Winners and Losers From Steelers Win Over Jaguars

One such player who made a large impact was Max Hurleman. Hurleman was a walk-on at Notre Dame last year and was able to make a large impact on the Steelers success in their win. Hurleman caught two passes in the game, on back-to-back plays. The first pass brought the Steelers from the 29-yard line to the 3-yard line. The second was an out route, and Hurleman caught the touchdown pass from quarterback Skylar Thompson.

Ke'Shawn Williams

Another similar standout was UDFA Ke’Shawn Williams, who finished with 55 passing yards. He was on the receiving end of the Steelers final touchdown, catching a 26-yard pass from Thompson in order to help put the game out of reach for the Jaguars.

Mason Rudolph

Mason Rudolph also showed serious prowess at the quarterback position, completing 9 of 10 passing attempts for 84 yards and a touchdown. Thompson completed 20 of 28 for 233 yards and 3 passing touchdowns.

Losers

Kaleb Johnson

On the other hand, the run game was largely a non-factor. The Steelers had 301 passing yards to 66 rushing yards, and no rushing touchdowns compared to five passing touchdowns. Rookie running back Kaleb Johnson had 20 yards on 8 attempts. 

The discipline also suffered for the Steelers with 60 penalty yards compared to the Jaguars 49. Both teams will need to clean up their discipline heading into the season, but the Steelers largely did not use their starters, whilst the Jaguars used them for parts of the game.

The Steelers will still have a good bit of time in order to get their affairs in order for this season, but their performance in their first preseason game has shown a possible depth that wasn’t there last season.