7 Winners and 3 Losers after the Steelers vs. Jaguars Week 1 Preseason game
The Pittsburgh Steelers were back on the field Saturday for the first game of the 2025 preseason when they traveled to play the Jacksonville Jaguars in Florida. The Steelers were winners in the contest, but that doesn’t mean every player had a good or bad performance.
Players who play well can be considered ‘Winners’, while those who left a lot to be desired can be called ‘Losers’. It may sound harsh, but it is the crux of this exercise.
Let’s check in to see who fell on which side of the ledger after the latest game…
Winners
Mason Rudolph
Stat Line: 9/10, 84 yards, 8.4 ave., 1 TD, 0 INT, 1 sack for 10 yards, 135.0 Rating
Steelers fans have seen plenty of Mason Rudolph in the preseason throughout his career, but they haven’t had a chance to see what Rudolph looks like in Arthur Smith’s offense. What we saw from Rudolph should help ease any concerns the fan base might have regarding the health of Aaron Rodgers. In other words, if Rodgers is lost for a couple games Rudolph showed what he’s always shown, and that is he is capable of winning you some games. It was a good showing for Rudolph in his return to Pittsburgh.
Darnell Washington
Stat Line: 1 rec., 19 yards, 1 TD, 1 target
It was only one catch, it was only one target, but it was also one touchdown. Fans have been waiting for the day when the offense highlights the monster of a man, and it might just be one play but it also provides hope things can change in 2025. Washington dunked the football over the goalpost, drawing an unsportsmanlike penalty, but I hope we get to see Mount Washington catching more passes like this for touchdowns this season.
Two-Minute Offense
Stat Line: 1-for-1 ending with a TD
The Steelers two-minute offense has been less than stellar during training camp this year, but when Skylar Thompson got the football at the end of the half with all three timeouts remaining and inside two minutes he got the job done. Decisive play calling, solid quarterback play, and execution resulted in a drive which was capped off with a touchdown, only using one timeout in the process. It was a good day for the offense, and this capped off a great first half.
Roman Wilson
Stat Line: 2 rec., 24 yards, 12.0 ave., 0 TD, 19 long, 2 targets
I wanted to see more of Roman Wilson in the game, but his early exit points to one of two possibilities. One, the team could be cautious with what looked like a slight groin pull in practice Thursday. Or the team sees him as a big part of the offense and is treating him as such. I’m hoping it’s more of the latter, but it was good to see Wilson on the field, even in the preseason. Fans might forget how he missed last preseason with the high ankle sprain on the first day of padded practices. He only got a handful of snaps the entire season his rookie year, but Wilson showed the burst and hands fans have been waiting for since he was drafted in 2024. A step in the right direction for Wilson.
Skylar Thompson
Stat Line: 20/28, 233 yards, 8.3 ave., 3 TDs, 0 INT, 1 sack for 6 yards, 132.0 Rating
A lot of people want to know what is going to happen with the Steelers QB3 spot after Will Howard’s hand/finger injury, and I don’t know how long Howard will be out of the line; however, if the hand injury takes longer to heal than expected Thompson can fill in just fine. Thompson has a lot of experience and has proven on more than one occasion he is capable of making plays needed to move the football. Thompson’s game Saturday night was a great showing for him, whether that’s for the Steelers or another NFL team.
Points Scored
Stat Line: 31 points
The Steelers scored 31 points in a game. I don’t care if it was the preseason. They scored 31 points. How many times has that happened recently? It happened three times last season, for those who are wondering, but I also felt the way the Steelers moved the ball was worth noting. Yes, it was against vanilla defenses, but the passes over the middle and the execution were at a very high level for the first preseason game of the year.
Basically Injury Free
Stat Line: Mission Accomplished
The biggest aspect of the preseason is to get out of the exhibition season without suffering any injuries, and that includes to the depth on the team. For the Steelers they were able to do that with Mike Tomlin saying the only injury was when Cameron McCutcheon suffered what is being labeled as a “hamstring/soft tissue” injury. Get out of the stadium without any major injuries? Check.
Losers
Run Offense
Stat Line: 25 carries, 66 yards, 2.6 ave., 0 TD, 14 long
The Steelers were unable to get their running game going at any point in Quarters 1-3. In the 4th quarter Lew Nichols helped bolster those rushing stats, but otherwise the ground game was rather non-existent. The Steelers may have been focusing more on other aspects of the offense, like the play-action passing game, but the hope is to see some improvement in the running game in Preseason Weeks 2-3.
