Jaylen Warren seeks running room in the first quarter Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C.
So yeah, tumultuous night for the Steelers here.
And no, not just because they saw their first-round pick, Derrick Harmon, carted off with a knee injury combined with the saddest face one could conceive in such a setting, only to see him bounce back onto the sideline several minutes later, upbeat as can be, upon learning it was simply a sprain.
He'd later give me a thumbs-up as he exited the locker room when I asked how he was.
That's tremendous. Terrific kid. Been through a ton this calendar year.
And yet, at the risk of being a bit too blunt, this defense could overcome his absence. Cam Heyward's still here. Keeanu Benton's still here. Yahya Black's a human house as much as he's a football player. DeMarvin Leal's at long last exhibiting some emergence. It's hardly optimal, however much time Harmon might miss, but there are options.
This offense?
All right, let's pull up a chair.
Look, there are 17 days between this preseason finale, the Steelers' 19-10 victory over the Panthers tonight at Bank of America Stadium, and the first real game, Sept. 7 against the Jets in East Rutherford, N.J. And in that span, there'll be no further football action of consequence. Which means that any and all improvement on the same side of the ball that's needed improvement for more than half a decade now will come solely through personnel changes -- Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith and maybe Calvin Austin will join in -- and about a dozen-plus practices.
Right. Practice. We're talkin' 'bout practice.
And it'd better be the best practice of some of these players' adult lives.
"We have work to do," as Jaylen Warren would tell me. "There's no question about that."
"There've been things we've liked," as Troy Fautanu would tell me. "But there's room for improvement, for sure."
Mason Rudolph went further.
"Uh, not great," he'd assess of his own showing at 6 of 8 for 36 yards and his second interception over the middle in as many weeks. "I thought we did some good things, but turning the ball over there ... sometimes in these preseason games, you're pressing to make something happen because you know you're not going to be in the whole game ... you've gotta take care of the ball, first and foremost. But we'll make the corrections."
I'm not about to inundate anyone with numbers, in large part because I don't know that they matter much in these small samples. But I do feel ... well, I feel like a feel can count, too.
I'm not feeling it when this offense, regardless of quarterback, spits out a series of sideways checkdowns, only to get picked at the first intermediate attempt:
That feels a little too familiar.
No, Rudolph won't be the starter in the opener. That'll be Rodgers, of course. But, reasonable or not on my part, there was still an unsettling feel about the offense as a whole.
I'm not feeling it when the No. 1 running back, in his preseason debut, fumbles after his first catch, slips and tumbles on his first run, then gets semi-stuffed before exiting:
I spoke with Warren afterward. He offered no excuses, not even for the slip though several other players remarked that they might've had spikes that didn't suit the turf here.
"It felt like my first time in a while," Warren would tell me with a small smile. "We'll get there."
I'm not feeling it when we're watching, yet again, a wide receiver group that appears to be begging for depth behind the No. 1, a storyline that's now two years in the making. And respectfully, that doesn't change when a practice-squad wide receiver catches a sweet touchdown from a practice-squad quarterback against a practice-squad secondary:
Good for Lance McCutcheon. Good for Skylar Thompson. They've had professional camps. But they'll also be afterthoughts before long.
Want some positives?
I've got those, too, if not in abundance.
I liked Pat Freiermuth's two timing-route targets that resulted in two catches, this in his preseason debut. That'll be a big part of what Rodgers wants from all his receivers.
We talked, as well:
"It felt great," he'd tell me. "Getting back into game speed, getting hit ... I loved it."
He's still loving the offense.
"Obviously, I think every aspect of our offense has room for improvement. The more we can run the ball, the more we'll open up things down the field. ... That'll all work together. I'm excited about it. I am."
Here's an odd one, maybe: I appreciated Roman Wilson's effort and follow-through on all routes, even though he wasn't targeted once on the evening. Dude never bailed. And when Warren fumbled off that catch 10 yards upfield, it was Wilson rescuing him with the pounce.
I appreciated the line here, too. Still operating without Isaac Seumalo, who was held out the entire preseason, other than Zach Frazier's first-snap holding flag -- one of an absurd 13 thrown on the Steelers -- the pass protection was solid and the run-blocking was, in spurts, some of the best it's been. In one stirring sequence, Broderick Jones, the fair focal point of most of the concern, blew his guy backward 3-4 yards on back-to-back runs.
I reminded Jones of this, and he just beamed.
I mentioned it to Fautanu, and he replied, "You see the holes those brought? Wow."
Oh, and I really liked this from Kaleb Johnson:
Five carries for 24 yards and somewhat of a continuation of his breakout against the Buccaneers.
"Yeah, you could say that," he'd reply when I asked if it was that. "That cutback, some other stuff ... I thought it went OK."
But now it's got to be better than the occasional OK. It's got to come together, all in 17 days, all on the South Side ... all against the same defense they've been seeing for a month straight.
More of that could've occurred already. All I'm saying.
