Ben Roethlisberger said he wanted to keep rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth under wraps a bit from future opponents.
He didn't do a very good job of making sure that happened.
Roethlisberger threw a pair of touchdown passes to the rookie in the first quarter as the Steelers jumped out to a 20-0 halftime lead en route to a 26-20 victory over the Lions Saturday night before 45,374 at Heinz Field.
"I’d like for other teams to not know too much about him," Roethlisberger said of Freiermuth.
This game won't help that.
The win was the Steelers' third in three preseason games. But this was obviously the most important, as Roethlisberger and the rest of the starters saw their first action of this preseason. The quarterback looked sharp, leading two touchdown drives in his three possessions, finishing 8 of 10 for 137 yards and two touchdowns for a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Mike Tomlin liked what he saw of his now 39-year-old quarterback in his first outing.
"I did. I thought he did a nice job," Tomlin said. "I thought we got what we wanted to get accomplished, get him familiar with administering the offense in an in stadium-like circumstance. I thought he did a great job in communicating. He made good and fluid decisions and we were able to move the ball."
And finish.
Freiermuth, a second-round draft pick out of Penn State, was a big part of that. The rookie had just two catches for 19 yards in the game, but both were in the end zone.
The first came on the Steelers' second possession after the Steelers had gone three-and-out on the game's opening possession thanks to a false start by left tackle Chuks Okorafor on the first play.
Roethlisberger connected with Diontae Johnson on a 43-yard bomb to move the Steelers into Detroit territory on third-and-3, then converted another third-and-short on an 11-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
He then finished off the drive with this third-and-7 pass to Freiermuth:
"The pump-fake wasn’t an intentional pump fake. I was going to throw it. He was still leaning on the guy and wasn’t quite ready," Roethlisberger said of the 11-yard touchdown pass.
The next touchdown came at the conclusion of the Steelers' following possession. The defense forced a quick three-and-out and the Steelers got the ball back at their own 42.
On the first play from scrimmage, Roethlisberger threw a short pass to rookie running back Najee Harris, and Harris with the help of a block from tight end Eric Ebron, who got just enough of safety Will Harris to allow to get around the edge and down the sideline for a 46-yard gain:
"I’m excited to see Naj’s catch and run," Roethlisberger said. "Looking at the Jumbotron, it was pretty cool. To see what he was able to do tonight. I don’t know what his rushing numbers were, but I’m sure it wasn’t great. But we didn’t need it. He was able to do other things. I thought that was pretty special to see him do what we asked him to do, not just running the ball."
That set the stage for another hookup on third down with Freiermuth, with this one coming on a play the two have repped a lot in training camp.
Freiermuth simply lined up in-line on the left side and beat the defender down the seam.
"I wouldn’t say it was a back-shoulder fade," Freiermuth said. "It was more the coverage they ran and that’s where Ben put it. He put it where it needed to be and I caught it."
It was a case of Roethlisberger knowing what kind of adjustment his young new weapon could make. And he has figured that out through trial and error.
"The defense they had called, we basically had one option and it was him down the middle," Roethlisberger said. "I knew he was going to be on a linebacker. And that’s what we want him to do. You’ve got to win against a linebacker. We worked that a lot. You watch practice, I try not to throw good balls all the time. I want to see what they’re capable of doing. I’m sure when rookies come in here, they’re like, ‘Man, Ben isn’t very accurate.’ It’s intentional.
"I’ve thrown that ball to him dozens of times in practice. He was ready for it and he made the rest happen. I’d like to give him credit too, because probably three or four times, he hasn’t gotten his feet in. He’s gotten one in — not in the NFL. He had one last week where he didn’t get both in. There, he kept both in. He’s working on his craft, as the coaches say."
It took Freiermuth some time to catch on -- no pun intended -- to what Roethlisberger was doing in those practice settings.
"The first time at OTAs, he was throwing it all over the place to me, and I was like, ‘Am I doing something wrong?’ (Ebron) and Zach (Gentry) were like, ‘He does this stuff to see what your range is.’ It helped me a lot," Freiermuth said. "He sees where I can make adjustments and stuff like that. It’s awesome and it kind of showed on the field."
Roethlisberger has been looking to have a rapport with a tight end like the one he is developing with Freiermuth since Heath Miller retired after the 2015 season. He might finally have it.
"He’s doing good. Let’s not talk about him too much. He works hard. He’s a Steeler," Roethlisberger said. "He reminds me of another tight end we had here."
