After his solid preseason debut last week, Mike Tomlin told the media in his postgame press conference that C Zach Frazier would be in line for an increased workload. On Wednesday, during the final practice at Saint Vincent College, Nate Herbig got injured. That injury is reportedly serious and should hold him out for an extended period of time, which obviously accelerates the timetable for Frazier becoming the starter.
After tonight’s preseason game against the Buifalo Bills and Frazier working with the first-team offense, Tomlin summarized the rookie’s play.
“I was largely satisfied with the work that I saw from Frazier,” Tomlin after the Steelers’ 9-3 loss in a video posted on the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
For one, the Steelers didn’t have any snap issues like they did a week ago with Herbig and Justin Fields. This week it was Frazier and Wilson with the first-team unit and they didn’t have any issues in that area.
Upon the first watch, Frazier didn’t stand out one way or the other. I saw him get blown back on a bull rush or two, but it didn’t appear that any of the sacks were on him. The offensive line as a whole was concerning. Broderick Jones had a particularly rough game going against Greg Rousseau. The offense was never able to get into a rhythm with multiple three and outs.
I wrote before the game that Frazier needed to prove it against better competition. The fact that he didn’t stand out in a negative way is an overall positive for him.
Zach Frazier confirmed after the game that he was making the calls at the line, per TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X.
He was asked if he was making the line calls and if he felt confident in doing that. He replied “yes” to both.
The center is the vocal leader of the line. His ability to make those calls and recognize defensive fronts is just as important as his play on the field for the progression of this young offensive line throughout the 2024 season.
