Category: 2024 Preseason Week 1 – Steelers vs Texans

Rare QB call sign of rough night for Steelers in first game of 2024 season

The false start penalty on quarterback Kyle Allen is just another indication of how well the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Friday night is going. 

Thanks to the second-team offense, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally found the endzone near the end of the third quarter. However, in the previous five drives, they were playing JV ball.

On their first offensive drive after falling behind 17-0 in the first half, Steelers quarterback Kyle Allen was called for a five-yard false start penalty.

It’s a call rarely made on the quarterback and just another indication of how well the Steelers Friday night is going.

While Pittsburgh made mistakes and miscues on both sides of the ball, the offense stood out as one that needed the most polishing. Center-to-quarterback exchanges (Nate Herbig-Justin Fields) were fumbled twice in three drives. No thanks to the starting offensive line, quarterbacks were pressured all game and the run game sputtered.

The Steelers have just three more training camp practices and one month until the start of the 2024 regular season. This game tape will be scrutinized, and hopefully, some lessons will be learned.

Thankfully, it’s only the preseason.

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Steelers QB Justin Fields needs a heavy workload vs Texans

We hate that the Steelers are only playing Justin Fields for two series vs the Texans.

When Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to the media ahead of Friday’s game against the Houston Texans, he talked about the starting lineup. We were excited when Tomlin said he planned to start Justin Fields at quarterback and Russell Wilson won’t play.

Then in the next breath, he really disappointed us when he said Fields and the “starters” would only play a couple of series. This means the bulk of the quarterback reps will go to third-string quarterback Kyle Allen and Fourth-string quarterback John Rhys Plumlee.

This is completely counterintuitive on two fronts. First, if you really want a quarterback competition, what better way to evaluate Fields in this setting against starters and backups for longer than two series? There’s no pressure of Wilson coming in after and outplaying him so you get a clear perspective.

Secondly, this is a brand new offense and if the coaches want to properly evaluate its effectiveness, is an entire half of Plumlee the way to go?

We’d love to see Fields play the entire first half, let Allen and Plumless split the second and go from there. Then once Wilson is healthy, give him a full half and see where they both stand.

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