THE ASYLUM
DK: This offense ... man, this ain't it
GETTY
Jaylen Warren seeks running room in the first quarter Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C.
So yeah, tumultuous night for the Steelers here.
And no, not just because they saw their first-round pick, Derrick Harmon, carted off with a knee injury combined with the saddest face one could conceive in such a setting, only to see him bounce back onto the sideline several minutes later, upbeat as can be, upon learning it was simply a sprain.
He'd later give me a thumbs-up as he exited the locker room when I asked how he was.
That's tremendous. Terrific kid. Been through a ton this calendar year.
And yet, at the risk of being a bit too blunt, this defense could overcome his absence. Cam Heyward's still here. Keeanu Benton's still here. Yahya Black's a human house as much as he's a football player. DeMarvin Leal's at long last exhibiting some emergence. It's hardly optimal, however much time Harmon might miss, but there are options.
This offense?
All right, let's pull up a chair.
Look, there are 17 days between this preseason finale, the Steelers' 19-10 victory over the Panthers tonight at Bank of America Stadium, and the first real game, Sept. 7 against the Jets in East Rutherford, N.J. And in that span, there'll be no further football action of consequence. Which means that any and all improvement on the same side of the ball that's needed improvement for more than half a decade now will come solely through personnel changes -- Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith and maybe Calvin Austin will join in -- and about a dozen-plus practices.
Right. Practice. We're talkin' 'bout practice.
And it'd better be the best practice of some of these players' adult lives.
"We have work to do," as Jaylen Warren would tell me. "There's no question about that."
"There've been things we've liked," as Troy Fautanu would tell me. "But there's room for improvement, for sure."
Mason Rudolph went further.
"Uh, not great," he'd assess of his own showing at 6 of 8 for 36 yards and his second interception over the middle in as many weeks. "I thought we did some good things, but turning the ball over there ... sometimes in these preseason games, you're pressing to make something happen because you know you're not going to be in the whole game ... you've gotta take care of the ball, first and foremost. But we'll make the corrections."
I'm not about to inundate anyone with numbers, in large part because I don't know that they matter much in these small samples. But I do feel ... well, I feel like a feel can count, too.
I'm not feeling it when this offense, regardless of quarterback, spits out a series of sideways checkdowns, only to get picked at the first intermediate attempt:
That feels a little too familiar.
No, Rudolph won't be the starter in the opener. That'll be Rodgers, of course. But, reasonable or not on my part, there was still an unsettling feel about the offense as a whole.
I'm not feeling it when the No. 1 running back, in his preseason debut, fumbles after his first catch, slips and tumbles on his first run, then gets semi-stuffed before exiting:
I spoke with Warren afterward. He offered no excuses, not even for the slip though several other players remarked that they might've had spikes that didn't suit the turf here.
"It felt like my first time in a while," Warren would tell me with a small smile. "We'll get there."
I'm not feeling it when we're watching, yet again, a wide receiver group that appears to be begging for depth behind the No. 1, a storyline that's now two years in the making. And respectfully, that doesn't change when a practice-squad wide receiver catches a sweet touchdown from a practice-squad quarterback against a practice-squad secondary:
Good for Lance McCutcheon. Good for Skylar Thompson. They've had professional camps. But they'll also be afterthoughts before long.
Want some positives?
I've got those, too, if not in abundance.
I liked Pat Freiermuth's two timing-route targets that resulted in two catches, this in his preseason debut. That'll be a big part of what Rodgers wants from all his receivers.
We talked, as well:
"It felt great," he'd tell me. "Getting back into game speed, getting hit ... I loved it."
He's still loving the offense.
"Obviously, I think every aspect of our offense has room for improvement. The more we can run the ball, the more we'll open up things down the field. ... That'll all work together. I'm excited about it. I am."
Here's an odd one, maybe: I appreciated Roman Wilson's effort and follow-through on all routes, even though he wasn't targeted once on the evening. Dude never bailed. And when Warren fumbled off that catch 10 yards upfield, it was Wilson rescuing him with the pounce.
I appreciated the line here, too. Still operating without Isaac Seumalo, who was held out the entire preseason, other than Zach Frazier's first-snap holding flag -- one of an absurd 13 thrown on the Steelers -- the pass protection was solid and the run-blocking was, in spurts, some of the best it's been. In one stirring sequence, Broderick Jones, the fair focal point of most of the concern, blew his guy backward 3-4 yards on back-to-back runs.
I reminded Jones of this, and he just beamed.
I mentioned it to Fautanu, and he replied, "You see the holes those brought? Wow."
Oh, and I really liked this from Kaleb Johnson:
Five carries for 24 yards and somewhat of a continuation of his breakout against the Buccaneers.
"Yeah, you could say that," he'd reply when I asked if it was that. "That cutback, some other stuff ... I thought it went OK."
But now it's got to be better than the occasional OK. It's got to come together, all in 17 days, all on the South Side ... all against the same defense they've been seeing for a month straight.
More of that could've occurred already. All I'm saying.
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