 158.3.

Remember that scene?

And remember Pickett's part?

Anyone really want to see the sequel to either?

OK, cool, so let's all now collectively consider there couldn't be any such sequel opening with an event that Mike Tomlin would characterize as "really a sloppy performance" and "JV" and "disappointing" and "self-inflicted wounds kind of characterized our play" and "you can't play football like that and think you're going to be in games" and, for my personal favorite, "it's amazing we had the ball in a one-score game at the end when you consider those things."

He wasn't stretching it:

• Nate Herbig and Justin Fields not once but twice blew the simplest play in the sport, the center-quarterback exchange, both resulting in fumbles. 

Herbig took a hard fall on these: "Both of them, I take full responsibility. It's just unacceptable. Bad football. Just bad ball. I have the full confidence in myself to snap the ball. I don't recall having a bad snap all training camp. But, it happened today, and that's all that matters. Just bad football by me."

Fields took his share: "I think the snapping part, we've just got to be on the same page. I'll put that on me, to just be on the same page and know who's in at center, know how to adjust and what I need to do next in the game."

Tomlin exonerated neither when asked a question solely about Fields being 5 of 6 for 67 yards over three series: "I thought he did some nice things, but obviously he was a component of the C-Q exchange. From my perspective, that's dual responsibility on the center and the quarterback."

Here are both:

My feel's that Herbig's being a swell teammate, as both of those seemed to clang off Fields' fingers. And my further feel's that, with Fields coming from Chicago with 38 career fumbles over just three seasons, everyone's better off if this gets exposed -- or re-exposed -- now. Whether that's Herbig as a starting center over rookie Zach Frazier, or whether that's Fields challenging Russell Wilson, this at least sets a clearer stage.

• C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell can make things look easy, but it shouldn't ever look this easy:

The completion's forgivable, but Anthony Averett's downfield whiff isn't, and Damontae Kazee's whatever-the-heck one-armed attempt really isn't.

"We gave up a touchdown on third-and-long," Tomlin would lament of Houston's third-and-8, "in the safety rotation."

I often feel alone in fretting over this secondary. I get that Minkah Fitzpatrick didn't suit up, and I get that T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward and Alex Highsmith, all of whom also didn't suit up, could've pressured Stroud to throw sooner. But other than Joey Porter Jr., who added to the yellow flags he's been collecting in Latrobe with another pass interference penalty in this game, everyone around Minkah back there will be new to the Steelers. And in the case of Beanie Bishop, new to being paid to play.

Show those holes now. Address/modify as needed.

• The back of Quez Watkins' football card illustrates that he's returned punts previously. But no one could've guessed that on this night, as he once called for a fair catch with about a 20-yard halo, the next time he "ran out of bounds without being forced that handed them awesome field position,” and the next time he buried this beauty for the hat trick:

Good Lord.

Better to uncover a replacement in the summertime than once the season starts.

• Fields would be sacked twice, with both of those coming through -- or around -- Troy Fautanu:

He's a first-rounder, but he's still a rookie. That's what Houston's Danielle Hunter undoubtedly saw and seized upon with that passive, way-too-late engagement as he blew by.

This, too, has been a point I've pounded: Fautanu's got a bright future, as glimpsed on this night by two bulldozing run blocks, but I've reported for weeks that Arthur Smith loves Moore and that, if he has his way, Moore and Jones will be his tackles to start the season. And now, even before Fautanu hurt his knee later in this game, it couldn't be more clear why.

Better to have that spelled out in August than in September.

• Maybe the most painful sight of all came in the second quarter when, on fourth-and-goal at the Houston 2, Smith scripted Calvin Austin so open that he could've crafted a castle for himself in one corner of the end zone, only to have this occur:

Oh, kid. Oh, no.

Look, the toss from Kyle Allen was terrible, but Austin's tip upward of that ball wasn't a bit better. And to have that happen amid all the hysteria about the Steelers needing to sell their souls for Brandon Aiyuk.

"I threw it a little deep for him," Allen would say. "I've got to get him a better ball."

"It was close," Austin would say. "But that's one I've got to make."

I could keep going with this list. It's long enough that I've left out Ryan Watts sullying a strong overall showing with a block in the back to nullify a nice kick return, Dez Fitzpatrick running out of bounds on punt coverage as the gunner without being forced, Christian Kuntz making an errant snap on Matthew Wright's missed PAT, and I'm sure a ton more. 

Better here than in Atlanta.

____________________

The tone might suggest otherwise, but I'm not down about this evening or about the coming season. Not yet and not really at all, I swear. I liked the early run game when it was Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris. I liked Fields' throwing accuracy. I liked Mason McCormick pancaking some poor soul on a nice Harris run. I liked Smith's Xs and Os, even if I recognize he's not about to reach too deep into the pocket just yet. I liked ... no, loved Payton Wilson on the flip side.

So, some of them screwed up.

"Do this now," as Warren would tell me. "Get this out of the way now."

That. Exactly that. 

Also and related, consider this slice of wisdom shared with me by James Daniels: "You know, I like these. I liked this. Everything's different, from the way you start your day to driving over here, to coming into the stadium, to seeing another uniform when you take the field. It's like a new first day in every way."

He smiled at that.

"And anytime you're doing something the first time, you get to learn from it. You'll make mistakes, but you get to learn from it. I like that."

Wilson's the starting quarterback next Saturday against the Bills. Same venue, very different setting. All those other veterans will take part. And all those youngsters, including the ones I mentioned above, will be another week older. Which can be significant in football terms.

"These younger players, I see them growing," Montravius Adams would tell me. "I saw them growing tonight."

They'll all either grow up or get lost. Step on the pedal.

• Chris Halicke's Chalk Talk examines the earliest tendencies of the Smith offense.

• Greg Macafee spotlights the rookie Wilson.

• It's an all-football Site Stuff today, too.

• All three of us have much more in our Steelers Feed.

• Thanks for reading my football coverage.

• And for listening to this bonus Daily Shot:

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