Pittsburgh Steelers – Preseason Game #1 Judgment Call

The 2025 NFL season is underway with the first round of preseason games complete. While most of the league’s top players and starters sat out this first meaningless game, opinions on performances are still being made. For our Pittsburgh Steelers, if you look at the numbers they put up while playing the Jaguars in Jacksonville, the stats might excite you.

Keep in mind on both sides of the ball for both the Jags and the Steelers, nearly all the starters were not playing. What we should be looking for in reviewing this game is not the numbers but how the offense and defense executed. While Pittsburgh came away with a win by a score of 31-25, you still can’t ignore the numbers. 367 total yards on offense did starter Mason Rudolph and then Skylar Thompson engineer. Still, we need to ignore the stat and focus on execution.

Regardless of the starters sitting, the play of the Steelers has to be encouraging. With Aaron Rodgers set to be the starter at quarterback, it appears his backups can be counted on in the event he suffers an injury or just plays so poorly he would be benched. Thompson played most of the game and the veteran finished with 233 yards passing and a QB rating of 132. I don’t care who you are playing against, that is impressive. Rudolph was even better with a mark of 135 completing all but one of his 10 passing attempts with Skylar hitting on 20 of 28.

Thompson added three touchdown passes to boot. Rookie running back Kaleb Johnson has the coaching staff anticipating strong contributions this season and his early runs were impressive although he did finish with just 20 yards on eight carries. Without DK Metcalf on the field or Calvin Austin, Scotty Miller, Max Hurleman, and Roman Wilson filled in nicely and something we might see more of in 2025 was big Darnell Washington hauling in a touchdown pass. His score came from 19 yards out and was his only catch of the night.

The offensive line played well allowing just one sack. Defensively, Carson Bruener led the team in tackles as the legacy player made seven tackles five of which were solo. The defensive didn’t get a sack, but Beanie Bishop finished right behind Bruener with six tackles and five solos. Remember, this defense had no T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, or Jalen Ramsey on the field. 



The next game is against the Buccaneers in Pittsburgh, and the hometown crowd will get their first look at Aaron Rodgers making his live action debut at Acrisure Stadium. For those who expect the Steelers to falter this season, without any injuries happening those naysayers may be in for a big surprise.