Head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to the media after the Steelers lost to the Texans, 20-12, at Acrisure Stadium in their first preseason game on Friday night.

Tomlin kept referring to his team’s effort as “JV,” meaning, junior varsity. He was talking about the penalties–there were six; the turnovers–there were two; the sacks–there were three; the screwy snaps between quarterback and center–there were at least a couple; the missed scoring opportunities–there was one near the goal line in the first half; etc.

Tomlin acknowledged that what he saw was common with the first in-stadium action of the summer–if you will–but he did not seek comfort in that.

Oh, but I’ll bet Tomlin does take comfort in preseason mistakes. They’ll never admit it, but I’m guessing most coaches love gridiron mistakes that occur in August. They need errors to point to. They need things to coach up and out of their players’ systems. Houston came into the night with one preseason game–the Hall of Fame Game–under its belt, while the Steelers were playing their first of the season. Tomlin probably secretly loved that, too. The Texans played most of their starters on offense, while T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Heyward and Patrick Queen were absent on Pittsburgh’s defense. What a challenge, right? What an opportunity for youngins’ like rookie Payton Wilson, third-year man DeMarvin Leal and reserve defensive lineman Montravious Adams.

Wilson had seven tackles–including five solo–and was all over the field as an inside linebacker. Leal had three tackles and one sack. Adams had a sack and knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage, a la Heyward. Jeremiah Moon, now a favorite to win a reserve spot at outside linebacker with the retirement of Markus Golden on Friday, recorded six tackles and a sack.

Over on the offensive side, quarterback Justin Fields looked decent enough during his brief time as the starter, completing five of six passes for 67 yards. Kyle Allen, who will almost certainly be the number-three quarterback when the final roster shakes out, looked even better, as he completed 17 of 23 passes for 193 yards while throwing a touchdown and an interception. Allen even showed off some wheels while moving around in the pocket and rushing for 11 yards on one play. I guess it’s mandatory that every quarterback can move and move well in the modern era. Daijun Edwards and Jonathan Ward looked good at running back. I’m not sure if either performed well enough to win a job, but it’s their job to make Tomlin’s decisions more difficult.

Tomlin described the first preseason game as his Christmas morning because he gets to see what his new toys look like (not sure how he feels about draft day since that’s YOUR Christmas morning). Trust me, Tomlin, a self-proclaimed football junkie, loves it all–including the mistakes.

As for me, I’ve been around long enough to know not to make too much out of anything that happens during the preseason (see 2023 and Kenny Pickett’s five touchdowns in as many drives). I look for individual performances, and I am so excited about Wilson and Leal. I don’t care nearly as much about the quarterback performances because I can’t imagine any scenario, besides a lingering calf injury, where Russell Wilson isn’t starting in Atlanta in Week 1. But if Fields shows enough improvement and maturation this summer, maybe the Steelers can convince him to take a friendly enough deal to stick around as their main guy next March.

But that’s a March issue. I’m more worried about August, September, October, etc. And when I say “worried,” I mean, I’m happy.

Football is back. The Steelers are back.

It’s nice to see, JV performances, be damned.