Ben Roethlisberger is happy the Pittsburgh Steelers won. But like most fans, he’s concerned about the team struggling to put away an undermanned Atlanta Falcons team with offensive issues that look too similar to past years.

On his Footbahlin podcast, Roethlisberger said preseason fears are being realized.

“I think we saw in this game…what could be the fears of this team,” Roethlisberger said. “This season, this offense. The lack of protection on Aaron Rodgers. The lack of a run game. It wasn’t a highly successful running game. The offensive line…it makes me nervous.”

Pittsburgh struggled to win up front offensively. Steelers’ running backs averaged just 3.4 yards per carry, with Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle struggling to find running lanes. Rodgers was sacked twice and hit several more times.

Roethlisberger isn’t the only one to express concern. Former teammates and offensive linemen themselves, Willie Colon and Trai Essex, expressed disappointment in the front’s play. Not just from the right side of the line, the section under the spotlight during the summer, but from left tackle Troy Fautanu and left guard Mason McCormick. Both played below expectations.

Roethlisberger thinks a lack of in-stadium reps made for a clunky product.

“The argument is going to be, how much of that is lack of preseason reps?” he said. “No preseason games, no preseason reps…is that a side effect of not playing? Is it just rust?”

Roethlisberger specifically made that point about WR DK Metcalf, who struggled with drops and two offensive pass interference penalties in the game. While Roethlisberger joined Rodgers in maintaining confidence in Metcalf, he and his guest Santonio Holmes agreed a lack of preseason reps played a factor. Metcalf also missed part of training camp with an undisclosed injury.

“The biggest thing we have to figure out, I’m broadstroking this, is protection, run game, and making sure we clean up some of the little details,” he said.

Roethlisberger isn’t wrong. All three areas weren’t good enough this weekend and won’t be enough to put Pittsburgh on a winning streak. With a full game under their belt, the Steelers can’t use lack of reps as an explanation anymore. Pittsburgh must take a big step forward to beat the New England Patriots this Sunday.

Check out Roethlisberger’s full episode below.