Week 1 of the NFL preseason is in the books for the Pittsburgh Steelers, falling to the Houston Texans on Friday night, 20-12.
247Sports.com publisher, editor, author, and podcaster Jim Wexell spoke with WESA "All Things Considered" host Jeremy Scott to discuss how the points they discussed in their game preview turned out.
Jeremy Scott: Jim, the first question I asked you this past week when we were previewing the game was about Justin Fields and what to look for out of Fields, who got the start because Russell Wilson did not start at quarterback. One thing that really jumped out to me — there were two things actually. One, there were two fumbles on the first two drives. He had a fumble during the first drive. He had a fumble during the second drive and he was sacked twice. I'm going to start with the fumbles. Whose fault did you find that to be?
Jim Wexell: Well, it was hard. We couldn't get clear replays up in the press box. There were a couple of us writers talking. We thought the first one was on Nate Herbig, the center. We thought the second one was on Justin Fields.
Okay. And now we talk about the two sacks. Starting at right tackle, which is where those two sacks came from, was the first round draft pick from this year, Troy Fautanu. I'm going to ask you the blame game question again. Whose fault were those sacks?
Yeah, the first sack was definitely Fautanu's. He got beat. And you know what I've seen over the years? Certain left tackles can't move over to the right side. And they lumber a little bit over there when, on the left side, they look rather smooth. And boy that looked a little like Fautanu lumbering a little bit on that sack. He was going against a big timer, Danielle Hunter. So let's give him a little break. He is a rookie, and that was his first preseason game. So, we'll give him a break and continue to watch him at right tackle. The second sack, he didn't really give up, but he gave up the pressure and it wasn't as obvious of a beat as the first sack, but he gave up the pressure that forced Justin Fields up into the pocket, and somebody else sacked him. But his guy broke the pressure first. And then Fautanu was in a boot after the game. Mike Tomlin said it's a knee. So, not a good night for the first round draft pick.
I had mentioned during our preview that George Pickens is entrenched as the number one wide receiver, but wide receiver two is pretty wide open. What caught your eye in terms of the receivers not named George Pickens?
Van Jefferson had two targets and caught one. The one he did not catch, I thought he did. I thought he did a great job getting his feet down again. The people at home probably had a better look with the up-close replays. We don't get great replays in the press box, so I don't know if he actually held onto the ball, but it looked like the ref was saying that he juggled the ball was on the far sideline from the press box. So, it was an unclean catch that he probably could have made a better catch on. His other target was a 20-yard out that he caught. It was a nice play. So, Van Jefferson. Okay, so far, so good. You want to see a little more. But he only played — I don't even know if he played a whole half. Is that a real thing? Can you play a whole half? Is that good grammar? But anyway. Calvin Austin, the other contender for the number two job, dropped a touchdown pass. He was more worried about getting his feet down. It was a high pass. Wasn't the greatest pass, but it hit him in the hands. He should've caught it. And it looked like Scotty Miller had a nice night, and he was praised by Tomlin and singled out for his camp. So look for Scotty Miller to get more activity. Quez Watkins had a disastrous night as a punt returner, and that's not going to help him. I don't know what what it does for him [to become] number two receiver, but it does not help him. He is a blazer. And, I think we're going to see more Scotty Miller returning punts next time.
Was the play calling pretty much what you thought it would be? We talked about preseason play calling being pretty vanilla. Arthur Smith, your words were he's a meat and potatoes guy. Did you pretty much see what you thought you were going to see out of the Steelers offense under Arthur Smith?
Well, he's intelligent. He's meat and potatoes. I think that comes from just, he wants to run the ball and he's a power guy. He's a little bit more old school, but he's not boring. We've seen a lot of other stuff, at practice, a lot of other innovations at the goal line with the motions and the misdirection. You know, he uses the meat and potatoes. He spices it up pretty good, and he flavors it well. So he's not just a bland meat and potatoes guy. And tonight was bland. Meat and potatoes are not. They're not going to show anything. Same on defense. We didn't see any dime, I don't think, we saw nickel, but really nothing significant. Nothing exotic or even close to exotic from either coordinator.
Payton Wilson, the rookie linebacker, was a name who you brought up. And I'm just going to go through this line here. I was keeping notes as the game went along. New guys on defense. I said, Payton Wilson makes first tackle of the game. Loss of one. Payton Wilson again with the first hit of the second drive. Payton Wilson again with the first tackle. Third drive. It felt to me, just from an amateur's point of view, that Payton Wilson, the rookie linebacker, was indeed sticking his hat in there and making plays. Was he a pleasant surprise to you?
