Labriola: Steelers’ preseason No. 2 loss to Jets wipes out opener’s momentum

The Steelers’ second preseason game, against the Jets, did not match the lift they took from their preseason opener eight days earlier. In the aftermath, Labriola’s takeaway was blunt: not much went right, and the overall picture on both the stat sheet and the scoreboard swung sharply in the wrong direction.

Preseason football is designed for evaluation, not celebration, but the contrast between Week 1’s “feel-good” and this follow-up has a way of making the process feel more personal. According to Labriola, the individual player numbers were especially grim in the loss to New York, a reminder that roles and reps can look different when the pace, gameplan, and execution all tighten at the same time.

The timing matters, too. When a team opens the preseason with momentum, it tends to create a narrative that carries through the first stretch of practices and the next game. Labriola’s point is that this time, that narrative evaporated quickly, like optimism in poor weather, leaving a more difficult set of answers for coaches to sort out before the regular season is even close to starting.

What stands out in Labriola’s framing is the combined impact of two layers of performance. One is the micro level, where the player-by-player production did not hold up. The other is the macro level, where the scoreboard reflected that problems were not isolated, or at least not contained. For teams still trying to separate “good process” from “good results,” that combination is often the clearest form of feedback.

From a Steelers perspective, the practical value of a preseason loss is that it compresses decision-making. Coaches and staff can revisit who is winning their assignments, which units are communicating cleanly under pressure, and where the execution breaks down when opponents adjust. Labriola’s review suggests that the Jets exposed enough of those gaps that the Steelers did not simply fall short in one department, but struggled broadly.

Still, it is also important not to overread a single exhibition into permanent conclusions. Preseason rosters are in flux, game plans can be intentionally uneven from week to week, and personnel groupings are often constructed to test depth and traits rather than to replicate every regular-season look. Labriola’s column emphasizes the drop-off from the opener, but that does not remove the need for follow-up work in the next set of practices and games.

For fans and for the team, the immediate next step is watching whether the Steelers respond with corrected fundamentals and sharper execution, not just better individual stat lines. The team is likely to focus on what went wrong in the second preseason outing, and whether the fixes show up quickly when the competition level and roster mix remain similar enough to make comparisons meaningful.