For as much that went right for the Steelers offense a week ago, Friday night's 17-0 loss to the New York Jets at Acrisure Stadium was a reminder that progress isn't always linear.
There were many steps forward in the preseason-opening win against the Packers, but a few steps back in this one. With Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph out of action, young quarterbacks Will Howard and Drew Allar were placed into an early hole by longtime starter Geno Smith on the other side, and couldn't dig their way out.
"I think if I'm looking for one clean way to explain the production going down from eight days ago to today, the detail and execution wasn't as high," Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said after the game.
Smith appeared ready for the regular season on the first possession of the game, leading a 10-play, 69-yard touchdown drive in just under six minutes. The Steelers forced a couple of third downs, but Smith converted on both, and eventually found tight end Jelani Woods leaking out on play-action for a wide-open 13-yard touchdown.
Smith was 7 for 7 for 65 yards on the drive, which won't make for a fun film study for the Steelers' first-team defense — minus Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt up front, not to mention Joey Porter Jr, Jalen Ramsey and Jaquan Brisker in the secondary. He looked like an experienced quarterback playing August football, but the same defensive unit made rookie Cade Klubnik look like a rookie, too.
Klubnik went three-and-out when he first replaced Smith, then got flagged for intentional grounding to spoil his second possession. The Steelers' defensive backups took over from there, and Jack Sawyer nearly made a T.J. Watt-like interception of Klubnik while rushing on third down at midfield.
Howard did get rolling on the third possession, highlighted by a third-and-8 completion in which he saw pressure coming from a blitz, side-stepped the rusher and climbed the pocket to find Ben Skowronek over the middle for 16 yards to move the sticks. But a few snaps later, he was picked off by veteran safety Andre Cisco, targeting Roman Wilson.
It was Howard who wound up making the tackle on Cisco in the open field, which is never where a quarterback wants to be. Howard had another promising drive going in the final minutes of the first half, crossing over the Jets 40 as the 2-minute warning hit. Coming out of it, though, Howard tried to hit Wilson again but the throw was undercut by cornerback Samuel Womack III for another interception.
"Just got to put that out in front of him — things to learn from," Howard said. "The performance wasn't up to par. Obviously, the little details, it's a shame because those were both good drives and I felt like we were moving the ball really well. One of the first things we talk about is protecting the football."
In the end, Howard threw for 74 yards on 10-of-15 passing. The offensive line frequently shuffled in front of him, with head coach Mike McCarthy wanting to see different combinations work together.
Allar had a similar trajectory in the second half, with a couple of encouraging moments, and yet nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. He finished with 110 yards on 11-of-23 passing, much of it coming in a 2-minute drill that ended when the clock hit triple zeroes.
"I just need to do a better job, especially early in drives, taking what's given," Allar said. "I felt like I passed up a couple opportunities early in drives that either set us back with an incompletion, or a sack."
The arm strength was on full display from Allar when he uncorked a 38-yard deep ball to tight end Lake McRee down the left sideline. It was an excellent catch by McRee, who looked the ball in and managed to get both feet down.
Howard was sacked once and Allar three times. Allar took the blame for at least two of those. There wasn't much of a ground game to support either quarterback, as the Steelers rushed for just 98 yards on 26 carries.
You'll have that at times this time of year, with plenty of configurations up front and not much opportunity to jell throughout a game. Kaleb Johnson rushed 10 times for 39 yards, leading the Steelers in both categories, and added 2 receptions for 15 yards.
"A healthier run game would have helped," McCarthy said.
Defensively, it was a second consecutive strong performance, in between that opening drive against Smith and the final nine minutes of the game. That's when the Steelers allowed a big chunk play on a run-after-catch and later a 31-yard touchdown pass from Brady Cook to Quincy Skinner Jr. over cornerback D'Shawn Jamison.
Inside linebacker Elandon Roberts, the newest Steeler, spearheaded the effort with a team-high 4 solo tackles. Second-year linebackers Sawyer and Carson Bruener each had a sack. Starting safety DeShon Elliott, in his first game since last year's season-ending knee injury, had a forced fumble.
"I'll be ready next time we get out there, whether it's next week or Week 1," Elliott said. "I'll be ready to go. After the first series, I was good."
After a penalty-free first half, the Steelers racked up 4 flags for 30 yards in the second. It was a bit of an adventure again on special teams, too.
With Chris Boswell resting his right leg, undrafted rookie Laith Marjan missed his only kick, from 44 yards. Another rookie, return man Kaden Wetjen, nearly lost a fumble on one punt return and bobbled one later in the game. Punter Cameron Johnston averaged 50.5 yards on 6 punts, including a 57-yarder.
