The Jets rolled out Adonai Mitchell, who's been pushed as a No. 2 receiver behind Garrett Wilson all camp, and he made an early impression with a 21-yard connection from Smith. Garrett Wilson himself was back after missing time with an illness. On the other side, Pittsburgh was already down DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr, both nursing hamstring issues, thinning out the group Howard had to work with — the kind of subtraction that mattered more than the modest home number suggested.
None of that mattered much once the ball was snapped. Smith drove the Jets right down the field for a touchdown to open the game, and Pittsburgh's offense never found an answer. Howard threw two interceptions before giving way to Allar for the second half, and the Steelers' issues sending drives backward instead of into the end zone piled up fast.
A 17-0 shutout in a preseason game against a team playing its baseline quarterback is about as loud as an exhibition result gets. Pittsburgh's defense actually held up its end after the opening drive — DeShon Elliott, back from injury, forced a fumble and flashed the kind of playmaking the unit will need once games count. But a shutout is a shutout, and it's not the first impression McCarthy wanted from a home crowd.
Neither team's regular season is close enough to read into this one game — it's still a roster-evaluation exercise with real jobs on the line, particularly Pittsburgh's QB2 spot. But for a night, the Jets looked like the more buttoned-up operation, and the Steelers have some answering to do before the games start mattering.