The preseason finale was a much better showing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, mainly because the first-team offense showed some signs of life with both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields promptly leading touchdown drives early in the contest. To be fair, the Detroit Lions didn’t play their starters on either side of the ball but that’s not something that Mike Tomlin and company can control. Even in the loss, this was a nice bounce back performance for a team that looked pretty lifeless on the offensive side of the ball the last time out. Here are some notable performances from the third preseason game.
Dude: EDGE Nick Herbig
At this point, it’s simply unfair for a player of Nick Herbig’s caliber to be lining up opposite backup tackles in pass protection. His burst and bend around the edge along makes it an unfair fight. In limited action, he had a clean up sack and immediately followed it up with a nasty cross-chop win around the corner to force a strip sack which gave the Steelers good starting field position. Herbig looks ready for a bigger role on defense and the Steelers coaching staff has no choice but to find creative ways to get him on the field during pass rush situations.
Dud: CBs Thomas Graham/Beanie Bishop
In recent weeks, I’ve become a little more concerned about the slot corner position. Graham got the start against the Lions but didn’t make much of a positive impact, whiffing on an open field tackle and was the closest player in zone coverage on a chunk play over the middle. Bishop, who had previously been running with the first-team defense for a good chunk of the summer, was seen playing in the slot well into the second half. For a player that was just viewed as the front runner for starter snaps, it’s pretty rare to be playing with second and third stringers this late into the game. Whether it’s in the slot, on the boundary or both, the Steelers should be hawking the waiver wire for depth next week at the very least.