5 things we learned in the Steelers preseason opener

4. Chris Boswell looked comfortable tonight

I think I saw the 2017 version of Chris Boswell tonight. He was cool, calm and collected. He also made all three kicks. He split the uprights in half on the first kick and never looked back. I think the Steelers are in a much better place already in 2019 in the kicking game.

I have to acknowledge that Matthew Wright also had a good night. He made his kicks. He also looked better on kickoffs. But Boswell has the track record. If the first game is an indication of the future, then Chris Boswell will be the kicker in 2019.

5. Johnny Holton looks like he deserves to be on the team

Johnny Holton stepped up tonight. He looked good running down punts and had a tackle on a kickoff. He also had the open field run of the night at wide receiver. He showed that his vertical threat is real drawing a pass interference call.

He looks like the player that have had in Darius Heyward-Bey. A wide receiver whose main job was to run down kicks. Johnny Holton can run down kicks along with stretch the field and run in the open field.

I wrote about how this team is looking for gunners. I think this question was answered well but Johnny Holton. This is only the first game, but I think he made a strong statement on special teams. I think he will make the team and Eli Rogers will get traded at the end of the preseason barring injury.

Final Thoughts

This game started out ugly but I think that was due to the Steelers resting a lot of their starters. I walk away from this game feeling more confident about the 2019 Steelers.

I wrote my five burning questions before this game and all of them were answered. I think a win was encouraging but more importantly I saw some guys step up that I wasn’t sure if they would play well in the first game.