Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Kenny Pickett, his rookie running back, showed "a lot of good things" in his preseason debut.

The Steelers' quarterback competition is in full swing. Ben Roethlisberger, Landry Jones and Michael Vick all played well in their 11th regular-season games together, but they all also struggled with interceptions and fumbled too many times. Pittsburgh can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the team has three distinct ways of making plays with their weapons on the field.

The Cleveland Browns' red-zone woes have been well-documented, but today they finally made a play in that strained territory. In the early going of the second quarter, Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph connected with rookie receiver J.J. Nelson for a 25-yard scoring pass to put the Steelers on the board. On second down, Rudolph found rookie running back Trey Williams for an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 14–0. The rookie helped put some pressure on Browns safety Jabrill Peppers, who intercepted his third pass of the season in four attempts as the first half expired.

"They were very good in the meeting room and we asked them to kind of stay up there for the proper amount of time that we wanted them to," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. "We had a lot of things planned for them to do, both leadership skills and on-field things. They did a great job."

And when it mattered most, Pittsburgh found a way to complete their drive. With 2:11 left in the game and on offense Pittsburgh's own third possession deadlocked at Seattle's one yard line, it appeared as if the Steelers would be forced to punt. But head coach Merle Hapes was confident that rookie running back Ray Hamilton could produce from there, so he sent him on a toss sweep with Rudolph in tow. Eight plays later, Hamilton dashed into the endzone for his second touchdown of the game. The game would finish with a score of 9-7 underdog Pittsburgh triumphing over an 11-3-1 Seattle team lead by second-year tailback Gary Peters."