For the Pittsburgh Steelers , the first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars , the tape was almost too good. Sure, there were some things that could be nit-picked, like some slow individual starts for top rookies Derrick Hamon and Kaleb Johnson , but overall, it was a very well-played preseason game.
That was not the case for the team's second preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday night.
The Steelers lost, 17-14, to the visiting Bucs . That doesn't matter nearly as much as how they lost. The Steelers turned the ball over twice, with both Mason Rudolph (who should be better) and Logan Woodside (who maybe can be excused) both throwing egregious interceptions.
A special teams penalty by cornerback D'Shawn Jamison handed the Buccaneers four more points, when it turned a field goal into a later touchdown. That was one of seven penalties for 53 yards accepted against the Steelers.
That's the wrong kind of negativity to put on tape.
"It was self-inflicted wounds for us tonight that determined the outcome of the game," head coach Mike Tomlin said. "You turn the ball over, you're going to reduce your chances of winning. … Got a penalty, roughing the kicker. They were settling for 3 and put them back on the field and eventually got a touchdown. You lose games when things like that happen."
Harmon and Johnson both did what you're supposed to do in the preseason. Take a look at the first game tape, make an adjustments, and get better — quickly.
Both were significantly more impactful in their second preseason game than their first. Harmon had a monstrous bull rush of a sack. Johnson looked a lot more like the player he was at Iowa, finding holes with more decisiveness and quickness than in the opener.
There's nothing the Steelers can do about Jamison's foolish penalty or Rudolph's far under-thrown pass attempt other than show the tape, say, "don't do that," and move on. Of course, the players involved already knew not to do that.
"That happens in the course of a year, course of games, even early in games," Rudolph said. "You got to mentally recover from that and go back out."
He did just that — even re-connecting with Roman Wilson , who he missed on that first interception. But the Steelers shouldn't be concerned about Rudolph — if he plays much this year, things have already gone off the rails.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph before a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 16, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
So beyond the general sloppiness, what did the Steelers see on Saturday that they can hope to fix next time out?
The first-team offense has struggled to run the ball all summer, and that continued on Saturday. Kenneth Gainwell started. He gained two yards on two carries before the starters exited. Johnson's first carry was a two-yard loss. It wasn't until the fifth offensive drive of the game that the Steelers did anything at all on the ground.
That's probably the biggest issue for the Steelers to take a look at for next week. The other one comes on defense, where the Steelers allowed two touchdowns on the first three drives of the game. Yes, they played just four real defensive starters while Tampa played all but two of their offensive starters, but the way they were beaten is sure to stick in Mike Tomlin's craw this week.
Payton Wilson declared himself to be the best man coverage linebacker in the world earlier this offseason. Bucky Irving is not anywhere near the best receiving running back in the world (he was tied for 10th in receptions in 2024 among backs ), but he beat Wilson for a touchdown on a wheel route in the first quarter. Wilson was right there, running in Irving's hip pocket, but failed to make a play on the ball.
Later in the first quarter, it was Brandin Echols , while not a starter, certainly expected to be a defensive regular, getting beaten to the corner by Emeka Egbuka .
"We lost leverage in the red zone and some passes there early on allowed them to score seven, and we got to make people settle for three on the short field," Tomlin said. "We spend too much time working in the short field. We understand how important leverage is in that space, but we didn't execute it."
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson before a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 16, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
The lack of success in the running game had a predictable result: a lack of success on third down. The Steelers started 0 for 6 on third down and finished just 2 of 12, a paltry 17%. But it was largely because a lack of run success left — and other errors — left them in uncomfortable down and distances.
Look at these three series:
Drive 2: Run for 1 yard, run for 1 yard, scramble for 7 yards, punt.
Drive 4: Incomplete pass, run for -2 yards, sack, punt.
Drive 6: Run for no gain, sack, false start penalty, pass for 9 yards, punt.
That starts to look even worse when you realize that Drive 1 and 3 didn't have a single running play.
