Turning the Page: Final Thoughts on the Steelers Win over the Jaguars, Looking Ahead to the Buccaneers
08/13/2025
3 Comments
Football is officially back! Preseason Week 1 for the Pittsburgh Steelers is in the books. While the preseason does not always equate to what the team will look like in the regular season, I must say I took a lot of positives away from the game. Below are my thoughts following Pittsburgh’s performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as a peak ahead to the matchup against the Buccaneers.
Final Thoughts:
- How great was Darnell Washington’s touchdown catch?! It was so encouraging and refreshing to see the Steelers offense march down the field with authority. The icing on the cake was a throw DOWN THE MIDDLE of the field to the big man for the touchdown. This is something that Steelers fans have been asking to see for a very long time. I’m hoping they continue to utilize Washington, as well as their other tight ends, more frequently throughout the course of the season.
- The quarterback room had a great outing. Aside from a Skylar Thompson fumble, both he and Mason Rudolph put up great numbers. Rudolph looked impressive and threw with confidence, marching Pittsburgh down the field and into the endzone in the first quarter. Skylar Thompson’s two minute drill at the end of the first half was equally as impressive. To be honest, while it is very unfortunate for the rookie QB, I’m not sure how the injured Will Howard makes this team if Thompson’s strong play continues.
- Roman Wilson made several receptions that had me taking notice. This was the first real action Wilson has seen at the NFL level after an injury sidelined him for a good portion of last season. I thought this was encouraging. Following the George Pickens trade, there has been a lot of discussion about a need for wide receiver. The Steelers need Wilson to step up, and his performance on Saturday was a good start.
- Early in the game, I noticed the Steelers defense struggling a bit with screen passes and misdirection runs. Jacksonville was able to earn themselves decent yardage on several such plays. Was this good execution on behalf of the Jaguars, or was this a lack of discipline for the Steelers defense? It’s so early in the season I don’t want to overinterpret what I watched, but it was something I did notice. The good news is that there is plenty of time to address this if the Steelers coaching staff feels that it should be.
- Overall, I thought the secondary played well. Juan Thornhill delivered a good thwack to Brian Thomas, Jr., earning himself a PBR on the stat sheet. Steelers fans always have fuzzy feelings when there is a hard hitting safety in town! I also felt that the secondary tackled well in this game. Beanie Bishop was very much involved early, making a case for himself to remain on the 53 man roster this season.
- Max Hurleman was an unexpected bright spot offensively. I don’t want to go into great detail here as I have already released an article about him this week, but I’m pulling for the undrafted rookie to earn his way on to the Steelers roster. He reminds me a bit of Julian Edelman in terms of his versatility, and I’m excited to see how he performs next week.
Looking Ahead:
- I want to see more of Kaleb Johnson. I was hoping to see him be more productive against Jacksonville. While he converted a 3rd and 4 on the ground, sustaining an eventual scoring drive, he ran for only 20 yards in the game. I don’t think he played poorly, but I want to see more from this guy.
- How will the offensive line look? This is perhaps the largest question mark for the Steelers coming into the season. I’m hoping they can have a good outing while continuing to learn to play together as a cohesive unit. If the O-line underperforms in 2025, I believe the Steelers offense is in trouble.
- Mike Williams and Emeka Egbuka, if they are seeing preseason action, will be a challenge for the Steelers secondary this week. I’m hoping the secondary continues to play well and can limit the production of Tampa Bay’s talented wide receiver room. Even with Chris Godwin likely sidelined due to injury, this will be a test for the Steelers defense.
- Can the defense contain Bucky Irving and Rachaad White? Irving came on strong last season and was a force to be reckoned with. If he sees the field, he will be a great test for the front seven. I’m excited to see how rookie Derrick Harmon fairs against this group, as he has reportedly looked fantastic in training camp.
What are your thoughts on the win in Jacksonville and next week’s matchup against the Bucs? Be sure to join the discussion below, and check out steelcurtainnetwork.com for more great Steelers content. Here We Go!
Our O-line depth is so depleted that I don’t expect to see much from Johnson. He was fine behind our 1s. He was left with no where to go with the 2s/3s.
If we continue to limit the 1s, I think we will see much more of the same from Johnson, and its not particularly his fault.
Exactly so. I’ll also point out, Le’Veon Bell ran for nine yards on four carries in his preseason debut in 2013. People seem to think he turned out okay for the most part, save for that little contract thing in 2018. Bell ran behind an ostensibly more established OL that day.
As impressive as Thompson was — and he was — I don’t believe there is any chance he makes it over Howard unless the broken finger is season-ending (or otherwise amplified to appear season-ending). By all appearances and commentary, it is not a season-ending injury. I think the best argument for that is that Thompson will be far easier to get to the practice squad if desired, since the entire NFL has plenty of tape on him in actual (not preseason) NFL game action. That makes sense to me even though he did look awesome.
Great stuff here Sadie!