Steelers, minus Fautanu, expect bounce-back week before preseason game against Buffalo
LATROBE — Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin characterized his team’s home preseason loss against Houston last week as a “sloppy” performance filled with inconsistencies and mistakes.
Tomlin said his team’s response during the final week of training camp practices at St. Vincent College will go a long way towards defining how the group responds to adversity.
“There’s some things that we’ve got to do better, some things we’ve got to tighten up,” Tomlin said. “It’s capable of happening, obviously, in the first preseason game, but not that we find comfort in that. We work too hard to have the results we had, so it’s disappointing.”
Tackle Troy Fautanu, the Steelers’ first-round pick, will miss the week of practices and the team’s next home game Saturday against Buffalo due to a knee sprain. Tomlin said he is “optimistic” for a quick return, but plans to take Fautanu’s injury “day by day.”
Fautanu, the 20th overall pick, had a brace on his left knee following Friday’s game against Houston. He entered during the second offensive series and played the first and second quarter at right tackle.
“He was doing really well,” Tomlin said. “We wanted to give him a lot of work because that’s where he is in development, but I like the general trajectory of it.”
Last Friday, Houston’s first two touchdowns came from a Pittsburgh penalty and a special teams’ turnover. Meanwhile, two of Pittsburgh’s first three drives crossed midfield, but were stalled by a sack and a fumble on a botched center-quarterback exchange.
“You can’t play football like that and think you’re going to be in games,” Tomlin said. “It’s amazing we had the ball in a one-score game at the end when you consider those things.”
Justin Fields completed 5 of 6 passes for 67 yards, but fumbled near midfield on the opening series and the drive ended with a punt. He fumbled the first snap of a three-and-out and took a sack at the Houston 36-yard line, ending a promising eight-play drive.
“It’s hard to put a drive together when you have a fumbled snap and you’re second-and-13 and you’re behind the sticks,” Fields said. “Just the self-inflicted wounds are the only things that hurt us, especially when I was in the game.”
Prior to the Texans’ second drive, Dez Fitzpatrick was penalized for running out of bounds without being blocked during a 22-yard punt return, giving Houston possession at the Pittsburgh 36-yard line. Texans’ quarterback C.J. Stroud quickly took advantage when he threaded a pass to Tank Dell, who dodged a pair of missed tackles in the secondary for a 34-yard touchdown.
Pittsburgh sought to tie the game in the second quarter, but came up short after four tries from inside the 5-yard line. Three straight runs got the Steelers to the 2-yard line, but on fourth-and-goal, Kyle Allen missed a wide-open Calvin Austin III in the back corner of the end zone.
“Sometimes, as an offense, you just don’t want to beat yourself,” Allen said. “A lot of people are getting used to being back on the field, it’s some people’s first time ... it’s to be expected in the first game, but I think we wanted to execute better as an offense.”
However, it wasn’t just the offense that struggled. On the Texans’ next drive, Quez Watkins muffed a punt that was recovered by Houston at the Pittsburgh 30-yard line. The Texans reached the end zone six plays later for a 14-0 lead.
Watkins had a bounce-back practice on Sunday. He hauled in a deep throw from Fields along the sidelines and then caught a 16-yard touchdown during the two-minute drill.
“He needed a day today,” Tomlin said of Watkins.
The Steelers didn’t practice in pads on Sunday, but Tomlin was pleased with the workout. He’s more interested in how his players perform next Saturday against Buffalo.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” Tomlin said. “The first-timers got experience last Friday and we’re leaning on their work this week and expecting them to be dramatically better in their next opportunity.”
