5 takeaways from the Steelers preseason game vs. Chiefs

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs for their second preseason win. Here are five things we learned from their performance.

It wasn’t always pretty on the part of the Steelers tonight, but they were able to get the job done. Pittsburgh closed out another victory at home as they defeated the Chiefs in a 17-7 contest.

Here are five takeaways from tonight’s game:

The Steelers starting defense was prepared

Despite missing their 10th overall pick Devin Bush for this contest, the Steelers starting defense was firing on all cylinders. They held Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense in check for a majority of the first half.

Pittsburgh was just over a minute away from pitching a shutout in the first half of the game, but ended up giving up a touchdown (Kansas City’s only score of the game). It was good to see Bud Dupree have some nice pressures, and Artie Burns played a solid half. Let’s hope this trend continues in the future.

Fumbles were killer

First half fumbles killed the Steelers tonight, as Donte Moncrief and Diontae Johnson both coughed up the ball.

Neither player is in jeopardy of losing a roster spot, but these are the game-altering mistakes they can’t afford to make in the regular season.

Offense struggled to convert

Though Mason Rudolph and Josh Dobbs were both able to move the the ball down the field, neither quarterback was able to convert enough in the redzone.

There was a touchdown that were called back from an iffy offensive pass interference call, and the score could have been higher. The offense has to find a way to reach pay-dirt more often when they get in the redzone.

Quarterback play was up and down

There’s no better way to describe the quarterback play tonight than up and down. Mason Rudolph moved the ball, but his drives continued to stall. He finished the game with just 77 yards on his 10 completions (5.1 yards per attempt).

Josh Dobbs made some spectacular players, but threw a few erred passes including an interception in the redzone. Both quarterbacks have shown a lot of promise in the first two weeks of preseason, but we need to see more consistency.

Diontae Johnson showed up to play

Though the third round rookie had a fumble on a muffed punt early in the game, he more than redeemed himself in the second half.

Johnson went off for two impressive touchdown catches (though one was called back on a weak offensive pass interference call). We saw exactly what we were hoping for tonight out of him.

The Steelers were impressive on the defensive side of the ball, and their overall performance wasn’t bad. We do, however, need to see more consistency on offense moving forward.