My thoughts on preseason wk 3

I didn’t see the game yet, but I did watch about 20 minutes of highlights.Cook played okay. Max I needs a lot of work. I don’t think he’s reached the point of playing without being a liability yet. Spears has moved into the sub package on defense. Dude is a force against the run. He’s no longer just a special teams guy. Rubio is a real keeper. He penetrates against the run. Wetjen showed why he’ll shine in his role. Bernard flashed talent, but he only made one play. Allar was all right, but he didn’t shine with guys who are going to get cut. He was playing with the second-half guys in the last preseason game. Dunker played a lot and I thought he did well. Who is RB #3? He could be on another team right now, about to get cut. Agreed on Roberts.



https://steelersdepot.com/2026/08/preseason-week-3-pff-grades-offensive-rookies-shine-in-finale/

 

Just like at Penn St.

 

He's seems slow on TV. Slower than the other RBs. Doesn't hit the holes and have that 2nd gear like Warren. Body language says he's not all in.

 

Harris could break tackles and had a nasty stiff arm, Johnson gets in one on one situations and can't juke or break the tackle.

 

One of the things both Howard and Allar need to work on is knowing when to throw a laser beam and when a soft touch is needed. I think on the final drive, Drew started rolling out, not a designed QB run but looked like he would try to get the first down but saw a receiver come open and threw it. It was a catchable ball but if he just side arms it or takes just a bit off it then the completion happens.

 

Yes, hence the "bulk up" suggestion... Harris broke very few tackles behind the line when he wasn't moving fast, but once he got moving it was hard for DB's to tackle him due to his size and momentum. Even the LB's kinda just hung on and drug him down had the line blocked him 5 yards. Right now, Johnson is getting soloed by DB's. He probably needs to add weight to break those tackles, because it doesn't seem like he's going to get shiftier.

 

Gaining weight would probably make Johnson even slower.

 

I think it's important to remember that as one of the worse return teams in the league for a while, we've mostly been getting the "a lot of no yardage returns" in the recent past.

 

Some fans got carried away by Cook's performance last season, seems like his play hasn't been as good since then.

 

Yeah, but Najee was terribly slow too. I don't know. It was just a suggestion for Johnson... maybe he just isn't an NFL back no matter what he does.

 

I don't know how anyone that watched that game thought Howard bounced back. He had 2 tds, but both were thrown behind the line of scrimmage, and he didn't drive the field, both were because of Buffalos ST. A muffed punt return, and a very very very poor punt.
I believe off the top of my head, I didn't go back , and check so I could be a bit off, but only 6 pass were thrown beyond the line of scrimmage, and 4 of those were incomplete, and one was a int.

 

You are going to make Joel cry

 

No
Piss poor decision making at times
Along with airballs

 

LOL... Oh, so you are telling me Roman is picking up exactly where he left off last season. On the Active Roster, standing on the sideline in sweats without a Helmet on gameday!

 

Howard’s arm has always been the knock. He doesn’t drive the ball with real velocity on the intermediate throws or from the far hash. It’s functional, not a laser. As such he is not a big play passer. He's a " check down " passer. Defenses do not have to defend the entire 20 yards past the line of scrimmage. The 5,6,7,8 and 9 routes are limited with Howard.

Allar is the opposite problem. The arm is legit. It is one the strongest in the NFL and he can fit balls into tight windows that Howard simply can’t. The issue is he hasn’t fully learned when to take something off it. A lot of those preseason drops ( 8-10 ) were on camp-body receivers who aren’t going to be on the final 53, but some of them were also just hot, or slightly off the body and harder to catch when hitting players. I expect wide receivers to catch catchable balls that are easy, medium, and sometimes hard. There’s a difference between a catchable ball and a rocket that a third-stringer has to fight. That’s the next step for him.

But if he works with starters or sub package players who will play. Guys who are bigger / faster / and have better hands than arm will do some magic with the talent that we have. This is why I am high on him. IMO, Mike McCarthy should have let Allar play ahead of Howard in pre-season games #2 and #3. He cut into valuable developmental time.

Howard is a limited upside player, and he has been hurt twice in two pre-seasons. He also needs to be more careful with the football. I would not keep him for the above reasons, but I hear the Steelers will. He also thinks Allar has first round tools. Okay Mike, treat and coach him as the 3rd string guy, not 3b or 4 and you don't keep a guy with limited upside to take away time for is development. We shall see what he does.

Mike knows far more than I ever will on quarterback play so I guess I have to respect his opinion on whether he keeps Howard, put him on IR, or cuts him.

 

Hey man, I not going to argue with James Harrison! But I saw the game and Cook played pretty well overall. PFF gave him a a 71.4

Don't tell James this.

 

I don't post often but I'm here a lot. I look forward to this thread after every game!

 

i know Heidenreich is a nice story and all but lew nichols reminds me of a young jaylon warren.

 

Lew is the real deal. Even when the blocking isn't there he finds a way to gain yards. Probably won't keep 4 backs so Eli goes to the practice squad. He can be a valuable replacement if there is an injury.

 

I think that he had a few to the middle of the field as well........But I did not think it was an awesome game either. The one TD was straight up all on the receiver. More of a good backup game, which is fine for where he is in his career. I feel like this is really year 1 for him, just like Allar. He had his injury, but on top of that, the Steelers have shown zero aptitude for developing or finding a good QB for Tomlin's entire career. So I don't really think of him as a year 2 guy, but as a rookie. Hopefully these guys can get a fair shake from McCarthy and we will see someone we can work with after Rodgers.

PS.....I have your 10 rubles......lol

 

This is the first thing I've read about the game that says anything other than Cook played poorly.

They say his run grade was a 77.4, but his overall grade was a 71.4. This suggests that he really sucked in pass pro. Since PFF weighs plays equally, that means if it was ~ 50/50 run/pass, than he got something like a 65 on passing plays. RT is a big issue on this team.

As always...it's important to remember that PFF isn't about how well a player played, but how consistent they were.

And really about how consistent PFF THINKS they were, because they often don't know the assignment the player had.

 

Harris ran for over 1,000 yards every year in Pittsburgh. It worked just fine, but running backs have a short shelf life.

 

i agree, i think eli goes to the PS.