By Ray Porter Jr./ Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA-If there’s any good news to a Preseason loss, is that…it’s only Preseason:
- The National Football League’s (NFL) Dress Rehearsal. Any mistakes that are made, should be made during this time as they iron things out and make necessary adjustments as the Regular Season approaches.
- Wins and losses don’t really matter in the Preseason.
- Cut Week is coming. The team that you see now is not the team you will see when it’s for real on 9/8.
Nevertheless, for Pittsburgh Steelers fans, it wasn’t easy to stomach their 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills in front of 64,727 at Acrisure Stadium.
“Still not what we’re looking for. It was better in some areas, but still, JV in too many others. An area of improvement I thought was net punting, the field position component,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “A play got flipped this time around. We were much better in this game than we were in the last one. Still not winning enough possession downs on offense, particularly early, in an effort to establish rhythm in game plays and develop personality and so forth when you’re not winning possession downs in the early portions of the game.”
Although Tomlin saw signs of improvements, it was a game in which no TD was scored as Bills K Tyler Bass’ 3 FGs were sufficient enough to win the game. Steelers K Chris Boswell’s only FG provided his team’s only points, but he also missed a 52-yard attempt in the second quarter.
Veteran QB Russell Wilson made his first start as a Steeler, and it was one full of opportunities as he was sacked three times and finished passing 8/10 for 47 yards. “Well, we always want to win. That’s our mission every time,” said Wilson. “Obviously, we didn’t get to do it tonight. It was good to be in the black and gold, just to have the honor to wear the jersey, and to be out there with our teammates, it’s a blessing for sure. Just to be in this stadium again and playing, putting my cleats on, and getting ready to go. But we always want to be able to step on the field between the white lines and find a way to win, and we didn’t get to do that tonight.”
Tomlin said the offensive line could’ve done a better job protecting the QB: “I thought we didn’t do a good enough job of protecting the quarterback. We’ve got to do a better job in pass protection than we did not only in possession downs but just in general. I was really up front with the group about it in that regard. That can’t be a problem for us. We’ve got to be better than we were tonight in that area.”
The Steelers defense did a better job against the Bills offense as they sacked former Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky 2 times (1.5 by LB Nate Herbig, .5 but DE Keanu Benton) and intercepted him once (S Miles Killebrew) and they kept the Bills out of the end zone.
But in the second half, the defense showed signs of wear and tear: “On defense, particularly in the second half, I thought our young people wore down some,” said Tomlin. “They were able to control the game and minimize our opportunities because they were running the football some. Our secondary people in the crack replays gaps and so forth, you don’t have a chance to have really good run defense unless your secondary people are really on it.”
Steelers QB Justin Fields (11/17, 92 yards, 42 rushing yards) relieved Wilson late in the second quarter and led them on the scoring drive that led to Boswell’s FG. In the third quarter, he was going to lead them to another scoring drive, but it fizzled on a failed 4th down attempt deep in Bills territory.
“I thought he got better in some areas. I thought he did a nice job utilizing his legs, whether it was impromptu or otherwise, to keep some situations alive.” Said Tomlin on Fields. “But again, I just thought performance was stymied by our lack of protection and our lack of execution on possession downplay.”
The Steelers will now prepare for their final Preseason game next Saturday at Detroit vs. the Lions. “I thought we had a lot of area for improvement, particularly in the second half, in terms of some of those things, and that’s why their run total was what it was and really limited some of our possession opportunities in the second half.” Said Tomlin “But we’ll meet tomorrow. We’ll comb through it in great detail. That’s just a knee-jerk assessment of some things.”
Notes: Tomlin addressed the injuries: “From a health standpoint, Jaylen Warren had a hamstring in game. I don’t know the extent of it. He’ll be evaluated. I’ll have more information for you obviously over the next couple of days. Payton Wilson was being treated for a concussion. Anthony Averett had a hamstring, as well. Some other bumps and bruises, but I think in most instances, those guys returned to play. But again, I’ll have more detail for you next time we come together around the health of some people.”
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