That's high praise.
Miller caught 592 passes in his 11 seasons with the Steelers, the most by a tight end in team history. Freiermuth obviously knows the history. And if he didn't, watching film of Roethlisberger and Miller and hearing from the quarterback about that relationship those two shared will help that along.
"I hear it a lot. Obviously, me and (Roethlisberger) have watched tape a little bit, just stuff that he has done," Freiermuth said. "I’m trying to make my own name here. He was an unbelievable tight end here. It’s going to he hard to follow in his footsteps. I’m going to try to emulate his game. We’re very similar in game style."
TRENDING UP
Mason Rudolph, quarterback -- Rudolph entered the game late in the first quarter and directed a pair of field goal drives to close out the first half. The second drive began at the Pittsburgh 3 and ended at the Detroit 4.
There were three-straight incompletions from the 4 to force the field goal, but Rudolph also led another field goal drive to open the second half, staking the Steelers to a 23-0 lead before giving way to Dwayne Haskins, who finished the game.
Rudolph went 13 of 18 for 138 yards, solidifying his hold on the No. 2 job over Haskins, who was 4 of 7 for 56 yards.
"I don’t really put a lot of emphasis into a depth chart. I am just trying to better myself each and every day," Rudolph said. "I was happy with what we put out there as an offense. There will be things that we want to improve on. The competition is never going to end with yourself and guys on the team."
Kalen Ballage, running back -- Ballage and Anthony McFarland essentially split carries after Harris left the game. And Ballage was clearly the more effective runner, gaining a team-best 30 yards on seven carries while also catching two passes for 17 yards.
With Benny Snell again sitting out because of an injury, Ballage seems to have earned a spot on the roster.
The first-team offensive line -- This was the first time we've seen them all together on the football field and it didn't look bad.
In fact, watch the blocking on this 8-yard run by Harris in the first quarter. Kevin Dotson pulls to lead Harris through the right side, while Trai Turner and Zach Banner do a good job of getting to the inside to seal things off.
Pressley Harvin, punter -- The Steelers only punted once in this game, with Harvin getting off a 50-yarder in the first quarter. He also held for Chris Boswell's kicks in the first half, paired with long-snapper Christian Kuntz.
Boswell made both of his PATs and two field goals with that battery.
Jordan Berry didn't get an opportunity to punt in this game because the Steelers didn't do so again. He held on Boswell's two second-half field goals with Kameron Canaday serving as the long-snapper.
But if the coaching staff was worried about Harvin's ability to hold for Boswell, this should have settled those issues.
Mathew Sexton, wide receiver -- Sexton the wide receiver hasn't done much in this preseason. Sexton as a return man has the team's two best punt returns of this preseason.
Sexton broke off a 47-yard return in this game, fielding the ball at his own 6 and returning it to the Detroit 47. Ray-Ray McCloud, the incumbent punt returner, had two for 17 yards in this game along with a fair catch. But Sexton looks more explosive.
Sexton has averaged 29.3 yards on three returns in this preseason.
TRENDING DOWN
The nickel corner job -- With Antoine Brooks still out with an injury, this was an opportunity for Arthur Maulet to nail down the job. He had a special teams tackle early, but suffered an ankle injury of his own and did not return.
The Steelers moved Cam Sutton to the nickel spot, at times, depending on down and distance, inserting James Pierre on the outside at first, then subbing in Justin Layne after Joe Haden didn't play after the opening possession.
Rookie Shakur Brown had a chance to add his name into the mix, but two big penalties, including a defensive holding penalty on second-and-30 that handed the Lions a first down in the fourth quarter, won't help his cause.
That led to a touchdown by the Lions, who then recovered an onside kick and went down and scored again to make this game look closer than it was.
Jaylen Samuels, Benny Snell, running backs -- As mentioned, Snell didn't play in this game. And Samuels didn't do much to take advantage.
He played late in the fourth quarter and finished with 16 yards on seven carries.
If the Steelers only keep three running backs and fullback Derek Watt, Samuels and Snell are on the outside looking in.
Joe Schobert, linebacker -- OK, this is nit-picking in a game in which the first-team defense dominated, but Schobert got dragged for a first down by tight end Darren Fells in the second quarter.
Overall, it was OK. But there's still a lot of work to be done between Schobert and Devin Bush. That's why they stayed on the field together in this game into the third quarter. Schobert finished with two tackles, while Bush had three.
