Pittsburgh Review

Following the Steelers' 20-14 loss to the Houston Texans in their preseason opener, Coach Mike Tomlin expressed his disappointment with the team's performance.

"We work too hard to have the results we had tonight, so it's disappointing," said Tomlin. The focus now shifts to how the team will respond next week when they face the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium. "How we work off of it obviously will define us, and we'll have a good rep at responding to negativity as we push into our next opportunity. We need to be significantly better."

Tomlin emphasized that the game was not about what the Texans did but about self-inflicted mistakes by his team. Special teams were particularly problematic, with issues related to field position being highlighted as junior varsity level. "Just looking at it from a special teams perspective, the field position and point standpoint was JV," he said.

Tomlin listed several specific errors: "We had a block in the back on a kickoff return. From a field position perspective, we ran out of bounds without being forced on a punt that provided awesome field position for them. We had a bad snap on an extra point. We muffed a punt that produced seven points." He concluded that such mistakes make it difficult to stay competitive: "You can't play football like that and think you're going to be in games."

Offensive and defensive performances also came under scrutiny. "On offense and defense, I thought we were JV on possession down football," Tomlin stated, noting inefficiencies on key plays and third-down situations.

In one notable play during the second quarter, quarterback Kyle Allen failed to connect with receiver Calvin Austin III on fourth-and-goal at the two-yard line, resulting in a turnover on downs.

"Some things we've got to do better; some things we've got to tighten up," said Tomlin about this particular play and other missed opportunities.

Regarding injuries, Tomlin reported minor issues: "Bumps and bruises associated with play we're still assessing some of that. Keeanu Benton got poked in the eye and wasn't able to return."

With Russell Wilson not playing, starting duties went to Justin Fields, who completed five of six passes for 67 yards while helping initiate the run game. Fields acknowledged room for improvement: "I think just tighten up the details... controlling what we can control and not shooting ourselves in the foot."

Tomlin saw potential but pointed out problems with center-quarterback exchanges between Fields and center Nate Herbig: "I thought he did some nice things... From my perspective that's dual responsibility on the center and quarterback." These errors led to significant setbacks during drives.

Fields agreed that eliminating mistakes would be crucial against their next opponent: "When we were doing routine things routinely...the ball was moving downfield."