We’re less than an hour away from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons. Two games in and the Steelers’ offense looks sterling, night and day from a year ago. But if there is any downside to their new-found big play nature, their quick scoring hasn’t lent itself to many reps.
On the latest edition of his Footbahlin podcast, former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger expressed surprise over how few snaps Mike Tomlin has given Kenny Pickett and the offensive starters thus far.
“I was really surprised he pulled them after that,” Roethlisberger said, referring to the first team’s day being done about Pickett’s 25-yard touchdown against the Buffalo Bills. “I get it. You saw what you wanted. Two series, two scores. But I don’t know how many plays they had but it couldn’t have been more than a dozen.”
Pickett and the first-team offense saw just seven snaps against Buffalo. The first drive ended in a triple-explosive play, a 62-yard touchdown run by RB Jaylen Warren down the left side. The second drive was even quicker, a one-play strike from Pickett to Freiermuth for a score. Though it was less work than expected, the Steelers did their job and were rewarded with a quick night and plenty of time to rest on the bench.
Through two preseason games, the starting offense has logged only 17 snaps. In the opener versus Tampa Bay, they were out there for just one series, a 10-play drive that ended with Pickett hitting WR George Pickens on a slant for 33 yards. The results are there: three drives, three scores, but even Mike Tomlin alluded to wanting to see more reps from that group. Roethlisberger pointed out that Tomlin’s love of situational football made it a surprise to see the starters not get more opportunities.
“With only three preseason games, I would think what [Tomlin] would want to see is, I want to see some situational football from my starters,” Roethlisberger said. “Maybe he’s gonna play them more in the third, which typically you don’t, but maybe he will to see them. But I didn’t see a third-and-short, a short-yardage play. I didn’t see a backed-up play. I didn’t see a red zone play. I didn’t see that situational football.”
Roethlisberger is right that Pittsburgh’s offense has largely only gotten work in open field, between the 20s. The touchdown to Freiermuth was the “red zone fringe,” right outside the opposing 20, but it would be nice to see the team work in the low red zone or a third and 1. The second-team offense got that opportunity late in the first half but had trouble punching the ball into the end zone, needing multiple Bills penalties for extra first downs before QB Mitch Trubisky hit TE Connor Heyward for a short score. In camp, the Steelers rep a ton of situational football. Third down, red zone, goal line (starting each day with seven shots), and two-minute. But they haven’t gotten many chances to carry that over to preseason action.
“The offense, those guys played great, but I was just surprised they didn’t go a little longer,” Roethlisberger said.
Speaking earlier in the week, Tomlin said all healthy players will play in tonight’s finale, though he declined to put a snap count to them. Based on early on-field reports, the starters will indeed play, including defensive standouts like DT Cam Heyward and OLB T.J. Watt. Tomlin will play things by ear tonight and another productive drive by the offense may be all he wants to see to finish off the preseason and get them looking forward to Week One against San Francisco on Sept. 10.
Check out the full podcast below.
