The Pittsburgh Steelers opened the 2025 preseason with a 31-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night. Family time keep me from watching the game until Sunday night and work to do and bills to pay prevented me from publishing this until today.
With that, here were 6 (not necessarily) random takeaways from the game.
Kaleb Johnson rushes in his preseason debut. Photo Credit: AP via Tribune-Review
1. Still Sweating the Offense?
It was what, a little more than a week ago the word out of St. Vincents was that the defense as dominant but that the offense was, generously put, sluggish.
Well, that sluggish offense just put up 31 points on a humid Florida night. What’s more, Mason Rudolph looked almost flawless, and Skyler Thompson even has some calling for Will Howard to do a red shirt year on IR.
- Take all of that with a grain of salt.
The glow of those preseason stat sheets can transform into a ugly, smudgy glare once the games count for real. Kenny Pickett and Matt Canada can attest. Still it was good to see.
More importantly, it was the way that they got those 31 points that impressed.
2. Air Arthur?
Don’t look now, but Steelers quarterbacks threw 38 passes – and they did so voluntarily and effectively. The good news is that Steelers offensive tackles Troy Fautanu and Broderick Jones looked good and kept their quarterbacks clean.
It is easy to see why. The Steelers want to see what they have in Roman Wilson, and know that they need him to prove himself to be starter capable this season. He looked good on Sunday night. So did Scotty Miller.
Perhaps more importantly, Smith’s quarterbacks exploited the middle of the field – something at Russell Wilson was loath to do last year, and frankly it was an area that Steelers offense avoided brief lifetime of the Kenny Pickett era.
3. Pierre Proving You Can Come Home Again?
During the preseason-less COVID summer of 2020, Steel City Insider wrote about an undrafted rookie free agent cornerback named James Pierre. Pierre made the final roster, got some playing time and was working his way in as a starter in 2021.
He hit some rough patches and didn’t play as much in 2022 or 2023. The Steelers let him walk as a free agent but brought him back when Washington cut him.
James Pierre intercepts Jameis Winston. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Pierre was mainly brought back for special teams, and resigned for the same reason. But he’s had as strong camp and played extremely aggressively Sunday night. He may get caught up in the numbers game, but it won’t be an easy decision.
4. Flying to the Ball
Teryl Austin’s defense flew to the ball Sunday night. And if DeMarvin Leal and Jack Sawyer didn’t generate much pass rush, It didn’t look like there were any missed tackles.
Sebastian Castro, Juan Thornhill, Chuck Clark, Beanie Bishop and Brain Echols all looked sharp and likely to make Grady Brown and Austin burn the midnight oil as they finalize cuts in the secondary.
Payton Wilson and Cole Holcomb also had good nights as inside linebacker could be another “problematic” area on the depth chart to winnow down.
5. The Kids Will Be Alright
Thus far the reports on rookies Derrick Harmon, Kaleb Johnson and Jack Sawyer have been nothing but positive. The same can be said for Yahya Black and Will Howard (who was hurt.)
Yet, the rookie who shown brightest was none other than Carson Bruener, who played well both on special teams and defense.
In contrast, Harmon, Johnson and Sawyer looked like, well rookies getting their feet wet in their first preseason game.
- Is that a reason to worry? Absolutely not.
IF James Harrison had flashed the potential the type of player who’d make 4 scores of sacks, he’d wouldn’t have been cut 4 times. Yes, Ryan Shazier authored a strong preseason debut. And Franco Harris’ was sensational.
But there are two other names to keep in context: Jarvis Jones and Huey Richardson.
Jones recovered a fumble and had ESPN calling him Harrison’s heir apparent. You can read more about Richardson’s debut here, but he had a sack, two pressures and a forced fumble while playing inside linebacker and defensive tackle en route to becoming the worst first round bust in Steelers history.
In short, there’s either worrisome or wrong with rookie looking like rookies in their preseason debut.
6. NFL’s Been De-emphasizing Preseason, Tomlin Leans In
When he arrived in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin didn’t shy from playing his starters, although he wisely paced them. But with the arrival of the 17 game season, Mike Tomlin has played his starters less and less. T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Patrick Queen, Aaron Rodgers and D.K. Metcalf among others did not suit up.
That however provided opportunities for young guys to get a shot at their NFL dream.
And as we saw, the men took their opportunity to heart. Good for them.
