Tight end Pat Freiermuth knows the Pittsburgh Steelers offense must be better. He’s confident they’ll get there. Speaking to reporters following Wednesday’s practice, Freiermuth acknowledged a need to improve without slamming the panic button.
“Obviously want to clean up a lot of it,” he said via Steelers.com. “But it’s nothing to panic about. Like Russ said, we’ve executed what we’re asked to do in practice. We just have to translate the practice field to the game field. And that’s what preseason is about.”
And that’s what the regular season is about—one fast approaching for the Steelers, with just one exhibition game standing in their way. Pittsburgh’s hoping for a little more firepower in their preseason tune-up against the Detroit Lions on Saturday night. While Mike Tomlin hasn’t made any declarations about starters, it’d be an upset to see them glued to the bench this weekend. QB Russell Wilson and the rest of the group need the reps, catching up on time missed after a calf injury slowed the start to his summer.
Pat Freiermuth is looking forward to putting in extra work together, only catching a third-down check-down from Wilson against the Buffalo Bills.
“They’re very valuable,” he said of getting reps with Wilson. “Obviously, he missed a little bit of time in training camp, so in-game reps and stadium reps has been big for the whole offense.”
Pat Freiermuth hopes to bounce back with a big year, limited by hamstring and chest injuries a season ago. He’s currently slated to be the Steelers’ No. 2 target in the passing game and has been utilized more like a wide receiver under Arthur Smith. He’s also still searching for a long-term extension, a deal expected to happen heading into the offseason, but has been relatively quiet over the summer. Perhaps the potential Brandon Aiyuk deal is holding things up.
Ultimately, the Steelers must do what they haven’t done since 2020. Put points on the board. Freiermuth knows that’s how this unit will be judged.
“We definitely need some points. But we know it’s gonna come. And we try to continue to go out there and execute. Like I said, we’ve been doing everything that we’ve been doing in practice, um, and it’s been looking great. We just gotta translate the practice field to the game field, and we’ll be fine.”
It’s a little bit like the kid who is great at studying but terrible at tests. Practices can and often look clean, but stepping into a stadium against a new opponent and live rush is something completely different. Still, following the lead of Russell Wilson, Pat Freiermuth won’t sound the alarm, especially when the games don’t count and no one is implementing full game plans.
“No concern.”
