Art Rooney II Steelers Cowherd
Art Rooney II Steelers Cowherd
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers had some nice moments, including a Will Howard-led touchdown drive near the end of the first half. However, the Steelers also had plenty of ugly moments. That includes getting penalized seven times for 85 yards in the first half. Team owner Art Rooney II wasn’t happy about that.
“Too many penalties so far,” Rooney said during the game on KDKA. “That’s one thing we’ve gotta clean up.”
That came after Cole Holcomb was called for unnecessary roughness for hitting Packers quarterback Tyrod Taylor gave himself up on a scramble and slid. It was an avoidable penalty and a dumb mistake by Holcomb. He’s a veteran, so he should know better.
That wasn’t the only time that Rooney brought up the Steelers’ penalty issue during the game, either. He expressed more displeasure after Steelers cornerback Doneiko Slaughter was also called for unnecessary roughness on that same drive.
“Too many penalties,” Rooney said. “You can’t be making mistakes like that.”
It’s the Steelers’ first preseason game, so some sloppiness is expected. However, getting penalized 10 times for 121 yards in their 28-9 win is a bit concerning. That’s especially true for the Steelers’ special teams units, which were called for multiple penalties.
Rooney wasn’t the only one unhappy about the Steelers’ penalty issues.
“The post-whistle stuff, we’ve had a couple there that we can’t have,” HC Mike McCarthy told KDKA sideline reporter Missi Matthews at halftime.
McCarthy made clear that the Steelers needed to clean up pre-snap issues leading up to their first preseason game. Maybe he should’ve been more concerned about the team’s penalty issues in general. The Steelers struggled to play clean after the snap, too, at Acrisure Stadium.
He likely wasn’t happy with how his team started the second half, either. The Steelers got flagged for holding on the kickoff to open the third quarter. That’s after they got called for holding on the Packers’ first punt of the game, too. Those kinds of mistakes can really hurt the team in the regular season.
There’s no reason to panic because it’s only the first preseason game. We’ll see if the Steelers get penalized as much when they next suit up. McCarthy will likely emphasize cleaning up his team’s play. The Steelers want to compete for a Super Bowl, so they can’t have that many self-inflicted wounds.