What Went Right, What Went Wrong

What went right, wrong at Green Bay

Aug 16, 2018 at 11:25 PM

The highs and lows of the Steelers preseason matchup vs. the Green Bay Packers.

8:04 p.m. ET - Kickoff

8:06 p.m. ET - What went wrong: First offensive play of the game: Steelers come out in an empty set; Mason Rudolph tries to get the ball to Darrius Heyward-Bey in the left flat. Tramon Williams intercepted the ball and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. It's 7-0 with 14:47 left in the first quarter.

8:11 p.m. ET - What went wrong: The Steelers second offensive series wasn't much better. James Conner carried on first down and was stopped for no gain. On second down, Mason Rudolph overthrew Justin Hunter. After a delay of game penalty, Conner lost 1 yard on a draw play. Jordan Berry's punt then traveled only 30 yards and Green Bay got to start at the Pittsburgh 40-yard line.

8:20 p.m. ET - What went wrong: A critical 12-men-on-the-field penalty was a big part of the Packers extending their lead to 14-0 with 11:53 remaining in the first quarter. A quick slant pass from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams became a 27-yard gain to the Pittsburgh 13-yard line when Morgan Burnett took a bad angle and wasn't in position to tackle the catch. Then on third-and-10 from there, Rodgers pass was incomplete, but the penalty came when Dan McCullers couldn't get off the field before the Packers snapped the ball. Given another chance, Rodgers completed an 8-yard pass to TE Jimmy Graham for the touchdown.

8:26 p.m. ET - What went right: The Steelers cut that 14-0 deficit in half, and all it took was three straight runs by James Conner, with a facemask penalty against the Packers thrown in for good measure. Conner ran for 8 yards on first down, then for 24 on second-and-2 which was when the facemask penalty occurred, and then it was 26 more yards on the next play for the touchdown. That gave Conner 58 yards and a touchdown on a three-play possession. Matt Wile's PAT made it 14-7 with 10:42 left in the first quarter.

8:29 p.m. ET - What went right: On the kickoff following James Conner's touchdown, Terrell Edmunds stripped the ball away from Ty Montgomery and then recovered it at the Packers 25-yard line.

8:33 p.m. ET - What went right: Two plays later, the ball was in the end zone on a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, and the game was tied, 14-14. On the play previous to the touchdown, Mason Rudolph got a nice block on a blitzing linebacker by Fitz Toussaint that allowed him to complete a pass to Jesse James. The next play was the 4-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Schuster.

8:53 p.m. ET - End of 1st Quarter: Packers 17, Steelers 14

8:59 p.m. ET - What went wrong: An iffy pass interference penalty on Jon Bostic was the key play on the 10-play, 51-yard drive that ended in a 36-yard field goal by Mason Crosby that gave the Packers a 17-14 lead. The Packers extended that lead to 24-14 on a 65-yard drive that ended with 10-yard touchdown run by Green Bay quarterback Brett Hundley. But 38 of those yards came on a completion to tight end Marcedes Lewis that included an iffy lowering-the-helmet call on Coty Sensabaugh.

9:11 p.m. ET - What went wrong: The Packers extended their lead to 27-14 as a result of a 53-yard field goal by Mason Crosby. It appeared as though the Packers had ben knocked out of field goal range on the previous play, when Bud Dupree came off the right edge and sacked Brett Hundley for a 9-yard loss on a third-and-10 from the Steelers 26-yard line. But Crosby made the kick anyway, and the Packers had a 13-point lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half.

9:38 p.m. ET - What went wrong: It started with a 28-yard punt by Jordan Berry and ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Robert Tonyan. On the drive, quarterback DeShone Kizer completed 4-of-5 for 39 yards and the touchdown, a drive also aided by a pass interference penalty on Brian Allen in the end zone. At halftime, the Packers lead was 31-14.

9:40 p.m. ET - Halftime: Packers 34, Steelers 14