The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ preseason opener against the Packers had its share of feel-good moments. But let’s be honest, discipline was the story of the night, and not in a good way. This is exactly the kind of sloppy play a brand new coaching staff simply can’t afford this early in the process.

By halftime alone, Pittsburgh had already been flagged seven times for 85 yards, and owner Art Rooney II wasn’t hiding how he felt about it during the KDKA broadcast.

“Too many penalties so far,” Rooney said. “That’s one thing we’ve gotta clean up.”

He said that right after linebacker Cole Holcomb picked up a personal foul, hitting Packers quarterback Ty’Rod Taylor, who had already slid and given himself up. That’s the kind of penalty a veteran player just shouldn’t be committing. Soon after, cornerback Doneiko Slaughter drew a similar unnecessary roughness flag.

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Head coach Mike McCarthy was thinking the same thing.

“The post-whistle stuff, we’ve had a couple there that we can’t have,” he told KDKA sideline reporter Missi Matthews at the half.

“The obvious negative is the penalties are way too high, the personal fouls,” he said after the game. “It’s important for us to be extremely accountable. This is an excellent game to grade as a coaching staff because, you know, there’s a lot of good things that went on out there. It’s good to get a win at home and feel that, especially since it’s our first time together.”

Here’s a breakdown of all the penalties, as observed by DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Chris Halicke: four penalties gave the Packers new downs. Six caused 15-yard penalties, of which four were for unnecessary roughness, one for roughing the passer and one for an illegal blindside block. Multiple holding calls were noted, one of which removed a touchdown run of Leo Nichols.

It is safe to say McCarthy wasn’t thrilled with how his team played in that first half. Sure, it’s preseason, so some rust is understandable. But finishing the night with 11 penalties for 121 yards in a 28-9 win is worth some attention, especially with special teams contributing more than their fair share of flags.

Those penalties messed up the field position for the Steelers’ offense and extended their drives unnecessarily. A touchdown before halftime helped the team look good, but with a majority of the 11 penalties coming in one half alone, it shows that Pittsburgh has a problem.

This wasn’t the first time McCarthy called out these mistakes either. He’d already brought it up on the practice field during camp. A few days earlier, McCarthy said the staff recorded seven pre-snap penalties, per Nick Farabough.

During a “Franco Moment” drill, when the offense was at the one-yard line, rookie receiver Germie Bernard moved early and drew a false start, forcing the play to reset, Chris Adamski reported.

Some sloppiness was expected in game one, but this level of it is enough to raise a few eyebrows among the new coaching staff.

Steelers’ new coaching staff faces early execution issues

After nineteen years running the show, Mike Tomlin stepped aside as Steelers head coach, and Mike McCarthy, who had previously led the Packers and Cowboys, took over. Two weeks into training camp, though, the Super Bowl-winning coach wasn’t thrilled with what he saw.

“I don’t like where we are as far as the number of missed assignments… They’re a little higher than normal,” said McCarthy in a press conference.

The new system will definitely take some time getting used to. But for so many penalties to pile on with the season only a handful of weeks away, it is an alarming concern for the team.

Can the Steelers bring down the penalty count in the next preseason game? We will have to wait and watch.