Stock up, stock down after 2nd preseason game
The bad news? Anything relating to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense during Saturday night’s 9-3 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The good news? If anything at all can be learned from last year’s preseason, it’s that there is little correlation between results from the firstteam offense in the preseason and how it operates during the regular season.
Last year at this time, most of Pittsburgh believed Matt Canada finally was finding his way as a play-caller and Kenny Pickett was a burgeoning superstar.
In other words, take Saturday’s struggles in appropriate context.
That said, here are some players or areas of the team that improved or hurt their standing in the organization via Saturday’s performance at Acrisure Stadium:
STOCK UP 1.Dez Fitzpatrick Did you know Fitzpatrick is the Steelers’ third-longest tenured wide receiver? And while Fitzpatrick — with the organization since January 2023 — won’t end up, say, replacing the traded Diontae Johnson as a WR2, he is the odds-on favorite to replace the departed Miles Boykin as the WR5.
Fitzpatrick had two of the Steelers’ three longest receptions Saturday after having a 34-yarder during the preseason opener. Fitzpatrick’s team-high 19-yard reception versus Buffalo came via a pretty toe-tap as he fell out of bounds. He also had a 10-yard catch negated by penalty.
Perhaps even more germane to Fitzpatrick’s chances for making the team are that his 23 special-teams snaps rank among the most on the team this preseason, and many have come with the first-teamers. Fitzpatrick also held on to the coveted starting gunner gig on punt coverage Saturday, proving he still has coaches’ trust despite drawing a flag for running out of bounds while working as a gunner in the Texans game.
2. Cameron Johnston
Johnston — a punter — was a priority of the Steelers in free agency. Throughout training camp and the preseason, he’s shown why.
Johnston regularly showed off his strong leg at Saint Vincent College, and a byproduct of the offensive ineptitude Saturday was that Johnston was called upon to make lengthy boots from his own territory during each of the Steelers’ first four drives and five times in the first half alone.
The results? Punts of 49, 61, 65, 64 and 45 yards – a 56.8-yard gross average. Even the 44.2-yard net would have ranked third in the NFL last season.
3. Julius Welschof
Through two preseason games, no Steelers player has logged more snaps from scrimmage (88) than Welschof, a rookie outside linebacker. An undrafted free agent born and raised in Germany, the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Welschof had little to show for it – he had no recorded statistics – until when, during the final Buffalo dropback Saturday, Welschof sacked Bills quarterback Ben DiNucci.
Time will tell if Welschof can develop into a capable NFL regular-season player. But, no matter what happens in his career going forward, Welschof always can say he had a sack – a clean one, at that – in a game at the highest level of American football.
STOCK DOWN 1. Broderick Jones
While assigning blame for a sack on an individual offensive lineman is an imperfect endeavor, what is known is the player most often lined up directly across from Jones (Gregory Rousseau) was in on a sack of Wilson during each of the three possessions Rousseau played. During one, it was a pretty clear bullying via Rousseau pushing Jones straight-on back.
Early in camp, Jones suffered an elbow injury that has not kept him out of any full practices but has seemed to at times limit his work. It also requires a brace that may be limiting Jones’ effectiveness.
Whatever the reason, Jones’ shaky night against the Bills in a vacuum would be one thing. But, because it’s happened as part of an overall underwhelming camp, it is beginning to signal potential alarm bells for last year’s first-round pick. Jones’ play seems further away from the “second-year leap” than it is from a sophomore slump.
Just a few months ago, it would have been unthinkable that Jones would not be a starter for the season opener. Now, with veteran Dan Moore looking solid at left tackle and first-round pick Troy Fautanu looking like a future star when healthy, it’s in the realm of realistic possibility.
2. WR2/WR3 candidates The Brandon Aiyuk saga remains unsettled. The Steelers might feel a lot better about the potential eventuality that the star receiver stays with the San Francisco 49ers if members of their current wide receivers corps would assert themselves as legitimate No. 2-4 options behind alpha WR George Pickens.
While Van Jefferson has established himself as the unquestioned No. 2 as things stand, it would have been comforting if he had made a big play or two in the preseason. Saturday, per PFF he totaled a net minus-2 yards after catch on three receptions – only one of which was caught more than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.
Calvin Austin III was not even targeted (or handed the ball) in 14 snaps played on offense. Worse, he was penalized for a false start. (Although Austin solidified the punt-returner role with a solid effort in that capacity).
Aside from Fitzpatrick, all the other wide receivers on the team combined for nine catches for 51 yards, a 5.7yard average that is quite frankly not good enough.
3. Injury bug
There was no immediate indication the hamstring injury suffered by running back Jaylen Warren is serious. But there was no immediate confirmation it wasn’t, either. Warren was not spotted in the Steelers’ locker room after the game, for what that is worth.
Maybe Warren is fine. But the worst-nightmare scenario for any preseason game is emerging from it with the loss of an important player. Rookie inside linebacker Payton Wilson also would fall in this category, and he left the game after a play early in the third quarter and was said to be evaluated for a concussion.
Steelers fans surely will be holding their breath until good news comes, especially in regards to Warren.