No. No, he was not. I actually thought he had a below average game. He led the team with six tackles and he started fast early. And he again has not shown me any pop as a tackler. He does not drive through. He does not hit with explosiveness. He'll get you down. He's a wrestler and he'll grab you by the shoulders and twist you down. But even the undrafted inside linebacker late from Michigan State, Windmon — I believe it's Jeremy [ed. note: his first name is Jacoby] — Windmon, had four tackles, but one was so explosive. The most explosive tackle I saw of the game. I didn't see Elandon Roberts make a tackle like him. That's what I like to see out of an inside linebacker. But the thing about Payton Wilson, he's a coverage backer, and he was beaten in coverage a few times. But he still did not look like he was flailing. He looks like he has the potential to become an excellent coverage backer. And he has the potential to become an adequate tackler, adequate pop. But, he does not have classic explosiveness for an inside linebacker, and the game doesn't really require it anymore. This team has needed a coverage backer. And with the addition of Patrick Queen and Peyton Wilson, they have speed now at inside linebacker. Payton just lacks explosiveness through the hole.
DeShon Elliott was another name you brought up when we talked. The first drive of the game, he had a nice sideline press to force a three-and-out. Were you happy with what you saw out of the safety?
I wasn't focusing on DeShon. I didn't see him get burned. I didn't see any poor tackling. He didn't play all that much. I respect his game. I think he's going to be fine. They they didn't use the three safety package, the big nickel, which puts DeShon in the slot, which is what makes him more valuable if he's going to be in coverage. So when he does go in the slot, maybe next preseason game, that's what I want to watch out of DeShon to see if he is going to bring that special quality to their nickel package, because he is explosive. He's going to be an in-the-box mini-linebacker and if he can cover, now you've got something.
Over at 247Sports.com, you have a column up about the long shot, as you call him, Jonathan Ward. He's a running back who is really fighting for a spot on the practice squad, if not a third running back on the actual 53-man roster. He broke a big 20-yard first down run during the game against the Texans. Do you think that he did anything to help himself solidify either a practice squad position or as the RB3?
Absolutely. I thought before the game that he had a chance to make the team if they kept Cordarrelle Patterson on the list, that he's on. He's not on the PUP list. It's some kind of non-football injury list. So they could have kept him on there, kept a roster spot open, allowed Ward to play. And then when Patterson was fully healthy, even in better condition and maybe save him for the stretch run, they could activate him, upon some kind of injury. But they activated Patterson before the game. He didn't play, but he's active now and made me wonder, are they going to set those two up as a competition? You know, Patterson, I believe, is 33. Perhaps his best years are behind him. Maybe they want to see, before the final cuts, if he can hold off Ward. Maybe Ward beats him out because Cordarrelle is 33, and Ward played very well. That run was what we've seen at camp, that there was some real quickness, real bounce and explosion in his step. He's got it. And he also returned kickoffs, played special teams. They were using him as if the coaching staff appeared very interested and and vetting him, looking at him thoroughly. Very interesting. Yeah. And he responded well. [La'Mical] Perine, on the other hand, the big back, he didn't score at the goal line. I think he had two carries from inside the five and didn't score. They took him out on 3rd and 1 and they put Ward in. I can't remember if Ward got the ball, but they put Ward in at the one where that was Perine's spot. And he kind of looked like he might have let them down.
Looking ahead just really quickly, the Steelers play the Buffalo Bills next Saturday. It's preseason game number two. Anything that you will be interested to see that you didn't see tonight?
Oh, I want to see Russell Wilson. I want to see Van Jefferson. Need to see better Calvin Austin. It doesn't look like they're going to get Brandon Aiyuk. It looks like San Francisco is turning up the negotiation process over there. You know, they hold all the cards. They have the leverage. They have him under contract. It's really unlikely for him to sit out the season. His contract would toll, meaning he would not gain the year of free agency year that he won, and he would be in the same situation. We've been through that with Le'Veon Bell. 49ers hold all the cards. So, it doesn't look like Aiyuk's coming this way. So, they have to develop that number two receiver. And they now need a number four outside linebacker because Markus Golden retired. He came back. Said 'no, you know what? I'm a little too old for this. I'm done.' And, now it goes back to Jeremiah Moon and Kyron Johnson, the better special teams player. So, they're going to fight it out for that fourth outside linebacker spot. And, I'll be looking at that because that's a hole on the 53-man roster right now. And of course, looking at all other things, as always, the young offensive all have to play better. I thought Zach Frazier was the best of the three rookies tonight. But, they all need to improve.
