Welcome to Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag. You can submit your questions to Brian directly @BrianBatko on X and bbatko@post-gazette.com.
Ron D: When was the last time the Steelers actually scored a touchdown in a regular season game? It seems that every time they have a decent drive, they become afraid of the end zone and don't want to go near it! I admire Chris Boswell. He and the defense win games. But having to kick three from more than fifty yards goes above and beyond the call of duty.
Brian in NC: Smith has basically said you game plan with what you’ve got. If there was a #2 WR to work with, do you think the play calling would have been materially different in ATL?
Gregg from Shaler: Has passing beyond 10 yards between the hashes been banned by the NFL and I missed the memo? We paid Freiermuth so let’s throw some down the seam!
Brian: No, it’s still legal. But in addition to the play-calling concerns raised by Ron and Brian, I have seen much consternation about the Justin Fields passing chart from NFL Next Gen Stats. Here it is:
Justin Fields pass chart looks like a pitcher who’s about to be sent down to the minors pic.twitter.com/WSOB7m5Eo6
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 9, 2024
So, yeah, you can see the cavernous middle of the field. But I thought this was an interesting take on it from former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert on X: “I see a LOT of green and I saw Huge 3rd down conversions with his feet. No interceptions and played within the system that his coach asked him to do. He’s not responsible for dialing up plays that attack the middle of the field. Add his rushing yards”
Perhaps Benkert is just a pro-Fields guy and is seeing what he wants to see, but he probably has a point that the Steelers didn’t even start building a plan around their backup quarterback until relatively late in the week. And you can’t tell me a good offensive coordinator wouldn’t script a game or call a game differently between 25-year-old, runs-like-the-wind, 6-foot-3 Justin Fields as opposed to 5-foot-11, 35-year-old Russell Wilson.
On top of that, Mike Tomlin’s philosophy seems to lend itself to a certain style of offense, right? Sure, he’d love to score 40 a game too, but we've heard him talk about how bad things can happen when you try to fit the ball into tight windows. We know how confident he is in his defense and the extraterrestrial T.J. Watt. I imagine that goes to even another level when dealing with quarterback uncertainty the way they were.
Atlanta, specifically, is a defense with two veteran safeties in Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons. Even if they’ve lost a step in their late 20s/early 30s, both have led the NFL in interceptions. I’ve watched the Steelers pepper Pat Freiermuth with targets in practice. And I think it’ll happen in games eventually, both between the hashes and in the red zone. Calm down, folks.
Rob E: Hey Bats, got a question for your next chat/mail bag. Is Loudermilk the new Daniel McCullers? Always kind of hanging in there but never really producing.
Brian: Yes, he kind of is, Rob. Isaiahh Loudermilk logged 10 snaps Sunday, third fewest of anyone who played on defense but twice as many as DeMarvin Leal.
Loudermilk is a bigger body against the run than Leal, of course, but I wonder if Dean Lowry will go from inactive to replacing Loudermilk before long. Lowry has that tall, sturdy frame himself, and he’s a ninth-year veteran.
One thing Loudermilk has in common with “Big Dan” McCullers is there just aren't many humans that size, a big reason why the Steelers wanted to draft them to begin with. They’re also both exceedingly low-key, low-maintenance locker room guys, never complaining about role or playing time. Both those factors — a lot of the first, a sprinkle of the second — probably contribute to their tenures lasting longer than those of us on the outside would expect.
Jackson in KY: Steelers played some sloppy football, but also had two huge plays wiped away by REALLY questionable calls. Was the pass to Pickens or TJ's strip sack red flag reviewable? Why didn't someone say, "Hey, lets look at this again?"
Brian: Nah, most penalties are not reviewable. They’re judgment calls. Thank goodness they aren’t reviewable. Do we really want to go back to the 2019 season when officials were looking at pass interference multiple times and still leaving people unhappy?
Ron C: Hi Brian - I enjoy your work and good spirit regarding your reporting for the PG.
I'm confused on how the practice squad works. It seems like team A can sign a player off of team B's practice squad and that player goes on Team A's practice squad. However, sometimes it appears that the player must be added to the 53 man roster. Can you shed some light on this?
Brian: Hi, Ron. Thanks for reading. If a team wants to “poach” a practice squad guy from another team, they have to add him to their active roster, as the Steelers just did with Terrell Edmunds and the Jaguars. One technicality is that if you do that, you’re obligated to pay the player for at least three weeks, so that offers a bit of protection, as well.
Mike in ATL: What did you do in Atlanta that was fun..inside or outside the stadium?
Brian: I watched that incredible Pitt football comeback at my hotel, though I had to do so on my phone because of the DirecTV/ESPN dispute. Tried to go watch the evening slate of college football at a place downtown, but it was too crowded with Steelers fans itching to get a glimpse of my buddy Wesley Uhler and the rest of the Steelers Nation Radio crew doing a live remote broadcast for the road warriors. Instead, I got some barbecue for dinner that night at Twin Smokers, which I very much enjoyed, then went to a brewery on the “Beltline” where I found a screen showing four games at a time. Many thanks to the bartender there who gave me carte blanche with the remote.
Don L: I might be in the minority but, I think our offense would be better off with Mason Rudolph!! I think best case scenario, we reach same win totals without him, and he (Mason), could have been our QB for next 2 years while we trade up for the next bigtime Steelers, QB!! I just don’t see any of the 3 QB’s being the answer for the future of Steelers QB’s!!
Brian: My word, Don. I don’t necessarily disagree, but can we at least wait and see if Mason Rudolph gets any game action with the Titans? Or until the Steelers lose a game with their current quarterback room?
Turk in MD: Was Russ inactive for the game? If so, why was he in uniform?
Brian: Yes, but he was designated as the team’s emergency third quarterback, which means he could’ve gone in had Fields and Kyle Allen exited with injuries and been ruled out for the rest of the game. From that standpoint, I don’t have any issue with him being in his jersey, pads, etc. Mason Rudolph and Mitch Trubisky did the same thing last year when they were in that situation. If you want to criticize Wilson for doing some things that are, let’s say, a bit performative at times, OK. But this isn’t one of them.
First Published: September 12, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: September 12, 2024, 3:25 p.m.
