The Green Bay Packers left Pittsburgh with a 28-9 preseason loss on the books, but the night still handed them a few things worth filing away. In a game that amounted to little more than a glorified practice, rookie kicker Trey Smack and running back MarShawn Lloyd gave Green Bay the kind of small-but-real positives teams look for this time of year.
The scoreboard won’t bother anyone much. The Packers were at Acrisure Stadium, in game jerseys, with Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy on the other sideline, so it had a little more edge than a typical August tune-up.
But the result itself? It doesn’t carry much weight.
What does matter is what Green Bay got out of the reps.
Smack was the clearest bright spot. After hearing plenty of talk from OTAs and the early part of camp about his inconsistency, he answered with a clean night against Pittsburgh, going 3-for-3 with a long of 58. He actually drilled two kicks from 58 yards, though the first one was wiped out by a roughing the snapper penalty on the Steelers, which gave the Packers another shot at it.
"I think it'll build some confidence," Smack said after the game, according to Wes Hodkiewicz of the team website. "Every day's a new day. You gotta figure out what kind of ball you're gonna hit that day."
Lloyd also gave Green Bay something to feel good about simply by getting through the game in one piece. The Packers are banking on him to be their RB2 behind Josh Jacobs in 2026, and that trust comes with a big health question attached. Lloyd has only ten regular season snaps to his name, with the rest of his two seasons in the league spent injured.
Against the Steelers, he carried four times for 13 yards, a 3.3-yard average, and most importantly he finished healthy.
The first-team defense also did its part in the limited time it was asked to work. The full game script was rougher once the second and third units got involved, especially later in the night, but the opening series was exactly what Green Bay wanted. Zaire Franklin helped create A-gap pressure that led to a sack, and two plays later the starting defense had forced a three-and-out and could call it a night.
"We made it a point of emphasis to put our effort on tape and our physicality on tape and we came out fast," defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness said. "We all knew this is kind of the reality of the preseason. If we get a three-and-out, we could possibly be hanging the pads up for the rest of the day.
"We all came out hot. We got that three-and-out early, which was nice. I'm just proud of the guys."
So yes, the Packers lost. But in the preseason, that’s only part of the story. Smack looked like a real weapon from distance, Lloyd got through his work healthy, and the starting defense checked the box it needed to check.
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Packers Have Early Answers And New Concerns After Steelers Loss
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There were also the early injuries to Anthony Campbell and Mark Perry, a reminder that evaluation season can turn quickly into availability season. Even in a loss, the Packers can walk away with a clearer sense of where some of the roster battles stand, but the secondary and the depth behind it now come with a little more urgency than they did before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the focus shifts quickly to cleanup work before Green Bay meets the Broncos in its next preseason game. For a team still sorting out roles and depth in the defensive backfield, this is the stage where sloppy assignments can become meaningful roster questions, even if the results do not count yet. The Packers have time to correct it, but not much, and the next game should offer a clearer read on whether the secondary can tighten up in time. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Blowout Loss Got Worse Thanks To A Steelers Rookie QB
The Packers already had plenty to sort through after a lopsided preseason loss to Pittsburgh, but the night got even harder to swallow because of the guy the Steelers brought in at quarterback. Drew Allar made his NFL debut look anything but tentative, carving up Green Bay with quick decisions, clean throws and enough movement to keep the defense off balance as Pittsburgh rolled.
For Allar, it was a sharp first step after a Penn State career that ended with an injury-shortened final season and an uncertain pro transition. Even with Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph and Will Howard sitting ahead of him on the Steelers' depth chart, the rookie made sure his name was part of the conversation after a performance that left Green Bay with more questions than answers. [Read more 🡒]