In the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first preseason action of the summer Saturday night, they played a relatively clean game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, coming out with a 31-25 road win. Most importantly, too, there were no serious injuries.
That’s a huge win in and of itself.
But in the game, there was a lot to like from the quarterback performances of Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson. Young receivers stepped up in a big way, too, and the defense came up big in key spots, limiting the Jaguars to field goals in the process.
There were some struggles in the tackling department, which was to be expected for the first game of the summer. Let’s take a look at this week’s missed tackles report here at Steelers Depot.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES AT JAGUARS — 14
Beanie Bishop Jr. – 2
Quindell Johnson – 2
Kyler McMichael – 2
James Pierre – 1
Jack Sawyer – 1 (Special Teams)
Yahya Black – 1
Mark Robinson – 1
Devin Harper – 1
Isaiahh Loudermilk – 1
Eku Leota – 1 (Special Teams)
Ke’Shawn Williams – 1 (Special Teams)
There’s some familiar names on the missed tackles report for the first preseason game. Though a number of veteran starters didn’t play in the game, some usual names like Beanie Bishop Jr., Isaiahh Loudermilk, James Pierre, Mark Robinson and rookies Jack Sawyer and Yahya Black saw plenty of run.
That they appear on the missed tackles report for the preseason opener isn’t much of a surprise, nor is it a huge concern.
Bishop had a miss on the first fourth down of the game, getting run over by Dyami Brown on a jet sweep. He’s just not all that good in run support, and the Steelers know it.
Black and Pierre, however, had the first misses of the game that were noteworthy, coming on a screen pass to Jacksonville’s Travis Etienne.
Black does a great job of chasing the ball on the screen and gets himself into the play. Pierre does a nice job of staying square and turning Etienne back inside after getting downhill underneath his blocker. But both Pierre and Black go in for the tackle, and they end up bouncing off each other as Etienne steps through, moving the chains.
On the next Steelers’ defensive series, Loudermilk had a chance to make an impact play. But, as he has done throughout his career, he struggled to make a play in space after doing everything right to win at the line of scrimmage.
On a 2nd and 4, Loudermilk wins inside with good hand usage, discarding his blocker with ease. He’s square in the hole to make a play behind the line of scrimmage. But he doesn’t bring his feet with him and lunges.
He whiffs in space and winds up on the ground. What should have been a 3rd and 4 or worse turned into a 3rd and 2 for the Jaguars. It’s the exact type of play Loudermilk needs to make if he wants to remain on the roster. Year 5 in the NFL and he’s still struggling to make these plays. It’s frustrating.
Late in the first half Bishop missed his second tackle of the game, and this one was egregious.
On a short checkdown to Bhayshul Tuten, Bishop is right there to close and tackle in space, limiting it to a short again. Instead, after tackling well all night to that point, Bishop goes in with his shoulder and doesn’t attempt to wrap up, trying to cut the legs out from underneath Tuten.
He whiffs badly and the rookie running back steps through and picks up a chunk of yards. Bishop’s miss helped lead to Cam Little’s 70-yard field goal a few plays later to end the half.
The worst missed tackle of the night though came from backup defensive back Kyler McMichael early in the fourth quarter. He had two missed tackles in a three-play span, and the Jaguars were going right after him.
A completion here to UDFA wide receiver Dorian Singer, and McMichael closes quickly. But he overruns it and misses badly as Singer ducks and spins underneath him. He is then off to the races down the sideline for the splash play.
Really rough looking rep for a guy battling for a practice squad spot in a deep secondary.
Outside of the 14 missed tackles in the preseason opener, the Steelers had some success in the forced missed tackles department, finishing with 11 in the win.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES AT JAGUARS — 11
Lew Nichols – 4
Ke’Shawn Williams – 3 (one on special teams)
Kaleb Johnson – 2
Evan Hull – 1
Trey Sermon – 1
There wasn’t much running room for Kaleb Johnson on the night, but when he did have space, he made the most of it.
In the first quarter, Johnson was able to bend back a zone run to the weak side of the field and turn the corner. In the process, he was able to step through a tackle attempt from Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter, picking up the first down in impressive fashion.
If he can do that consistently in his rookie year, the run game should be just fine. Win the open-field battles more often than not.
Veteran running back Lew Nichols, signed during training camp due to injuries, really impressed Saturday night. He ran exceptionally hard and showed some wiggle too.
On his first drive in the fourth quarter, Nichols forced three missed tackles. He added a fourth on his second drive. Good feet, good vision, runs with some patience and has some power.
That run around left end was impressive. He stiff-armed the defensive lineman to turn the corner, was able to slip inside of a block and power downhill, capping the run nicely. He was the Steelers’ best running back on the night and definitely has generated some positive attention moving forward.
