Pittsburgh football fans have been waiting for months to see Russell Wilson in a Steelers uniform at Acrisure Stadium.

Maybe the next time they see him, he’ll actually lead a scoring drive.

No, the Steelers’ shortcomings on offense certainly weren’t all Wilson’s fault, as the team’s first unit stumbled through five empty possessions during a 9-3 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills Saturday night. But, clearly, the veteran quarterback also has a long way to go before inspiring much confidence that the 2014 Seattle-era “Dangeruss” is in Black and Gold instead of the reclamation project the Denver Broncos no longer wanted.

That’s just one of many storylines from this week’s “Airing of Grievances.” And, since it’s just a preseason loss, we’ll sprinkle in a few “Feats of Strength” as well.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Rough one for “the ones”: The first-team offense got so little done in the pre-planned four possessions it was supposed to have under Wilson that head coach Mike Tomlin sent the 35-year-old signal caller out for a fifth series.

That was after Miles Killebrew intercepted a pass from former teammate Mitch Trubisky near midfield midway through the second quarter.

Brewing up an INT ????

???? Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/iu7bDTXJ4C pic.twitter.com/n4rMkn8VQK

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 17, 2024

Unfortunately, that drive was only able to net 18 yards and Chris Boswell missed a 53-yard field goal. Prior to that effort, the Steelers’ first four drives netted just 12 yards of offense. They all ended in punts.

“If our practices weren’t as good as they have been, you’d be a little bit more heightened and concerned,” Wilson said. “We go up against a great defense every day. We practiced against the Bills on Thursday. We did a good job against them the other day. They played well tonight. They made some plays.”

Wilson completed 8 of 10 passes for just 47 yards. That’s a Kenny Pickett-esque 4.7 yards-per-attempt. He also took three sacks after absorbing 100 over the last two years in Denver.

Bad night for Broderick: It’s tough to pin those sacks on Wilson, though, given how Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau ate up Steelers right tackle Broderick Jones. He ended up with 2½ sacks in just three series.

Two of them were the direct result of beating Jones in pass-rush situations.

GREG‼️

????: @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/Yu6L8A7E0z

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 17, 2024

Another time, Rousseau almost shoved Jones into Wilson on what ended up as a short completion to Jaylen Warren.

“We didn’t do a good enough job of protecting the quarterback. We have got to do a better job in pass protection than we did,” Tomlin said. “That can’t be a problem for us. We have to be better than we were tonight in that area.”

The presumed battle for playing time at tackle coming into training camp was supposed to be if Troy Fautanu was better on the right side than Dan Moore Jr. was on the left side.

After Saturday night, I’m wondering if it’s more about Fautanu vs. Jones. That’s unless it’s time to put Jones back at his more natural position at left tackle and have him start opposite of Fautanu whenever Fautanu’s knee injury heals.

Impressive impersonation: I thought former Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada had the market cornered on throwing short of the sticks on third downs. But his replacement, Arthur Smith, appears capable of giving Canada a run for his money.

In the first half, the Steelers were unable to convert on six of seven third downs. Three of those failed attempts were actually completed passes that came up short of the first down marker. A fourth time, quarterback Justin Fields bounced an incompletion toward Aaron Shampklin, who was well short of the line to gain.

“We’re not showing everything (in the playbook). But with our base stuff, we still have to be able to convert,” tight end Connor Heyward said. “We have man stuff. We have zone stuff. Sometimes you just have to play pitch and catch and keep the simple stuff simple.”

I understand that it’s just preseason, and everything offensively is bland. That said, Tomlin went out of his way to criticize his offense for coming up empty eight times in 10 tries on conversion downs last week against the Houston Texans.

The Steelers didn’t assuage those concerns against the Bills. They were 4 of 16 on third and fourth downs against the Bills’ defense on the night.

Injury bug: A couple of Steelers rookies had their nights cut short by injury.

Actually, in the case of defensive back Beanie Bishop, he didn’t play at all. After the game, Tomlin said the West Virginia product had an undisclosed injury lingering from earlier in the week, so they were cautious.

Meanwhile, inside linebacker Payton Wilson was removed from the game in the third quarter to be evaluated for a possible concussion.

Also, running back Jaylen Warren and cornerback Anthony Averett suffered hamstring injuries.

FEATS OF STRENGTH

Nick has the knack: Nick Herbig stood out on defense. He had six tackles and 1½ sacks. For the first one, the second-year player from Wisconsin impressively stunted from the right outside linebacker position and charged through a lane inside to sack Trubisky.

HERBO‼️

???? Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/iu7bDTXJ4C pic.twitter.com/WHD7FFK8Xv

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 17, 2024

“That was a good call by (defensive coordinator Teryl Austin). That was something we had in the game plan, especially when I’m out there with Keeanu (Benton). That’s like my brother,” Herbig said. “Just being on that same side and having that chemistry, we knew it was going to hit a little quicker. It just opened up, and I was able to make a play.”

Herbig also shared a sack with Benton. Larry Ogunjobi deserved a hockey assist on that play, too.

Ogunjobi also blew up one run play in Buffalo’s backfield and nearly did a second time, but Bills’ running back James Cook eluded his grasp.

In general, the first-team defense was good, even without the likes of T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward or Alex Highsmith. The unit held the Bills to 115 total net yards in the first half.

Fields roams free: Justin Fields did a nice job of using his legs.

The second-string quarterback ran for 42 yards on eight carries, including a long of 20. That was on a night where, aside from his runs, the Steelers’ ground game only totaled 64 yards on 19 attempts.

Fields also avoided a number of sacks. However, he ended up running into oblivion on a fourth-down conversion attempt in the red zone, which resulted in a loss of possession at the Buffalo 9-yard line.

Defense makin' plays!

????: @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/k8BPYyNeTc

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 18, 2024

That killed a 14-play drive that ate up 60 yards and nearly nine minutes.

Fields was also 11 of 17 for 92 yards through the air during the evening.

Other notables: A few other players were worth mentioning in a positive light.

• Along with Herbig, inside linebacker Mark Robinson and safety Ryan Watts led the team in tackles with six apiece.

• Punter Cam Johnston boomed five punts for an average of 56.8 yards per kick with a long of 65. He dropped two inside the 20.

• Dez Fitzpatrick made a really nice catch on a tipped ball along the home sideline after Fields pulled a Houdini act to escape a sack.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---