The Pittsburgh Steelers were buyers at the trade deadline. Pittsburgh acquired wide receiver Mike Williams, and defensive end Preston Smith. Despite being members of the team for less than a week before the game, both Williams and Smith were able to make an impact in the Steelers’ win over the Washington Commanders, and they impressed Head Coach Mike Tomlin.
Smith didn’t see the field a ton on Sunday, only playing 23 snaps on the game, which was 36 percent of the Steelers’ total defensive snaps. However, Smith was solid during that time, picking up a sack and two tackles in the game. Williams was used sparingly as well, only getting nine snaps. Filling in for an injured Calvin Austin, though, Williams ended up making his only reception count. His 32-yard touchdown catch gave Pittsburgh the lead late in the fourth quarter and wound up being the game-winning touchdown.
While both had good, important plays for the Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin is stressing patience, and wants to evaluate them over the course of the season, not just one game. Tomlin appeared on The Mike Tomlin Show on Saturday, where he shared that sentiment.
“I am definitively appreciative of their effort,” Tomlin said. “But we were really straightforward that we weren’t going to define their acquisition by one performance. I didn’t want to put too much weight on last week. They got on a moving train, I’m glad we were able to get contributions from them. But we’re really gonna measure their acquisitions over their contributions for the remainder of our journey.”
It makes sense that Tomlin wouldn’t want to put too much emphasis on their debuts, considering the situation. Any player joining a new team wants to get off on the right foot. However, this was a pretty difficult situation for both. Each had just a few days with the team before the game, so the fact that they both made an impact, no matter the size, is impressive.
That impact should only grow as the season goes on, and Williams and Smith settle in more. For now, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about both. As Tomlin alludes to, they could be pretty important for the team down the home stretch.