It's probably not a coincidence that the first third-down conversion of the game (and the only 10-yard conversion) came after a 9-yard Johnson run on first down. The second came after Johnson set them up with a 1st and goal at the 4-yard line, and it took three plays to push it in.
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen Doug Nester and Gareth Warren block for quarterback Logan Woodside in a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 16, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Entering training camp, the depth on the Steelers' offensive line looked like a question mark, and three weeks of camp and two weeks of the preseason have made it look even more so.
Spencer Anderson has done a fine job of filling in for Isaac Seumalo in the starting lineup, and honestly has played his way into consideration to take over that job after Seumalo's contract ends in 2026.
Dylan Cook has re-established himself as a player with potential at the tackle spot, after a preseason injury took some shine off his star in 2024.
But other than that, the news has mostly been negative. Two other members of the projected second-team offensive line, tackle Calvin Anderson and center Ryan McCollum , have yet to suit up in the preseason due to injury.
McCollum looks close, and was a limited participant in Thursday's joint practice . That, combined with strong play from him in 2024, should provide some comfort at the center position.
Beyond that, things are fairly bleak. Calvin Anderson was OK, but in a very small sample last season.
Max Scharping , playing both center and guard, has not looked great this preseason. The other players called up to the second unit to replace the injured above have not necessarily risen to the occasion, either. Steven Jones has been up and down, giving up a sack on Saturday night after a mostly solid first outing. The rest haven't even been that good.
Especially with Anderson not appearing close to returning from his injury, it wouldn't surprise me if they mine the cut-down list for some depth here.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard enters Acrisure Stadium wearing a brace on his broken pinky on Aug. 16, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Through two weeks of the preseason, one of more off-the-wall takeaways is that Steelers rookie quarterback Will Howard looks pretty good.
No, I haven't totally lost it. Yes, I know that Howard has not played, sidelined by a broken right pinky finger.
But hear me out.
Through three weeks of training camp, Howard started as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart and then pretty early on in the process, moved ahead of Skylar Thompson . That's a fairly normal process for rookies. Mike Tomlin is going to make them earn every rung of the ladder going upward.
But in this case, Tomlin couldn't exactly drag the process on, because Howard was just clearly so much better than Thompson.
One of the downsides of training camp is that it's really easy to get tunnel vision. It can be clear that Player A is a lot better than Player B, but without the rest of the league to act as a barometer, what does that really mean?
Thompson has played some NFL games, but that was a little while ago, and the Miami Dolphins , with a quarterback with probably the worst injury history of any starter in football, let Thompson go without a fight. So they didn't think much of him.
Yeah, Howard was a lot better than Thompson at camp, and that was clear. But maybe Thompson is just godawful. Then being better than him really doesn't mean much. That's why likely not getting to see Howard in the preseason was such a disappointment.
But Thompson has provided us a lot of the context we were lacking on his own. Through two preseason games, he's been pretty darn good. Through two games, with his opponents a mix of second and third teams, so equal or better competition, he's gone 30 of 43 for 346 yards, thrown three touchdowns compared to one interception, and has a 107.3 passer rating.
That's more than good enough for a third-string quarterback, and if Howard really is demonstratively better than that, that's a really good sign.
Now it'll be curious what the Steelers do with Howard and Thompson, roster-wise. Thompson looks playable as a third quarterback. Howard's injury will not keep him out long. But Plan A for the Steelers was always for a redshirt year for Howard anyway.
Has Thompson played well enough that the Steelers might try to stash Howard on the injured reserve list to start the year? I don't know. They have a lot of other options for those two pre-cut down, short-term IR slots, including Calvin Anderson, Calvin Austin III , Alex Highsmith and Cory Trice . If some of those guys can get healthy before the start of the season — Austin and Highsmith have already started doing some work— maybe there's room for Thompson here, after all.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers Takeaways: 'Self-Inflicted Wounds' Make for Wrong Kind of Preseason Loss
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