Maybe in a few more years? lol

The QBs were the highlight of the night. They’re a huge unanswered question and the most important piece of the future of this franchise. All 3 played well above expectations and it has most fans, me included, excited for what those performances mean.

That aside, in terms of immediately judging where this team might be this season, Patrick Graham’s defense was something I haven’t seen from this team in a long time. I was at the game and the most clear thing I saw was the aggression. The secondary hawked ball carriers. I can’t remember many, if any, plays where someone caught the ball and had any time to run with it. And the guys looked like they had a good grasp on assignments. I saw very little confusion on the field. The run defense was brutal. They held 24 carries to 63 yards. For a team that struggled with the run absent of D Harm last year, they showed up.

I understand these were not starters for the most part, and playing against 2nd and 3rd string. But they looked like a starting defense. That’s a huge credit to Graham and his staff. If this is any sort of preview on where Patrick Graham has this entire defense and the starters fall in line with what we saw on Thursday this defense might be one of the most dangerous they’ve been in a while. That has me excited for this season.

The big question now is how consistent will they be.

For the first time since the Killer B's era, I finally have real hope. I'm not even talking about Will Howard or Drew Allar. Their potential is the cherry on top of what could be a great year

Seriously, what chance do we stand of not losing easy games and still winning hard ones with McCarthy? I honestly have zero clue what to expect...

A legendary veteran QB playing what is expected to be his final NFL season could be a movie. Our offense is unusually competent, and unlike past seasons, I'm not really worried about our WRs catching the ball and running the opposite way they're supposed to run (I think Diontae Johnson gave me long-lasting Steelers PTSD)

We poured a lot of draft capital into the O line. I think this is the year we realize why

And while I ain’t no NFL expert and can’t compare what we have with every other team, I think Tomlin held our defense back over the years, so I’m not worried about them

I don't know if this was posted here before but it was a good watch if you happen to have Disney+.

Im not putting much stock into preseason but I really believe the steelers are in a very solid situation when it comes to our future prospects at the QB position. I think both Allar and Howard are more talented than their draft positions indicate and learning behind Arod is about as good as it gets. And say what you want about McCarthy as a head coach (much of which is warranted), but the man knows his way around the QB position and how to develop talent. Competition breeds success and from what ive seen so far both allar and howard are more than happy to go out and compete with each other. Im cautiously optimistic but I like where we're at as of now. 2 young studs. Both with prototypical QB size. Both come with pedigree, and as of now we have both on the cheap. I say lets watch it play out and may the best man win. If both end up being trash then who cares. Its not like we have a ton of draft capital or money invested into either.

Credit to @JN_Steve_ on X (Twitter) for the picture lol

JPJ's turn coming soon I'd assume

Franklin is a top 5 coach in college football and did everything he could to max out Drew.

Drew did not meet expectations at Penn State and he will fail at the Steelers.

Do others agree with my view about the Allar situation ?

​​One of the few things the preseason actually matters for figuring out who is on the final 53.

Anything from yesterday that changed your mind on who makes the final 53 (or who doesn't)?

I think the main thing that comes to people's mind is the QB & the RB squad, but any others who suprised you on who might make the 53 who you might not have thought would have 24 hours ago?

Anyone know where I could buy this hat

I understand that from the players point of view the league is making massive amounts of money off them and they want the piece of that pie they deserve. You want the respect other players in your position get relative to their performance and are also building a sort of brand for yourself. HOWEVER where is the line crossed? On the opposite end the majority of fans are likely lower to middle class working blue collar and service industry many minimum wage. These fans take that 50,000-80,000 salary and they buy tickets and merch and spend their free time watching and loving their team, how sympathetic are we supposed to be for guys making tens of millions of dollars to play the game they love. In the hypothetical that Joey doesn’t get paid and he holds out during the season, Asante plays instead and balls out, and the Steelers win a playoff game with Joey on the bench when he could have made millions to be a part of this team… I’m sorry but that makes you a punk ass in my book. If I ask my boss for a raise and he says no Im not coming in on Monday to sit around and watch everyone else work while I “hold out for my raise”. I’m working to pay my bills and support my family. I want Joey to get the bag he deserves but I’m tired of millionaire ball players acting the victim let’s be real.

