Every week through the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 campaign, I'll diagnose the good, the bad, and the ugly regardless of the outcome of each contest. It's always wise to take note of what went particularly well but take an extra step to see what can be improved upon. What's working, what can work a bit better, and what appears to be completely broken?
Granted, it's the preseason and the reps are given in large chunks to players that will not be a part of the Steelers Sunday efforts, there are plenty of notes to take in the third and final week of the preseason.
The Steelers traveled down to Atlanta to close the preseason against the Falcons. The early portion of the game was a bizarre viewing experience as the Steelers played its starters for the first two drives on both sides of the ball while the Falcons rested all of their starters.
Still, fans of the Black and Gold got one final look at the team before the regular season opens on September 10th against the San Francisco 49ers. They were treated to a whole lot of good.
Of course, no game is without its bad and ugly, dominating shutout or not.
The Good: Steelers Aggressiveness
It's easy to continue to "Ooh and Ah" over the explosive plays of the first quarter, but the comical nature of the Steelers starters playing the Falcons second and third-string tempers the narrative considerably.
But what can't be denied for the entire contest is how aggressively the Steelers played on both sides of the ball.
Early on it was taking the deep shots in the passing game. Kenny Pickett continued his fantastic preseason play with two pin-point accurate deep passes to Diontae Johnson and George Pickens.
Defensively, Elandon Roberts led the charge by making hit-stick tackles that could make those bruising linebackers of yesteryear blush. T.J. Watt made his presence felt by making a nearly effortless sack on the second play for the defense.
No matter what the Steelers were tasked with doing, the team gave full effort and played with admirable aggression.
For a large chunk of the Mike Tomlin era, the Steelers have shown a gruesome tendency to play down to competition. The Atlanta Falcons are an inferior team to the Steelers in 2023 and their starters weren't on the field in a game where the records don't matter. Still, we saw the Steelers stomp on the gas and play with ruthless aggression. It was fun to see and hopefully, in two weeks when the regular season begins, the mentality continues.