Pass Rush
Stat Line: 0 Sacks, 3 QB Hits
The Steelers were without T.J. Watt (day off), Alex Highsmith (groin) and Nick Herbig (day off) and it certainly showed. Jack Sawyer got near the quarterback a couple times, but the team’s pass rush was rather non-existent the entire game. This isn’t to point the finger at the edge rushers because the interior pass rush was also lacking. With all the players who didn’t play, it’s difficult to give a harsh judgement, but I’m hoping this improves.
Short Yardage Offense
Stat Line: Picked up where it left off
The best run was a Kaleb Johnson run on 3rd and 4, which was converted, but the worst was the 4th and 1 decision on the first drive of the 3rd quarter. 4th and 1 should be a given, and the Steelers lost yardage when Johnson was forced to bounce the play outside. Johnson will learn that doesn’t work often in the NFL, but there was absolutely no push from the offensive line. It seemed like the short-yardage offense picked up where they left off last year. Then again, it was the second half of a Week 1 preseason game, I’ll step off the soap box now…
If you want a more detailed look at the above list, check out my “Let’s Ride” podcast in the player below where I outline each Winner and Loser, and MORE!
I’d specifically call our Kaleb Johnson as a loser. Lot of hype coming in, and he averaged 2.5 yards per rush. I expected to see a flash or two from him, and saw nothing.
Quite disappointed in the lack of burst from Johnson. Really hoping it’s just nerves and inexperience. He needs to find his holes inside because as Jeff said, he won’t be able to bounce all these runs outside like he did in college. That first run looked good, and he fell forward almost everytime, but also give credit to JAX for bottling him up.
JAX knew the plan was going to be to run, and they did a good job of containing the Steelers for most of the game.
I understand the frustration, but it was tough for me to think a rookie 3rd Round pick who was playing behind the starting OL for just two series could be considered a loser.
I was expecting more as well, but just to shine some light on why he wasn’t included with that side of the docket.
Exactly this. I mean, look at Ashton Jeanty. He looked atrocious and he was the 6th overall pick, lol.
I feel like everyone was expecting Johnson to look like the second coming of Barry Sanders or something right off the bat. It’s just not the case. Us fans need to set realistic expectations and understand not every player will come out of the gates running (no pun intended).
The Steelers ran the ball just five times total in the first half (1,4,7,-3, 4 yards). Those were all Kaleb Johnson. Only the first three were with first Unit O-line, so 3-12 yard, 4.0 average with first string. It was pretty clear the Steelers were more concerned with getting a look at pass protection and their WR’s then running the ball in the first half.
Second half saw twenty rushes with an oline of 2nd and 3rd stringers. The fourth and 1 play, I saw two Steeler line being driven multiple yards backwards. For a short yardage run, you need your line to break even for any real chance of success and the steelers backup up lost that rep badly. Receiving, he had 2 catches on three targets and one drop for 6 yards.
So, you take that three rushes for twelve yards with the first team line, and multiply it by 8 (24 rushes not a huge workload and reasonable for a game) and he would have had 24 rushes for 96 yards. That is respectable numbers for a full game in that scenario. Even if you say he only had 3 rushes in first quarter and multiply that by 4…you get 12 carries for 48 yards and most people would be asking “He was getting four yards a carry, why didn’t they run more?”
My point is this, looking at his numbers with the first team that were playing, he had an okay outing and showed some promise. Let’s see what he does in the upcoming games where he gets more reps with more first team on the field.
I just jumped in to say exactly this.
I know it’s just preseason, but DAYUM, that was a fun game to watch. Starting with my man Mason Rudolph and holding true almost entirely down the list of players. It was just entertaining for me! Or, maybe it’s just because I was a parched man thirsty for some football-resembling action. Either way, that was fun. I can’t wait to be in Pittsburgh for the next preseason game next Saturday.
PS My wife and I have two extra tickets to that preseason game if anyone is interested. They are listed (at basically face value — $68.50 each for my seats) on Ticketmaster currently, but if someone wants them, I’ll sell them for less for my SCN friends here. We are in section 139.
I’ll see the game today, Yesterday I listened.
Didn’t get to watch, but some of the numbers look good. Glad to see Roman Wilson make some plays. He could be pivotal in the offense. Any insight on the o-line?