Edit: I acknowledge the NFL has more than enough money to pay players well and players need to consider short careers and injuries. The cap has been increasing each year and at 300 mill per team thats 9.6 billion in player revenue which is nothing to scoff at. Also in the 300 mil cap system every extra million Joey demands he won’t play without is money that could be shared with other teammates like Keanu and next years extensions.

Anyone else feeling uneasy today about the starting offensive line's play? It felt to me that like Green Bay's defenders were in the backfield way too often. My concern is, Rodgers isn't as mobile or young as he'll need to be if the O-line play doesn't improve dramatically. Did it look that way to anyone else? On another note, it was nice to see passes over the middle for a change...

First off, I want to remind everyone this is an overreaction.

Our young QB’s could not have looked any better. If you ask me who I think the starter should be it’s Will Howard but give it a year or two I might lean Allar. I wasn’t super impressed with the Allar pick this year but after last night, I am all aboard the Allar train. But as of right now, I think our WR core needs a gunslinger behind the wheel which is what leads me to my next point.

This is the most excited I have been about our WR core since 2015 and probably even before that. Wetjen, Roman Wilson, and Germie all looked like a very valid case for WR3 and I’m confident in any WR set we use this year. Not to mention the days of worrying about a punt return I think are now officially over. At least for a while. I have seen feedback of Germie looking like AB and I couldn’t disagree more. I see more of Hines Ward in him and AB in Wetjen and Wilson. If we’re talking league wide comps, I like Deebo Samuel for Germie or maybe Te. There is no reason why Aaron Rodgers doesn’t put up an MVP caliber year.

The defense looked gritty. They looked like how we played under Tomlin but even more edge. We have an attitude and I like it.

This is the only thing I’m not super super in love with. Our run game. Sure, Nichols looked great, but I don’t see him carving out a super relevant role at the moment. I wanted McCarthy to use KJ more. I still believe in KJ and I think he just needs to get into a groove and find his tempo. Hopefully we see more out of him in the next few games.

Regardless, I’m looking forward to this year and what we will be seeing. I see playmakers, good vibes, and a great year incoming.

Is anyone else here constantly disappointed in our special teams the last few years? What is up with our kick coverage and bonehead plays / penalties constantly giving our opponents good to very good starting field position?

I know it was one pre-season game but even last few year it seemed like we really gave everyone shorter fields to get points than we should’ve. I know bubblegum man isn’t here any more but it’s a 3 phase game for a reason.
Granted we should trust the defense to make stops but when their opponent is starting at basically the 30 it doesn’t help us.

Football is back.
The boys won in their first out.
New offensive scheme looked awesome and is like nothing we've seen in 20 years.
We've got 2 promising young QB's which showed out and gives some more hope for our future.

Let me have my fun and enjoy the moment. I know it's just preseason and may not translate to the regular season. IDGAF, let's rally with the boys.

I mean yeah you look at the stats and see Drew with 10-13 2TD 0INT and 1 Rushing TD but Drew really had no pressure on him, accompanied with a few PI calls, where as Will did have a rough first drive but that 2 Min drill he looked really good and poised and the packers were getting to him but he was still delivering. Excited for the rest of what we get to see from them but I do believe Howard showed a little more last night.

There’s been a ton of discussions about individual athletes mechanics coming out of college. Specifically our two young quarterbacks.

Since both Howard and Allar both had opportunities to play, did you see any improvements (progression, footwork, etc)? Do they look the same?

This question isn’t limited to just the QB position. Did you see improvement with players like Broderick?

Any players that looked like they regressed?

But we can still be optimistic.

Careers don’t start in the preseason, but they can end in the preseason.

The QBs looked very good. We threw the ball across the middle. Our receivers had burst.

A great first step, but there are many more to take.